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    ‘Flooding could end southern Appalachia’: the scientists on an urgent mission to save lives

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    The abandoned homes and razed lots along the meandering Troublesome Creek in rural eastern Kentucky is a constant reminder of the 2022 catastrophic floods that killed dozens of people and displaced thousands more.Among the hardest hit was Fisty, a tiny community where eight homes, two shops and nine people including a woman who uses a wheelchair, her husband and two children, were swept away by the rising creek. Some residents dismissed cellphone alerts of potential flooding due to mistrust and warning fatigue, while for others it was already too late to escape. Landslides trapped the survivors and the deceased for several days.In response, geologists from the University of Kentucky secured a grant from the National Science Foundation (NSF) and raced around collecting perishable data in hope of better understanding the worst flooding event to hit the region in a generation.View image in fullscreenOn a recent morning in Fisty, Harold Baker sat smoking tobacco outside a new prefabricated home while his brother James worked on a car in a makeshift workshop. With no place else to go, the Baker family rebuilt the workshop on the same spot on Troublesome Creek with financial assistance from the Federal Emergency Management Agency (Fema).“I feel depressed, everyone else is gone now. The days are long. It feels very lonely when the storms come in,” said Baker, 55, whose four dogs also drowned in 2022. With so few people left, the car repair business is way down, the road eerily quiet.Since the flood that took everything, Harold and James patrol the river every time it rains. The vigilance helped avert another catastrophe on Valentine’s Day after another so-called generational storm. No one died but the trauma, like the river, came roaring back.“I thought we were going to lose everything again, it was scary,” said Baker.At this spot in July 2022, geologist Ryan Thigpen found flood debris on top of two-storey buildings – 118in (3 metres) off the ground. The water mark on Harold’s new trailer shows the February flood hit 23in.Troublesome creek is a 40-mile narrow tributary of the north fork of the Kentucky River, which, like many waterways across southern Appalachia, does not have a single gauge. Yet these rural mountain hollers are getting slammed over and over by catastrophic flooding – and landslides – as the climate crisis increases rainfall across the region and warmer waters in the Gulf of Mexico turbocharge storms.Two years after 45 people died in the 2022 floods, the scale of disaster grew with Hurricane Helene, which killed more than 230 people with almost half the deaths in Appalachia, after days of relentless rain turned calm streams into unstoppable torrents.Another 23 people died during the February 2025 rains, then 24 more in April during a four-day storm that climate scientists found was made significantly more likely and more severe by the warming planet.View image in fullscreenThe extreme weather is making life unbearable and economically unviable for a chronically underserved region where coal was once king, and climate skepticism remains high. Yet little is known about flooding in the Appalachian region. It’s why the geologists – also called earth scientists – got involved.“This is where most people are going to die unless we create reliable warning systems and model future flood risks for mitigation and to help mountain communities plan for long-term resilience. Otherwise, these extreme flooding events could be the end of southern Appalachia,” said Thigpen.Amid accelerating climate breakdown the urgency of the mission is clear. Yet this type of applied science could be derailed – or at least curtailed – by the unprecedented assault on science, scientists and federal agencies by Donald Trump and his billionaire donors.Danielle Baker, Harold’s sister-in-law (James’s wife), had her bags packed a week in advance of the February flood and was glued to local television weather reports, which, like the geologists, rely on meteorological forecasting by the taxpayer-funded National Weather Service (NWS).She was “scared to death” watching the creek rise so high again. But this time the entire family, including 11 dogs and several cats, evacuated to the church on the hill where they waited 26 hours for the water to subside.View image in fullscreen“The people in this community are the best you could meet, but it’s a ghost town now. I didn’t want to rebuild so close to the creek, but we had nowhere else to go. Every time it rains, I can’t sleep,” she said, wiping away tears with her shirt.Danielle was unaware of Trump’s plans to dismantle Fema and slash funding from the NWS and NSF. “A lot of people here would not know what to do without Fema’s help. We need more information about the weather, better warnings, because the rains are getting worse,” she said.A day after the Guardian’s visit in mid-May, a NWS office in eastern Kentucky scrambled to cover the overnight forecast as severe storms moved through the region, triggering multiple tornadoes that eventually killed 28 people. Hundreds of staff have left the NWS in recent months, through a combination of layoffs and buyouts at the behest of Trump mega-donor Elon Musk’s “department of government efficiency” (Doge).Yet statewide, two-thirds of Kentuckians voted for Trump last year, with his vote share closer to 80% in rural communities hit hard by extreme weather, where many still blame Barack Obama for coal mine closures.