Public Safety
Covering topics such as corrections, criminal justice, emergency management, gun control and police/fire/EMS.
New legislation would shield officers from prosecution for acts taken in the line of duty. Critics say no one should be unaccountable.
Due to a series of atmospheric river storms in 2022, several levees broke along Sacramento County’s Cosumnes River, causing three deaths. The levee repairs were completed last year.
Jails across the state have seen their first reduction in deaths in seven years. But investigations of the 63 deaths revealed supervision failures in more than a third of them.
As concerns rise about crime and safety, Democratic leaders have been shifting to the right when it comes to criminal justice policies. Last month, 11 percent of Californians identified crime and drugs as the top issue.
It’s not only because of increasingly common and costly natural disasters. Can other states learn from Florida’s experiences and its lawmakers’ efforts to cope with the problem?
New research finds that Native Americans are more exposed to flood risk than other groups, but Black and Asian communities are less exposed than predominantly white ones. Overall, the risk to property is much greater than depicted in official FEMA maps.
The Smokehouse Creek Fire began on Feb. 26 and grew to become the largest wildfire in state history. The wildfire burned across several counties in the Texas Panhandle, killed at least two people and destroyed hundreds of homes.
Milwaukee County has one of the nation’s highest death rates from synthetic opioids. It’s deploying millions of opioid settlement dollars to fund programs across a variety of agencies.
An audit by a federal watchdog found several instances of poor planning, misallocation of funds and a lack of workers which undercut millions of dollars of federal aid meant to keep stormwater at bay.
Kennewick, Wash., police officers were called to a single avenue more than 280 times to address a range of issues, from loitering to assaults. Officials voted to rezone the area.
Gov. Maura Healey called for a blanket pardon on Wednesday. A few contemporary governors have made far more use of their pardon power than recent predecessors.
Since 2019, the state has experienced 263 outages, each lasting an average of 160 minutes and impacting an estimated 172,000 Texans. During Texas’ deep winter freeze in 2021, there were 47 outages.
Maryland students are already allowed to carry the drug to combat opioid overdoses, which are spiking among young people. A bill would set standards and outline expectations for students.
Americans with the fewest resources, those with disabilities and the marginalized suffer the most after a hurricane, tornado or wildfire. We need to provide more support to our most vulnerable residents.
The city police department faced criticism for failing to publish detailed reports for such a lengthy period.
A new $1 billion fund will help Texas communities fix crumbling water infrastructure. Advocates say much more will be needed due to population growth and climate change.
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