Axios

President Biden met with locals in Louisiana on Friday to offer federal assistance less than a week after Hurricane Ida tore through the Gulf Coast and destroyed millions of homes, AP reports.

Why it matters: Ida has killed at least 48 people in the Northeastern U.S. and 13 in Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama. Over one million people were still without power in Louisiana as of Tuesday morning.

The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) announced Thursday that it will no longer require disaster survivors living on inherited land to prove homeownership before they can access federal assistance for rebuilding.

Why it matters: The policy disproportionately impacts Black families, whose land is often passed down informally rather than through legal deeds and wills, according to a Washington Post analysis published in July. The change comes on the heels of Hurricane Ida.

Days after Hurricane Ida made landfall in Louisiana, many of the state’s Latino residents are awaiting aid amidst sweltering heat and lack of power, food and drinking water.

Details: The category 4 storm left many houses and apartments unlivable and their residents stranded in the swath between the Gulf of Mexico and Lake Pontchartrain, where many of the state’s Latinos reside.

The remnants of Hurricane Ida brought a tropical deluge of unprecedented proportions to the New York City metro area on Wednesday night into Thursday.

Driving the news: The flooding that resulted from the heavy rainfall shut down Newark Airport, and turned city and country roads in all five boroughs and surrounding areas of New Jersey and Pennsylvania into rivers.

The Federal Aviation Administration said Thursday it is investigating Virgin Galactic's recent flight into suborbital space after the company's Unity space plane veered off course and flew outside its designated airspace during the flight.

The latest: FAA spokesperson Steve Kulm said Virgin Galactic's space plane is grounded and will not be able to fly again until the administration "approves the final mishap investigation report or determines the issues related to the mishap do not affect public safety."

Power and oil-and-gas production are starting to revive after Hurricane Ida, but there's a long way to go for Louisiana's sweltering residents and industrial damage assessments are ongoing.

Driving the news: The Interior Department reports that roughly 80% of Gulf of Mexico crude oil production and 83% of gas production was shut-in as of yesterday.

Private missions to orbit like the all-civilian Inspiration4 launching later this month are opening access to space to people who historically haven't gone there.

Why it matters: Fewer than 600 people have flown to space, and most of them have been white men. But with the rise of commercial spaceflight that's expected to change.

The remnants of Hurricane Ida combined with other storm systems to lash the Northeastern U.S. with heavy rains overnight. It left at least one person dead and triggered the first-ever flash flood emergency declaration for New York City.

The big picture: As widespread power outages hit the Northeast, nearly 1 million people in Louisiana still had no electricity — four days after Ida made landfall as a Category 4 hurricane in the state.