“It doesn’t matter if people don’t believe in climate change. It’s going to wallop them anyway. We need to think about watersheds differently. This is a new world of extremes and cascading hazards,” said Thigpen, the geologist.The rapidly changing climate is rendering the concept of once-in-a-generation floods, which is mostly based on research by hydrologists going back a hundred years or so, increasingly obsolete. Geologists, on the other hand, look back 10,000 years, which could help better understand flooding patterns when the planet was warmer.Thigpen is spearheading this close-knit group of earth scientists from the university’s hazards team based in Lexington. On a recent field trip, nerdy jokes and constant teasing helped keep the mood light, but the scientists are clearly affected by the devastation they have witnessed since 2022. The team has so far documented more than 3,000 landslides triggered by that single extreme rain event, and are still counting.View image in fullscreenThis work is part of a broader statewide push to increase climate resiliency and bolster economic growth using Kentucky-specific scientific research. Last year, the initiative got a major boost when the state secured $24m from the NSF for a five-year research project involving eight Kentucky institutions that has created dozens of science jobs and hundreds of new student opportunities.The grant helped pay for high-tech equipment – drones, radars, sensors and computers – the team needs to collect data and build models to improve hazard prediction and create real-time warning systems.View image in fullscreenAfter major storms, the team measures water levels and analyzes the sediment deposits left behind to calculate the scale and velocity of the flooding, which in turn helps calibrate the model.The models help better understand the impact of the topography and each community’s built and natural environment – important for future mitigation. In these parts, coal was extracted using mountaintop mine removal, which drastically altered the landscape. Mining – and redirected waterways – can affect the height of a flood, according to a recent study by PhD student Meredith Swallom.A paleo-flood project is also under way, and another PhD student, Luciano Cardone, will soon begin digging into a section of the Kentucky riverbank to collect layers of sediment that holds physical clues on the date, size and velocity of ancient floods. Cardone, who found one local missionary’s journal describing flooding in 1795, will provide a historical or geological perspective to catastrophic flooding in the region, which the team believe will help better predict future hazards under changing climatic conditions.View image in fullscreenAll this data is analyzed at the new lab located in the Kentucky Geological Survey (KGS) department where super-powerful computers are positioned around a ceiling-to-floor black board, with a groovy lamp and artwork to get the creative mathematical juices flowing.So far the team has developed one working flood risk model for a single section of the Kentucky River. This will serve as a template, as each watershed requires its own model so that the data is manageable, precise and useful.This sort of applied science has the capacity to directly improve the lives of local people, including many Trump voters, as well as benefiting other mountainous flood-prone areas across the US and globally. But a flood warning system can only work if there is reliable meteorological forecasting going forward.Reports suggest NWS weather balloons, which assess storm risk by measuring wind speed, humidity, temperature and other conditions that satellites may not detect, have been canceled in recent weeks from Nebraska to Florida due to staff shortages. At the busiest time for storm predictions, deadly heatwaves and wildfires, weather service staffing is down by more than 10% and, for the first time in almost half a century, some forecasting offices no longer have 24/7 cover.Trump’s team is also threatening to slash $1.52bn from National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (Noaa), the weather service’s parent agency, which also monitors climate trends, manages coastal ecosystems and supports international shipping, among other things.