The Paper Trail: October 15, 2024

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Announcements

Understanding Agency Objections: From Deliberative Process to Legislative Purpose: POGO’s virtual training on how to deal with an agency declining to cooperate with a congressional request will be held Friday, October 18 at 12 noon EDT. This event is only open to staff in Congress, GAO, and CRS. Register HERE.

The Paper Trail

Top stories for October 15, 2024

FEMA maps missed parts of North Carolina devastated by Hurricane Helene, Post analysis shows: FEMA’s flood maps, which are used to signal areas vulnerable to inundation, vastly underestimated the flood risk faced by properties in the parts of North Carolina devastated by Hurricane Helene. (Kevin Crowe, Shannon Osaka, and John Muyskens, Washington Post)

IV fluid shortage due to hurricane prompts hospitals to postpone surgeries: Flooding of the Baxter International manufacturing plant in North Carolina prompted the FDA to declare a shortage of IV fluid products. As a result, hospitals around the country are postponing elective surgeries and implementing protocols to conserve IV fluids. (Fenit Nirappil and Rachel Roubein, Washington Post)

How climate disasters are making mobile homes a huge risk: Hurricanes Helene and Milton exposed the risks climate change poses to the 16 million Americans who live in mobile or manufactured homes, who are three times as likely to live in poverty as those who live in traditional housing and are more likely to be older and disabled. (Hilary Howard and Christopher Flavelle, New York Times)

Meteorologists face harassment and death threats amid hurricane disinformation: Amid the conspiracy theories and falsehoods that have spiraled online after Hurricanes Helene and Milton, meteorologists say attacks and threats directed at them have reached new heights. (Kate Selig, New York Times)

🔎 See Also: North Carolina authorities arrest armed man after threats against FEMA workers (Brianna Sacks and Dan Lamothe, Washington Post)

Tribal college campuses are falling apart. The U.S. hasn’t fulfilled its promise to fund the schools: In the 1970s, Congress made a commitment to fund a higher education system for Indigenous communities. But a $250 million annual shortfall has led to crimped budgets and crumbling buildings, even as enrollment rises. (Matt Krupnick, ProPublica)

Israel-Hamas War

Biden sends antimissile system and 100 troops to Israel, deepening U.S. role: The deployment of one of the U.S.’s most advanced missile defense systems adds to the more than 50,000 tons of armaments and military equipment it has sent to Israel since the start of the war. (John Hudson and Dan Lamothe, Washington Post)

Russia-Ukraine War

Russian oil flows through western “price cap" as shadow fleet grows: A plan hatched by Western nations to deprive Russia of oil revenue is largely faltering, with nearly 70% of the Kremlin’s seaborne oil exports evading restrictions via a fleet of “shadow tankers.” (Alan Rappeport, New York Times)

Defense and Veterans Affairs

Trump tested the limits on using the military at home. If elected again, he plans to go further: While presidential administrations of both parties have long used military resources at the border, Donald Trump’s plans would be a striking escalation of the military’s involvement in domestic affairs. Republicans in Congress are largely on board with these plans, which include weeding out military officers who are ideologically opposed to Trump. (Stephen Groves, Associated Press)

Mystery drones swarmed a U.S. military base for 17 days. The Pentagon is stumped: Defense officials don’t know who’s behind the drone fleets that have flown unhindered over sensitive national security sites over the past year, or how to stop them. Federal law prohibits the military from shooting down drones near military bases in the U.S. unless they pose an imminent threat. (Gordon Lubold, Lara Seligman, and Aruna Viswanatha, Wall Street Journal)

Future of proposed mental health program for pregnant troops in limbo as lawmakers, Pentagon disagree: The Pentagon opposes a proposed pilot program to give pregnant service members and dependents specialized mental health care, even though the GAO found service members face mental health issues during the perinatal period at a higher rate than civilians. (Rebecca Kheel, Military.com)

Plans for multiple VA medical clinics remain stalled despite funding: Getting 15 new VA medical locations up and running remains sidelined more than two years after their approval because of problems with cost estimates and bureaucratic indecision. (Leo Shane III, Military Times)

Tech

Helene’s aftermath opens new chance — and controversy — for Musk’s Starlink: The kerfuffle over Elon Musk’s satellite company Starlink underscores the federal government’s growing reliance on Musk, even as the tech billionaire’s political activities have come under fire. (Eva Dou and Cristiano Lima-Strong, Washington Post)

Attack simulator reveals oversight in AI image recognition tools and mitigation for cyber threat: Researchers found that a fundamental flaw in AI image recognition technology poses a significant risk to road safety, telehealth, and medical imaging. (Ari Castañeda, Tech Xplore)

Infrastructure

What happens when EV charging stations pop up next door: Worries about charging are one of the main reasons drivers say they’re not ready to go electric. One of the biggest challenges for building more charging stations is that they tend to lose money. (Nicolás Rivero, Washington Post)

Health Care

HHS to crack down on providers blocking access to electronic medical records: HHS in recent years has received more than a thousand claims of blocked or stymied access to electronic health record information. (Edward Graham, Nextgov/FCW)

Russia’s latest target in Africa: U.S.-funded anti-malaria programs: A pro-Russian disinformation operation is targeting U.S.-funded health care programs in Africa, with the apparent aim of undermining public trust in the West. (Elian Peltier, New York Times)

How “green” inhalers could evade Biden’s drug pricing legacy: The Biden administration’s victories over Big Pharma — reforming Medicare to lower prices and capping inhaler costs for millions of Americans with lung disease — are facing an unlikely threat: drug companies going green. (Ariel Wittenberg, Politico)

COVID-19

Kids and teens who get COVID more prone to diabetes, study finds: New research found children and teenagers infected with COVID are significantly more likely to develop Type 2 diabetes than their peers afflicted with other respiratory illnesses. (Sabrina Malhi, Washington Post)

ICYMI

Immigration and Border Security:

→ 30% of the cameras in Border Patrol’s main surveillance system are broken, memo says

→ What a crackdown on immigration could mean for cheap milk

→ U.S. law entitles immigrant children to an education. Some conservatives say that should change

→ Migrant deaths in New Mexico have increased tenfold

Other News:

→ Eight years ago, Trump vowed to “drain the swamp.” Now he swims in it

→ Survivors, relatives of dead in Maine’s worst mass shooting take first step toward suing the Army

→ Massive meat recall includes hundreds of products sold at Walmart, Target, Trader Joe’s

→ Fisher-Price recalls 2 million “Snuga Swings” after five infant deaths