As wildfires erupted in Southern California, so did a years-long feud between incoming president Donald Trump and Gov. Gavin Newsom.

On the campaign trail, Trump repeatedly threatened to cut off disaster funding for California.

He stopped short of that on Wednesday, but in a social media post, he called Newsom “Newscum” and blamed his water policies for the three fires that have destroyed hundreds of homes, killed at least five people and displaced tens of thousands of Californians. Due to environmental regulations, he said, not enough water has reached Southern California and fire hydrants went dry as a result.

“Now the ultimate price is being paid,” he said. “I will demand that this incompetent governor allow beautiful, clean fresh water to FLOW INTO CALIFORNIA. He is to blame for this.”

The Newsom administration called Trump’s post “pure fiction.” Climate and wildfire specialists say eight months of drought — and blowing embers driven by Santa Ana winds gusting as high as 75 mph — are to blame.

“You’ll never have enough water to put out a Santa Ana fire,” said Zeke Lunder, a California wildfire expert who’s been tracking and mapping the fires’ progress.

The bigger question looming over California is whether Trump’s feud with Newsom will cause him to act on his promise to cut federal disaster aid to the state when he takes office on Jan. 20.

On the campaign trail last year, Trump vowed that “we won’t give (Newsom) money to put out all his fires” unless the Democratic governor agreed to divert more water to California farmers. Two former Trump administration officials later told Politico that Trump initially withheld approval for disaster aid for California’s deadly 2018 wildfires, until aides showed him that many of the residents of the affected areas had voted for him.

A president can slow down the process of approving aid, or not declare a disaster, a decision critical to a state receiving federal relief funding. A 2021 federal report found that the Trump administration delayed $20 billion in disaster aid to Puerto Rico after Hurricane Maria in 2017.

Federal funding typically pays for around 75% of the costs of rebuilding public infrastructure such as roads, sewers, water systems, parks and fire stations, officials say. That means California would have to come up with billions of dollars in additional money after major disasters if Trump follows through on his campaign rhetoric.

Federal disaster funds also help those who’ve lost their homes find temporary living quarters. Federal programs can help with home-rebuilding costs not covered by private insurance. 

-- CalMatters

NOPD chief refuses to answer questions about how terrorist attack could have been prevented

NEW ORLEANS – In the wake of a deadly New Year’s terrorist attack, New Orleans’ police chief refused to answer questions about the city’s security measures during a city council hearing Wednesday, citing an ongoing state investigation.

The hearing came amid increased scrutiny over whether the city officials could have done more to block access to Bourbon Street, where Shamsud-Din Jabbar killed 14 people and injured 37 more before police fatally shot him.  

“There will be a time and a place for reflection on our actions,” NOPD Superintendent Anne Kirkpatrick said. “That is not today.”

Kirkpatrick also said she would not resign, acknowledging some critics in the community who have called on her to step down.

What few questions the chief did field led to some testy exchanges with council members, who said they were interested in what measures were being taken ahead of the upcoming Super Bowl and Mardi Gras.

Rick Hathaway, the city’s public works director, confirmed to the council that his department maintains the traffic bollards that had been removed from Bourbon Street and, in theory, would have prevented Jabbar’s attack. 

As to where bollards and other security barriers should be placed, Hathaway and Kirkpatrick said that falls to the city’s Office of Homeland Security and Emergency Preparedness. 

Its director, Collin Arnold, and city Chief Administrative Officer Gilbert Montaño were  not at Wednesday’s council hearing. Arnold told WVUE-TV Fox 8 later Wednesday he wasn’t invited to the meeting. He said the NOPD, and not his office, is responsible for deploying barriers. 

A spokeswoman for Mayor LaToya Cantrell told the Illuminator that Arnold and Montaño were not on the agenda for the council hearing but did not respond when asked if they were invited or had conflicts that prevented them from attending.

City Councilman Oliver Thomas, who convened Wednesday’s hearing, said his staff reached out to invite Arnold and Montaño to Wednesday’s hearing. He voiced frustration that Kirkpatrick could not provide a current inventory of security barriers. 

“It seemed to me that, other than listening, the chief came before us not wanting to answer any questions,” Thomas said in an interview after the hearing. 

Councilman at large JP Morrell will launch a separate investigation Thursday into the city’s security infrastructure and assets. It will include several years of contracts that detail how much was invested in the equipment, he said. 

