When people face emergencies, whether it be acts of violence or devastating weather events, they often lean on 911 operators for aid. However, Erin Brockovich, the well-known environmental activist and consumer advocate, said, many times, those dispatchers have not been given the tools to handle such serious matters.
Emergency operators are not seen as first responders federally, but they should be, said Brockovich.
"I think that we all need to be aware they're not seen as first responders and [we need to] get them in that position of being seen as a first responder," she told Cheddar.
Understanding that emergency dispatchers are the first line of defense when it comes to rendering aid in devastating scenarios is essential to carving a path for better funding and better funding leads to better technology and more efficient operation, she explained.
Working with cloud-aided dispatch platform RapidDeploy, she also suggested that constructing a nationwide network or hub where dispatchers could share information would help them better respond to major emergencies.
Brockovich is perhaps best known from the eponymous film based on her real-life experience taking on California power company PG&E over its polluting of a community's water supply. Safe water is a cause she's still fighting for.
Just last month, Brockovich released a new book, Superman's Not Coming and What We the People Can Do About It, where she describes the lack of attention to the quality of water in the U.S. as a crisis but says it's an issue that the public can take into their hands and repair.
"We share with you in the book, many communities, who themselves, took it upon themselves to know their water, learn about the chemical, educate their neighbors, join their community, and get, right in their own backyard, their city council," she said.
Communities across the country, according to Brockovich, can affect more change in the quality of their water supply by getting involved locally, whether directly running for office or advocating for changes to their local municipalities.
Albania's Prime Minister Edi Rama says his new Cabinet will include an artificial intelligence “minister” in charge of fighting corruption. The AI, named Diella, will oversee public funding projects and combat corruption in public tenders. Diella was launched earlier this year as a virtual assistant on the government's public service platform. Corruption has been a persistent issue in Albania since 1990. Rama's Socialist Party won a fourth consecutive term in May. It aims to deliver EU membership for Albania in five years, but the opposition Democratic Party remains skeptical.
The Trump administration has asked an appeals court to remove Lisa Cook from the Federal Reserve’s board of governors by Monday, before the central bank’s next vote on interest rates. Trump sought to fire Cook Aug. 25, but a federal judge ruled late Tuesday that the removal was illegal and reinstated her to the Fed’s board.
President Donald Trump's administration is appealing a ruling blocking him from immediately firing Federal Reserve Gov. Lisa Cook as he seeks more control over the traditionally independent board. The notice of appeal was filed Wednesday, hours after U.S. District Judge Jia Cobb handed down the ruling. The White House insists the Republican president had the right to fire Cook over mortgage fraud allegations involving properties in Michigan and Georgia from before she joined the Fed. Cook's lawsuit denies the allegations and says the firing was unlawful. The case could soon reach the Supreme Court, which has allowed Trump to fire members of other independent agencies but suggested that power has limitations at the Fed.
Chief Justice John Roberts has let President Donald Trump remove a member of the Federal Trade Commission, the latest in a string of high-profile firings allowed for now by the Supreme Court.
President Donald Trump has fired one of two Democratic members of the U.S. Surface Transportation Board to break a 2-2 tie ahead of the board considering the largest railroad merger ever proposed.
The Rev. Al Sharpton is set to lead a protest march on Wall Street to urge corporate America to resist the Trump administration’s campaign to roll back diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives. The New York civil rights leader will join clergy, labor and community leaders Thursday in a demonstration through Manhattan’s Financial District that’s timed with the anniversary of the Civil Rights-era March on Washington in 1963. Sharpton called DEI the “civil rights fight of our generation." He and other Black leaders have called for boycotting American retailers that scaled backed policies and programs aimed at bolstering diversity and reducing discrimination in their ranks.
