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A few applications for emergency aid remain to be reviewed in the fraud investigation. Nearly four dozen local social services employees were fired, disciplined or quit amid investigations into whether they lied to qualify for emergency food stamps following Hurricane Isabel.

VIRGINIA BEACH — After three days of digging, workers trying to solve the mystery of a sunken shipwreck at Lynnhaven Inlet on Friday finally found what they wanted most: the cannon. “We got it!” said Keith B. Lockwood, an environmental scientist with the Army Corps of Engineers. The corps is leading an effort to recover and identify pieces of the wreck, which is perhaps 300 years old, and clear the channel for boaters. Lockwood said a salvage crane was bringing up less and less debris when it hit something big and heavy. When the load was dumped onto the barge,...

CHESAPEAKE — A church bus pulled up in front of Marcel Sims’ South Norfolk home Monday, and a group of teens piled out, carrying paint, nails, hammers and cleaning fluids. The youths, part of a volunteer project called World Changers, were there to fix Sims’ ceiling, replace a wooden gate destroyed by Hurricane Isabel and paint her garage. Throughout South Norfolk, about 350 youth volunteers were busy Monday renovating or refurbishing homes. It is the first time that World Changers, a project that has repaired 7,500 homes in 375 communities, has volunteered in Chesapeake. “I appreciate it,” said Sims, whose...

Union Soldiers Reburied at Yorktown Zinie Chen Sampson/Associated Press May 30, 2004 RICHMOND, Va. (AP) - The remains of six Civil War soldiers, unearthed when Hurricane Isabel struck Virginia last year, were reburied Sunday at Yorktown National Cemetery. The Union soldiers were reinterred during a ceremony that featured both Union and Confederate re-enactors, who honored the dead with firing volleys and a bugler playing taps. Each of the six caskets - handmade by members of the 1st Texas Infantry, a local Confederate re-enactment unit - had a Confederate and a Union escort. Women dressed in 19th-century apparel placed flowers on...

Seven...soldiers whose graves were opened by Hurricane Isabel will be reinterred Sunday in Yorktown National Cemetery...Confederate re-enactors from the area contributed time and money to build caskets modeled on those used at the time of the original burials in 1866, and will participate in the ceremony.

JAMES CITY -- Despite a staggering estimate of $11.4 million in damages, Colonial National Historical Park representatives insist that artifacts flooded in the Historic Jamestowne Visitor Center by Hurricane Isabel will be restored and ready when a new collections building opens by 2007. Let's hope so, because Congress is watching. “I'm going to be anxiously waiting to see what they find,” Rep. Jo Ann Davis (R-1st) said this week, referring to a National Park Service investigation into the flooding. “I'm hoping we didn't do anything wrong, and we can learn from it if we were to have another disaster.” Elaine...

<p>WASHINGTON - Sen. George Allen, who had parted ways with the White House and favored making a loan of rebuilding aid for Iraq, reversed himself on a key vote and backed President Bush.</p> <p>When the Senate defied Bush and voted Thursday night to convert almost half of $20.3 billion for Iraq reconstruction into a loan, Allen, R-Va., voted in the minority.</p>

The Third Infantry Regiment at Fort Myer has the responsibility for providing ceremonial units and honor guards for state occasions, White House social functions, public celebrations and interments at Arlington National Cemetery. They also stand a very formal sentry watch at the Tombs of the Unknowns. The public is familiar with the precision of what is called. "walking post" at the Tombs. There are roped off galleries where visitors can form to observe the troopers and their measured step and almost mechanical silent rifle shoulder changes. They are relieved every hour in a very formal drill that has to be...

<p>BERLIN, Connecticut (AP) -- Hurricane Isabel brought unholy high winds and lashing rain to the East Coast. It also dumped something almost biblical on Connecticut.</p> <p>Primo D'Agata was startled by what he thought was hail smacking on his porch September 19 as the remnants of Isabel moved through the state. But when he went outside to investigate, D'Agata discovered tiny, gelatinous eggs with dark spots in the middle.</p>

<p>According to the federal government, all Americans should have “ready kits” or "go bags" containing items such as three days worth of water, non-perishable food, a flashlight, an AM/FM radio and a first-aid kit in case of a natural or manmade emergency.</p>

Primo D 'Agata holds a jar containing a sample of the amphibian eggs at his Berlin, Conn., home Wednesday, Oct. 1, 2003, that fell on his back deck in Berlin, Conn., on Sept. 19, 2003 as the remnants of Hurrican Isabel passed Connecticut. Naturalists and biologists think the eggs belong to a variety of frog found in North Carolina that were swept up by the hurricane, carried by the storm to New England and were deposited there. (AP Photo/Bob Child) BERLIN, Conn. - Hurricane Isabel brought unholy high winds and lashing rain to the East Coast. It also dumped...

