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News
- -01-26-06 White House Resists Katrina Investigation (ABC News)
"Lieberman is the ranking Democrat on the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, which is conducting the investigation."
" 'A lot of federal government employees who we've interviewed, they've been told by the White House that they can't answer any questions about communications they had with people at the White House,' Lieberman told ABC News. 'Now, that's stonewalling. For the administration to simply tell people in the federal government they can't talk to our investigators about any of the conversations they had with people at the White House is unacceptable.' " 01-06
- -01-28-06 Post-Katrina Promises Largely Unfulfilled (MSNBC News)
"President Bush announced a lofty post-Katrina reconstruction plan in his Sept. 15, 2005, speech from New Orleans' Jackson Square. But the government's record of action has largely failed to match Bush's words."
"Officials from both parties credit the president for committing $85 billion in federal funds and for approving tax relief and incentives such as the Gulf Opportunity Zone, which provides tax breaks for businesses in Mississippi and Louisiana. Still, they say the overall cost of the rebuilding is a major concern."
"Trailer costs have swelled from $19,000 to $75,000 apiece."
"Layers of subcontractors have caused debris removal costs to quadruple from $8 per cubic yard to $32 per cubic yard, said Sen. Tom Coburn (R-Okla.), who visited the region on Jan. 17 as part of a Senate delegation."
"As of this week, the SBA said that 190,000 of 363,000 applications for disaster loans to homeowners and businesses are still pending."
" 'This great city will rise again,' said Sen. Mary Landrieu (D-La.). 'The question is whether the city and the region will be doing it alone, dragging the federal government with us every step of the way, or will this administration get in gear and put their mind to the task at hand.' " 01-06
- -09-09-05 What Went Wrong: Everything (MSNBC News)
"What went wrong? Just about everything. How the system failed is a tangled story, but the basic narrative is becoming clearer: hesitancy, bureaucratic rivalries, failures of leadership from city hall to the White House and epically bad luck combined to create a morass." 9-05
- -09-14-05 What Went Wrong in New Orleans (MSNBC News)
"By the predawn hours, most state and federal officials finally realized that the 17th Street Canal levee had been breached, and that the city was in serious trouble. [President] Bush was told at 5 a.m. Pacific Coast time and immediately decided to cut his vacation short. Bush blithely proceeded with the rest of his schedule for the day, accepting a gift guitar at one event and pretending to riff like Tom Cruise in 'Risky Business.' "
"At 2 o'clock on the morning of the storm, only 82 of 120 cops had obeyed a summons to report for duty. Now the numbers were dwindling; within a day, only 28 or 30 officers would be left to save the stranded and fight the looters, recalled a sad and exhausted Capt. Eddie Hosli, speaking to a NEWSWEEK reporter last week."
"Normally, the Guard is under the control of the state governor, but the Feds can take over—if the governor asks them to. [New Orleans Mayor] Nagin suggested that Lt. Gen. Russel Honore, the Pentagon's on-scene commander, be put in charge."
"More than a week later, there was still no agreement. [Governor] Blanco didn't want to give up her authority, and Bush didn't press." 9-05
- -09-20-05 Million Dollars in Ice Stuck in Bureaucracy (USA Today)
"More than 100 trucks filled with ice originally meant to aid Hurricane Katrina victims are headed for Massachusetts, the latest leg in a frustrating journey for truckers hired to haul supplies to the Gulf Coast."
"The ice was ordered prior to the hurricane and meant for people in areas that were affected most. The Army Corps contracted with a company to buy the ice for about 28 cents a pound, or about $10,000 a truckload." 9-05
- -09-22-05 Gridlock as Masses Flee (BBC News)
"Heavy traffic and shortages of food and fuel are hampering the mass evacuation of a vast stretch of the US Gulf Coast."
"More than one million people are trying to leave before Hurricane Rita, a Category Five storm, makes landfall."
