Landlocked Fla. City Far From BP Spill Gets $1 Million Payout; Iowa Bird Flu Appeal?
Outside Everglades National Park in Florida City, Florida John Spade / Flickr.com
Also: West Virginians reminded to use 911 and some good news for Atlantic City!
FLORIDA CITY, Florida: South of Miami along U.S. 1 is the inland community of Florida City, notable for its strip of gas stations. Since Florida City considers itself a gateway to the Florida Keys and Everglades, the small town was able to score a roughly $1 million piece of the massive $18.7 billion settlement from the 2010 BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. As the Miami Herald reports:
The million dollar settlement amounts to almost 10 percent of the entire operating budget for the city of 13,000 residents. The payout represents compensation for the thousands of tourists who avoided the Keys and Everglades in the months after the spill — and by extension didn't drop dollars in Florida City's hotels, restaurants or gas stations.
The mayor promises there won’t be any tax increases this year. [Miami Herald]
DES MOINES, Iowa: Will Gov. Terry Branstad appeal the federal government’s decision to not give the state additional aid to deal with the ongoing bird flu outbreak, which has killed 32 million chickens and turkeys in the the state? It’s unclear at the moment. “We’ve had a lot of experience dealing with tornadoes, floods, ice storms, but this bird flu thing is absolutely unusual and unique,” Branstad said, according to Radio Iowa. “In modern history, we’ve never had this kind of loss to farm animals.” [Radio Iowa]
SACRAMENTO, California: Amid all the legislation that Gov. Jerry Brown approved on Monday is a new law that will prohibit local governments and agencies in California from assessing fines for homeowners who fail to water their lawns when the governor has proclaimed a state of emergency for drought conditions. It’s common sense for water-starved California. Now it’s officially on the books. [California Governor’s Office; Capitol Alert / Sacramento Bee]
CHARLESTON, West Virginia: Attention West Virginians or anyone else who uses Facebook or Twitter to interact with law enforcement agencies: Don’t use social media to summon help in an emergency. The West Virginia State Police, according to the Charleston Gazette, recently reminded people to pick up the phone and call 911 for emergency assistance. “We have a generation now that are becoming young adults that that’s how they communicate,” Lt. Michael Baylous, a State Police spokesman, told the Gazette. “That’s all they’ve ever known is to communicate with text messages and emails and in messages. They weren’t raised in an environment where you had to actually pick up the phone and call somebody and talk to them or stop in a detachment and ask for help.” [Charleston Gazette / WVGazette.com]
ATLANTIC CITY, New Jersey: Some good news for once! Convention bookings are in an “upward trend.” But will it “offset a series of casino closings” from last year? [Press of Atlantic City]
(Photo by John Spade / Flickr.com)
Michael Grass is Executive Editor of Government Executive’s Route Fifty.
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