Another school shooting has happened. This one about 40 miles north of where I grew up. This time it was a Christian School, much like the Seventh Day Adventist school shooting from only a week or two ago.

Trust is a very basic aspect of our society’s functioning. When we get to a stop light we trust that others are obeying the red light as we enter on green. People pay their taxes and they expect that government will equitably disburse those funds to programs approved by our elected officials.

The news about drones being seen in the night sky over New Jersey is the first widescale news about drones being spotted across a wide area of a state (now expanding to other states) and drawing national attention. Drones are no longer a novelty in American airspace.

The 2024 hurricane season has been a memorable one, especially with the impact that Hurricane Helene had on the mountainous areas of North Carolina. Now, even months after the hurricane and the rains are gone, the search and recovery for missing people continues and small pieces of the community infrastructure are beginning to be pieced back together.

What can we learn from that disaster and how those lessons can be applied to our own situation here in earthquake country? The disaster and the hazards may be different, but the experiences we see being played out in North Carolina can be instructive to our own geographical setting.

The recent killing of a healthcare executive and the subsequent search and capture of the assailant are good reminders for emergency mangers.

It is not uncommon for the topic of martial law to come up in emergency management circles. It could be while doing planning or perhaps during a disaster exercise. Someone will say something like, “What about declaring martial law?” Or “When might martial law be declared for this situation?”