Public Safety
Covering topics such as corrections, criminal justice, emergency management, gun control and police/fire/EMS.
Enhancements and weatherization efforts mean this year’s freezing weather did not overwhelm the state’s electric system. But policymakers face tough decisions as future load projections grow.
A working group formed three months ago to create possible emergency shelter options for the city’s unhoused population during the days of the winter months. A storm rolled across Montana this week and the group still has no plans.
A survey found that 69 percent of voters were in favor of requiring school districts to place an armed security officer in every school; 73 percent believe it would make schools safer.
The attorney general’s office would participate in regular jail audits alongside a separate group of inspectors working with the County Sheriffs of Colorado, a nonprofit organization.
The use of artificial intelligence is partly a response to an acute staffing crisis and the pressing need to address the mental health challenges that emergency responders face.
The state, under court order, reduced its prison population from about 136,000 to 92,000 over the past decade, but the percentage of people behind bars with mental illness continues to grow.
The deadly wildfires in August forced up the island’s unemployment by four percentage points to 8.4 percent in September. For the week ending Oct. 14, claims were up 217 percent from the same week a year prior.
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration officials predict that the El Nino conditions will extend the state’s current drought well into next year. Some are concerned about increased fire risk.
Vulnerable homeowners need financial help when flood, fire or dangerous winds strike. But whose job is it to provide the money?
Two months after wildfires tore across the Hawaiian island, it remains unclear whether survivors will receive unemployment payments if they’re too traumatized to work. The August wildfires killed 98 people and destroyed 2,200 structures.
Work that began as a civic hack — a part-time passion project for a group of Google engineers — is bringing corrections operations into the 21st century, helping tens of thousands move out of the system.
The Office of Independent Investigations was created to examine police use of deadly force and is the state’s first-ever attempt to erase the “thin blue line” controversy that arises when police investigate themselves.
Currently, to become a county sheriff in the state, a person only needs to live in the area where they’re seeking a four-year term and be eligible to vote. But proposed legislation would add a law enforcement or corrections experience requirement.
When a wildfire or storm strikes, the elderly die at twice or three times the rate of other age groups. There’s much that could be done to make them less vulnerable.
The people of Fort Myers Beach mostly survived. How many can afford to stay remains an open question.
More than half a dozen businesses in the northeastern part of the city were broken into this week. Police say the acts of vandalism were carried out by opportunists looking to capitalize on the dismissal charges against Mark Dial.
Most Read
