WE Blog

It’s not reassuring, to say the least, that many cities and regions of the nation are still woefully unprepared for a major emergency or disaster, according to a new Department of Homeland Security analysis.
Ten months after Hurricane Katrina, New Orleans is still not ready for another catastrophic storm or disaster — only 4 percent of its plans met minimum federal standards.
But it’s more disturbing that New York City and Washington, D.C. — the two main targets on Sept. 11 — were also judged to have insufficient emergency plans.
Does that have anything to do with the fact that too large a share of national security funds is still being sent to places such as Fargo, N.D.?
Overall, despite the fact that America has spent $18 billion on homeland security since Sept. 11, the report concluded that shortcomings in emergency planning and response guidelines were cause for “significant national concern.”
Is it too much to hope that somebody is working on this?
Posted by Randy Scholfield

Today’s editorial on our Opinion page talks about that surreal scene earlier this month when a Sunflower Community Action meeting about the dangers of payday loans was crashed by hundreds of people bused in by national lender LoanMax; it had paid each of these “supporters” $100 and given them T-shirts and free box lunches in exchange for showing up at the meeting as warm bodies for the industry.
We argue that “the tactic reveals just how far LoanMax and other payday and car title lenders will go to protect their cash-cow businesses,” and that state lawmakers should regulate these multiplying businesses. Ideas include limiting people to two payday loans each and requiring that a statewide database be set up to keep track of payday lenders and borrowers.
Or are those being preyed upon getting what they deserve for being fiscally irresponsible?
Posted by Rhonda Holman