How to Help Oklahoma Tornado Victims

How to Help Okla. Tornado Victims

Office of the Press Secretary

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

May 20, 2013

President Obama Signs Oklahoma Disaster Declaration

The President today declared a major disaster exists in the State of Oklahoma and ordered Federal aid to supplement state and local recovery efforts in the area affected by severe storms and tornadoes beginning on May 18, 2013, and continuing.

The President’s action makes federal funding available to affected individuals in the counties of Cleveland, Lincoln, McClain, Oklahoma, and Pottawatomie.

Assistance can include grants for temporary housing and home repairs, low-cost loans to cover uninsured property losses, and other programs to help individuals and business owners recover from the effects of the disaster.

Federal funding also is available to state and eligible local governments and certain private nonprofit organizations on a cost-sharing basis for emergency work in the counties of Cleveland, Lincoln, McClain, Oklahoma, and Pottawatomie.

Federal funding is also available on a cost-sharing basis for hazard mitigation measures statewide.

W. Craig Fugate, Administrator, Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), Department of Homeland Security, named Sandy Coachman as the Federal Coordinating Officer for federal recovery operations in the affected area. 

FEMA said that damage surveys are continuing in other areas, and more counties and additional forms of assistance may be designated after the assessments are fully completed.

FEMA said that residents and business owners who sustained losses in the designated counties may apply for assistance by registering online at http://www.DisasterAssistance.gov or by calling 1-800-621-FEMA(3362) or 1-800-462-7585 (TTY) for the hearing and speech impaired. The toll-free telephone numbers will operate from 7 a.m. to 10 p.m. (local time) seven days a week until further notice.

SAFE & WELL / LOVED ONES SEARCH

After a disaster, letting your family and friends know that you are safe and well can bring your loved ones great peace of mind. This website is designed to help make that communication easier.

Register Yourself as “Safe and Well”
Click on the “List Myself as Safe and Well” button to register yourself on the site.

CLICK HERE

We currently have 6 shelters open at the following locations:

• St. Andrews Church, 2727 SW 119th Street, Oklahoma City (All children that have not been reunited with their parents are being taken to this location)
• Little Axe Resource Center, 1970 156th Ave. NE, Norman, OK 73026
• Carney Oklahoma Senior Center, 301 E. Maple, Carney, OK 74832
• Shawnee High School Athletic Center, 1001 N. Kennedy, Shawnee, OK 74801
• Moore Community Center, 301 S Howard, Moore, OK
• Newcastle Storm Shelter, 851 N Carr, Newscastle

These shelters will remain open throughout tonight.

Red Cross Emergency Response Vehicles have begun delivering hot meals throughout the affected areas. We are also operating fixed feeding sites at the Little Axe Resource Center, the Carney Oklahoma Senior Center and in Shawnee at the Shawnee Expo Center located at 1700 W. Independence, Shawnee, OK 74804.

Additionally, Red Cross Disaster Assessment Teams are working throughout the affected areas to assess the extent of the damage.

Those affected by this event who need assistance are urged to contact our OKC office at (405) 228-9500.

]]> http://gretawire.foxnewsinsider.com/2013/05/20/important-information-for-viewers-in-oklahoma-shelters-and-reunification-sites/feed/ 0 http://gretawire.foxnewsinsider.com/2013/05/20/important-information-for-viewers-in-oklahoma-shelters-and-reunification-sites/ http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/foxnewsinsider/gretawire/~3/bwoag6UjxSE/ http://gretawire.foxnewsinsider.com/twitter/dont-miss-tonights-on-the-record-at-10-pmet-and-join-the-conversation-on-twitter-using-greta-61/#comments Tue, 21 May 2013 01:58:28 +0000 Greta Van Susteren http://gretawire.foxnewsinsider.com/?post_type=twitter&p=37253 Check out what Twitter users are saying about tonight’s OTR at 10pm…watch the show and sound off on Twitter using #greta and make sure you are following @gretawire!

IT IS SHOWTIME!!

Show Questions and Comments??? Post them right here about ON THE RECORD!!

In our jobs it is also difficult to measure what is appropriate to report….how much…what is tasteful…what is news…..who do you interview….how long do we report it….what questions do you ask..there are no magic answers to reporting.   Often you figure out the right answers to the foregoing questions long after you have reported the story and as you look back with the benefit of 20/2o hindsight.

To all the critics of any reporting of any of us, at any networks, as we cover this tornado and its path of death,  I can assure you we all want to do the right job but there is no perfect job under these circumstances.

There will be times you think our reporting is clumsy or even insensitive, but we are like you, we feel horrible for the victims.  We are all trying to do the best we can as the story develops.