“It’s the time and money, too. The lost time can’t be understated,” Morrell said in an interview. “In that window, we should have been able to accomplish something better and really understand what went wrong, so that we can fix it currently [and] permanently fix it to not have that problem in the future.” 

-- Louisiana Illuminator

2024 was Vermont’s warmest year on record — again

In 2023, Vermont made headlines for having the warmest year on record, mirroring a worldwide trend full of extreme weather and hotter temperatures. 

The state has just blown past that record. 

The average annual temperature in Burlington in 2024 was 50.9 degrees — a full degree warmer than the year before, according to National Weather Service data. 

Last year’s data is part of a long-term trend of rising temperatures since the weather service began tracking the measure in the 1890s. Vermont was about 8 degrees warmer in 2024 than it was in 1924, the data shows. For context, that’s about the difference between Burlington and Philadelphia’s average temperatures this year. 

“Looking at our top 10 warmest years on record,” all of them have come “from 1998 onward,” said Matthew Clay, a meteorologist for the weather service. 

The warming trend in Vermont is consistent with international climate scientists' predictions of human-caused global warming within this century.

Several other weather service monitoring stations in Vermont with more than 20 years of reporting either hit a record in 2024 or had higher-than-normal temperatures compared with previous years. St. Johnsbury had its warmest year since 1895. Montpelier tied for its second-warmest year since reporting began in 1949. 

2024 was once again marked by extreme weather events, particularly the statewide flooding in mid-July and Northeast Kingdom flooding in late July. St. Johnsbury hit a record high in precipitation in 2024, in part, because of that late July event. 

“They ended up getting that 8 inches of rain overnight,” Clay said of the Caledonia County town. “That definitely drove their higher rainfall total. That was pretty crazy. It just sat over them all night.”

— VTDigger

In Asheville visit, HUD secretary announces $1.6 billion in aid for rebuilding post-Helene

In a visit to Western North Carolina Tuesday, the acting Secretary of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development announced a total of $1.6 billion dollars in disaster block grants for communities devastated by Hurricane Helene.

Speaking to a room full of local officials and small business owners at Mountain BizWorks in downtown Asheville, acting HUD Secretary Adrianne Todman said the money will help support local businesses, increase workforce training opportunities, rebuild infrastructure and more.

“I am happy to be here today to deliver on the president's commitment by awarding $1.4 billion to the state of North Carolina and an additional $225 million to the city and people of Asheville so that you can rebuild homes, bring back businesses and restore hope,” Todman said.

The money, part of the Community Development Block Grant program, was included in the bipartisan government funding legislation approved by Congress and signed into law by President Biden last month.

At the event, Asheville Mayor Esther Manheimer said the funding is an “important first step” toward rebuilding after Helene. She recounted the pain the city and the region have experienced in recent months.

“I kind of can't believe we're here,” Manheimer said. “I just get a little teary thinking about it — all the time we stood in the wreckage and the dark. And it's hard to believe it only happened a few months ago, that we're here today talking about this kind of funding to help us rebuild.”

The funding won’t be available immediately; there’s a lengthy process that involves action plans and public engagement. But Gov. Josh Stein, who also attended the event, said HUD is working on cutting through the red tape and that the money should be ready before the end of the year.

— Blue Ridge Public Radio

Amid a $7 million deficit to Texas’ suicide hotline, thousands of calls are abandoned monthly

Thousands of Texans in need are abandoning the state’s suicide hotline mid-call every month as call centers struggle under a $7 million funding deficit and a growing suicide rate statewide.

The 988 number — a federally mandated, state-run service that connects callers to crisis counselors — fills an essential niche in the behavioral health care system because it gives catered mental health services in an emergency where 911 might not be appropriate. The hotline has been used thousands of times in two years, but its federal funding is declining, and with a workforce shortage, the system is starting to bend under the demand.

“To be very clear, we’re doing way more work than we’ve ever been able to do,” said Jennifer Battle, supervisor of the 988 system at the Harris Center for Mental Health and IDD. “If you want us actually to meet the volume of Texas, then somebody’s got to decide to increase the resources that are made available to centers so that we can increase the number of people we serve.”

Since launching in 2022, Texas’ five centers that answer calls to the 988 suicide hotline have received more than 380,000 calls, the second highest call volume in the nation, according to the National Alliance on Mental Illness Texas. One-third of them occurred from January to June of this year.

Currently, less than 85% of calls in Texas are answered in-state, with some 200 other centers across the nation serving as backup. Although much improved from the 40% in-state answer rate in 2021, the year before the state’s crisis hotline was integrated into the federally-mandated 988 hotline, Texas’ latest rate falls short of the 90% standard set by the national 988 administrator Vibrant Emotional Health.

