Emergency Management

Report: States Most Vulnerable to Climate Change Are Among the Least Prepared

New research suggests that states that are most vulnerable to the health effects of climate change—including flooding, food shortages and heat-related deaths and illnesses—have done the least to prepare to handle them.

  • By Kate Elizabeth Queram

A State Project to Map Overdoses in Real Time

A statewide project in Connecticut takes reports of suspected opioid overdoses from first responders and maps them in real time, helping community partners better direct their services to high-risk areas.

  • By Kate Elizabeth Queram

Oregon Wildfires Prompt Evacuation Advisories for About 500,000

About 1 million acres are burning in the state and people have been told to leave areas within 30 miles of Portland.

  • By Bill Lucia

Many Residents in California’s Wine Country Didn’t Get Alerts as Wildfires Approached

STATE AND LOCAL NEWS ROUNDUP | After Hurricane Laura destroyed water systems and power grids, many in southwest Louisiana without electricity and water … Jacob Blake’s family marches with thousands in Kenosha … Homeless shelter in Anchorage, Alaska experiences Covid outbreak, forces testing changes.

  • By Laura Maggi

State Lawmakers Advance Bills to Protect Workers and Residents at Nursing Homes

Lawmakers in New Jersey last week moved legislation meant to curb Covid-19's spread in nursing homes and care facilities, including proposals to prioritize PPE and require increased wages for health workers.

  • By Kate Elizabeth Queram

Google Offering Near Real-Time Maps of Wildfire Boundaries

The company’s announcement comes as destructive fires are burning in a number of western states.

  • By Bill Lucia

Governor Has Authority to Close Bars During Pandemic, Federal Judge Rules

A federal judge sided with Louisiana Gov. John Bel Edwards in a lawsuit brought by 10 bar owners who argued that closing their businesses to prevent the spread of Covid-19 violated their constitutional rights.

  • By Kate Elizabeth Queram

The Worst of Hurricane Season is Likely Still to Come

Nine named storms have already formed during the 2020 hurricane season, which began June 1 and ends in November. Experts are predicting as many as 16 more.

  • By Kate Elizabeth Queram

We Need to Talk About Ventilation

How is it that six months into a respiratory pandemic, we are still doing so little to mitigate airborne transmission?

  • By Zeynep Tufekci, The Atlantic

Report: Governments Should Turn to AI Before Disaster Strikes

The technology could help forecast future and impending disasters in real time, assess damage in the aftermath, and predict and evaluate impacts.

  • By Brandi Vincent

NOAA Predicts Active Hurricane Season

The federal agency's annual forecast projects a likelihood of at least 13 named storms and six hurricanes.

  • By Kate Elizabeth Queram

For Firefighters Battling Wildfires, Coronavirus Adds New Risks to Already Dangerous Job

States plan to change many usual practices to help prevent the disease from spreading among firefighters, as well as evacuees.

  • By Bill Lucia

Featured eBooks

Government Tech & Innovation
Management in City and County Government
State CIOs in 2020

Ending 'Acceptable Losses' in Disasters: How Emergency Management Can Help Build More Equitable Communities

COMMENTARY | Disasters disproportionately affect the most vulnerable. The emergency management enterprise can help reverse this trend by prioritizing and investing in equity.

  • By Chauncia Willis

Canceled Fundraisers, Fewer Volunteers: Small Fire Departments Face Their Own Coronavirus Challenges

Staffing shortages, fundraising difficulties and a lack of personal protective equipment have forced rural and volunteer-driven fire departments to adapt quickly.

  • By Kate Elizabeth Queram

Senators Press White House to Up FEMA’s Cost-Share With States

They and others say that with the costs of responding to the coronavirus outbreak stacking up for states, the federal government should do more to help.

  • By Bill Lucia

States Share Covid-19 Patient Addresses with First Responders

The move to share the home addresses of people who have tested positive for the coronavirus is meant to protect police and emergency workers, but some say the disclosures could give them a false sense of security.

  • By Andrea Noble

Nearly 200 Cities Short on Supplies for Dealing With Coronavirus, Mayors Report

The U.S. Conference of Mayors says new survey findings show shortages of essential items have reached “crisis proportions.”

  • By Bill Lucia

Salt Lake City Cracks Down on Large Groups Greeting Missionaries at Airport

The stricter rules came after hundreds of residents ignored social-distancing guidelines to greet missionaries returning from abroad.

  • By Kate Elizabeth Queram

Disasters Collide: How the Pandemic Will Affect Response to Natural Disasters

COMMENTARY | Flooding and tornado season are underway and hurricane season is just around the corner. How will state and local governments—already strained by the coronavirus pandemic—deal with other natural disasters?

  • By Bryan Koon

Vermont and Minnesota Now Recognize Grocery Employees as Emergency Workers

Minnesota and Vermont declared some food workers "essential personnel," giving them access to child care during working hours.

  • By Kate Elizabeth Queram

The Coronavirus Response is Straining an Already Depleted Public Health System

Years of funding shortfalls have left local health departments understaffed, vacancies that become particularly glaring during a large-scale emergency, advocates say.

  • By Kate Elizabeth Queram