“To build an effective and trusted warning system we need hyper-local data, including accurate weather forecasts and a more robust network of gauges,” said Summer Brown, a senior lecturer at the University of Kentucky’s earth and environmental sciences department. “The thought of weakening our basic weather data is mind-boggling.”View image in fullscreenIt’s impossible not to worry about the cuts, especially as the grand plan is to create a southern Appalachian flood and hazard centre to better understand and prepare the entire region’s mountain communities for extreme weather and related hazards, including flash floods, landslides and tornadoes.For this, the team is currently awaiting a multimillion-dollar grant decision from the NSF, in what until recently was a merit-based, peer-reviewed process at the federal agency. The NSF director resigned in April after orders from the White House to accept a 55% cut to the $9bn budget and fire half of its 1,700-person staff. Then in an unprecedented move, a member of the governing body stepped down, lambasting Musk’s unqualified Doge team for interfering in grant decisions.The NSF is the principal federal investor in basic science and engineering, and the proposed cut will be devastating in the US and globally.“Rivers are different all over Appalachia, and if our research continues we can build accurate flood and landslide models that help communities plan for storms in a changing climate,” said Jason Dortch, who set up the flood lab. “We’ve submitted lots of great grant proposals, and while that is out of our hands, we will continue to push forwarded however we can.”Fleming-Neon is a former mining community in Letcher county with around 500 residents – a decline of almost 40% in the past two decades. The town was gutted by the 2022 storm, and only two businesses, a car repair shop and a florist, reopened. The launderette, pharmacy, dentist, clothing store and thrift shop were all abandoned.View image in fullscreenRandall and Bonnie Kincer, a local couple who have been married for 53 years, run the flower shop from an old movie theater on main street, which doubles up as a dance studio for elementary school children. The place was rammed with 120in of muddy water in 2022. In February it was 52in, and everything still reeks of mould.The couple have been convinced by disinformation spread by conspiracy theorists that the recent catastrophic floods across the region, including Helene, were down to inadequate river dredging and cloud seeding. The town’s sorry plight, according to the Kincers, is down to deliberate manipulation of the weather system paid for by mining companies to flood out the community in order to gain access to lithium. (There are no significant lithium deposits in the area.)Bonnie, 74, is on the brink of giving up on the dance classes that she has taught since sophomore year, but not on Trump. “I have total confidence in President Trump. The [federal] cuts will be tough for a little while but there’s a lot of waste, so it will level out,” said Bonnie, who is angry about not qualifying for Fema assistance.View image in fullscreen“We used all our life savings fixing the studio. But I cannot shovel any more mud, not even for the kids. I am done. I have PTSD, we are scared to death,” she said breaking down in tears several times.The fear is understandable. On the slope facing the studio, a tiered retainer wall has been anchored into the hill to stabilize the earth and prevent an avalanche from destroying the town below.And at the edge of town, next to the power station on an old mine site, is a towering pile of black sludgy earth littered with lumps of shiny coal – the remnants of a massive landslide that happened as residents cleaned up after the February storm.Thomas Hutton’s house was swamped with muddy water after the landslide blocked the creek, forcing it to temporarily change course towards a residential street. “The floods have made this a ghost town. I doubt it will survive another one. If you mess with Mother Nature, you lose,” said Hutton, 74, a retired miner.View image in fullscreenThe geologists fly drones fitted with Lidar (Light Detection and Ranging) – a remote sensing technology that uses pulsed lasers to create high-res, 3D, color models of the Earth’s surface, and can shoot through trees and man-made structures to detect and monitor changes in terrain including landslides. The affordability and precision of the China-made Lidar has been a “game-changer” for landslides, but prices have recently rocketed thanks to Trump’s tariff war.The Lidar picked up fairly recent deforestation above the Fleming-Neon power plant, which likely further destabilized the earth. The team agrees that the landslide could keep moving, but without good soil data it’s impossible to know when.Last year’s NSF grant funded new soil and moisture sensors, and mini weather stations, which the landslide team is in the process of installing on 14 steep slopes in eastern Kentucky – the first time this has been done – including one opposite Hutton’s house.Back at the lab, the geologists will use the data the sensors send back every 15 minutes to create models – and eventually a website where residents and local emergency managers can see how the soil moisture is changing in real time. The end goal is to warn communities when there is a high landslide risk based on the soil saturation – and rain forecast.“We have taken so many resources from these slopes, we need to understand them better,” said Sarah Johnson, a landslide expert. “We’re not sitting in an ivory tower making money from research. The work we do is about making communities safer.” More

