Crypto News: New Orleans plans a 15-minute city for hurricanes

Twenty years after Hurricane Katrina barreled through the Gulf Coast, lessons from its aftermath stand as both a powerful indictment of the government's shortfall in times of crises and a call to strengthen the capacity of local communities to respond to emergencies. Nearly 1,400 people died across all the affected regions as flooding and power outages left residents stranded in the heat without air conditioning or clean water. Many died not during of the storm itself but in the chaotic days that followed, as state and federal officials scrambled to coordinate their emergency response.

In future disasters, local help may be the only help that residents of cities like New Orleans — among the hardest-hit by Katrina — can expect to see. To that end, a coalition of faith-based and civic organizations across Louisiana is working to build the largest network of solar-powered resilience hubs in the US, with a goal to put one within a 15-minute walk of every resident. Called "Community Lighthouses," these are neighborhood-serving facilities run by members of the community that stay powered during blackouts and offer people potentially life-saving services during emergencies. Read more from me today on CityLab: In New Orleans, Katrina Taught a Lesson in Local Resilience

— Linda Poon

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What we're reading

They survived Katrina and started to rebuild. Now Trump's cuts may flood them out again (Mother Jones)
'Drastic': Life-saving California weather forecast data is about to disappear (SF Gate)
Immigration officials conduct operation at wildfire site in Washington state (New York Times)
The evolving fight over giving people cash, explained (Vox)
NYC 'ghost cars' more likely to drive dangerously and owe fines, report finds (Gothamist)