The red line is today (MAY 20, 2013) tornado

This evening the President spoke with Oklahoma Governor Mary Fallin to express his concern for those who have been affected by the severe weather beginning last night and continuing today. While information is still coming in, the President made clear that his Administration, through FEMA, stands ready to provide all available assistance as the Governor’s team responds to the storm and that he has directed his team to ensure that they are providing available resources as the response unfolds. FEMA has deployed an Incident Management Assistance Team to the state emergency operations center in Oklahoma City to support state and local officials on the ground and additional personnel and resources stand ready to be dispatched as necessary. The President told Governor Fallin that the people of Oklahoma are in his and the First Lady’s thoughts and prayers and, while his team will continue to keep him updated, he urged her to be in touch directly if there were additional resources the Administration could provide.

A timeline of the IRS’s scrutiny of the right

By Calvin Woodward, AP

A look at events leading to the disclosure that the Internal Revenue Service placed conservative groups under special scrutiny for 18 months before the 2012 elections, a practice that has prompted congressional inquiries, a Justice Department criminal investigation and the ouster of the agency’s acting chief:

2010:

March-April: IRS agents begin giving extra attention to tax-exempt applications from groups associated with the tea party or with a political sounding agenda in their names, such as “Patriots,” ”Take Back the Country” or “We the People,” according to the IRS inspector general.

August: The first IRS “BOLO” listing — meaning Be on the Lookout — is issued for “various local organizations in the Tea Party movement” that are seeking tax-exempt status.

___

2011:

June: Lawmakers send the first of at least eight letters asking the IRS to address complaints that conservative groups are being subjected to burdensome screening in their applications for tax-exempt status.

June 29: Lois G. Lerner, in charge of overseeing tax-exempt organizations at the IRS, learns at a meeting that groups are being targeted, according to the inspector general. Lerner is told that groups with “Tea Party,” ”Patriot” or “9/12 Project” in their names were being red-flagged. Statements in case files that are critical of the country’s leadership or that want to “make America a better place to live” also prompt examination. Lerner directs agents to change the criteria for flagging groups immediately, the inspector general says.

Dec. 16: Despite being briefed about the matter six months earlier, Lerner does not divulge the flagging of conservative groups when she and others from the IRS meet staff members of the House Ways and Means Committee to discuss the issue, according to the staff’s timeline of events.

___

2012:

January: The criteria for screening, altered after Lerner’s staff meeting six months earlier, is modified again. Now the IRS is on the lookout for references to the Constitution or Bill of Rights in the materials of organizations seeking tax-exempt status, for “political action type organizations involved in limiting/expanding government,” and more.

March 22: IRS Commissioner Douglas Shulman tells Congress there is “absolutely no targeting” of groups based on their political views.

May: Lerner does not divulge the flagging in 45-page letters to two lawmakers inquiring about the issue.

May 3: Deputy Commissioner Steven T. Miller is told by staff that that applications for tax-exempt status by tea party groups were inappropriately singled out for extra scrutiny, according to the agency. (Miller later becomes acting commissioner.)

June 15: Miller responds to a letter from Rep. Charles Boustany, R-La., who had raised concerns about possible harassment of tea party groups by the IRS. Miller does not concede conservatives had been singled out. He says generally that the IRS is seeing more tax-exempt applications from politically active groups and taking steps to “coordinate the handling of the case to ensure consistency.”

July 25: Miller testifies to the House Ways and Means oversight subcommittee but does not divulge what he was told in May about the screening of tea party groups.

Sept. 11: Millers writes a letter responding to Utah Sen. Orrin Hatch, the top Republican on the Senate Finance Committee but again does not own up to the scrutiny conservatives were placed under. Hatch had written three times to the IRS about the complaints.

Nov. 6: The presidential and congressional elections.

Nov. 15: Lerner and others from the IRS meet Ways and Means staff but again do not acknowledge the targeting.

___

2013:

Week of April 22: White House counsel learns that the inspector general is finishing a report about the IRS office in Cincinnati, which handles tax-exempt applications, according to White House spokesman Jay Carney.

May 10: Lerner apologizes on behalf of the IRS for “inappropriate” targeting of conservatives; White House counsel is said to receive inspector general’s report; President Barack Obama is said to have heard of the matter for the first time. Lerner says no high-level officials were aware of the targeting, a statement seemingly at odds with the timeline of events, and blamed low-level employees in Cincinnati.

May 13: Obama says if the IRS intentionally went after conservatives, that’s “outrageous.” The Democratic-controlled Senate Finance Committee joins Republican-led House committees in planning fresh investigations of the matter.

May 14: Miller says his agency demonstrated “a lack of sensitivity” in trying to figure out whether organizations claiming a tax exemption met the standard for it. The Justice Department says it will conduct a criminal investigation, the inspector general’s report is released, and Obama calls the findings “intolerable and inexcusable.”

May 15: Obama removes Miller as acting IRS commissioner and says in televised statement: “I will not tolerate this kind of behavior in any agency but especially in the IRS, given the power that it has and the reach that it has into all of our lives.” In congressional testimony, Attorney General Eric Holder says the FBI’s investigation could include potential civil rights violations, false statements and potential violations of the law prohibiting federal employees from engaging in some partisan political activities.