Senior Vice President and Executive Editor Sally Buzbee today announced a key appointment: Wendy Benjaminson is the new national news editor for beats.

Reinforcing AP’s long-standing commitment to state news coverage, we’ve hired more than a dozen journalists over the past year to leverage the power of AP’s cooperative and expand our state reports.

For many years, the federal government offered subsidized flood insurance on homes and businesses constructed before there were many rules about building close to the water. But premiums have been insufficient to cover the payouts, leaving the National Flood Insurance Program billions of dollars in debt. There has been public outcry over some actions taken in Congress to support the program.