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.
President Donald Trump said he has decided to lower his combined tariff rates on imports of Chinese goods to 47% after talks with Chinese leader Xi Jinping on curbing fentanyl trafficking.
The Federal Reserve cut its key interest rate Wednesday for a second time this year as it seeks to shore up economic growth and hiring even as inflation stays elevated. The move comes amid a fraught time for the central bank, with hiring sluggish and yet inflation stuck above the Fed’s 2% target. Compounding its challenges, the central bank is navigating without much of the economic data it typically relies on from the government. The Fed has signaled it may reduce its key rate again in December but the data drought raises the uncertainty around its next moves. Fed Chair Jerome Powell told reporters that there were “strongly differing views” at the central bank's policy meeting about to proceed going forward.
U.S. and Chinese officials say a trade deal between the world’s two largest economies is drawing closer. The sides have reached an initial consensus for President Donald Trump and Chinese leader Xi Jinping to aim to finalize during their high-stakes meeting Thursday in South Korea. Any agreement would be a relief to international markets. Trump's treasury secretary says discussions with China yielded preliminary agreements to stop the precursor chemicals for fentanyl from coming into the United States. Scott Bessent also says Beijing would make “substantial” purchases of soybean and other agricultural products while putting off export controls on rare earth elements needed for advanced technologies.
A new poll finds most U.S. adults are worried about health care becoming more expensive.
The White House budget office says mass firings of federal workers have started in an attempt to exert more pressure on Democratic lawmakers as the government shutdown continues.
President Donald Trump says “there seems to be no reason” to meet with Chinese leader Xi Jinping as part of an upcoming trip to South Korea after China restricted exports of rare earths needed for American industry. The Republican president suggested Friday he was looking at a “massive increase” of import taxes on Chinese products in response to Xi’s moves. Trump says one of the policies the U.S. is calculating is "a massive increase of Tariffs on Chinese products coming into the United States." A monthslong calm on Wall Street was shattered, with U.S. stocks falling on the news. The Chinese Embassy in Washington hasn't responded to an Associated Press request for comment.
