Trump to Arkansas Governor Sarah Huckabee Sanders: Sorry, No Disaster Relief for You!

(Permanent Musical Accompaniment To This Post)

Being our semi-regular weekly survey of what's goin' down in the several states where, as we know, the real work of governmentin' gets done, and where nobody there wants to marry your sister.

Oooh, the elves are at work these days, primarily in the red states, where they are invited in enthusiastically by the various rubes and suckers until, one fine morning, the rubes and suckers wake up and the family silver is headed to a pawn shop in Murfreesboro. For example, let's begin in Arkansas, where nepo-Governor Sarah Huckabee Sanders and her constituents are FO-ing in a big way. From the Arkansas Times:

Fourteen tornadoes touched down in Arkansas on March 14 and 15, leaving three dead and dozens injured. The next week, Sanders asked President Donald Trump for a major disaster declaration, the first step in securing federal funds and other help from the Federal Emergency Management Agency. Sanders specifically requested help in the form of small business loans and individual assistance for people in Greene, Hot Spring, Independence, Izard, Jackson, Lawrence, Randolph, Sharp and Stone counties. But the Trump administration declined to declare a disaster, meaning no federal assistance would be heading our way. In their rejection note to Sanders’ March 21 request, the federal government said the damage wasn’t anything state and local folks couldn’t handle.

This irony is almost too delicious to eat. SHS is now living under the states rights philosophy that governed—and crippled—the Confederate States of America. She also is living under the modern conservative philosophy that she probably imbibed in the womb. And, as a result, all of Arkansas is cryin' mercy.

Sanders and the state Division of Emergency Management appealed that decision on April 18, after another round of spring storms worked Arkansas over. In their appeal, they described the compounding nature of the storms. “The severe storms and tornadoes that occurred on March 14 and 15, 2025, produced catastrophic impacts across the state. The sheer magnitude of this event resulted in overwhelming amounts of debris, widespread destruction to homes and businesses, the tragic loss of three lives, and injuries to many others,” Sanders’ appeal letter said. “Less than three weeks later, Arkansas was once again devastated by a second wave of severe storms, tornadoes, and a generational flooding event. These compounding disasters severely affected many of the same counties, adding even more catastrophic debris and tragically claiming the lives of three additional Arkansans. Given the cumulative impact of these events, federal assistance is essential to help our communities recover.”

How high's the water, Sarah?

We move along across the Hernando de Soto Bridge and down into Mississippi, where they have recommitted to nostalgia for the defunct treasonous government under which Arkansas finds itself these days. From the Mississippi Free Press:

"Whereas, as we honor all who lost their lives in this war, it is important for all Americans to reflect upon our nation’s past, to gain insight from our mistakes and successes, and to come to a full understanding that the lessons learned yesterday and today will carry us through tomorrow if we carefully and earnestly strive to understand and appreciate our heritage and our opportunities which lie before us,” says the governor’s proclamation, which is dated April 17. “Now, therefore, I, Tate Reeves, Governor of the State of Mississippi, hereby proclaim the month of April 2025 as Confederate Heritage Month in the State of Mississippi.”

This is all my bollocks, Guvnah Tate, but it'll probably get your pasty ass out of the minus pool for a while.

And off we go to Idaho, which is still one of the states, at least in theory, and the sudden revelation that "school choice" is a euphemism for "rich white people on welfare." From ProPublica:

Just weeks after creating a $50 million tax credit to help families pay for private school tuition and homeschooling, Idaho has shut down a program that helped tens of thousands of public school students pay for laptops, school supplies, tutoring and other educational expenses. The Republican leading the push to defund Idaho’s Empowering Parents grants said it had nothing to do with the party’s decision to fund private schools. But the state’s most prominent conservative group, a strong supporter of the private school tax credit, drew the connection directly.

Somebody didn't get the updated hymnal.

The new voucher-style tax credits have major differences from the grants lawmakers killed. The tax credits are off-limits to public school students, while the grants went predominantly to this group. And there’s limited state oversight on how the private education tax credits will be used, while the grants to public school families were only allowed to be spent with state-approved educational vendors.

Well, that certainly sounds fair, especially that "limited state oversight" part on those private-school vouchers, because, dammit, the seventh-grader deserves to go to Cancun for spring break.

The program that is being killed in Idaho actually was a good idea on the part of Governor Brad Little to help middle-and-low income families deal with the remote learning required during the pandemic. (It was financed with federal pandemic-relief funds.) It was so successful that the legislature renewed it in 2023.

Such families were on the minds of education leaders like Jason Sevy when they advocated for preserving the Empowering Parents program this year. Sevy, who chairs a rural public school district board in southwestern Idaho and is the Idaho School Boards Association’s president-elect, said families in his district used the Empowering Parents grants for backpacks and school supplies, or laptops they couldn’t afford otherwise. “You’re looking at families with five kids that were only making $55,000 a year. Having that little extra money made a big difference,” Sevy said. “But it also closed that gap for these kids to feel like they were going to be able to keep up with everybody else.”

Which, as anybody who survived middle school will tell you, is deeply important to the rest of your life.

However, eliminating successful programs depending on which of your constituents are served by them is now the touchstone of conservative Republican governance, and Idaho is adhering to the rules rigidly.

