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FEMA Denies Pence's Plea For Emergency Aid

Joshua Duffy
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https://www.flickr.com/photos/joshduffyphoto/7283981926

Cities and counties around Indiana will have to recover from this summer’s storms and flooding without federal aid after FEMA Wednesday denied Governor’s Mike Pence appeal for help. 

Governor Pence in August asked FEMA to provide emergency grants to 19 counties.  The grants help pay up to 75 percent of costs incurred by local governments for road, bridge and utility repairs and building damage. 

But in September, FEMA said Indiana suffered two separate weather events, not one.  As a result, the more than $11 million in damage the state recorded was split in two…thus failing to reach the nine million dollar threshold the feds require to trigger assistance. 

Pence appealed that decision, arguing that FEMA tracked the storms as one weather system in other states.  Yet FEMA again turned down the governor, denying the appeal.  

Brandon Smith is excited to be working for public radio in Indiana. He has previously worked in public radio as a reporter and anchor in mid-Missouri for KBIA Radio out of Columbia. Prior to that, he worked for WSPY Radio in Plano, Illinois as a show host, reporter, producer and anchor. His first job in radio was in another state capitol, in Jefferson City, Missouri, as a reporter for three radio stations around Missouri. Brandon graduated from the University of Missouri-Columbia with a Bachelor of Journalism in 2010, with minors in political science and history. He was born and raised in Chicago.
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