Several members of the Texas Legislature have been appointed to a committee to investigate wildfires that ravaged the Texas Panhandle and parts of Oklahoma.

At least three state lawmakers and two local residents will be part of the committee looking into how well federal, state and local agencies coordinated their efforts and how disaster preparedness resources are allocated.

Lisa Johnson, Hemphill County judge, said as the recovery efforts continue, the area is receiving donations of hay, feed and fencing materials to help ranchers, and monetary donations to assist those who were displaced.

"We're going to keep trying to provide services and things that they need," Johnson explained. "Not just in the next few weeks, but the next few months or years as needed."

She pointed out donations can be made through the Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service in Hemphill County.

The fire scorched 2,000 square miles of land, killed at least 7,000 cattle and destroyed about 500 barns and homes. The Small Business Administration has approved Gov. Greg Abbott's disaster declaration, to make loans available in the 14 affected counties.

One focus of the legislative committee will be the state's wildfire preparedness, since it is not the first time this kind of tragedy has hit the Panhandle. Johnson noted extension agents were able to quickly mobilize assistance because of programs put into place following previous wildfires.

"That was partly based on the fires that we had previously, in 2006, and again in 2017 and 2022," Johnson outlined.

The Texas A&M Forest Service has determined power lines owned by Xcel Energy sparked the Smokehouse Creek fire. The company admitted its power lines were involved but disputed claims it was negligent in maintaining its infrastructure. Lawsuits have already been filed against the company, which now has about 120 miles of power lines to replace.


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Alabama officials have announced critical infrastructure improvements in Selma this week, paving the way for a new river walk.

The "Selma 14 Project" to reduce erosion near the city's historic train depot is now complete. About 10 years ago, city officials planned to build a river walk near the Edmund Pettus Bridge to connect the area with downtown Selma.

James Perkins, mayor of Selma, told people at the ribbon-cutting ceremony the project faced unexpected obstacles.

"During 2014, there was this idea of moving forward with a river walk," Perkins recounted. "And as that project was being conceptualized, it was determined that the river bank was not stable enough."

He pointed out funding the project was not easy for the small, rural city but with funds from the state and federal government, they were finally able to complete it a decade later. Perkins thanked the Biden Administration and the Army Corps of Engineers from the Mobile district for making the $1.7 million preservation project possible.

The project involved clearing, grading and protecting a 215-foot section of land along the Alabama River. The Army Corps of Engineers also replaced 250 feet of existing sidewalk, lighting and fencing. Perkins emphasized the work is only the beginning of a larger project.

"This is just the first phase of what we envision happening in our downtown riverbank project," Perkins added. "There's more to come."

Upcoming phases of the riverbank stabilization project will focus on the areas where some of Selma's historic buildings are literally at risk of collapsing into the river.


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By Kristi Eaton for The Daily Yonder.
Broadcast version by Freda Ross for Texas News Service Service for the Public News Service/Daily Yonder Collaboration

An unexpected volunteer, a geographic information system (GIS) mapping expert helped a rural community in Texas establish its broadband connection.

Bernie South is the GIS volunteer who mapped the data using information from the Census, school district hotpost addresses and areas of growth in the county. A former U.S. Navy electronics technician and geoscientist at Exxon Mobil, South has been retired for about a decade.

South began volunteering with Bastrop County Cares during the pandemic to vaccinate people, he said. Since the pandemic in 2020, Bastrop County Cares, a nonprofit organization, has been working to bring broadband to more individuals and families in rural Texas.

"I've been doing things for broadband - to support that," he told the Daily Yonder in a Zoom interview. "I was sort of a recognized company expert at Exxon Mobil in the use of GIS. And I kind of bring that level of expertise to this project that I've been working on."

Using the data and maps, the task force has been convening different stakeholders to identify areas of need to help develop solutions to address the broadband shortage, Bastrop County Cares Executive Director Norma Mercado told the Daily Yonder in Zoom and email interviews.