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      The Best Hats at the 2025 Kentucky Derby

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      When discussing the history of women’s hats in the United States, the designer and author Steven Stolman was reminded of Stephen Sondheim’s “Company,” in which Joanne wryly asks, “Does anyone still wear a hat?”Hats come and go in women’s fashion, but there is one place you can always find them. Mr. Stolman is well aware of that. He was in Kentucky to help Britainy Beshear, the first lady of the state, get ready for the 151st running of the Kentucky Derby, which she was attending in a dress he designed and a hat he helped select.No American sporting event can match the sartorial splendor of the Derby, and Mr. Stolman, who is no stranger to such affairs, having donned a top hat to attend Britain’s Royal Ascot races, had many opinions on what made a good hat (and many more on fascinators and elaborate headdresses being entirely separate things).“I think that the whole goal should be that you see a beautiful lady wearing a hat,” he said, “rather than a beautiful hat being worn by a lady.”Britainy Beshear, the first lady of Kentucky, worked with the designer Steven Stolman on her outfit for the Derby.David Kasnic for The New York TimesIn Mrs. Beshear’s case, that meant having Mr. Stolman pair a pink-and-white silk check shirt and skirt from his Steven Stolman for J. McLaughlin collection with a hand-blocked white sinamay hat by Gigi Burris that was trimmed with twisted goose feathers.When looking ahead to the array of hats that would be seen in the crowd on Saturday at Churchill Downs, Mr. Stolman expressed some dismay that more than a few women were likely to choose poorly as they no longer had the help of trained milliners and sales people when shopping.“Buying a hat online is really risky business because there’s no opportunity to see if it even fits,” he said, adding that “genuine millinery is made to fit the wearer, and that makes all the difference in the world.”Heavy rain throughout the day complicated things, but the crowd of 147,406, as always, ran the gamut from extreme to understated. And nearly every woman (and plenty of men) still managed to wear a hat, because some traditions are worth keeping, regardless of the weather.In Lori Walker’s case, the rain on Saturday created a fun effect on her hat. David Kasnic for The New York TimesIndra Mumba’s sunglasses went so well with her outfit that she kept them on despite the dreary day.David Kasnic for The New York TimesCathy Shannon was among the attendees who took a break from the weather by finding a dry place inside.David Kasnic for The New York TimesJim Oehmcke’s white shirt and hat made his accessories pop.David Kasnic for The New York TimesCarrie and Jeff Ketterman did not let the weather get in the way of their spectacular ensembles. David Kasnic for The New York TimesAs the day went on, the party atmosphere managed to come through.David Kasnic for The New York TimesRonnie McCraven went with a loud outfit and an understated hat.David Kasnic for The New York TimesA rainbow of feathers would stand out in any crowd, but a dreary day made it pop even more.David Kasnic for The New York TimesSome hats blurred the line between hats and dioramas. David Kasnic for The New York TimesButter yellow is a color of the moment, and this group was ready for that moment.David Kasnic for The New York TimesA large splash of red in a black and white outfit made for a striking look.David Kasnic for The New York TimesCheryl Hamilton-Hill leaned in on the rain and added a yellow rain coat to her outfit.David Kasnic for The New York TimesA hat this large made you want to see the dress that went with it. David Kasnic for The New York TimesBruce Asmussen’s Pabst Blue Ribbon hat was as creative as they come.David Kasnic for The New York TimesThe people who went out to their seats did so in ponchos, with some covering their hats as well.David Kasnic for The New York TimesAlbert Smith and Julie Nickel coordinated their outfits nicely. David Kasnic for The New York TimesSome rain coats blended more seamlessly than others.David Kasnic for The New York TimesSvetlana Mumba stood out in pink.David Kasnic for The New York TimesFascinators, fedoras and baseball hats could all be found at Churchill Downs.David Kasnic for The New York TimesA clear raincoat was as unobtrusive as possible, though some people chose to just get rained on.David Kasnic for The New York TimesJoe Rogers and his daughter, Talea, made some adjustments outside Churchill Downs.David Kasnic for The New York TimesAmelia Hauschild stayed dry under an overhang with her husband, Martin Garcia.David Kasnic for The New York TimesThe weather may have been lousy, but Katherine Darius managed to let a smile sneak through while standing under a tree. David Kasnic for The New York TimesThe weather left a well-dressed crowd a bit water-logged, with dreams of nicer weather next year.David Kasnic for The New York Times More

