[my_adsense_shortcode_1]
A MARTINEZ, HOST:
Officials in Lee County, Fla., issued necessary evacuation orders solely at some point earlier than Hurricane Ian hit land, regardless of days of warnings beforehand.
STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:
So did that call contribute to the dying toll? So far, we all know at the least 81 individuals died in Florida in the course of the storm and its aftermath, and of these, 42 – greater than half – had been in Lee County.
MARTINEZ: NPR’s Brian Mann has been following the story. Brian, so take us by the timeline. When did officers in Lee County begin telling individuals they needed to go?
BRIAN MANN, BYLINE: Yeah. So three days earlier than the storm hit, the National Hurricane Center despatched an advisory saying Ian may drive this devastating storm surge, as much as 7 toes of water, on this space round Lee County. Then two days earlier than landfall – that is final Monday – the middle issued an official warning, and it seems, A, that that warning ought to have triggered a compulsory evacuation order beneath Lee County’s personal emergency administration plan. But that is not what occurred. While at the least one neighboring county did subject a compulsory evacuation order on Monday, Lee County officers held off. They delayed till the subsequent day, Tuesday morning. The storm and the flood of seawater slammed ashore Wednesday, when lots of people had been nonetheless out on these distant barrier islands, susceptible.
MARTINEZ: So why did not Lee County comply with their very own emergency administration plan?
MANN: Yeah, the chair of Lee County Board of Commissioners, Cecil Pendergrass, was requested about this at a press convention yesterday. He mentioned they believed the brunt of the storm would hit elsewhere alongside the coast.
z(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
CECIL PENDERGRASS: Seventy-two hours earlier than the storm, we nonetheless weren’t within the cone – Lee County wasn’t. So the emergency – state emergency director mentioned that. We observed that regionally. We had been working off of information.
MANN: But this is the factor, A – that forecast cone Pendergrass mentions there, that is solely the middle of the storm. Ian, in fact, was a large hurricane. Its lethal energy and the surge of water had been predicted by the National Hurricane Center to increase effectively past that path.
MARTINEZ: Now, what does Pendergrass consider this delay and the truth that they did not comply with their plan? Did they assume that it could have contributed to any lack of life?
MANN: You know, Pendergrass did not converse to that straight, besides to say he thinks duty lies with the residents who selected to not depart their properties.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
PENDERGRASS: People get callous of that. We have lots of people transfer right here within the final 5 years that is by no means been by a hurricane, they usually simply say, oh, it is no large deal. They neglect in regards to the power of water. So they did not depart. I respect their selections. But I’m positive loads of them remorse it now.
MANN: But once more, for some individuals who might have needed to get out, it is potential there simply wasn’t sufficient time as soon as that necessary evacuation order was lastly issued. Lee County’s personal emergency plan warns that it takes at the least 20 hours for individuals on a few of these distant islands to evacuate.
MARTINEZ: What has Florida Governor Ron DeSantis mentioned about this?
MANN: Well, he is backing native officers. He instructed reporters that officers in Lee County made the perfect resolution they might with the information out there, and he, too, put duty on residents.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
RON DESANTIS: Everybody had enough alternative to at the least get to a shelter throughout the county. But, you recognize, loads of the residents didn’t need to do this, I feel, for – most likely for varied causes. Some individuals simply do not need to depart their dwelling, interval. They’re island individuals, no matter.
MANN: And that is really one thing we’re listening to from native individuals in Lee County, survivors of the storm. Many of them instructed NPR they understood the chance and determined to remain. Here’s Louis Schley, who lives in Fort Myers.
LOUIS SCHLEY: The governor, he gave truthful warning and all the things, to evacuate and all. But the spouse and I made a decision, no, we’re simply going to remain.
MANN: But there’s a distinction, in fact, between a warning and a compulsory evacuation order. The query is whether or not extra individuals would have gotten to security if the county had issued that order a day sooner.
MARTINEZ: NPR’s Brian Mann. Brian, thanks.
MANN: Thank you.
(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)
MARTINEZ: In Brazil, the presidential race heads to a runoff on the finish of this month, after the far-right incumbent, President Jair Bolsonaro, did much better than anticipated.
INSKEEP: Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, the leftist former president, got here in first however didn’t win outright. He wanted a majority and fell only a bit quick. It was a polarized election between two males thought-about populists – one on the left, one on the precise.
MARTINEZ: NPR’s South America correspondent Carrie Kahn joins us now from Rio de Janeiro with the newest. Carrie, it was a a lot tighter race than anticipated. So what occurred?
CARRIE KAHN, BYLINE: Two issues – the precise in Brazil got here out in large numbers and despatched the race to a runoff, and the pollsters had been fallacious. They had been simply fallacious. Brazil’s main polls had predicted a double-digit win by former president and leftist Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva. Many Bolsonaro voters might have switched on the final minute or simply would not admit voting for Bolsonaro to pollsters. We do not know. He’s only a provocative, brash, far-right nationalist right here. He rails in opposition to political correctness, makes homophobic feedback. He’s criticized for bungling the COVID pandemic. And beneath his tenure, destruction of the Amazon rainforest has skyrocketed. But his base is loyal. They got here out for him, like Juthe Cardoza. Here’s what she mentioned.
JUTHE CARDOZA: (Speaking Portuguese).
KAHN: “We Brazilians love Bolsonaro as much as you Americans love Trump.” Trump is a political ally of the president right here, who takes many cues from the previous U.S. president. He cries fraud rather a lot and says the media lies, and pollsters are fallacious, and final evening, he obtained to say he was proper in regards to the polls.
MARTINEZ: What about da Silva? What has he mentioned about his efficiency yesterday?
