Flooding Continues in South and Midwest, Prompting Deployment of National Guard

Parts of the Midwest and the South are still underwater, and flooding is expected to worsen over the next week. In Mississippi, flood water now covers over 860 square miles, an area larger than the cities of Los Angeles and New York combined. The Army Corps of Engineers noted that the flood is likely to become the longest on record for the Mississippi River, surpassing a 1973 flood that lasted 225 days. "The current flood fight is historic and unprecedented," said the Corps in a statement. Further west in Oklahoma and Arkansas, massive thunderstorms have caused water to reach historic levels and overwhelm antiquated floodgates around central dams. Tulsa, Oklahoma, Mayor G.T. Bynum is not expecting a break any time soon. "We are planning for and preparing for the flood of record, and we think everybody along the Arkansas River corridor ought to be doing the same,” Bynum said, adding that residents should “prepare for the worst-case scenario that we've had in the history of the city.” In Kansas, where nearly half of counties are included in the state’s disaster declaration, and Missouri, where tornadoes also struck this week, the governors have activated the National Guard and requested help from the federal government. Kansas Gov. Laura Kelly has asked for federal funding to support emergency shelters and rescue personnel. In a statement, Kelly said, "as we work with impacted communities, I want to ensure that every resource is being brought to bear to assist local emergency personnel so we can keep people safe and limit damage to property.”  [Omaha World-Herald; Axios; NBC; Kansas City Star]

IOWA JOBS | The ledger of state employees in Iowa is shrinking, with nearly 3,000 jobs lost through layoffs, early retirements, and outsourcing since 2011, representing a roughly 18% drop in the overall number of people employed by the state. Iowa department heads claim that workforce shrinkage is a positive trend in tough economic times. But in the Department of Corrections, employees claim that losing almost 400 staff members has been dangerous for those who remain in overcrowded prisons. “A lot of assaults in prison are happening because we don’t have enough people watching out. The same thing is happening on the wards of our mental health institutes. State government has been cut to the bone,” said Danny Homan, the head of Iowa’s largest employee union. Other departments have a more positive outlook. Iowa’s Homeland Security and Emergency Management Department saw a 59% drop in staffing since 2011, and though the state is now struggling with flooding, the department’s chief of staff, John Benson, is appreciative of his remaining staff. “The one good benefit we’ve got is that a lot of the staff has been around since the flooding of 2008, so we’re far more efficient,” Benson said. [Des Moines Register]

SEATTLE McMANSIONS | A city councilor in Seattle is proposing legislation that would make it easier to build in-law suites, and more difficult to build giant, freestanding homes, sometimes referred to as “McMansions.” If the ban had been imposed in 2010, it would have blocked almost half of all new single-family home construction over the past nine years, which councilmember Mike O’Brien said illustrated the problem. “The numbers really tell the story…when people are building new houses, they’re building these huge structures a lot larger than the typical structure. That reinforces the urgency around this policy,” O’Brien said. O’Brien instead hopes to encourage residents to build smaller adjoining units and basement apartments as a way to add housing density to the city without causing major developments. But Keith Hammer, a developer, has voiced concerns. “In some neighborhoods, the status quo is a larger house. I’ve been building 3,000- to 3,500-square-foot houses…I wouldn’t be able to do that anymore and that product would no longer be available to the public,” he said. Another developer, Sam Lai, is more optimistic. “The outcome is probably going to be more units being built and less square footage per occupant, which would be great from an environmental perspective,” he said. [Seattle Times; KING 5 News]

TEXAS PLUMBERS | Lawmakers in Texas voted to eliminate state regulations of plumbers and the Texas State Board of Plumbing Examiners, which certifies plumbers, prompting outcry over potential safety hazards. Roger Wakefield, a 40-year veteran of the industry, said that now anyone can claim to be a plumber without proper training. "We're going to put the safety of the homeowners and the public of Texas in jeopardy. Plumbers install medical gas, they install the potable drinking water that we have every day. If they're not doing it right, people's safety is at risk,” he said. But supporters of the measure say it will make becoming a plumber easier, which may put a dent in the shortage of plumbers that the state has faced since Hurricane Harvey struck in 2017. Some legislators noted that many cities already have local plumbing codes that they could build off of in the absence of state-wide licensing requirements, but plumbers are now pleading with Gov. Greg Abbott to call a special session of the legislature to prevent the measure from taking effect on September 1, 2020. [KWTX; Texas Tribune]

AMISH PHOTOGRAPHS | An Amish couple from southern Indiana sued the government last year in order to avoid submitting photographs of themselves for the U.S. citizenship process. The woman, who is Canadian and is named only as Jane Doe, had applied to become a naturalized citizen, but would not allow her photograph to be taken because of an Old Order Amish tenant that prohibits the practice. In settling the suit, the woman agreed to submit fingerprints and other biometric information instead. Michael H. Sampson, the couple’s attorney, hopes that the suit will set a new precedent for religious tolerance from government officials, particularly for the Amish community. "My clients, their community, they are adverse to any form of litigation. They never wanted to go through this. The hope is that in the future, Old Order Amish will not have to go through the painful process [the couple] had to here,” Sampson said. [Associated Press; Indianapolis Star]