2/ More specifically, why had the Army Corps of Engineers allotted 50 square miles to flood – but only bought 38 square miles?
3/ People live in those other 12 square miles, after all. And about 5,000 of their homes flooded during #Harvey.
4/ But do residents know they live in the middle of a reservoir? @neenareports put that question to Richard Long, from the Army Corps of Engineers. His answer:
5/ Realtor Sam Chaudhry doesn’t know he’s sold more than 50 homes that are *actually inside* a reservoir. @neenareports asks him to read a county document she found proving it:
6/ Then, she met up with Steve Costello, Houston’s “flood czar.” Here’s how that exchange went ...
7/ Costello pleads ignorance. Except here's the thing: It was actually Costello’s private engineering firm that approved plans for some of the troubled developments.
Neena brought that up, of course.
8/ They go back and forth for a bit, and Costello finally says he doesn’t want to look backward. And anyway, county governments are responsible for this mess, too.
9/ OK. Fair enough. On to the county government!
Neena caught up with Bob Hebert, the top elected official in Fort Bend County, Texas.
And she “brought receipts,” as the kids say ...
10/ Bob Hebert accused Neena and @TexasTribune of not paying attention to this issue until #Harvey hit. But, actually, @neenareports has had her eye on it for quite awhile …
13/ Since #Harvey, local officials have requested $6 Billion from Congress to buy out and demolish homes in the reservoirs. There’s no telling if it’ll ever be approved.
14/ Meanwhile, people keep buying homes in the flood zone.
15/ Like this story? Then you'll definitely like The Weekly Reveal newsletter, too.
2/ Almond growers need two honeybee colonies per acre during the height of pollination season. And California’s total almond acreage has nearly tripled in the past 20 years, a spike due in large part to foreign demand. bls.gov/opub/btn/volum…
3/ Hives have never been more valuable. The average seasonal rental price for one is $185, and that number is only expected to climb in the coming years. For beekeepers with thousands of hives, it can be quite a payday. beeculture.com/2018-almond-po…
1/ Ahead of today’s #KavanaughHearings, some, including @realdonaldtrump, asked why Dr. Christine Blasey Ford didn’t report her experience sooner.
There are a lot of reasons victims of sexual abuse don’t immediately speak up. And a lot of reporting on the subject, too.
2/ First: Context. 1 in 10 adults – 24 million people – were sexually abused before they reached 18. Yet less than 40 percent of children who are sexually abused tell anyone. And a fraction of those cases end up being reported to authorities.
3/ Reporter @tennesseejane has firsthand experience with this. It took her decades to tell police that her gymnastics coach sexually abused her as a child.
Her story is at the center of this August 2016 episode:
1/ Last year, hundreds of people were sickened by an E. coli outbreak after eating lettuce grown in Arizona. 27 suffered kidney failure. Five died.
Six months before that, Trump’s FDA had shelved rules designed to prevent this very sort of incident. revealnews.org/article/5-peop…
2/ William Whitt escaped with his life. But his sickness was harrowing. He suffered days of diarrhea and vomited blood. His body swelled like a balloon. He was given painkillers every 10 minutes.
3/ The culprit? Salad.
It turns out that leafy greens are particularly vulnerable to bacteria. And a gaping hole in the U.S. food safety system contributes to the problem. Produce growers don’t have to test the water they use on their crops.
1/ New with @marshallproj and @USAToday: In several states, crime victims can seek compensation from a public fund. But states reserve the right to deny some requests. And in Ohio and Florida, black people were banned disproportionately. revealnews.org/article/the-vi…
2/ Here’s how it works. “Victim compensation funds,” as they’re called, are designed to help crime victims pay for things like loved ones’ funerals.
But in some states, you can’t get access to the money if you have a criminal conviction.
3/ In Ohio, where the rules are particularly stringent, you can be denied for even being *suspected* of one. And unlike in other states, a denial can stem from a juvenile crime. Those records are usually expunged.