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The US city of Miami is to invest billions of dollars to tackle its vulnerability to rising sea levels, a reality that already affects the daily lives of residents used to constant flooding.
Miami-Dade County Mayor Daniella Levine-Cava said Friday she will protect communities hardest hit by rising sea levels, which eat away at beaches and leave residents particularly vulnerable to flooding during hurricane season.
<p>"We must continue to focus on restoration, preservation and protection of this sacred space," she told a news conference.</p><p>"And so we will be together investing billions of dollars... in our infrastructure so that we can lift this community and others that are so affected by sea level rise," she added.</p><p>She cited "adaptation action areas" as a first priority to be studied, which would include raising low-lying roads, and waterproofing and converting southern Florida's widely used septic tanks into sewage systems.</p><p>The area, with extensive wetlands and sitting on porous stone that acts like a sponge, makes the state one of the most at risk from rising sea levels.</p><p>The problem is so visible that, during the summer rainy season, it is common to see Miamians kayaking along flooded avenues and cars sunk up to their windows.</p><p>The city of Miami Beach -- which is part of Miami-Dade County -- invested millions of dollars in raising the level of many of its streets in 2016.</p><p>And some private entrepreneurs have proposed creative, if expensive, ways to adapt to the challenge.</p><p>For example, Miami residents are used to seeing a houseboat that often docks near the port, although it has also appeared in other waters around Biscayne Bay.</p><p>It is valued at $5.5 million and adjusts to rising sea levels.</p><p>"It looks like a house, but technically it's a boat," said Nicolas Derouin, co-founder and managing director of Arkup, the Miami-based company that created this floating "villa" with a drop-down terrace over the sea.</p><p>The house, covered with a roof of solar panels, remains stable thanks to four hydraulic pillars that fix it to an underwater bed.</p><p>The Environmental Protection Agency says the sea level could rise by 30am to 120 cm over the coming century.</p><p>© 2021 AFP</p>
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President Joe Biden on Friday toured relief efforts in Houston after an unusually severe winter storm pummeled Texas, driving the state's power grid to the brink of collapse.
"Hell of an operation here. It's probably the best one in the country," Biden told staff at the Emergency Operations Center in Houston. "You're saving people's lives. As my mother would say, you're doing God's work."
<p>Biden, accompanied by his wife Jill, was visiting for the first time since a prolonged freeze plunged Texas into chaos, with the power grid unable to keep up and Texans, far more used to heat than cold, struggling to survive.</p><p>Millions in the solidly Republican state lost power and reliable water. Mark Sloan, emergency management coordinator for Harris County, said "57,000 residents still have to boil their water" for safety. </p><p>Biden and the first lady also stopped at the giant Houston Food Bank, which serves more than a million people across south-east Texas.</p><p>Jill Biden helped pack boxes with instant oats and canned peaches, saying: "We're here to help, so put us to work!"</p><p>The president was later to visit a federal Covid-19 vaccination center to promote the government's bid to speed up a national vaccine rollout against the pandemic. The center is able to administer 6,000 shots a day.</p>
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Capitol rioter renounces militia membership -- now says she went to the Capitol only to maintain 'law and order'
February 26, 2021
A member of the Oath Keepers militia group who law enforcement says was training to storm the U.S. Capitol for at least two years, spoke out publicly for the first time in a courtroom this Friday, the Daily Beast reports.
Jessica Watkins says she plans to leave the far-right group, saying that her fellow Oath Keepers "have kind of turned my stomach against it."
<p>"We're done with that lifestyle ... I did it out of love for my country but it's time to let all of that go," she said at the hearing that will determine if she'll remain free on bond until her trial. </p><p>Watkins, a 38-year-old Army vet, "is among several Oath Keepers who have been charged with conspiring and recruiting others to storm the Capitol on Jan. 6 as Congress met to certify President-elect Joe Biden's electoral victory. She pleaded not guilty during Friday's detention hearing," reports the Daily Beast. </p><p>Prosecutors argued that Watkins' loyalty to the Oath Keepers was reason enough to keep her jailed until her trial, but she's not insisting that she doesn't want to be affiliated with the group. Watkins also promised to stay away from social media if released. Her lawyers argued that she's a trained media and only went to the Capitol on Jan. 6 to help maintain "law and order." </p><p>Read the full report over at <a href="https://www.thedailybeast.com/jessica-watkins-claims-shes-no-longer-an-oath-keeper-in-detention-hearing?source=articles&via=rss" target="_blank">The Daily Beast</a>. </p>
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