Tom covers the federal response to climate change, focusing on FEMA, the Army Corps of Engineers and other disaster-response agencies. He worked previously at USA Today, BuzzFeed News, Newsday and several local newspapers. He was a Pulitzer Prize finalist in 2012 and has won other national journalism awards including from the Scripps Howard Foundation, the National Press Club and the Society of American Business Editors and Writers. He has a bachelor's degree from Wesleyan University in Connecticut.
Between two and four major hurricanes with winds exceeding 110 mph are expected to form in the Atlantic Ocean during the storm season beginning June 1, according to NOAA's annual forecast released today.
The Federal Emergency Management Agency is denying that it uses "secret rules" to decide whether to approve homeowners for housing aid after a disaster, contesting a lawsuit that has national implications for how the agency allocates billions of dollars.
The Army Corps of Engineers is looking into strengthening flood control along the Missouri River in response to the record deluge this spring and criticism that the agency is not doing enough to protect communities.
It's not surprising that a new report says Louisiana may have to cede flood-prone communities to nature, shift the state economy away from fishing and oil refining, and adapt to the inevitability of climate change.
Republicans and Democrats in Congress are stepping up pressure on the Trump administration to release $16 billion in disaster aid for storm- and fire-damaged states that they say is being held up by bureaucratic delays.