Budget

Brown graduate students help bankrupt city create disaster plan
To help the cash-stricken city of Central Falls, Rhode Island, thirty graduate students from Brown University have banded together to help create a disaster preparedness plan
- Read more
Tornadoes will not deplete FEMA disaster fund
The latest series of tornadoes that raged across the Midwest and South will not deplete the U.S. disaster fund, which was only recently reloaded by Congress last year, officials said
- Read more

Public health expert: budget cuts will erode response capabilities
Homeland Security NewsWire’s executive editor Eugene K. Chow recently got the opportunity to speak with Dr. John R. Finnegan, the dean of the University of Minnesota School of Public Health; in their interview, Dr. Finnegan discusses the devastating effects of proposed budget cuts on the U.S. public health system, why it was a wise decision to censor the release of H5N1 flu research; and the creation of a medical reserve corps at universities
- Read more
National Weather Service budget cuts threaten poor IT infrastructure
The Obama administration has proposed cutting more than $39 million from the National Weather Service’s (NWS) budget, particularly from its IT department, and critics worry that the cuts could cause the agency’s already crippling infrastructure problems to grow worse
- Read more

Proposed EPA budget cuts funding from clean air and water grants
President Obama’s latest proposed budget for fiscal year 2013 cuts $105 million from the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) budget, primarily from funds aimed at treating wastewater and drinking water
- Read more
CBP overtime costs soar, agency seeks solutions
Over the past six years U.S. Border Patrol agents have accrued more and more overtime pay at the same time that the number of arrests for illegal crossers has fallen to record lows; the cost of overtime has rocketed from roughly $156 million in 2006 to more than $331 million in 2011, with DHS spending more than $1.4 billion total during that time period
- Read more

Fort Wayne Mayor dissolves joint homeland security department
After six years of operation, the joint Fort Wayne-Allen County Homeland Security Department has been dissolved; last week Tom Henry, the Mayor of Fort Wayne, Indiana sent a letter to county officials notifying them of the city’s plans to end its agreement to share in the costs of the local homeland security department
- Read more
DHS IG: Cook County communications program botched
On Monday the DHS Inspector General blasted officials in Cook County, Illinois for mishandling a $45 million federally funded project to upgrade communications equipment for first responders; the Inspector General said the Cook County program, dubbed Project Shield, was fraught with trouble from the start, resulted in equipment that did not work, and potentially wasted millions of taxpayers’ dollars
- Read more

Record high police fatalities, second year in a row
For the second year in a row, a record number of law enforcement officers were killed in the line of duty; the chairman of the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial Fund blamed the recent spate of law enforcement deaths on budget cuts
- Read more
New DHS headquarters delayed 5 years and $500 million over
The latest Congressionally-approved budget for DHS will delay the building of the agency’s new headquarters by at least five years and cost an additional $500 million
- Read more

Budget cuts hamper U.S. response to biological attack
A recently released report charges that state and federal budget cuts have weakened U.S. bioterrorism response capabilities
- Read more
NY counties receive money to prepare for emergencies
The magnitude of Hurricane Irene and Tropical Storm Lee posed serious communications challenges to the response and recovery efforts among many New York counties; these counties are now receiving $20 million in funding to help localities better respond to emergency situations
- Read more

Lawmakers make steep cuts to DHS research budget
Over the weekend the Senate approved an omnibus spending bill that would result in deep cuts to DHS’ research and development arm
- Read more
Spending cuts force contractors to alter strategy
Projected federal spending cuts are upsetting the status quo in the world of government contracting, forcing firms to reevaluate their business strategies or determine whether they can do business at all
- Read more
Indiana sheriffs use video conferencing to reduce costs
In an effort to reduce costs, officials in Tippecanoe County, Indiana have begun using video conferencing technology to hold court hearings without transporting the defendant to the courtroom
- Read more

More headlines