FEMA administrator replaced a day after testifying to Congress

WASHINGTON — The Federal Emergency Management Agency faced fresh upheaval Thursday just weeks before the start of hurricane season when the acting administrator was pushed out and replaced by another official from the Department of Homeland Security.

The abrupt change came the day after Cameron Hamilton, a former Navy SEAL who held the job for the last few months, testified on Capitol Hill that he did not agree with proposals to dismantle an organization that helps plan for natural disasters and distributes financial assistance.

President Donald Trump has suggested that individual states, not the federal government, should take the lead on hurricanes, tornadoes and other crises. He has been sharply critical of FEMA’s performance, particularly in North Carolina after Hurricane Helene.

David Richardson, a former Marine Corps officer who served in Afghanistan, Iraq and Africa, will run FEMA for the time being. He does not appear to have any experience in managing natural disasters. He currently serves as the Department of Homeland Security’s assistant secretary for countering weapons of mass destruction.

Father of Wisconsin school shooter faces felony charges

MADISON, Wis. — Wisconsin prosecutors on Thursday charged the father of a teenage girl who killed a teacher and fellow student in a school shooting last year with allowing her access to the semiautomatic pistols she used in the attack.

The criminal complaint against 42-year-old Jeffrey Rupnow of Madison details how his daughter, 15-year-old Natalie Rupnow, struggled with her parents’ divorce, showing her anger in a written piece entitled “War Against Humanity.” Her father tried to bond with her through guns, the complaint said, even as she meticulously planned the attack, including building a cardboard model of the school and scheduling the shooting to end with her suicide.

Jeffrey Rupnow was arrested early Thursday and taken to the Dane County Jail. He was scheduled to make his initial court appearance Friday. Online court records did not list an attorney for him. Acting Madison Police Chief John Patterson said he was cooperative throughout the investigation. No one returned voicemails left at possible telephone listings for him and his ex-wife, Melissa Rupnow.

Natalie Rupnow entered Abundant Life Christian School, a religious school in Madison that offers prekindergarten through high school classes, on Dec. 16 and opened fire in a study hall. She killed teacher Erin Michelle West and 14-year-old student Rubi Bergara and injured six others before she killed herself.

Trump naming Fox News host Jeanine Pirro as top federal prosecutor in DC

WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump said Thursday that he is naming Fox News host Jeanine Pirro, a former county prosecutor and elected judge, to be the top federal prosecutor for the nation’s capital after abandoning his first pick for the job.

Pirro, who joined Fox News in 2006, co-hosts the network’s show “The Five” on weekday evenings. She was elected as a judge in New York’s Westchester County Court in 1990 before serving three terms as the county’s elected district attorney.

Trump tapped Pirro to at least temporarily lead the nation’s largest U.S. Attorney’s office after pulling his nomination of conservative activist Ed Martin Jr. for the position earlier on Thursday.

Pirro, a 1975 graduate of Albany Law School, has significantly more courtroom experience than Martin. She led one of the nation’s first domestic violence units in a prosecutor’s office.

After her elected terms as a judge and district attorney, Pirro briefly campaigned in 2005 as a Republican to unseat then-Democratic Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton before announcing that she would run for New York attorney general instead. She lost that race to Andrew Cuomo, son of former New York Gov. Mario Cuomo.

The Associated Press