The more a caller is transferred in and out of state, the more likely he or she will hang up before reaching a crisis counselor. Between January and August, 18,500 calls to Texas’ 988 system were abandoned. In August, the most recent data available through the 988 website, more than 12% — or 2,446 — of received 988 calls in the state were abandoned, tying Texas with Tennessee for the fifth highest rate in the nation.

Across the five Texas call centers, 166 staff members are responsible for responding to 988 calls, texts and chats through the 988 website. In May, this equated to an average of 95 calls per person with most calls lasting about 15 minutes, according to the mental health alliance.

To fully implement the text and chat component into the state’s 988, the state would need to at least double the number of crisis counselors across the entire system. It also needs an additional $7 million — the projected cost in 2023 to operate the state’s five call centers was $21 million, but the state only allocated $14 million in fiscal year 2024, according to the mental health alliance.

-- Texas Tribune

State news by MultiState

• Idaho – Gov. Brad Little (R) delivers his annual State of the State and Budget address Monday, the opening day of the legislature. Republicans again have supermajorities in both chambers and are expected to focus this year on school voucher legislation, repealing Medicaid expansion, immigration, and reducing or eliminating taxes on groceries. Read more.
• Illinois – Lawmakers reconvened Saturday for a four-day lame-duck session amid a major snowstorm in Springfield. Any bill from the 2023-24 session not yet sent to the governor's desk can be brought up for a vote this week before the 2025-26 General Assembly is sworn in at noon on Wednesday. Read more.
• Kentucky – The 2025 session of the General Assembly opens on Tuesday. Lawmakers will be in Frankfort for four days this week, then depart for a four-week break. The House and Senate return to work Feb. 4 for the bulk of the session through March 14. Read more.
• Mississippi – Session kicks off Tuesday with tax cuts expected to be a priority for Republicans. House Speaker Jason White (R) proposed lowering the grocery tax and eliminating the income tax and supports making another push for Medicaid expansion. Voting rights for felons, judicial and legislative redistricting, school choice, certificate of need laws for health facilities, and restoration of the ballot initiative are also expected to be among the issues debated this session. Read more.
• Montana – Lawmakers convened on Monday to begin the legislative session in Helena. Republicans have lost their supermajority, but still have a substantial majority and are expected to pursue property tax relief and judicial reform, and could consider reauthorizing Medicaid expansion that is scheduled to sunset. Read more.
• North Dakota – The session begins Tuesday, with Gov. Kelly Armstrong (R) expected to deliver his State of the State address. House members have until Jan. 20 to introduce bills, while Senators have until the 27th, and over 1,000 bills have already been filed. Read more.
• Pennsylvania – The General Assembly convenes its 2025-26 session on Tuesday. Both chambers should look nearly unchanged from last year, with Democrats holding a narrow, 1-seat edge in the House and Republicans in control of the Senate, with the same leaders and the Democratic Gov. Josh Shapiro running the executive branch. Read more.
• Rhode Island – Lawmakers face a $330 million budget deficit as they begin the legislative session on Tuesday in Providence. An assault weapons ban, increasing state reimbursement rates for primary care providers, and easing licensing laws to make it easier for doctors from other countries to practice are among the legislative priorities for Senate President Dominick Ruggerio (D), who fended off a leadership challenge from Sen. Ryan Pearson (D). Read more.
• Virginia – Special elections will be held Tuesday to fill two vacant Senate seats and a vacant seat in the House of Delegates. Partisan control in both houses rides on the outcome of the two races, as Democrats hold a two-seat edge in both General Assembly chambers, which kicks off its 2025 session the following day on Wednesday. Read more.
• West Virginia – Gov. Jim Justice (R) missed his swearing-in ceremony in the U.S. Senate on Friday and will remain governor for one more week. Justice will take the oath and join his new colleagues in Washington, D.C. once his successor as governor is sworn in on January 13, thus avoiding a situation where the lieutenant governor would serve as governor for 10 days. Read more.
• Wisconsin – The session kicked off on Monday with a slimmer Republican majority in both chambers following redistricting. Republicans have threatened they will not pass a budget without tax cuts using the $4 billion budget surplus. School funding, requiring medical marijuana to be sold in state-run dispensaries, gun safety, PFAS contamination cleanup, and government efficiency are expected to be priority topics this year. Read more.