Grumpy Editor

Editors should note FEMA aid denial to 5 Illinois counties

Editors in hurricane, earthquake, tornado and flood-prone areas should be concerned about how five southern Illinois counties and especially Harrisburg, Ill, recently smacked by a 170-mph twister that damaged or destroyed hundreds of homes, are being nixed for assistance by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), advises Grumpy Editor. 

The “no help” should spark editorials because the same thing could happen in the areas they serve. 

Denial of aid comes despite the stated mission of FEMA, with about 7,500 employees, that is part of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security:

“FEMA’s mission is to support our citizens and first responders to ensure that as a nation we work together to build, sustain, and improve our capability to prepare for, protect against, respond to, recover from, and mitigate all hazards.”

Denying aid means residents of the region will not be eligible for federal funds to assist in repairing or replacing damage from a mighty Feb. 29 twister.

Eric Gregg, mayor of Harrisburg, where the tornado killed seven residents, said, “I want to know how this decision was reached and why because frankly, I don't understand it.”  He estimated damage to his community at “tens of millions.” 

Gregg hoped President Barack Obama will visit southern Illinois to see the devastation first hand. 

Illinois Gov. Pat Quinn said he was “extremely disappointed that FEMA denied our request for federal assistance that is needed to help people in Harrisburg, Ridgway and the other communities.  After personally surveying the damage and talking to many residents who lost their homes, I firmly believe federal assistance is crucial to help them begin the recovery process." 

The governor hoped to get the FEMA decision appealed.

A FEMA spokesman said agency officials determined assistance from state and local agencies, combined with volunteer groups and private insurance, would be enough for the five counties to rebuild on their own.

 

Casey Anthony trial tops Bing’s 2011 most searched list

Already, one month before year’s end, and a Bing top 10 list of most searched news stories for 2011 is the first out of the chute, notes Grumpy Editor. 

Search engine Bing, from Microsoft Corp., tallied news items on high profile trials of Casey Anthony (tops on the list) and Michael Jackson/Dr. Conrad Murray (No. 7) as among those getting the most attention. 

Also sought by inquisitive minds were natural disasters Hurricane Irene (No. 3), Japan’s earthquake and tsunami (No. 4) and the Joplin tornado (No. 6). 

Remembrances ranking high included the 9/11 10-year anniversary (No. 8) and the one-year anniversary of the Haiti earthquake (No. 10). 

How they stacked up for Bing searchers: 

• Casey Anthony trial
• Osama bin Laden death
• Hurricane Irene
• Japan earthquake/tsunami
• Amy Winehouse death
• Joplin tornado
• Michael Jackson/Dr. Conrad Murray trial
• 9/11 10-year anniversary
• Republican candidates Herman Cain, Rick Perry
• Haiti anniversary 

Interestingly, nothing connected to Congress, jobs, taxes, economy or unusual stock market gyrations made the top 10.

 

AP mixes earthquakes, wildfires with global warming

With an unusual amount of extreme weather this year --- including hurricanes, tropical storms, tornadoes, blizzards, heat and drought --- it wasn’t a surprise to see an Associated Press story on nature’s fury appear over the weekend that suggested recent meteorological events were linked to global warming, notes Grumpy Editor. 

And to complete nature’s action so far in 2011, writer Seth Borenstein worked into the story’s second paragraph non-meteorological-related recent Virginia, Colorado and Alaska earthquakes plus record wildfires in Arizona and New Mexico. 

The story cited Germany-based insurance company Munich Re tallied 98 natural disasters in the U.S. in this year’s first half, “about double the average in the 1990s” --- without indicating how many were related to weather. 

Nevertheless, recent “weather catastrophes” gave the writer an opportunity to compose this Las Vegas-style line: 

“Man-made global warming is increasing the odds of getting a bad roll of the dice." 

In summarizing what climate scientists said, toward the end of the text the writer mentioned, “Individual weather disasters so far can’t be directly attributed to global warming, but”… 

Thus, the global warming saga continues.

 

Joplin receives promises but scant rebuilding details

While the devastation by a massive tornado at Joplin is getting much coverage, little has been reported on aid --- financial and other --- from the Missouri city of 50,000, nine days after the twister struck and even after a Sunday visit by President Barack Obama, notes Grumpy Editor. 

About 8,000 homes and business are destroyed or damaged. 

Many soothing statements and promises from officials are reported, but much concrete information on getting Joplin back on track is missing.  Print and broadcast media should ask more questions starting with when and how.

Associated Press quotes President Obama, after touring the smashed area, vowing, “We’re not going to stop ‘til Joplin’s back on its feet.”  The New York Times reports Obama declaring, “The cameras may leave.  The spotlight may shift.  But we will be with you every step of the way until Joplin is restored.” 