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      Long-Running Storm Drenches Central U.S. but Starts to Shift East

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      The heaviest rains so far this weekend have hit Arkansas, Missouri and Kentucky. More rain is expected on Sunday, but the risk of flooding will be less severe.The huge storm system that has caused widespread damage across the central United States is bringing more heavy rain and high winds on Sunday, continuing its dayslong stretch of soaking communities from Texas to Ohio as it begins to move east.The heaviest rains over the weekend so far have fallen in Arkansas, Missouri and Kentucky, and rising water levels and flooding have prompted water rescues, road closures and evacuation orders. The storm has killed at least 16 people, including a 5-year-old boy in Arkansas, a 9-year-old boy in Kentucky and a firefighter in Missouri, since it began on Wednesday.

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      Source: National Weather Service
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       Values are in inches of water or the equivalent amount of melted snow and ice.
      By Bea Malsky and Martín González Gómez

      The threat of storms and rainfall will shift eastward but diminish on Sunday, which will be a welcome reprieve for residents in the South and the Midwest. In some areas — including northern Arkansas and southern Missouri — rivers are expected to crest on Sunday, and possibly as late as Wednesday, but the risk of dangerous flooding will not be as high as it was on Friday and Saturday.While the worst of the rain is over in northern Kentucky, parts of the region are still expected to receive up to five inches of rain before the long stretch of bad weather finally clears, according to the National Weather Service. “Moderate to major” flooding was forecast on many of the region’s rivers.“Given the fact that everything is so saturated, everything is just running right off the ground and into area creeks and streams,” said Nate McGinnis, a meteorologist with the agency in Wilmington, Ohio.

      Forecast risk of severe storms for Sunday

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      Communities Brace for Flooding as Storm Moves Across Central U.S.

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      The rising water levels have prompted rescues and road closures. The storm, which has already wreaked havoc across the South and the Midwest, doesn’t show signs of letting up.Rivers were rising rapidly across much of the Midwest and South on Saturday, prompting water rescues and road closures as a relentless storm continued to dump rain and to rage across the country. The increased flooding, which was happening from Texas to Ohio, came after days of heavy rains and tornadoes that killed at least nine people, including a Missouri firefighter who died while responding to a water rescue call on Friday. Forecasters warned that the floods might continue well into next week, with rivers not expected to crest in some places until Tuesday or Wednesday.Emergency workers reported overnight water rescues in Texarkana, Texas; Izard County, Ark.; and several places in southern Missouri, including around Cape Girardeau. “We’ve got flooded streets everywhere — and lots more rain on the way,” the Texarkana police posted on Facebook.On Friday, the local sheriff in Izard County, in northern Arkansas, was traveling to rescue a family when he crashed his truck on a washed-out road. The sheriff was not injured, but photos showed his truck partially submerged.“All county roads will have major damage like this for the coming days that can be hidden by the water,” the department warned, adding that people should stay home if possible. More

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      Scenes From States Devastated by a Powerful Storm System