U.S. Initial Jobless Claims Rose by 13,000 to 399,000 Last Week Oct. 2 (Bloomberg) -- The number of Americans filing initial applications for unemployment benefits rose last week, the government reported, a sign that economic growth has yet to boost demand for workers. First-time claims during the week that ended Saturday totaled 399,000, an increase of 13,000 from a revised 386,000 a week earlier, the Labor Department said in Washington. The department said about half of the rise came from workers who had been unable to submit claims during Hurricane Isabel. Companies trying to hold down costs have been reluctant...

* Coffee and frozen pizzas can be made on a BBQ grill * No matter how many times you flick the switch, lights don't work without electricity * My car gets 23.21675 miles per gallon, EXACTLY (you can ask the people in line who helped me push it) * Kids can survive 4 days or longer without a video game controller in their hand. * Cats are even more irritating without power * He who has the biggest generator wins * Women can actually survive without doing their hair- you just wish they weren't around you. * A new method...

Written in sand Storms repeatedly open and close inlets on HatterasBY BILL GEROUX TIMES-DISPATCH STAFF WRITER Sep 29, 2003From the air, it's easy to see how HurricaneIsabel ripped a new inlet between thevillage of Hatteras and the rest of the island, severing North Carolina Route 12. DON LONG/TIMES-DISPATCH From the air, it's easy to see how Hurricane Isabel ripped a new inlet between the village of Hatteras and the rest of the island, severing North Carolina Route 12. DON LONG/TIMES-DISPATCH HATTERAS, N.C. - The new inlet is a nasty piece of work. It is a gash one-third of a mile...

<p>ANNAPOLIS, Md. - Hurricane Isabel flooded classrooms and laboratories at the Naval Academy, destroying electrical systems and computers and causing tens of millions of dollars in damage on the military college's waterfront campus.</p> <p>Half of the academy's classroom space was still unusable yesterday and midshipmen had to move to the auditorium, field house and basketball arena for some classes, said Cmdr. Rod Gibbons, an academy spokesman.</p>

Watch exclusive video of Hurricane Isabel hitting Hampton Roads - before, during and after the storm. Before the Storm: Locals hunker down for Isabel's onslaught (Requires Real Player Plug-in) During the Storm: Hurricane Isabel hits the region (Requires Real Player Plug-in) After the Storm: Local residents clean up after the hurricane (Requires Real Player Plug-in)

A Few of FR's Finest....Every Day Free Republic made its debut in September, 1996, and the forum was added in early 1997.   Over 100,000 people have registered for posting privileges on Free Republic, and the forum is read daily by tens of thousands of concerned citizens and patriots from all around the country and the world. A Few of FR's Finest....Every Day was introduced on June 24, 2002. It's only a small room in JimRob's house where we can get to know one another a little better; salute and support our military and our leaders; pray for those in...

FALLS CHURCH, Va. -- As you may have heard, we in the Washington, D.C., area experienced a genuine, honest-to-goodness hurricane last week. The pre-storm hype was what we've come to expect here whenever nature shows the smallest signs of temper. I recall fondly a radio announcer from the 1980s who used to tease Washingtonians by leaning very close to the microphone on days when snow was in the forecast and intoning: "Ladies and gentlemen. It is going to snow. We are all doomed." Still, a hurricane is nothing to be cavalier about, and we took the necessary precautions -- batteries,...

<p>The skies were as clear and blue as the sea, and uncluttered by clouds.</p> <p>This postcard-perfect weather made the forecast all the more implausible. Surely this hurricane talk was part of some vast conspiracy to enrich the grocers, bakers, battery manufacturers and candlestick makers. Hurricane my eye, I decided; Don't believe the hype.</p>

Mon September 22, 2003 08:14 AM ET NEW YORK (Reuters) - About 1.2 million homes and businesses in Virginia, Maryland and the District of Columbia still had no power Monday morning after Hurricane Isabel marched up the East Coast, utilities said. The powerful storm left more than 6 million customers in the dark from the Carolinas to Canada. The utilities said it would be the end of the week before they restore power to all customers. "This is a Herculean task. We've already restored power to more than 1 million customers. The bulk of the rest should be back on...