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Saturday, January 2, 2016
MIDWEST FLOODING
Some begin picking up pieces in Missouri Searchers still looking for five missing people, including two teens from Illinois ST. LOUIS (AP) – The worst of the dangerous, deadly winter flood is over in the St. Louis area, leaving residents of several water-logged communities to spend the first day of 2016 assessing damage, cleaning up and figuring out how to bounce back – or in some cases, where to live. Farther south, things were getting worse: Record and near-record crest predictions of the Mississippi River and levee breaks threatened homes in rural southern Missouri and Illinois. Two more levees succumbed Friday, bringing to at least 11 the number
of levee failures. The flood, fueled by more than 10 inches of rain over a 3-day period that began last weekend, is blamed for 22 deaths. Searchers were still looking for five missing people – two teenagers in Illinois, two men in Missouri and a country music singer in Oklahoma. On Friday, water from the Mississippi, Meremec and Missouri rivers was largely receding in the St. Louis area. Two major highways – Interstate 44 and Interstate 55 – reopened south of St. Louis, meaning commuters who return to work next week won’t have
hourslong detours. Some evacuees were allowed to return home. But in the far southwestern tip of Illinois, the 500 or so people living behind the Len Small levee, which protects the hamlets of Olive Branch, Hodges Park, Unity and rural homes, were urged to move to higher ground after the Mississippi began pouring over the levee. Alexander County Board Chairman Chalen Tatum said sandbagging efforts were cut off because it was simply too dangerous for the volunteers. Far more water is to come before the Sunday crest.
“It’s going to get ugly,” he said. In St. Mary, Missouri, a town of about 360 residents 50 miles south of St. Louis, neighbors and volunteers placed sandbags around homes after a small agricultural levee broke. The main culprit in the St. Louis region was the Meramac River, a relatively small Mississippi tributary. It had bombarded communities in the far southwestern reaches of the St. Louis suburbs during the week. By Friday, it was relenting, but not before some points topped the 1993 record by 4 feet.
Robert Cohen/St. Louis Post-Dispatch via AP
Hart Vernont, living in a Starling Airport Road neighborhood with all utilities turned off, adds a piece of wood to an open fire Friday as residents begin to clean up after flooding in Arnold, Missouri. Water from the Mississippi, Meremec and Missouri rivers was largely receding in the St. Louis area on Friday.
GUN CONTROL
Obama explores unilateral steps
iPhone 6s with coverage in the Middle of Anywhere.
Steps to strengthen background checks could come soon
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HONOLULU (AP) – President Barack Obama is looking for ways to keep guns out of the hands of “a dangerous few” without depending on Congress to pass a law on the fraught subject of gun control. He’s says he’ll meet his attorney general, Loretta Lynch, on Monday to see what executive actions might be possible. Steps to strengthen background checks could come this week. “The gun lobby is loud and well organized in its defense of effortlessly available guns for anyone,” Obama said in his weekly radio address. “The rest of us are going to have to be just as passionate and well organized in our defense of our kids.” He said he gets so many letters from parents, teachers and children about the “epidemic of gun violence” that he can’t “sit around and do nothing.” Obama recently directed staff at the White House to look into potential executive actions. Currently, federally licensed firearms dealers are required to seek background checks on potential firearm purchasers. But advocacy groups say
some of the people who sell firearms at gun s h ow s a re not federally licensed, Barack increasing Obama the chance of sales to customers prohibited by law from purchasing guns. A source familiar with the administration’s efforts said Obama is expected to take executive action next week that would set a “reasonable threshold” for when sellers have to seek a background check. That person didn’t know whether it would be based on the number of guns sold or revenue generated through gun sales. The source, a member of a gun control advocacy group, was not authorized to discuss details before the announcement and spoke on condition of anonymity. White House officials won’t confirm the timing. In his efforts to work around a Congress that has often been politically gridlocked, Obama has made aggressive use of executive power, particularly on immigration. It has been an increasingly effective presidential tool. And while legal scholars are divided on whether Obama has accelerated or merely continued a drift of power toward the executive branch, there’s little debate that he’s paved a path for his successor.
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