Louisiana Braces for Back-to-Back Hurricanes in Coming Days
Workers board up shops in the French Quarter of New Orleans, Sunday, Aug. 23, 2020, in advance of Hurricane Marco, expected to make landfall on the Southern Louisiana coast. AP Photo/Gerald Herbert
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STATE AND LOCAL ROUNDUP | Montana governor seeks help of judge to remove head of public land management … New York City mayor says there is no timeline for indoor dining … California governor did not take pay cut when he said he would.
Two hurricanes are expected to hit the nation's Gulf Coast this week, with forecasts showing that Louisiana is in line to bear the initial brunt of both storms. Category 1 Hurricane Marco is on track to reach the state's coastline by Monday evening, with winds of up to 75 mph. Hurricane Laura, still a tropical storm as of Sunday afternoon, is expected to follow. Forecasts indicate that Laura will have top winds of about 100 mph and that it could strike near the Louisiana-Texas border late Wednesday or early Thursday. On Sunday, there was still uncertainty about where exactly the storms would hit. "The unprecedented kind of thing here is that it's the same state within 48 hours of each other," National Weather Service meteorologist Benjamin Schott said. "In modern meteorological history ... there's never been anything like this before where you could have possibly two hurricanes hitting within miles of each other over a 48 hour period." By Sunday, with Marco looming, multiple parishes in Louisiana had issued evacuation orders. Rising water and flooding in coastal areas from the anticipated storm surge from the hurricanes is a major concern. Marco is expected to dump heavy rain on not just Louisiana, but on parts of Mississippi, Alabama and Florida as well. [nola.com, CNN, The Weather Channel]
PUBLIC LANDS | Montana Gov. Steve Bullock asked a federal judge to remove William Perry Pendley as head of the U.S. Bureau of Land Management, arguing that his posting is illegal because he was never confirmed by the Senate. As head of the bureau, Pendley has approved two land management plans that would open 95% of federal land in Montana to oil and gas development. “William Perry Pendley is breaking the law, and at stake are over 27 million acres of public lands in Montana,” Bullock said. [Associated Press]
INDOOR DINING | New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio said that the city doesn’t have a timeline for when restaurants will be able to open indoor spaces for dining again. Local restaurant owners this week demanded the city release an indoor dining plan.“We are looking at it everyday, but we have to see a lot more improvement before we consider it. There is no timeline,” de Blasio said. [Eater]
DEFUNDING POLICE | A group of Minneapolis residents sued Mayor Jacob Frey and the City Council, alleging that efforts to defund the city’s police department have lead to increased violence. The groups claim that “Minneapolis is in a crisis” and that it doesn’t have to be this way.” [Star Tribune]
PAY CUTS | An investigation by the Sacramento Bee revealed that California Gov. Gavin Newsom, who cut state workers’ pay by 10% and promised in May to cut his own pay by the same amount, did not actually cut his salary. Newsom on Wednesday asked for his pay to be reduced retroactively to July 1. [Sacramento Bee]
Bill Lucia is a senior reporter for Route Fifty. Emma Coleman is the assistant editor for Route Fifty.
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