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      A massive storm system has pummeled the Midwest and South this week, killing at least seven people and leaving a trail of destruction from Arkansas to Ohio. The risk may only increase in the days ahead as sustained rainfall is expected to cause widespread and potentially catastrophic floods.The storm began to menace the region on Wednesday, when tornadoes and strong winds toppled barns, houses and power poles. Several people died in Tennessee, including a teenage girl whose modular home was destroyed by a tornado. Officials also linked a fire chief’s death in Missouri and a motorist’s death in Indiana to the storm.In many communities, the focus shifted immediately to the threat of flooding. Water already covered roads in Nashville, and schools in some drenched Kentucky and Tennessee communities called off Friday classes. With many waterways expected to crest at major flood stage over the weekend, residents of river towns in Arkansas, Missouri and beyond were racing to fill up sandbags.Here is a look at some of the damage:ArkansasBrad J. Vest for The New York TimesCody Ferguson took pictures of damage to his home in Lake City.Brad J. Vest for The New York TimesJessica Rust showed off a photo of a tornado that she took on Wednesday as she and her family cleared debris from her father’s destroyed mobile home in Lake City.Associated PressPeople surveyed destroyed homes in Lake City.Brad J. Vest for The New York TimesDylon Davies embraced Skylar, his friend’s dog that survived the tornado in Lake City.TennesseeWilliam DeShazer for The New York TimesRescue operations were underway as floodwaters grew in Nashville.@racheljanemarie via XFloodwaters overflowed into streets in Nashville.William DeShazer for The New York TimesUtility workers began restoring power in Selmer.William DeShazer for The New York TimesBuildings were shredded in Selmer.Tennessee Highway Patrol via StoryfulCrews searched through wreckage after a tornado hit Selmer.William DeShazer for The New York TimesFlooding in Nashville.William DeShazer for The New York TimesResidents in Selmer patched a roof as rain continued to pour.Anthony Kyle Borden via FacebookLightening as tornado warnings were issued in Statonville.KentuckyMichael Swensen/Getty ImagesParishioners and community members assessed damage after a tornado struck the Christ Community Church in West Paducah.Leandro Lozada/Agence France-Presse, via Afp /Afp Via Getty ImagesA tornado ripped through buildings in Louisville.Indiana@DKahunaB via StoryfulTornados toppled trees and damaged homes in Carmel.MissouriDavid Robert Elliott for The New York TimesResidents explored the wreckage in Nevada.David Robert Elliott for The New York TimesBusinesses in Nevada were destroyed by the storm.OklahomaMike Simons/Tulsa World, via Associated PressRyland Mosley, 18, who was on the second story of his home when the storm passed, stood outside and observed the aftermath in Owasso.Mike Simons/Tulsa World, via Associated PressDamage in Owasso. More

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      Tornadoes Sweep Across the South and Midwest, Killing at Least 7

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      After hail, heavy rains and more than 30 tornadoes drenched the region, officials warned that a “generational flooding” disaster was possible.At least seven people have been killed in Tennessee, Missouri and Indiana, officials said on Thursday, after more than 30 tornadoes, combined with hail and heavy rains, swept through the South and Midwest, flooding streets, snapping power lines and flattening homes and businesses.The flooding was expected to worsen as the storm stalls over the region, putting millions under severe weather advisories over the next few days. Officials warned that a “generational flooding” disaster was possible as more than a foot of rain could fall, pushing swollen rivers and creeks over their banks.Cities and counties across the Midwest and South were ramping up efforts to prepare for the severe flooding that was predicted for the days ahead. Officials said that schools in some districts in Tennessee and Kentucky would be closed on Friday.The Army Corps of Engineers said it had filled about 1,500 sandbags to reinforce a levee near Poplar Bluff, Mo., where the Black River was expected to surge to near-record flood levels over the weekend. An urban search-and-rescue team was also deploying to the area.Gov. Mike Braun of Indiana said he was activating the National Guard to help with the storm response.As much as 10 to 15 inches of rain could fall through the weekend, the National Weather Service said. The most intense rain was expected in Arkansas and Tennessee, where floodwaters were rising in parts of Nashville and rescues were underway.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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      Why the Right Still Embraces Ivermectin

