Flint returned to the Detroit water system in October and Snyder declared a state of emergency in the city January 5. The state is now handing out filters and bottled water with the help of the National Guard. A second administration official vouched for the information.
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Snyder was contrite in the speech, during which he laid out the many failings of state and local government in the decision to pump water from the Flint River.
The fiasco bruised Snyder, a former venture capitalist and computer executive who took office in 2011 billing himself as a practical decision-maker and a “tough nerd”.
A report released last September revealed that blood lead levels in children under five in Flint nearly doubled compared to before the water source was switched. “That’s nuts and must be fixed”.
He also said that, by this summer, the district will be $515 million in debt.
Shields said it is not in Snyder’s nature to show emotion publicly.
The day before Snyder’s annual State of the State address, roughly 60 people stationed themselves outside his Ann Arbor apartment, and called for his arrest. Flint had purchased the Lake Huron water from Detroit, which treated it for distribution. Earlier Tuesday, the White House announced that a Health and Human Services Department official would coordinate federal efforts to help Flint. The corrosive water caused lead to leach from old pipes.
Snyder said in his speech Wednesday night that he didn’t know about the “scope and magnitude” of the crisis until September, after researchers from Virginia Tech conducted an independent investigation into Flint’s water.
When asked whether she’s endorsing Clinton for president, Weaver responded, “I want Hillary”.
The White House said the officials assured Weaver that the federal government would be a “constructive partner” in the city’s response and recovery. Lurie will travel to Flint tomorrow.
The U.S. environmental agency said its oversight was hampered ‘by failures and resistance at the state and local levels to work with us in a forthright, transparent and proactive manner’. This is White House Press Secretary Joshua Earnest.
Today, the governor’s reputation for can-do accomplishment has been shredded by the water crisis in Flint. Snyder said the disaster will lead to years, potentially decades of health problems and economic losses as well as infrastructure repairs that “neither the city, county or state have the capacity to conduct”. On Saturday, President Barack Obama signed an emergency declaration but denied Snyder’s request for a disaster declaration based on the legal requirement that such relief is intended for natural events, fires, floods or explosions. The aid will not go directly to residents, but to the water system.
The poor and minority communities of MI who’ve endured your dictatorial firing of their mayors and school boards so you could place your business friends in charge of their mostly-black cities.
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So far, Democrat Hillary Clinton is the only 2016 candidate who has contacted Weaver about the water crisis, the mayor said on a conference call with the Clinton campaign and reporters on Tuesday.