Nice words.  But missing are details on a battleplan pointing the way on how Joplin gets back on its feet and is restored soonest. 

Closest to indicating financial help is a Wall Street Journal story last Thursday that mentions the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) “opened a mobile disaster recovery center in Joplin on Wednesday to assist tornado-tossed residents with requests for federal aid.”

Unlike hefty grants or billions in foreign aid, however, is that filling out FEMA paper work may lead to low-interest loans up to $200,000 to homeowners for repair or replacement of property.

Not much is being said about assistance to Joplin businesses.

Other than St. John’s Hospital, badly damaged by the tornado, storm-hit businesses in the city get scant coverage.

Over the weekend, St. John’s --- in action reminiscent of M*A*S*H, the 1972-1983 CBS-TV series about Army medics in a field hospital during the Korean War --- set up a temporary medical facility close to its badly damaged 10-story building.

Other research by Grumpy Editor finds the twister closed:

• Three Wendy’s/Arby’s Group restaurants.
• Two Walgreens stores.
• A McDonald’s restaurant.
• A Wal-Mart store with a lost roof.
• Two Commerce Bank offices.
• A Home Depot store.

Meanwhile, a General Mills plant experienced minor damage.

On the prompt progress side, a destroyed hair salon structure is being rebuilt, framing already in place --- with work started before FEMA came on the scene.

 

Despite tornado, Joplin Globe presses roll only hour late

Overlooked in national print and broadcast news coverage following the mammoth deadly tornado that smacked Joplin, Mo., late Sunday afternoon were the stellar efforts by the city’s daily newspaper and its staffers who managed to produce the Monday morning edition that rolled off presses only about an hour late, notes Grumpy Editor.

While the building housing the Joplin Globe came through unscathed, homes of at least 26 Globe employees --- out of 117 --- were heavily damaged or destroyed. 

The Globe is among 86 daily newspapers owned by Community Newspaper Holdings Inc. (CNHI), Birmingham, Ala. 

A story in the Corsicana (Texas) Daily Sun, a sister publication, noted:  “Moments after a deadly tornado slammed into Joplin, Mo., the staff of the local newspaper went to work, taking photos and collecting stories from a community turned into a war zone.”

Joplin Globe publisher Michael Beatty said employees --- including journalists, production crews, pressmen, circulation staff and managers --- began reporting for work minutes after the tornado hit, then remade Monday morning's edition.  Eighty one of 91 carrier contractors showed up to deliver the newspaper, he added.

Beatty said focus of the staffers “was just to get the news out for the people, in print and online, so that they would have the information they needed about where to go and what to do."

Corsicana Daily Sun editor Bob Belcher told Grumpy Editor the Globe has “a very active Facebook and online presence” and that CNHI sent relief crews to assist with coverage.

The Joplin Globe since 2002 has been owned by CNHI which, along with the 86 dailies, also operates 46 non-dailies, specialty publications and four television stations.

Old timers recalled the Globe made national news in 1933 when it obtained a camera left behind by the notorious bank-robbing couple Bonnie and Clyde, following a shoot-out with police.  The developed film produced the famous shots of Bonnie holding Clyde at mock gunpoint and another showing Bonnie’s foot on their car’s fender, pistol in hand and cigar in mouth.   

 

With Joplin in wreckage, Obama seeks roots in Ireland

After a monster tornado sliced through Joplin, Mo. Sunday night, leaving three fourths of the city of 50,000 in rubble, thousands of those affected were eagerly awaiting word of prompt federal assistance, notes Grumpy Editor. 

As the Joplin death toll yesterday passed the 100 mark, President Barack Obama was monitoring the situation --- from the tiny village of Moneygall in Ireland where he sought information on family roots, part of a week-long tour of Europe. 

Only reference to possible federal aid to Joplin, 160 miles south of Kansas City, was found in an Associated Press story reporting the president said the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) was working with state and local agencies. 

But there were no reports Monday that FEMA, with more than 3,700 full-time employees, had promptly dispatched a team to the Joplin disaster site where the massive twister sliced a path a half-mile wide and six miles long, smacking homes, businesses, churches, schools and a 10-story hospital. 

However, FEMA released a news release yesterday that mentioned, “At the president's request, FEMA Administrator Craig Fugate will travel to Missouri to ensure that the state has all the support it needs, and today FEMA Deputy Administrator Rich Serino will also travel to Joplin to tour the damages and meet with state and local officials.” 

Other killer twisters Sunday hit Kansas and Minnesota.

Today from London, Obama said he will visit Joplin on Sunday, one week after the massive tornado struck.