Few families in Sevy’s district will be able to use the state’s new tuition tax credits for private education, he said. A tiny residential school is the only private school operating in Sevy’s remote county. The next-closest options require a drive to the neighboring county, and Sevy worries those schools wouldn’t take English-language learners or children who need special education. (Unlike public schools, private schools can accept or reject students based on their own criteria.) “This is the program that was able to help those groups of people, and they’re just letting it go away” to free up money for private schools, Sevy said.

Sevy seems to be one of those educators for whom, you know, education is something of a priority, and we can't have any of that.

We move east to Wisconsin, where there is a crisis in homelessness from the small corners of the place. Most of the state's small rural towns have no facilities to care for the homeless, so they arrange for rides to the places that do—namely, the state's mid-sized and large cities. From Wisconsin Watch:

In December, Wisconsin Watch reported that the state’s estimated homeless population has been rising since 2021, following national trends. It rose from 4,861 on a single night in 2023 to 5,037 in 2024. In rural Wisconsin, the increase was 9%, according to the annual homeless count. Despite accounting for over 60% of the state’s homeless population in 2023, every Wisconsin county besides Milwaukee, Dane and Racine collectively contained just 23% of the state’s long-term housing with on-site supportive services, which experts say is the best way to address chronic homelessness.

The cities have now appealed to state attorney general Josh Kaul to do something about the practice of small towns' dropping off homeless citizens. It's a kind of vicious circle in which the homeless are trapped while local politicians try to make a policy off the cuff.

The letter pointed to instances of homeless individuals from neighboring counties being dropped off in Eau Claire by other agencies including the Menomonie Police Department and the St. Croix County Sheriff’s Office. McIlquham and Nick called it “a practice driven by a lack of good options,” but said the drop-offs are “unlawful at worst and unprofessional at best...None of the individuals we referenced actually received care, and that is the most common outcome from these sort of transports,” Nick said.

Police departments in Durand and Menomonie quickly responded to the letter sent to the attorney general, emphasizing the transports were voluntary. Police footage from both departments confirms the officers didn’t coerce the individuals, but did suggest the destination. Neither individual knew where Eau Claire was. “They’re not looking to come here, they’re being asked if they want to come here,” Nick said. “When that’s being done by a uniformed police officer — that changes the circumstances quite a bit in terms of how voluntary that is.” In the letter, McIlquham and Nick cited another example in which they say a woman who was a frequent source of contact for St. Croix County sheriff’s officers was dropped off at a gas station in Eau Claire without receiving any services. Eau Claire EMS, the county sheriff’s office and the city police department later responded to multiple complaints regarding the individual, who did not have ties to Eau Claire.

Simply transporting the homeless from your town square to an anonymous gas station in a city some distance away is unsupportable cruelty. Dumping the homeless on the doorstep of struggling hospitals and underfunded shelters isn't much better. However, Wisconsin is still dealing with a Republican-majority legislature, and you know how that goes.

In the state’s 2023-25 biennial budget, the Republican-controlled Legislature rejected Evers’ recommendations to spend $24 million on emergency shelter and housing grants, as well as homeless case management services and rental assistance for unhoused veterans. The Legislature also nixed $250 million Evers proposed for affordable workforce housing and home rehabilitation grants. This year, Evers recommended another $24 million for homeless prevention programs in the 2025-27 state budget. Republican lawmakers who control the powerful budget committee vowed to throw out the governor’s budget and start from scratch this spring. “The issue here is the disinvestment by the state and needed resources regionally,” Nick said. “It’s a law enforcement issue, but only because we have such poor options.”

Yeah, that's how it goes.

And we conclude, as is our custom, in the great state of Oklahoma, whence Blog Official Expatriate Patriot Friedman of the Algarve brings us a tale of a similar crisis that seems to be roiling up Sooner State politics. From The Frontier:

Senate Bill 484, authored by Sen. Lisa Standridge, R-Norman, would have banned homeless shelters within 3,000 feet of any school or school property in cities with fewer than 300,000 residents. The only cities that would not have been affected by the bill are Oklahoma City and Tulsa, which have populations greater than 300,000. The bill included exemptions for previously existing shelters, youth and domestic violence shelters and shelters operated in places of worship. An earlier version of the bill would have banned most Oklahoma cities from providing homeless services altogether.

“I don’t think that the bill failing in committee necessarily means that the state legislature is more friendly to people who are homeless,” said April Doshier, executive director of the nonprofit Food and Shelter. “I firmly believe we’re going to continue to see more pieces of legislation come out that are moving to criminalize homelessness and make it more difficult for people who are homeless to get out of that situation. So we will just have to continue our advocacy efforts and hope that whatever comes up next that we can advocate, rally our communities and defeat those bills as well.”

Wait for it.

Critics of the bill also worried it would cause the already inundated shelters in Oklahoma City and Tulsa to receive an influx of people in need of services from other cities. Standridge admitted during the meeting she had not spoken with any homeless shelters, municipalities or people who are experiencing homelessness about the bill. Rep. Kevin West, R-Moore, who co-authored SB 484, said after the bill failed a committee vote that it was possible the bill would have made people experiencing homelessness relocate to Tulsa and Oklahoma City, but that he didn’t view that as an issue.

Dude, I have some numbers in Wisconsin you should call. Be prepared to be on hold for a while, though.This is your democracy, America. Cherish it.