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- Who’s behind a life-threatening delay in central Texas.
- A border wall handout for a longtime MAGA ally.
- The latest firm ditching Delaware.
- Railroad barons’ dangerous push to automate inspections.
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TODAY'S NUGGETS
😓 As waters rose, FEMA responders were held back. While floodwaters surged across central Texas on Friday, July 4, officials at the Federal Emergency Management Agency were set to deploy critical lifesaving resources. But they had to wait to get expenses approved by Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, as part of her new cost-control process, in which she personally must sign off on every contract over $100,000. As a result, FEMA’s Urban Search and Rescue teams weren’t approved for deployment until Noem was back in the office on Monday, more than 72 hours after flooding began, according to CNN.
- That Sunday, nearly two-thirds of calls placed to FEMA by flood survivors went unanswered after Noem failed to renew the contracts of hundreds of agency call center employees in time, per The New York Times.
