WASHINGTON – Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) Administrator Craig Fugate today applauded President Obama’s appointment of Andrew Velasquez III as FEMA Regional Administrator for Region V, which encompasses Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Minnesota, Ohio, and Wisconsin.

“Regional Administrators are crucial to our ability to respond effectively to emergencies based on the needs of the communities we serve,” said Fugate. “Andrew Velasquez is not only an experienced emergency manager with deep roots in the region, but also a dedicated public servant. His knowledge and experience make him uniquely qualified to help lead our efforts there.”

Velasquez brings extensive experience in emergency management at the state and local level. He has served as Director of the Illinois Emergency Management Agency (IEMA) and State Homeland Security Advisor since 2007, and prior to that was Executive Director of Chicago’s Office of Emergency Management and Communications (OEMC).

Biography for Andrew Velasquez III, FEMA Regional Administrator, Region V

Andrew Velasquez III has served as Director of the Illinois Emergency Management Agency (IEMA) since 2007, where he has directed the response and recovery effort of more than 100 Illinois counties declared State disaster areas. He has also served as the state coordinating officer and the governor’s authorized representative for eight presidential disaster declarations.

A native of Chicago, Velasquez was appointed Executive Director of the city’s Office of Emergency Management and Communications (OEMC) in 2005 after serving in the Chicago Police Department in various capacities for ten years. He was also a member of the U.S. Army Reserve for a total of six years.

Velasquez serves on the Board of Directors for the Central United States Earthquake Consortium (CUSEC) and was chairman of the response committee for the Governor’s Campus Safety Task Force (CSTF), which was formed after the Virginia Tech shootings.

Velasquez holds a Bachelor’s degree and a Master of Science degree in Criminal Justice from Illinois State University. He also received a Master of Business Administration in Management from Saint Xavier University. In 2009, Mr. Velasquez completed the Executive Leadership program at the Naval Post Graduate School – Center for Homeland Defense and Security.

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FEMA’s mission is to support our citizens and first responders to ensure that as a nation we work together to build, sustain, and improve our capability to prepare for, protect against, respond to, recover from, and mitigate all hazards.

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– By MEAD GRUVER
Associated Press Writer

Flight 4184 went down on a rainy, cold Halloween. The commuter flight from Indianapolis was in a holding pattern waiting to land at Chicago’s O’Hare International Airport. The ATR-72 turboprop had encountered freezing rain as it circled, which caused ice to build up on the wings, dooming the plane.

The anniversaries that come every fifth year tend to bring out more family members, with attendees saying Saturday’s crowd was the largest they remember. Victims’ families greeted each other quietly as they arrived, glancing at the rows of white crosses arranged on the other side of the roadside ditch. The crosses, the simple boulder bearing a memorial plaque, and the grass around them are maintained by local residents Michael Guerrero and his sons, Nathan and Spencer. Victims’ families also come from far away to occasionally lend a hand.

After a fight waged for years by the victims’ families, the crash resulted in passage of a landmark aviation safety act by Congress; the federal Aviation Disaster Family Assistance Act of 1996. It mandated new regulations in airline safety and response tactics and required airlines to provide crisis counseling and other assistance to the families of crash victims.

Pastor Kathie Hostetter, of the nearby Roselawn United Methodist Church, delivered an elegy praising both those who perished in the crash and the surviving families who fought so hard to keep others from suffering the same fate.

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–courtesy: iqesda.com / Northwest Indiana Times

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> If there’s one thing Iroquois County Red Cross Board Chairman Dan Raymer wants the public to know, it’s that the Red Cross is still here.

The Iroquois County Chapter struggled through some tough times over the last several months. Forced to abandon their popular site, where the Red Cross shingle was obvious on Walnut Street in Watseka, the chapter office re-located to N. 4th Street in Watseka. That home was short-lived however. Financial matters forced that office to close too.
Raymer took the reigns and now has 14 volunteer board members committed to maintaining vital Red Cross services. Iroquois Memorial Hospital has made a record-keeping office available and Raymer says the dedicated Board is focused to its re-building process. And that local Red Cross phone number remains the same — 815-432-4659. The same emergency services are still there for people in need. A Peoria regional office and staff is also readily available to help.

WASHINGTON (AP) – Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano said Wednesday that people should expect “a big influx” of swine flu cases this fall and prepare as best they can.

“The best thing we all can do are the very simple things, the washing of the hands, the coughing into the sleeve,” Napolitano said in a nationally broadcast interview. ” … We’re in all likelihood going to have them (new infections) before the vaccine is available.”

Napolitano was among a host of Cabinet officers who briefed President Barack Obama Tuesday on the federal government’s preparations and planning for the fall. Another of those Cabinet members, Education Secretary Arne Duncan, said in a separate interview that it’s critically important to keep schools open and education uninterrupted.

“We got a little bit lucky” in the last school year, he said, because the H1N1 didn’t surface until very near the end of the academic year.

“We’re not going to be so lucky this year,” Duncan added, “so the more we’re prepared, the more we’re talking … the better we’re going to be able to handle this as a country, the more we’re going to be able to keep our schools open.”

There have been over 550 deaths in the United States from H1N1 and a scientific advisory panel recently sent the White House a report saying it was possible that anywhere from 30 percent to half the population could catch what doctors call “2009 H1N1″ and that it was also possible there could be between 30,000 and 90,000 deaths.

–Record Daily Low Temperature Tied at Moline, IL –

A Record Low Temp of 45 this morning ties the old record of 45 set in 1967.

Rochelle, IL reported 39 for an overnight low and Freeport reported 40.

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The Ford-Iroquois Public Health Department (FIPHD) played the lead role in the grant application process. FIPHD’s Community Health Planner/Grant writer Jule Clark said several agencies providing help during the 2008 floods found themselves eligible for reimbursement.

The City of Watseka is receiving $139,500 to recoup expenses from the flood detail. The Watseka Fire Department will get $19,800 and the Watseka Police Department $14,187. The Village of Woodland is getting just under $2500 with tanother $2600 pending. Woodland Fire is getting $9100. Just under $34,000 is headed to the Village of Milford; Milford Fire is eligible for $1256 dollars. Other notable amounts awarded include: $51,509 to the Iroquois County Highway Department, $50,131 to Iroquois Mental Health Center, $18,710 to IMH, $25,255 to FIPHD, $60,936 to the East Central IL Community Action Agency, Iroquois County Planning & Zoning has been awarded $22,000 for services rendered; several churches were also reimbursed, including $4800 to the Trinity Church of Watseka, which was the main emergency shelter during the flood.

The FIPHD will continue to field questions and gather input for further reimbursement. The IDAP grant continues thru September 30, 2010.

courtesy WWW.IQESDA.COM