"Bernie South's expertise in data science and geospatial analysis has been instrumental in pinpointing the areas with the greatest need for broadband access in Bastrop County..." she said, "...significantly advancing the mission of Bastrop County Cares to bring people together to collaboratively tackle large community challenges and improve the conditions where our neighbors live, work, pray and play."

Using data from the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), Census data and other data sources, South provided detailed maps of where the highest need for broadband was located.

"Basically, I've been able to convert all that data together to give them a coherent picture of where the needs are, and where we need to focus the efforts. So a lot of the project has been driven by that data analysis," he said.

For example, South examined hotspots that students used during the pandemic. "That's kind of a direct indicator of where you have deficiencies in broadband coverage," he added.

Thanks to the assistance of South and others, Bastrop County Cares has been able to identify an antenna where S.O.S Communications will be able to provide broadband access to the 700-person community of McDade at a reasonable cost, Mercado said.

Debbie Bresette, the retired CEO of Bastrop County Cares and now a volunteer with the organization, said broadband will be a game-changer for the McDade community.

"They have four churches in this small town. They can hold their church services if need be, both online and in person," she told the Daily Yonder in a Zoom interview. "It means their kids can have access to better quality education. And if they have to be at home, they can do it at home. It means that the seniors in that community who are pretty far from doctors can do telehealth visits."

Bresette said the maps South has created will help the community in a multitude of ways.

"We now know where people who really struggled to make ends meet live. So we could do some small business development, help people do small business development in certain areas," she said. "We know where the majority of children under certain ages are. So we could do special programming in those communities so those kids start school ready to learn. The applications that we're using for broadband can be used for a wide variety of things."

Across the country, volunteers are helping to support efforts to bring broadband to their local communities. In Vermont, a community-based solution known as Communications Union Districts brings organizations of two or more towns together to build communication infrastructure together. Volunteers from electric co-ops have also brought supplies and line crews to the Navajo Nation.

South has not only focused on broadband-related maps but on maps related to other subjects as well. He has also mapped police calls to domestic disputes, which he said, showed a correlation between calls and economic stressors. Additionally, he has mapped rural hospital closures and the impact on low-income residents and other demographic data.

South said the biggest challenge to Bastrop County is people educating themselves as to how to think and work with a system like the one he worked with.

"That's always been the biggest challenge to me," he said. "People don't know what they don't know about what can be done."


Kristi Eaton wrote this article for The Daily Yonder.


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The Biden administration is proposing rules to protect workers from extreme heat.

The Occupational Safety and Health Administration said its proposed regulations would protect 36 million workers in outdoor and indoor settings.

Samantha Guerrero, community organizer for the Idaho Organization of Resource Councils, said protections are needed for the state's farmworkers.

"This would require worker access to clean drinking water and for access to shaded or indoor rest areas," Guerrero outlined. "And this would also allow the right to take regular rest breaks, which in Idaho law we currently don't have anything like that."

The Bureau of Labor Statistics said 479 workers died from heat exposure between 2011 and 2022 and there were more than 33,000 heat-related illnesses and injuries reported in the same time frame.

A poll from the Rural Democracy Initiative found such of protections are popular, with 77% of rural voters supporting workers right to organize for safe working conditions.

Guerrero argued it is important for the federal government to step up in this area to fill in gaps in Idaho laws.

"There are a lot of farmworkers who are in danger of losing their lives in this extreme temperatures," Guerrero observed. "So far, we have seen no urgency from the state to enact or create any protections."

Guerrero emphasized protection from the heat for outdoor workers is overdue and the proposed rules are simply the minimum of what can be done. She added farmworkers are among the most affected by extreme heat and yet they have the fewest safeguards.

"They are continuously left out of having protections and out of conversations of what are their needs and how can we better serve them and make sure that we are protecting their lives," Guerrero asserted. "Because farm work is some of the most dangerous work on the planet."


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