Harry Reid will challenge the ability of Republicans to hold out on disaster relief spending against the wishes of GOP Governors and representatives in the region affected by Hurricane Irene, by introducing a $6 billion bill without offsets to replenish FEMA accounts for fiscal year 2012. The Senate action would replenish depleted accounts at the [...]

The White House has requested $5.2 billion in disaster relief funds, a number that does not include damages caused by Hurricane Irene last week. Because of a provision tucked into the debt limit deal, Congress can go beyong the self-imposed spending cap by up to $11 billion for disaster relief, without offsets. So far, they [...]

The fight over whether to offset emergency spending on disaster relief, as Eric Cantor wants, could end up being the most interesting upcoming battle in Congress. The lines aren’t drawn in an entirely partisan way on this one. In particular, Republican Governors in the states affected want to see that disaster relief, and don’t care [...]

There’s an economic theory that breaking windows is likely to provide a short-term boost to the economy, because the windows will have to be replaced, adding to window manufacturing and shipping and sales. Some are trying to associate that theory to Hurricane Irene, saying that in the long run, the economy will benefit from cleanup [...]

The hurricane which became tropical storm Irene ended up doing more damage with its precipitation than it did with its winds. In parts of the East Coast, August was already the rainiest month on record prior to the storm. So the waterways were swelled and more prone to flooding. Apparently Vermont got some of the [...]

The best-case scenario for Hurricane Earl was that it would move out to sea and only affect the eastern seaboard with rip currents and maybe a slight sprinkling of rain. But the storm appears to have pushed enough to the west to now threaten parts of the East Coast with much more than that. As [...]

As predicted by meteorologists, Hurricane Earl, now at Category 4 strength, has now turned north and west from Puerto Rico and remains on track to slam into the Eastern seaboard. It could increase in wind speed over the open Atlantic, which means it could be a pretty large storm by the time it reaches the [...]

Maybe I’m just sensitive because I worked on the show whose video you see above (I didn’t edit the NYC hurricane episode you see above, but some other episodes). But the trajectory of the hypothetical storm “off the coast of Florida” which “turned and headed north overnight,” touching down in Manhattan on a “sunny September [...]

It’s time to start calling the “worst-case scenario” in the BP oil disaster “the scenario”. The Coast Guard says BP has been forced to remove a cap that was containing some of the oil gushing into the Gulf of Mexico. Coast Guard Adm. Thad Allen says an underwater robot bumped into the venting system. That [...]

He’s going to the show. Kevin Costner hopes his invention can make the oil spill saga have a Hollywood ending. The “Field of Dreams” actor called his oil separator a “life preserver,” saying that his device can help clean up the Gulf and that it’s not too late to put it into action. Costner told [...]

President Obama pledged $100 million dollars in the first round of relief for the earthquake-ravaged nation of Haiti. And they are not alone. Text-message donations have grown to over $2 million dollars, the biggest such campaign of its kind (texting “Haiti” to the number 90999 donates $10 to the Red Cross; it shows up on [...]