By GABRIELA AOUN ANGUEIRA

Four days after starting his second administration, President Donald Trump floated the idea of “ getting rid of ” the Federal Emergency Management Agency, which manages federal disaster response. But at a Thursday meeting, the 12-person review council he appointed to propose changes to FEMA seemed more focused on reforms than total dismantlement.

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FEMA must be “reformed into an agency that is supporting our local and state officials that are there on the ground and responsive to the individuals that are necessary to help people be healed and whole through these situations,” Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said, who co-chairs the council. But, she added, FEMA “as it exists today needs to be eliminated.”

However, the meeting in Oklahoma City offered hints of what types of reforms the council might present to Trump in its final report. Members mainly focused on conventional and oft-cited opportunities for change, such as getting money faster to states and survivors and enhancing the capacity of local emergency managers.

But some moves by the administration in the last several months have already undermined those goals, as mitigation programs are cut and the FEMA workforce is reduced. Experts also caution that no matter what the council proposes, changes to FEMA’s authority and operations require Congressional action.

A Republican-dominated council

President Donald Trump created the FEMA Review Council through a January executive order instructing the group to solicit feedback from a “broad range of stakeholders” and to deliver a report to Trump on recommended changes within 180 days of its first meeting, though that deadline has lapsed.

The 12-person council is co-chaired Noem and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and vice-chaired by former Mississippi Governor Phil Bryant. It is made up of elected officials, emergency managers and other leaders mostly from Republican states.

Trump “believes we should be in a disaster-response portfolio and footprint,” Noem said at Thursday’s meeting, “but the long-term mitigation should not be something that the federal government is continuing to be involved in to the extent that it has been in the past.”

Noem attended virtually, citing efforts toward “bringing some peace to the streets of Washington, D.C.”

Members on Thursday presented some findings collected in listening sessions conducted in multiple states and with Native tribes. Much of the discussion touched on the need to get money to states more quickly and with more flexibility. Trump and Noem have both supported the idea of giving states federal block grants quickly after a disaster instead of the current reimbursement model.

Members have spent “hours, maybe even days, exploring ways to accelerate local recovery through direct funding for public and individual assistance,” Guthrie said.

Making plans beforehand

Several members emphasized improving preparedness and mitigation before disasters hit.

“Mitigation saves lives, it protects property, it reduces cost of future disasters,” said Guthrie, but added that more responsibility should fall on individuals and state and local governments to invest in mitigation.

States like Texas and Florida have robust, well-funded emergency management agencies prepared for major disasters. Members acknowledged that if other state and local governments were to take on more responsibility in disasters, they still needed training support.

Methods for governments to unlock recovery dollars without relying on federal funds also came up, such as parametric insurance, which provides a rapid payout of a previously agreed-upon amount when a triggering event occurs.

The meeting focused less on individual survivor support, but Bryant brought up the need to reform — and protect — the National Flood Insurance Program, calling it “vital.” That program was created by Congress more than 50 years ago because many private insurers stopped offering policies in high-risk areas.

The rhetoric around FEMA is evolving

The conversation signaled a departure from some of the more aggressive rhetoric Trump and Noem have used in the past to describe their plans for FEMA. As recently as June, Trump suggested “ phasing out ” the agency after the 2025 hurricane season.

Michael Coen, who held FEMA posts under three presidential administrations, said after three council meetings, recommendations remain vague.

“Council members provided their perspective but have not identified the challenge they are trying to solve or offered a new way forward,” Coen said.

Coen also cautioned that any significant changes must go through Congress. Lawmakers in July introduced a bipartisan reform bill in the House. The so-called FEMA Act echoes some of the council’s priorities, but also proposes returning FEMA to a Cabinet-level agency.

“Most current proposed FEMA legislation strengthens FEMA,” said Coen.

Actions sometimes contradict words

Some of the administration’s actions so far contradict council members’ emphasis on expediency, mitigation and preparedness.

Noem now requires that she personally approve any DHS expenditure over $100,000. That policy led to delays in the Texas response, according to several reports, though Noem and acting administrator David Richardson have refuted those claims.

The administration halted a multibillion-dollar program for climate resilience projects, and Trump stopped approving hazard mitigation funding requests for major disasters. FEMA abruptly canceled or moved online some local preparedness trainings this spring, though many later resumed.

On Monday, more than 180 current and former FEMA staff sent an opposition letter to the FEMA Review Council and Congress, warning that the agency is so diminished that a major climate event could lead to catastrophe.

At least some of the staff were put on paid administrative leave until further notice on Tuesday.

By JOSH FUNK

President Donald Trump has fired one of two Democratic members of the U.S. Surface Transportation Board to break a 2-2 tie before the body considers the largest railroad merger ever proposed.

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Board member Robert E. Primus said on LinkedIn that he received an email from the White House Wednesday night terminating the position he has held since he was appointed by Trump in his first term. The vacancy would allow Trump to appoint two additional Republicans to the board before its decision on the Union Pacific-Norfolk Southern merger though the Senate would have to confirm them.

Primus was the only board member to oppose Canadian Pacific’s acquisition of Kansas City Southern railroad when it was approved two years ago because he was concerned it would hurt competition. He was named Board chairman last year by former President Joe Biden and led the board until Trump, after his election, elevated Board member Patrick Fuchs to Chairman.

