Flooding Adds to Louisiana’s Budget Woes; SE Colo. Struggles With Opioid Abuse
An abandoned vehicle is surrounded by water on Highway 190 near Holden, La., after heavy rains inundated the region, Sunday, Aug. 14, 2016. Max Becherer / AP Photo
Connecting state and local government leaders
Also in our State and Local Weekend News Digest: Southern California evacuees get all clear to return home; Chattanooga’s volunteer reserve police officer program; and Sioux Falls removes a public art sculpture.
BATON ROUGE, LOUISIANA
DISASTER RECOVERY | While there are plenty of states in precarious fiscal straits, Louisiana has been feeling particularly acute pain in recent years, struggling with declining oil and gas revenues, dropping tax collections and a “Swiss cheese tax code” that left state officials with a $2 billion budget shortfall at the beginning of the year. And that was before this month’s unprecedented flood disaster that has impacted 20 of Louisiana’s parishes. "It you have a budget that's constantly weak because of poor cash flow, when you run into a problem like this, it makes it more likely that you'll have to do short term borrowing to pay your bills," according to a member of Gov. John Bel Edwards’ budget task force. [Houston Chronicle]
OTERO COUNTY, COLORADO
OPIOID ABUSE | Areas of the Lower Arkansas Valley in southeastern Colorado, like many other rural areas around the United States, aren’t immune to the substance abuse crisis that so many state and local government agencies have struggled with. The dramatic increase in the number of addicts in this rural area has stressed already strained health care, substance abuse and law enforcement resources. “The challenge for us has been resources,” Otero County Sheriff Shawn Mobley said. “Budgets are tight.” [The Denver Post]
SAN BERNARDINO COUNTY, CALIFORNIA
WILDFIRES | Residents who were evacuated due to the rapidly expanding Blue Cut fire northeast of Los Angeles last week were given the all clear on Sunday to return to their homes. The fire, which started Tuesday in an area near Cajon Pass, grew to more than 37,000 acres and destroyed more than 100 homes. As of Sunday evening, the fire was 85 percent contained, according to the U.S. Forest Service. A fire in Northern California’s Lake County, which destroyed 189 homes, was 95 percent contained as of Sunday. [Los Angeles Times; CAFire]
TALLAHASSEE, FLORIDA
REPRODUCTIVE RIGHTS | A U.S. District Court judge permanently blocked a Florida law withholding state and local funding from organizations that perform abortions. State and federal laws already exist preventing public funding of abortions. The law would have also increased record inspection requirements for abortion clinics without affording patients increased safety. Gov. Rick Scott can’t pursue further litigation as part of the order. [Slate]
CHATTANOOGA, TENNESSEE
LAW ENFORCEMENT | The Chattanooga Police Department is jumpstarting its dormant reserve officer program, aiming to add at least 30 specially trained volunteer officers to its force. The City Council has budgeted $20,000 for the next fiscal year to get a functioning reserve officer program going. The future reserve officers will have to go through 80 hours of training, comply with Peace Officer Standards and Training Commission standards, have their fingerprints on file with the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation and pass physical and psychological exams. [Times Free Press]
SIOUX FALLS, SOUTH DAKOTA
PUBLIC ART | As part of an effort by the city to reassess its procedures for acquiring public art, a steel sculpture of a woman, titled “Effortlessly Buoyant,” was removed from its perch in Lyon Park. While the piece’s acquisition was approved by the Sioux Falls Arts Commission in April, the city decided that long-term upkeep would cause the city a headache down the road due to the sculpture already suffering “extensive corrosion.” City officials now have new procedures to evaluate potential investments in public art. “We have all these piece of public art and we never had a real plan of how they were going to be maintained,” according to Planning Director Mike Cooper. [Argus Leader]
NEXT STORY: Iowa tests high-speed Wi-Fi network