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Updates as they come in on Katrina

03:09 PM CDT on Thursday, September 1, 2005

Tom Planchet

3:09 P.M. - (AP): The Bush administration intends to seek more than $10 billion to cover immediate relief needs in the wake of Hurricane Katrina, congressional officials said Thursday, and lawmakers made plans to approve the request by the weekend.

Several officials said $10 billion would cover immediate costs for the Federal Emergency Management Agency, the government's front-line responder in cases of natural disasters. Several hundred million dollars would also be provided to fund the Pentagon's disaster relief efforts, congressional aides said.

3:06 P.M. - (AP): Fights and fires broke out, corpses lay out in the open, and rescue helicopters and law enforcement officers were shot at as flooded-out New Orleans descended into anarchy Thursday. "This is a desperate SOS," the mayor said.

Anger mounted across the ruined city, with thousands of storm victims increasingly hungry, desperate and tired of waiting for buses to take them out.

"We are out here like pure animals. We don't have help," the Rev. Issac Clark, 68, said outside the New Orleans Convention Center, where corpses lay in the open and the and other evacuees complained that they were dropped off and given nothing -- no food, no water, no medicine.

2:48 P.M. - Gov. Blanco: "Thousands" are believed to be dead. And between 200 and 300,000 people still need to be evacuated from the city. 2,400 people are still waiting to be evacuated from the Superdome.

One official said the Army Corps of Engineers are currently driving pilings, dumping sand, into the breaches in the levee. Concrete barriers will go up after the sand is laid down. They will assess the pumps, and it could take as long as one month before the water is completely drained from the city. The Army Corps is being escorted to the levees by State Police.

Blanco said 12,000 National Guard troops from various regions in the nation are being deployed to the area, bringing the total number of troops to 40,000. The Governor added that looters will be dealt with. Blanco said Baton Rouge has its own concerns with refugees, who have reportedly been causing similar trouble in the state capital.

Hospital evacuations are going well. Chalmette and Tulane Hospitals are emptied.

No casualty list reported yet.

2:40 P.M. - AP Analysis: When is looting okay?

2:37 P.M. - CNN Reports that snipers have fired shots on Charity Hospital in New Orleans.

2:31 P.M. - WASHINGTON (AP) -- With images of looting and reports of gunfire frightening evacuees and rescuers alike in New Orleans, the government says it is sending enough National Guardsmen to keep the peace.

Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff says there have been only "isolated incidents of criminality" in New Orleans.

2:25 P.M. - Email to WWL producer today from a friend: Talked to Donny (news photographer Donny Pearce of WVUE) today for a while, he's in Shreveport with his folks, sounds very shaken up, had a horrifying escape from the city apparently, people hanging on his truck begging for help/food/money....saw all the looting,, taped the storm shredding JP Sheriffs headquarters.

2:20 P.M. - Airport spokeswoman Michelle Duffourc: There have been hundreds of helicopter operations over the past 3 days as the helicopter are bringing in people that are being rescued from throughout the region to transfer to civilian and military aircraft to take them to points of safety.

2:14 P.M. - Airport spokeswoman Michelle Duffourc: Armstrong International Airport did become operational on Tuesday, August 30 for humanitarian relief flights and civilian and military rescue efforts. Since opening the airfield, several of our commercial air carriers, including American, Southwest, Northwest, Continental, United, and Delta have all sent in aircraft with relief supplies and have taken out the stranded travelers as well as all others who wanted to depart the Airport. In total over 100 employees, 200 stranded passengers and 400 others were flown out of Armstrong International.

2:13 P.M. - Duffourc: The Airport has been on generator power since Monday, August 29 with the bare power necessities. CA One Services, our Food & Beverage Concessionaire has been providing meals to those stranded in the terminal.

The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) has set up a triage center in the Airport's West Terminal near the Delta and Continental Ticket Counters and has been treating people that have been evacuated from the Superdome in Downtown New Orleans and other locations.

2:11 P.M. - Blanco: Please stop broadcasting that there is "shooting in the Superdome." She said everyone brought inside was checked for weapons before entering. "There is no shooting inside the Superdome." She says the incorrect reports are upsetting the people inside of the dome who have been very calm.

2:06 P.M. - Corps of Engineers: Lake water continues to go down. Dropped two to two and a half feet in the past two days. Work progressing on plugging break in levee. Sandbags dropped and pilings being driven. Engineer says progress is "looking good."

2:04 P.M. - (AP) Fights and trash fires broke out, rescue helicopters were shot at and anger mounted across New Orleans on Thursday, as National Guardsmen poured in to help restore order across this increasingly desperate and lawless city.

"We are out here like pure animals. We don't have help," the Rev. Issac Clark, 68, said outside the New Orleans Convention Center, where corpses lay in the open and he and other evacuees complained that they were dropped off and given nothing -- no food, no water, no medicine.

Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff said the government is sending in 1,400 National Guardsmen to help stop looting and other lawlessnes in New Orleans in the wake of Hurricane Katrina.

1:54 P.M. - Emergency Operations spokesman: Hospitals overwhelmed.

1:53 P.M. - Emergency Operations spokeswoman: 49,800 people in shelters in this state right now. Room for 70,000 more.