This follows Trump’s previous firings of board members at the National Transportation Safety Board, Federal Reserve, Equal Employment Opportunity Commission and Nuclear Regulatory Commission, which are all supposed to be independent agencies.

“Robert Primus did not align with the President’s America First agenda, and was terminated from his position by the White House,” White House spokesman Kush Desai said. “The administration intends to nominate new, more qualified members to the Surface Transportation Board in short order.”

Primus said he doesn’t think the firing is valid because the White House didn’t offer any cause for it, and he plans to fight. He also rejected their explanation for the move because he has long tried to encourage railroads to serve every industry better and help them grow, but he has already been removed from the STB website.

“I’ve been pro growth across the board in terms of encouraging growth in the freight rail network, which in turn will grow our national economy. So if that’s not being in line with America first, then I don’t know what America he’s saying is first,” Primus said to The Associated Press.

He said the firings at all these agencies threaten their independence and credibility. Primus said in his tenure the STB always strove to be impartial and apolitical.

Democratic U.S. Sen. Tammy Baldwin, who serves on the Commerce Committee, said it’s clear that “Donald Trump is trying to stack the deck so the federal government rubberstamps the merger as a huge favor for Wall Street and wealthy railroad owners.” She said Primus has been a fair regulator who worked hard to make sure railroads delivered for their customers and focused on safety.

Every rail worker union and the nonprofit Rail Passengers Association also quickly condemned the firing.

“The explanation provided for this decision — that his position has been “eliminated” — is nothing short of outrageous. Appointed bodies established through federal code are not designed to be erased at the whim of powerful corporate interests,” said the SMART-TD union that represents concductors. “This action is unprecedented, unlawful in spirit, and reeks of direct interference from hedge funds and the nation’s largest rail carriers.”

The board is set to consider Union Pacific’s $85 billion acquisition of Norfolk Southern in the next two years before deciding whether to approve the nation’s first transcontinental railroad and reduce the number of major freight railroads in the U.S. to five.

Primus said the biggest problems in the industry are the lack of growth and poor service after all the deep cuts railroads have made over the last decade in the interest of efficiency and improving profitability. He hasn’t taken a position on the UP-NS deal, but he doesn’t think mergers will necessarily improve competition.

“We don’t need to merge to increase competition. We need to understand that we have to grow,” he said.

The city of Afton, which has been holding council meetings on Zoom since the COVID-19 pandemic, had to shut down the online option for remote participation last week when a meeting was hijacked by hackers sharing pornographic videos.

City officials immediately tried to close out the videos, but “there were multiple sign-ins/people, so we could not get rid of them,” said Mayor Bill Palmquist. When they restarted the meeting, the videos came back after just a few minutes, Palmquist said.

“Unfortunately, we had to shut it down and just stop the feed,” he said. “I guess this has happened to other cities as well. It is very disappointing, to say the least.”

City officials have decided to stop using Zoom for council meetings and planning commission meetings “until we can ensure a secure remote access option,” he said. “We will do our best to get it back up and running again as soon as possible.”

The option to participate remotely has been “used and appreciated by residents” since it first became available a few years ago, Palmquist said.

The city council meetings will continue to be broadcast live, he said.

Palmquist said his “Spidey sense” went off when he noticed that 12 people had logged on to Zoom for the Aug. 19 council meeting instead of the “usual five or six.”

“It was pretty graphic and strange stuff,” he said. “You don’t need to see it for but a second to know that you need to stop it.”

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A missing 12-year-old boy with autism, whose body was discovered in a New Orleans canal following a nearly two-week-long search, died from “blunt force due to an alligator” and drowning, police said Wednesday.

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Bryan Vasquez was first reported missing on the morning of Aug. 14, after he reportedly escaped through a bedroom window in the East side of the city, the New Orleans Police Department said. The nonverbal boy was seen on doorbell camera footage, wearing only a diaper and walking down the street alone, around 5:20 a.m. that morning. His body was found on Tuesday, located by a drone.

The boy’s mother, Hilda Vasquez, had told The New Orleans Advocate/The Times-Picayune that her son would often sneak away from their home to head to a playground nearby. However, they’d recently moved to a new house.

Neighbors and friends of the Vasquez family searched Village De L’East in New Orleans, Sunday, Aug. 17, 2025, for Bryan Vasquez, 12, who has been missing since Thursday. (John McCusker/The Times-Picayune/The New Orleans Advocate via AP)

Bryan’s disappearance prompted a massive search that included multiple agencies, volunteers, airboats and bloodhounds.

As local and state crews combed the area, criticism mounted over the New Orleans Police Department’s delayed response. Police Chief Anne Kirkpatrick said that there was a nearly five-hour gap between when the boy was reported missing and an officer arriving at the scene.

Kirkpatrick said the police department has launched an internal investigation into the lapse.

A coroner’s autopsy determined that Bryan drowned after he sustained trauma from an alligator, Kirkpatrick said at a news conference on Wednesday. The boy was found about 200 yards from where the search had started. Kirkpatrick said it is possible his body resurfaced after he died, which is common in drowning deaths.

“Bryan was a bright, charismatic, and energetic young boy whose joy and spirit touched the lives of his family, friends and community,” city officials said in a press release.

Kirkpatrick said she has asked the Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries to remove “nuisance” alligators from the area where Bryan was found.

According to the wildlife agency, hunters capture and remove more than 1,000 nuisance alligators every year in an effort to minimize encounters between the alligators and humans. Louisiana is home to the largest alligator population in the country.