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      Five years after the pandemic began, interest in the anti-parasitic drug is rising again as right-wing influencers promote it — and spread misinformation about it.Joe Grinsteiner is a gregarious online personality who touts the anti-parasitic drug ivermectin. In a recent Facebook video, he produced a tube of veterinary-grade ivermectin paste — the kind made for deworming horses.He gave the tube a squeeze. Then he licked a slug of the stuff, and gulped.“Yum,” Mr. Grinsteiner said in the Feb. 25 video, one of a number of ivermectin-related posts he has made that have drawn millions of views on Facebook this year. “Actually, that tastes like dead cancer.”Ivermectin, a drug proven to treat certain parasitic diseases, exploded in popularity during the pandemic amid false claims that it could treat or prevent Covid-19. Now — despite a persistent message from federal health officials that its medical benefits are limited — interest in ivermectin is rising again, particularly among American conservatives who are seeing it promoted by right-wing influencers.Mr. Grinsteiner, 54, is a Trump supporter and country music performer who lives in rural Michigan. He has claimed in his videos that ivermectin cured his skin cancer, as well as his wife’s cervical cancer. In a video last month, he said a woman told him her nonverbal autistic child had become verbal after using ivermectin. In a recent phone interview, Mr. Grinsteiner said that he takes a daily dose of ivermectin to maintain his general well-being.There is no evidence to support people taking ivermectin to treat cancer or autism. Yet Mr. Grinsteiner believes that the medical and political establishments just want to keep average people from discovering the healing powers of a relatively affordable drug. We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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      Mitch McConnell is retiring from US politics. Good riddance | Moira Donegan

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      You would think that this is exactly what Mitch McConnell wanted. McConnell, the 83-year-old Kentucky senator – who announced last week that he will retire in 2026 and not seek an eighth term – is one of the most influential Republicans in the history of the party. But he has in recent weeks expressed dissent and discontent with the direction of the Republican party. He voted against some of Donald Trump’s cabinet appointees, refusing, for example, to cast a vote for the confirmation of the anti-diversity campaigner and alleged rapist and drunk Pete Hegseth.He has also voiced some tepid and belated opposition to Republicans’ extremist agenda, citing his own experience as a survivor of childhood polio as a reason for his opposition to Republican attacks on vaccines. But the Republican party that McConnell is now shaking his head at is the one that he created. He has no one but himself to blame.Over his 40 years in the US Senate, with almost two decades as the Republican leader in the chamber, McConnell has become one of the most influential senators in the nation’s history, radically reshaping Congress, and his party, in the process. Few have done more to erode the conditions of representative democracy in America, and few have done more to enable the rise of oligarchy, autocracy and reactionary, minoritarian governance that is insulated from electoral check. McConnell remade America in his own image. It’s an ugly sight.In the end, McConnell will be remembered for one thing only: his enabling of Trump. In 2021, after Trump refused to respect the results of the 2020 election and sent a violent mob of his supporters to the Capitol to stop the certification of the election results by violent force, McConnell had an opportunity to put a stop to Trump’s authoritarian attacks on the constitutional order.McConnell never liked Trump, and by that point, he didn’t even need him: he had already won what would be his last term. He could have voted to convict Trump at his second impeachment; if he had, it’s likely that other Republican senators would have been willing to do so, too, and that Trump could have been convicted and prevented from returning to power. He didn’t. McConnell voted to acquit, and to allow Trump to rise again. If the next four years of Trump’s restoration are anything like the first 30 days have been, then that will turn out to have been the singularly significant decision of McConnell’s career.But McConnell had been working against American democracy long before Trump sent the mob to ransack the Senate chamber and smear feces on the walls. It was McConnell, after all, who is most responsible for the current campaign finance regime, which has allowed unlimited amounts of dark money spending to infiltrate politics – making elections more influenceable, and politicians’ favor more purchasable, in ways that tilt public policy away from the people’s interests and towards those of the billionaire patron class.Such arrangements of funding and favors are not consistent with democracy; they change politicians’ loyalties, diminish the influence of voters, diminish constituents and their needs to a mere afterthought or communications problem in the minds of elected representatives. This was by design, and it is how McConnell liked it. In Washington, he operated at the center of a vast funding network, moving millions and millions of dollars towards those Republicans who did his bidding, and away from those who bucked his authority.It was partly his control over this spiderlike web of wealthy funders that allowed McConnell to exert such control over his caucus. It is hard to remember these days, when Republicans pick so many fights with each other, that the party was once feared for their discipline. McConnell was able to snuff out any meaningful dissent and policy difference in public among Republican senators with the threat of his deep-pocketed friends, always ready to fund a primary challenger. The lockstep from Republicans allowed McConnell to pursue what he viewed as his twin goals: stopping any Democratic agenda in Congress, and furthering the conservative capture of the federal courts.As Senate Republican leader during the Obama years, McConnell pursued a strategy of maximal procedural obstructionism. His mandate was that no Republican in the Senate would vote for any Obama agenda item – that there would be no compromise, no negotiation, no horse trading, no debate, but only a stonewalled total rejection of all Democratic initiatives. This has become the singular way that Republicans operate in the Senate; it was McConnell who made it that way.The underlying assumption of McConnell’s strategy of total opposition and refusal was that Democrats, even when they win elections, do not have a legitimate right to govern. In practice, the authorities of the presidency or congressional majorities expand and contract based on which party is in power: Republicans can achieve a great deal more in the White House, or with control of Congress, than Democrats can.In part this is because of McConnell’s procedural approach, which posits bending the rules to suit Republican interests when they are in power, and enforcing the rules to the point of functionally arresting legislative business when Democrats take the majority. This, too, is antithetical to democracy: constitutional powers can’t be limited for one party, and expanded for another, so that voters are only fully represented if they vote one way. The strategy of obstructionism functionally ended Congress as a legislative body in all but the most extreme of circumstances. What was most the most representative, electorally responsive, and important branch of the federal government has receded to the status of a bit player, and policymaking power has been abdicated to the executive and the courts. That’s McConnell’s doing, too.Maybe it was part of McConnell’s indifference to the integrity of democracy meant that he refused, during the Obama era, to confirm any of the president’s judicial nominees. Vacancies on the federal courts accumulated, with seats sitting empty and cases piling up for the overworked judges who remained. But McConnell’s seizure of the judicial appointment power from the executive was only in effect when the president was a Democrat; when Republicans were in power, he jammed the courts full of far-right judges.When Antonin Scalia died in 2016, under Obama, McConnell held the US supreme court seat open for almost a year, hoping that Trump would win the 2016 election and get the chance to appoint a right-wing replacement. When Ruth Bader Ginsburg died, just a few weeks before the 2020 election, McConnell jammed through the nomination of Amy Coney Barrett. His tendencies, then, were always authoritarian: power, in his view, did not belong to those the people elected to represent them. It belonged, always, to Republicans – no matter what the voters had to say about it.Mitch McConnell is an old man. In 2026, when he finally leaves office, he will be 84. He will not have to live in the world that he made, the one where what was left of American democracy is finally snatched away. But we will. Whenever you see a horror of anti-democratic rule – whenever cronyism is rewarded over competence, whenever cruelty is inflicted over dignity, whenever the constitution is flouted, mocked, or treated as a mere annoyance to be ignored by men with no respect for the law or for you – remember Mitch McConnell. You have him to thank.