"Rita is set to reach land late on Friday or early on Saturday. Rita could be the most intense storm ever to hit Texas." 9-05
- -09-22-05 Victims Finding Clothes that Fit (ABC News)
"When Hurricane Katrina hit, many people evacuated with just the clothes they were wearing. But for many women who made it to safety, finding plus-size clothes that fit them among the garments donated to evacuees proved to be difficult or impossible." 9-05
- -09-23-05 New Orleans Levee Breeched Again (San Diego Union-Tribune)
"Hurricane Rita's wind and rain breached one of New Orleans' battered levees Friday and sent water gushing into the already-devastated Ninth Ward just days after the impoverished neighborhood was pumped dry." 9-05
- -09-24-05 Evacuees Collide (MSNBC News)
"The Texas evacuees have a little bit of a disadvantage, because in a lot of cases they are still on the highway and they are having to travel a lot farther to find available hotels. And as they left Texas, the storm has shifted. Now, in some cases, they are headed into the projected path, which is something a lot of them didn’t count on." 9-05
- -09-24-05 Rita Hits Landfall (MSNBC News)
"Hurricane Rita plowed into the Gulf Coast early Saturday, lashing Texas and Louisiana with driving rain, threatening to flood low-lying regions and knocking power out to half a million people as transformers exploded in the pre-dawn sky." 9-05
- -09-24-05 Rita Shows Evacuation Limits (CBS News)
"The 14-hour lines of traffic fleeing Houston — complete with cars that ran out of gas — show that four years after the Sept. 11 attacks, it is difficult to evacuate a major metropolitan area." 9-05
- -09-24-05 Rita's Damage (CNN News)
"Towns near where Hurricane Rita made landfall have had all but a handful of buildings destroyed, including nearly all homes in Cameron, Holly Beach and Creole, officials said Sunday." 9-05
- -09-24-05 Sediment in New Orleans Dangerous (MSNBC News)
"A new health risk emerged Friday from the sediment of New Orleans — test results showing that diesel and fuel oils, which can take years to break down, make up as much as a 10th of the weight of some sediment samples." 9-05
- -09-24-05 Texas Declared "Major Disaster" (CNN News)
"On Saturday, during a trip to his home state to assess Rita's damage, President Bush declared a “major disaster” in Texas after Hurricane Rita roared into the southeast part of the state."
"A White House statement issued Saturday evening said federal funding will be available to state and eligible local governments and some private nonprofit groups in all 254 Texas counties for debris removal and emergency protection."
"The statement said assistance can include grants for temporary housing and home repairs, low-cost loans to cover uninsured property losses, and other disaster relief." 9-05
- -09-26-05 Bush Tries Enterprise Zones Again (Bloomberg.com)
"President George W. Bush's main proposal for reviving the storm-stricken Gulf Coast has a history of failing to deliver on the promise of prosperity."
"The Gulf Opportunity Zone that Bush outlined in a national address from New Orleans on Sept. 15 is the latest version of a Reagan-era idea for using tax breaks and other incentives to revitalize blighted urban areas. Backers of enterprise zones -- mainly Republicans, though they were also supported by Democratic President Bill Clinton -- argue that jobs and economic growth will flow into such areas."
"In the two decades since such initiatives have come into widespread use, researchers have found little evidence they work very well. Critics say the main beneficiaries often aren't the people the zones are designed to aid, but businesses that end up with tax incentives for investments they would have made anyway." 9-05
- -09-26-05 Bush Tries Enterprise Zones Again (Bloomberg.com)
"President George W. Bush's main proposal for reviving the storm-stricken Gulf Coast has a history of failing to deliver on the promise of prosperity."
"The Gulf Opportunity Zone that Bush outlined in a national address from New Orleans on Sept. 15 is the latest version of a Reagan-era idea for using tax breaks and other incentives to revitalize blighted urban areas. Backers of enterprise zones -- mainly Republicans, though they were also supported by Democratic President Bill Clinton -- argue that jobs and economic growth will flow into such areas."
"In the two decades since such initiatives have come into widespread use, researchers have found little evidence they work very well. Critics say the main beneficiaries often aren't the people the zones are designed to aid, but businesses that end up with tax incentives for investments they would have made anyway." 9-05
- -09-27-05 Bush Considering Military for Leadership in Domestic Disasters (BBC News)
"President George W Bush is mulling plans to give the Pentagon direct legal responsibility for dealing with 'catastrophic' situations, according to his press secretary."
