Question of the Day: 01/20/16

News Department 

Currently the Mayor of Flint, Michigan is receiving attention after switching the water source for the town.

In Spring of 2013, the state voted to switch Flint’s water source from Lake Huron to the Flint River in order to make budget cuts. Immediately residents began to complain of the taste, color, and smell of the new water. Tests then proved the water to be highly corrosive with high amounts of lead.

Since the declaration, the National Guard arrived in Flint and has been distributing bottled water to city residents.  

According to C-N-N, President Barack Obama officially declared the Flint water crisis a federal emergency, however he continues to deny granting the situation the title of disaster.

With an emergency declaration, the city of Flint can only receive up to 5 million dollars in federal funding to help restore utilities to proper standards.  

In this segment of Question of the Day, we asked Texas State students if they believe Mayor Weaver should be held liable for the lead poisoning of the Flint community.

Communications major Erin Hinga believes Mayor Weaver needs to be held liable after failing to care for her community.

Geographic Information Systems major Jake Davenport believes Mayor Weaver needs to be held accountable.

Hinga said she also believes the issue is common among poor neighborhoods.

Texas State History major Junior Jarred offered his thoughts on whether this problem needs to be solved by local or national government.

State Attorney General Bill Schuette will investigate how the crisis unfolded while determining if any laws were broken.

Attorneys representing Flint residents affected by the water crisis are currently preparing two new class-action lawsuits that target the Governor Rick Snyder.