Articles by Steven Gilchrist

Boston, MA. - Clarissa "Clara" Harlowe Barton (1821-1912) was born in North Oxford, Massachusetts.  Barton was a hospital nurse during the American Civil War.  She was also a teacher, patent clerk, civil rights activist, and founder of the American Red Cross.  Barton became known as the "Angel of the Battlefield" for her work as a nurse during the Civil War. After the Civil War, Barton led the Office of Missing Soldiers in Washington, D.C.  Over the course of several years, this office help to locate, identify, and properly bury thousands of Union soldiers. On May 21, 1881, Barton founded the American Red Cross at her apartment in Washington, D.C.  In 1907, Barton published her autobiography called: The Story of My Childhood.  There is a plaque dedicated to Barton in Nurses Hall at the Massachusetts State House. Clara Barton plaque at the Massachusetts State House.

According to the National Association of Insurance Commissioners floods are the most destructive natural disasters in the United States.   The National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) was established in 1968 to help property owners with insurance coverage for the high cost of flood repairs for homes and other buildings.   “Flooding is the most common and costly natural disaster in the United States,” says Elizabeth Mendenhall – president of the National Association of Realtors.   The NFIP is administered by the Federal Emergency Management Agency.   NFIP has been in debt since Hurricane Katrina flooded New Orleans in 2005.   Over 1,000 disputed claims are still on file since Hurricane Sandy flooded the New Jersey shore in October 2012.   In October 2017, NFIP reached its borrowing capacity of $30 billion in order to keep paying current claims to flood insurance policy holders. “Put plainly, the N.F.I.P. is not designed to handle catastrophic losse...