"That would require new legislation and would effectively sideline the four-year-old Department of Homeland Security." 9-05
- -09-27-05 Damage to Small Towns Almost Total (MSNBC News)
"While much of Texas and Louisiana dodged the worst of Hurricane Rita, the damage to some small, rural towns was virtually complete — and the storm was being blamed on new deaths long after it moved away." 9-05
- -09-27-05 Dispute on FEMA Roles (MSNBC News)
Congressman Tom Davis "pushed [ex-FEMA Director Michael] Brown on what he and the agency he led should have done to evacuate New Orleans, restore order in the city and improve communication among law enforcement agencies."
"Brown said: 'Those are not FEMA roles. FEMA doesn’t evacuate communities. FEMA does not do law enforcement. FEMA does not do communications.' " 9-05
- -09-30-05 Anger with the Red Cross (MSNBC News)
"Never before has the Red Cross been called on to do so much for so many. And Americans have opened up their pocketbooks like never before, donating more than $1 billion to the Red Cross."
"But among some evacuees — and volunteers on the ground — there is anger."
" 'When we get back to headquarters, I think I'm going to turn in my Red Cross card,' says volunteer Janie Duncan, 'because I'm ashamed. I'm ashamed.' "
"On Oct. 5, Oregon defends its Death with Dignity Act. It allows doctors to prescribe a lethal dose to terminally ill patients, who can use it to end their own lives." 9-05
- -09-30-05 Bush Administration Dismantles Natural Disaster Preparedness (Washington Post)
"In the days to come, as the nation and the people along the Gulf Coast work to cope with the disastrous aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, we will be reminded anew, how important it is to have a federal agency capable of dealing with natural catastrophes of this sort. This is an immense human tragedy, one that will work hardship on millions of people. It is beyond the capabilities of state and local government to deal with. It requires a national response."
"Which makes it all the more difficult to understand why, at this moment, the country's premier agency for dealing with such events -- FEMA -- is being, in effect, systematically downgraded and all but dismantled by the Department of Homeland Security." 9-05
- -10-07-05 Aftermath of Hurricanes (C-Span News)
Provides news on the aftermath of the hurricanes striking the United States." 9-05
- -10-09-05 Villages Buried in Mud Slides, Become Mass Graves (BBC News)
"Diego Esquina, the mayor of Panabaj, said his village 'will no longer exist'."
" 'We are asking that it be declared a cemetery. We are tired, we no longer know where to dig,' he said." 10-05
- -10-10-05 Lawyer: Beaten Man not Drunk (MSNBC News)
New Orleans - "A 64-year-old man who was repeatedly punched in the head by police in an incident caught on videotape was not drunk, as police have alleged, and put up no resistance as he was being pummeled, his lawyer said Monday." 9-05
- -10-11-05 Beating Victim: Sober for 25 Years (MSNBC News)
Police officers in New Orleans beat a resident and claimed they were subduing the man for "public intoxication." The victim claimed that he had not had an alcoholic drink for 25 years.
"A federal civil rights investigation has been launched into the police beating of a man in the French Quarter of New Orleans on Saturday night."
"Two city officers accused in the beating, and a third officer accused of grabbing and shoving an Associated Press Television News producer who helped document the confrontation, pleaded not guilty Monday to battery charges. A trial date was set for Jan. 11. Afterward, officers Lance Schilling, Robert Evangelist and S.M. Smith were released on bond." 9-05
- -10-11-05 Global Aid for Guatemala (MSNBC News)
"Authorities abandoned efforts Tuesday to recover bodies from a deadly landslide and turned to international agencies to help feed, clothe and treat the tens of thousands of residents who lost everything in a week of deadly rains and floods."
"The government Monday night issued an urgent call to the United Nations, seeking $21.5 million in aid because its own emergency response funds would not be enough to cope with the crisis."
"Several countries already have offered to provide assistance to Guatemala, including flood-stricken Mexico. Sweden has donated $5 million, and Spain, France and Taiwan have sent aid shipments."