      Moira Donegan is a Guardian US columnist More

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      ‘Here We Go Again’: Kentucky Residents Face More Destruction and Anxiety From Storms

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      The flood damage over the weekend was not as catastrophic as some previous climate disasters in the state. But the rains still brought widespread havoc, and painful reminders of trauma.As the rains began to drench Eastern Kentucky this weekend, Mimi Pickering looked anxiously out her window in the town of Whitesburg as the North Fork Kentucky River kept rising, and rising, and rising.Would it once again swallow the bridge that leads to the historic Main Street? And would the media and arts education center where she is a board member be damaged, as it was a few years before?“It just looked so much like the 2022 flood — it felt just like, ‘Here we go again, this is unbelievable,’” Ms. Pickering, a filmmaker, said. “It’s been traumatic for people when it rains so heavily — it just adds to that PTSD.”By Sunday, a clearer picture had begun to emerge of the destruction caused by the storms: At least nine people dead throughout the state, with the death toll expected to rise. Nearly 40,000 people without power. More than 1,000 rescues. At least 300 road closures of state and federal roads. Two wastewater systems out of service, including one that was underwater.And more grim news was likely, Gov. Andy Beshear of Kentucky said during a news conference on Sunday, warning that a snowstorm was expected in the next few days that could dump as much as six inches. He urged Kentuckians to stay home and allow emergency boats, vehicles and workers to reach people in need.“This is one of the most serious weather events that we’ve dealt with in at least a decade,” he said.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More