TEXAS SAYS AID IS INADEQUATE
TEXAS» Republican AUSTIN,
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott on Friday criticized as “completely inadequate” the Trump administration’s $44 billion request to Congress for disaster relief in his hurricane-ravaged state and other areas hammered by storms. The White House shot back that Texas may want to foot more of the bill for its own recovery.
Abbott has lavished praise on the federal government since Hurricane Harvey killed more than 80 people, triggered historic flooding in Houston — the nation’s fourth largest city — and caused an estimated $180 billion in damage. On Friday, he refused to criticize President Donald Trump by name, but said his administration’s request “is completely inadequate for the needs of the state of Texas, and I believe, does not live up to what the president wants to achieve.”
Residents missing after senior home blaze.
Authorities struggled Friday to account for the whereabouts of all the residents of a Pennsylvania senior living community after a massive blaze tore through their complex during the middle of the night, injuring nearly 30 and leading to a chaotic evacuation.
West Chester Mayor Jordan Norley said Friday afternoon that a few of the more than 130 residents of the Barclay Friends Senior Living Community, located west of Philadelphia, were still unaccounted for following the huge fire.
“We’re hoping for the best, obviously, here,” said Norley.
Fish dying at salmon hatchery.
Fisheries biologists in Idaho say they think they know why a relatively new $13.5 million hatchery intended to save Snake River sockeye salmon from extinction is instead killing thousands of fish before they ever get to the ocean.
The Department of Fish and Game in information released this week says water chemistry at the Springfield Hatchery in eastern Idaho is so different from that in the central region that the young fish can’t adjust when released into the wild.
Officials say they’re working on solutions.
Transgender homicide rate climbs.
At least 25 transgender people in the United States have been homicide victims so far this year, the highest annual total on record, according to advocacy groups that have been monitoring the grim phenomenon and seeking ways to reduce the toll.
The Human Rights Cam- paign, in a report released Friday, calculated that 102 transgender people have been killed in the U.S. over the past five years — including 25 this year. Its report, jointly sponsored by the Trans People of Color Coalition, was issued ahead of Monday’s annual Transgender Day of Remembrance observations, commemorating the hundreds of transgender people killed worldwide each year.
Pilots grounded for vulgar skywriting.
WASH.» The air crew who used their U.S. Navy warplane to create a vulgar sky writing above the town of Okanogan, Wash., this week have been grounded, the U.S. Navy said Friday.
An electronic warfare plane from Naval Air Station Whidbey Island in western Washington state created sky writings in the shape of male genitals in the skies over the rural community on Thursday.
Many residents spotted the contrails in the clear blue skies above the central Washington town of 2,500 people. Witnesses took photos and placed them on social media platforms, where they were widely viewed.
“The actions of this aircrew are wholly unacceptable and antithetical to Navy core values” said a statement issued Friday by NAS Whidbey Island.
“We have grounded the aircrew and are conducting a thorough investigation,” the statement said, “and we will hold those responsible accountable for their actions.”
Medicare beneficiaries may pay more.
Many Medicare beneficiaries will pay higher monthly premiums next year for outpatient coverage, an expense that will eat away at an increase in their Social Security checks, the government announced Friday afternoon.
The news about “Part B” premiums was buried in the fine print of a notice issued by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services.
Although the standard Part B premium will stay the same next year — $134 a month — many beneficiaries will still have to pay more. That’s because their Social Security checks are going up 2 percent. Many of those affected are now paying $109 a month, so they’ll owe $25 more.