"The United States has delivered 5,000 hygiene kits, 5,000 blankets, 15,000 gallons of drinking water and 11,000 gallons of fuel to victims in Guatemala, officials said. U.S. helicopters shuttled food and water to isolated villages and a medical unit from the Arkansas National Guard also was preparing to go to the region." 10-05
- -10-11-05 U.S. Aid for Guatemala Approved (Fox News)
"Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld approved the dispatch of military helicopters, food and other aid to help Central American nations inundated by massive mudslides mount recovery operations." 10-05
- -10-17-05 FEMA Memos Reveal Chaos (MSNBC News)
"FEMA struggled to locate food, ice, water and even body bags in the days following Hurricane Katrina, a frantic effort punctuated by bureaucratic chaos, infighting and concerns about media coverage, according to memos obtained Monday by The Associated Press." 10-05
- -10-17-05 Katrina Leaves Two Tales of Recovery (USA Today)
"Long before Hurricane Katrina came and went, much more than a drawbridge separated these two neighborhoods and their people. Color, class, misconceptions, fear — differences of the heart and mind, as much as the pocketbook, made these two places two very different 'New Orleans.' "
"Now there are other differences. In Uptown, a booming ballet of bulldozers scoop up tree limbs and drywall as workmen in hardhats direct traffic. Homeowners have hired crews to clear out and sanitize houses. Smiles have returned, along with some optimism."
"In the Ninth Ward, an eery silence prevails as residents slowly arrive home." 10-05
- -10-19-05 Chertoff: Hurricane Response (CBS News)
"Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff defended his actions before and after Hurricane Katrina, telling lawmakers Wednesday he relied on Federal Emergency Management Agency experts with decades of experience in hurricane response."
"Several Democratic congressmen from the affected areas have attended the hearings and questioned witnesses. They were joined Wednesday by Rep. Cynthia McKinney, D-Ga., who blasted what she called a lack of leadership in the Bush administration's response to Katrina."
"Rep. Henry Bonilla, R-Texas, objected when McKinney asked Chertoff why he should not be charged with negligent homicide because of the federal response." 10-05
- -10-19-05 Hurricane Wilma Extremely Dangerous (Bloomberg.com)
"Hurricane Wilma has become an 'extremely dangerous' Category 5 storm, the U.S. National Hurricane Center said in its latest Web site advisory, citing data from a reconnaissance aircraft."
"The plane measured winds of 175 mph (280 kph) up from 110 mph yesterday, the center said. The storm has the same punch Katrina had when it slammed into the U.S. gulf coast in August, killing more than 1,200 people. The hurricane was located 175 miles south-southeast of Grand Cayman at 1 a.m. Miami time today." 10-05
- -10-20-05 FEMA Official: Leadership Out of Touch (MSNBC News)
"...on Aug. 31, Bahamonde frantically e-mailed Brown to tell him that thousands are evacuees were gathering in the streets with no food or water and that 'estimates are many will die within hours.' "
" 'Sir, I know that you know the situation is past critical,' Bahamonde wrote."
"Less than three hours later, however, Brown’s press secretary wrote colleagues to complain that the FEMA director needed more time to eat dinner at a Baton Rouge restaurant that evening."
" 'He needs much more that (sic) 20 or 30 minutes,' wrote Brown aide Sharon Worthy." 10-05
- -10-20-05 Most Intense Hurricane Ever Recorded in the Atlantic (MSNBC News)
"In what has become an all-too-familiar drill, Floridians boarded up windows, gassed up their cars and bought storm supplies Wednesday. But this time they were looking at one of the most intense hurricanes ever recorded in the Atlantic."
"At one point, Wilma was the most intense hurricane recorded in the Atlantic as measured by its pressure. Early Wednesday, the storm’s pressure dropped to 882 millibars, the lowest reading ever in an Atlantic-basin hurricane. Typically, the lower the pressure, the faster air rushes into a storm." 10-05
- -10-20-05 Wilma Strikes the Caribbean (MSNBC News)
"Hurricane Wilma rapidly strengthened into one of the Americas' most intense storms ever and lashed Caribbean coastlines Wednesday, forcing tourists to flee as it threatened to slam into Cancun and southern Florida." 10-05
- -11-01-05 FDIC Chair to Lead Gulf Coast Recovery (USA Today)
"Donald Powell, chairman of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp., has been assigned to oversee the federal government's disaster recovery efforts in the Gulf Coast, the Bush administration announced Tuesday."
