(TNS) - Ready for class in a red Listie Volunteer Fire Company sweatshirt, Brenda Shaffer said she’s always had a general interest in weather patterns.

That interest multiplies when she knows the stakes are high – when her fellow firefighters are responding to emergencies.

“When the guys are out on calls is when I worry,” she said.

Emergencies are, by definition, unexpected occurrences — but one Florida county has a new 911 system that aims to remove some of the guesswork by putting data in the hands of decision-makers who can make smarter choices about emergency response.

Today’s global cybersecurity threats do not allow for any perfect solutions, security expert Juliette Kayyem tells business owners.

“You’re never going to get the risk to zero,” Kayyem said. ““The goal is to minimize the risk.”

Kayyem served as President Obama’s assistant secretary for Intergovernmental Affairs at the Department of Homeland Security and now holds a faculty spot at the Harvard Kennedy School.

(TNS) - Disasters happen. What matters is how people respond.

That was one message of American Red Cross Serving Central Illinois' 23rd annual Evening of Stars on Thursday night.

Delivering that and other messages was featured speaker Capt. Chesley "Sully" Sullenberger, the pilot of the "Miracle on the Hudson."

"What I hope people glean from his story is that disasters do happen but here was someone who was as prepared as he could be and he managed it," said Lyn Hruska, Red Cross regional chief development officer.

(TNS) -- U.S. Rep. Lou Barletta, R-Hazleton, recently examined how well prepared the United States is for a cyber-attack on the electrical grid.

The sub-committee heard testimony that states and localities should be prepared to face weeks, rather than days, of power outages following such an assault.

Barletta chaired a subcommittee hearing for the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee titled: “Blackout! Are We Prepared to Manage the Aftermath of a Cyber-Attack or Other Failure of the Electrical Grid?”

Filming is underway for the ReadyNova.org Call-to-Action video. Take a look at some of the pictures from the 522 Productions set!

Tokyo -- Southern Japan was hit by a magnitude 7.0 earthquake early Saturday morning, just one day after a quake killed nine people in the region.
Japan has issued a tsunami advisory for the nearby coast.

The quake's epicentre was near Kyushu, 1 kilometre south-west of Kumamoto and 12 kilometres north-east of Uto, according to the US Geological Survey.

Please join on June 25, 2016.  Attached you will find information on how to register your 4 person team, how to sponsor the event, and information on all the great prizes, food, drinks, and fun.  We hope to have every department and agency represented!  One individual will win a free spot in any of AEC's paramedic class of your choosing.

I look forward to it being a great day and hope to see you there!  Limited space so reserve your team's soon!

(TNS) - The City Council has discussed paying a contractor to help the city prepare natural disaster response plans.
Such preparation services could cost the city as much as $19,000, but the contractor would bring valuable experience navigating FEMA regulations, officials said.

The contractor’s services could also help the city obtain more reimbursement money from FEMA in the event of a natural disaster, a council member noted.

(TNS) - Individuals from the business community and the public sector came together Wednesday to discuss potential threats to the territory and disaster preparedness strategies.
“This was just the starting point. Now we’ve got to really keep the momentum going and move forward and do more of these types of things,” said Todd Patton, deputy director for planning and preparedness for the V.I. Territorial Emergency Management Agency.