KAHN: He spoke to supporters in a really subdued rally after the ultimate vote depend was in. The 76-year-old leftist mentioned he is ready for the runoff and an opportunity to debate Bolsonaro one-on-one.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
LUIZ INACIO LULA DA SILVA: (Speaking Portuguese).
KAHN: He says, “the struggle will continue until the final victory for Brazil.” Da Silva is remembered right here for his large authorities spending that basically helped carry many individuals out of poverty. An outright victory for him final evening would have been a spectacular political comeback. After his presidency, he was jailed on corruption prices in 2018. He was launched from jail and later had his conviction annulled. But many citizens do not belief him or his social gathering.
MARTINEZ: Now, the act of truly going to the polls, Carrie, how did that go yesterday? And what expectations in regards to the subsequent 4 weeks are there main as much as the runoff?
KAHN: Well, I noticed very lengthy strains in polling stations right here in Rio de Janeiro. It’s going to be a tense and intense subsequent 4 weeks till the October 30 runoff. Brazil may be very polarized proper now. These two males have outlined very distinct plans for the nation. Look; usually, the poor went for da Silva and see economics as the primary subject for them. Brazil’s economic system is sputtering nonetheless after the pandemic. And Bolsonaro supporters usually are more comfortable, they usually actually go for his family-values, anti-abortion, pro-gun message. He speaks rather a lot in regards to the political-left flip in Latin America, particularly in locations like Nicaragua, Venezuela, Colombia and Chile. And if allowed to return to Brazil, he says the, quote, “communists will erode those liberties,” and as he repeatedly says, he is the defender of God, household, homeland and liberty.
MARTINEZ: NPR’s Carrie Kahn in Rio de Janeiro. Carrie, thanks.
KAHN: You’re welcome.
(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)
MARTINEZ: The Supreme Court begins a brand new time period as we speak.
INSKEEP: They resume their work after an unsettled summer time that included celebrations of and protests in opposition to their rulings. Justices asserted their views in a number of large circumstances. Five justices made a option to remove the constitutional proper to abortion. The majority upheld gun rights. It additionally employed a current idea known as the foremost questions doctrine, which the justices use to restrict federal regulation. Now the courtroom resumes its work.
MARTINEZ: Joining us now with a preview of the courtroom’s time period is NPR authorized affairs correspondent Nina Totenberg. Nina, final time period, the courtroom overturned Roe v. Wade, and now it finds its approval ranking plummeting to historic lows. How low are these lows?
NINA TOTENBERG, BYLINE: Well, the numbers have dropped – greater than 60% approval two years in the past to under 40% and decrease now – so low, the truth is, that Chief Justice John Roberts sought to defend the courtroom’s legitimacy whereas talking to a convention of judges and attorneys in Colorado.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
JOHN ROBERTS: The selections have at all times been topic to intense criticism. And that’s solely applicable, however recently, the criticism is phrased when it comes to the legitimacy of the courtroom, and I feel it is a mistake to view these criticisms in that gentle.
TOTENBERG: It’s the job of the courtroom to say what the regulation is, Roberts mentioned.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
ROBERTS: And that position would not change just because individuals disagree with this opinion or that opinion. You don’t need the political branches telling you what the regulation is, and you don’t need public opinion to be the information of what the suitable resolution is.
TOTENBERG: But Justice Elena Kagan has pointedly disagreed with a few of what Roberts mentioned, noting in three separate appearances that, in her view, a courtroom’s legitimacy needs to be earned. She mentioned precedent needs to be reversed solely within the rarest of circumstances as a result of…
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
ELENA KAGAN: If a brand new decide is available in, if there’s new members of a courtroom and, unexpectedly, all the things is up for grabs, unexpectedly very basic rules of regulation are being overthrown, then individuals have a proper to say, you recognize, what is going on on there? That would not appear very lawlike.
MARTINEZ: All proper, with a brand new courtroom time period starting as we speak, Nina, what are the large circumstances?
TOTENBERG: Well, there are a number of race circumstances. Most distinguished is a case asking the courtroom to reverse greater than 4 a long time of precedent, permitting schools and universities to think about using race as one in every of many components in school admissions. Race can be on the coronary heart of a problem introduced by Alabama to the best way the Voting Rights Act has been utilized in redistricting circumstances for many years. And race is central to a problem to the 1978 Indian Child Welfare Act, which requires that, the place in any respect potential, Indian youngsters needs to be adopted or fostered in Indian properties.
MARTINEZ: And there is a large LGBTQ rights case. Tell us about that one.
TOTENBERG: Indeed, there may be. It challenges public lodging legal guidelines in most states, legal guidelines that bar companies from discriminating on the premise of race, faith, nationwide origin or intercourse. So mainly, the difficulty is that this – can a enterprise proprietor refuse to supply sure companies to a same-sex couple as a result of it will quantity to an endorsement of the couple’s way of life and, due to this fact, would violate the enterprise homeowners’ proper to freedom of expression? And final however actually not least, there’s one other big case involving election regulation. It facilities on the so-called impartial state legislature principle. In its most excessive type, the speculation would bar state judges from reviewing state election guidelines for compliance with state legal guidelines and state constitutions.
MARTINEZ: That’s NPR authorized affairs correspondent Nina Totenberg. Nina, thanks.
TOTENBERG: Thanks, A.
Copyright © 2022 NPR. All rights reserved. Visit our web site phrases of use and permissions pages at www.npr.org for additional information.
NPR transcripts are created on a rush deadline by an NPR contractor. This textual content will not be in its last type and could also be up to date or revised sooner or later. Accuracy and availability might fluctuate. The authoritative document of NPR’s programming is the audio document.
[my_adsense_shortcode_1]
Source link
[my_taboola_shortcode_1]