"Powell, a wealthy contributor to President Bush's presidential campaign, will be in charge of the long-term plans to rebuild the states hit by hurricanes Katrina and Rita in the late summer. The sluggish federal response to Hurricane Katrina, the first and most damaging of the two, particularly has been widely criticized." 10-05
- -11-13-05 Wilma Hurricane Victims Still Suffering (USA Today)
"The aftermath of damage left by Wilma around South Florida has gotten little national attention as Louisiana and Mississippi try to recover from the earlier devastation of Hurricane Katrina."
"But more than 478,000 households in 13 Florida counties have applied to the Federal Emergency Management Agency for individual help, about 70% from Broward and Miami-Dade counties." 11-05
- -11-22-05 Thousands Still Missing After Katrina (ABC News)
"Three months after Hurricane Katrina devastated the Gulf Coast, thousands of people are still unaccounted for, and authorities are at a loss about how to track them down." 11-05
- -12-12-05 Email Analysis: Governor's Staff Worried About Her Appearance (MSNBC News)
"Trying to avoid a public relations disaster, aides to Louisiana Gov. Kathleen Blanco fretted over her not appearing in charge after Hurricane Katrina hit, even worrying about her clothing, documents released Monday show." 11-05
- -12-15-05 Rumsfeld's Katrina Memos Subpoenaed (MSNBC News)
"A House committee investigating the government’s response to Hurricane Katrina issued a subpoena Wednesday to force Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld to turn over documents but stopped short of sending a similar legal demand to the White House." 11-05
- -Katrina News Coverage (ABC News)
Provides comprehensive news. 9-05
- -Katrina News Coverage (MSNBC News)
Provides comprehensive news. 9-05
- -Katrina News Coverage (USA Today)
Provides comprehensive news. 9-05
- -News on Rita (Google News)
Provides comprehensive news on Hurricane Rita. 9-05
- -Rita News (ABC News)
Provides comprehensive news. 9-05
- -Rita Storm Tracker (MSNBC News)
Provides a chart showing Rita's path. 9-05
- 09-02-05 Help Arrives -- Too Late for Some (USA Today)
"Four days after Hurricane Katrina struck, the National Guard arrived in force Friday with food, water and weapons, churning through the floodwaters in a vast truck convoy with orders to retake the streets and bring relief to the suffering."
"Rolling through muddy water up to their axles, the trucks began arriving at the New Orleans Convention Center, where 15,000 to 20,000 hungry and desperate refugees had taken shelter — many of them seething with anger so intense that the place appeared ready to erupt in violence at any moment."
"An old man in a chaise lounge lay dead in a grassy median as hungry babies wailed around him. Around the corner, an elderly woman lay dead in her wheelchair, covered up by a blanket, and another body lay beside her wrapped in a sheet." 9-05
- 09-28-05 Texas Emergency Hotline Outsourced to India (ABC News)
"As Hurricane Rita roared towards them, more than 300 people called the local emergency number broadcast all around Nacogdoches County in East Texas. What they didn't know was that the operators on the other end of the phone were 7,000 miles away in India." 9-05
- 09-28-05 Texas Emergency Hotline Outsourced to India (CNN News)
"Four days after Hurricane Rita roared ashore along the Texas-Louisiana state line, officials are pleading for essentials such as shelter, electricity, water and gas."
"Amid near-record high temperatures, floodwaters as high as 15 feet in some areas receded across the largely agricultural region, revealing livestock carcasses littering the countryside. Live cattle roamed free throughout the region, looking for food or water." 9-05
- Bias in News Coverage in New Orleans (Seattle Times)
"In one photo, a man wades through chest-deep waters with a large black bag filled with items from a grocery. In another, two people wade through equally high waters, carrying bread and soda."
"What has drawn attention to these two photos, both taken Tuesday, is their captions."
"In the first, the young man, who is black, is described as having 'looted' the items. In the second, a white or light-skinned couple are described as 'finding' the items." 9-05
- Hurricane Expert Predicts More Severe Storms (MSNBC News)
"Expect more hurricanes large and small in the next 10 to 20 years, the director of the federal National Hurricane Center said Tuesday." 9-05
- Katrina News Coverage (C-SPAN.org)
Provides news updates on activities of the federal government and others. 9-05
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