On Thursday a 12-person council — which includes Governor Greg Abbott — recommended sweeping changes to the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA).
If enacted FEMA would be scale down the federal government’s role and financial obligations after a natural disaster — like a hurricane, tornados, wildfires or an earthquake.
Taken together, the recommendations would put more responsibility on states and local governments.
Critics of the effort say this change will make it more difficult for communities to recover after a natural disaster.
Guest: Antonieta Cádiz Vargas is the Executive Director of Climate Power En Acción.
Mail access to the abortion pill
The U.S. Supreme Court has restored nationwide access by mail to Mifepristone until Monday May 11. This came after the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals last week blocked mail delivery of Mifepristone and required in-person dispensing nationwide.
This is the latest round in the fight over abortion access in the nation.
Nourbese Flint is the president of All Above All a national abortion-rights and reproductive justice advocacy organization based in Washington, D.C.
Compassionate release
The Texas prison system has a compassionate release program called MRIS “Medically Recommended Intensive Supervision” that can release inmates who are so sick, disabled, or near death that continued imprisonment may no longer serve a meaningful public-safety or punishment purpose.
But an examination of the Texas MRIS program by the Texas Civil Rights Program finds it underused and calls the program a “failure.”
The new report, The State of Texas’s “Uncompassionate Release” Program and the Case for Utilizing MRIS to Release People with Complex Needs from Prison, exposes major failures in Texas’ Medically Recommended Intensive Supervision program. The report makes recommendations for policy and administrative changes the Texas Department of Criminal Justice should make to ensure elderly and medically vulnerable people are treated with dignity.
Guest: Kirsten Budwine is an attorney with the Texas Civil Rights Project.
Ocean Desal Concerns
Texas is indeed running out of water. Climate change, ongoing droughts, residential growth and the development of data centers along with other industrial users means Texas needs to find more water. Many are looking at the Gulf of Mexico and planning for massive ocean desalinization projects.
Ocean desal can provide millions of gallons of water each day but at what cost? To the environment and also who pays?
Guest: Evgenia Spears is the Water Program Coordinator with the Sierra Club Lone Star Chapter.