1:48 P.M. - Blanco: troopers from Arkansas, Texas and Kentucky coming in to help restore order. Sheriff's deputies from as far away as Michigan.

1:47 P.M. - Blanco: I've requested 40,000 troops.

1:47 P.M. - Governor Blanco: Superdome now under control, evacuations resume.

Thursday, September 01, 2005


	Gunshots, death, frustrationThursday, 3:37 p.m. By James Varney Staff writer The stench of death. The shouts of frustration after waiting for rescue crews that haven’t come. Rampant rumors of riots and armed gangs running amuck. A body being dragged along on a luggage dolly. Many of those left behind in New Orleans are just dissolving. “You’ve got no organization here. It’s mass confusion,’’ said Paul Davis, 54, who rode out the storm at the Guste high rise and was brought to the Convention Center by police. “Psychologically, everybody’s emotions are high. There’s no water. There’s no food. They didn’t do nothing to prepare for Katrina.’’ About 8:30 a.m. Thursday, Kevin Daigle saw a dead body in a wheelchair covered with a sheet. "I started pushing her to the back,'' said Daigle, who ws crying. Five New Orleans police cars "raced past me and I’m waving and yelling at them to stop to tell me where I can put this lady,''said Daigle, 32, who used to live in the 9th Ward. Brenda Austin, 52, who lived on Dale Street in eastern New Orleans, said she and her five family members walked from their eastern New Orleans home to the Convention Center. But their journey wasn’t without travail. When they stopped on the Interstate 10 high-rise, someone started shooting at them. “We did stay. That’s our fault, but we were told we’d be picked up. We don’t have information. There’s no food. There’s no water,’’ Austin said as her 18-year-old son Matthew tapped her on her shoulder, imploring. “Mom, we’ve got to get out of here. We’ve got to walk across the bridge.’’ Brenda Austin said that they left home with some food and some water, but now they are down to their last bottle of water. “We were trying to do what we need to do,’’ she said. Print \| Send To A Friend \| Permalink (Learn More)
	Oakwood mall on fireLooters set fire to Oakwood Shopping Center in Terrytown today. The fire was reported at 12:56 p.m., and firefighters fought the blaze for more than an hour before giving up, said Bryan Adams of the Terrytown Volunteer Fire Department. "There's just no water and the fire was out of hand,'' an emotional Adams said, adding that crews had to fight the blaze with one hose and water from a canal. "I've lived in this communitiy all my life --45 years. It's tough.'' Adams said the fire was intentionally set in multiple locations by people who apparently went in to loot the mall. Authorities found a ladder on the side of a building and a vent ripped off the roof allowed suspects to gain access, he said. Print \| Send To A Friend \| Permalink (Learn More)
	Evacuees dwindling at SuperdomeIn a press conference Thursday, Gov. Kathleen Blanco said that the number of evacuees in the Superdome was down to 2,400 after busloads left for Houston's Astrodome. Evacuations were ongoing Thursday afternoon. Print \| Send To A Friend \| Permalink (Learn More)
	House Speaker: Rebuilding N.O. doesn't make senseThursday, 2:55 p.m. By Bill Walsh Washington bureau WASHINGTON - House Speaker Dennis Hastert dropped a bombshell on flood-ravaged New Orleans on Thursday by suggesting that it isn’t sensible to rebuild the city. "It doesn't make sense to me," Hastert told the Daily Herald in suburban Chicago in editions published today. "And it's a question that certainly we should ask." Hastert's comments came as Congress cut short its summer recess and raced back to Washington to take up an emergency aid package expected to be $10 billion or more. Details of the legislation are still emerging, but it is expected to target critical items such as buses to evacuate the city, reinforcing existing flood protection and providing food and shelter for a growing population of refugees. The Illinois Republican’s comments drew an immediate rebuke from Louisiana officials. “That’s like saying we should shut down Los Angeles because it’s built in an earthquake zone,” former Sen. John Breaux, D-La., said. “Or like saying that after the Great Chicago fire of 1871, the U.S. government should have just abandoned the city.” Hastert said that he supports an emergency bailout, but raised questions about a long-term rebuilding effort. As the most powerful voice in the Republican-controlled House, Hastert is in a position to block any legislation that he opposes. "We help replace, we help relieve disaster," Hastert said. "But I think federal insurance and everything that goes along with it... we ought to take a second look at that." The speaker’s comments were in stark contrast to those delivered by President Bush during an appearance this morning on ABC’s “Good Morning America.” “I want the people of New Orleans to know that after rescuing them and stabilizing the situation, there will be plans in place to help this great city get back on its feet,” Bush said. “There is no doubt in my mind that New Orleans is going to rise up again as a great city.” Insurance industry executives estimated that claims from the storm could range up to $19 billion. Rebuilding the city, which is more than 80 percent submerged, could cost tens of billions of dollars more, experts projected. Hastert questioned the wisdom of rebuilding a city below sea level that will continue to be in the path of powerful hurricanes. "You know we build Los Angeles and San Francisco on top of earthquake issures and they rebuild, too. Stubbornness," he said. Hastert wasn't the only one questioning the rebuilding of New Orleans. The Waterbury, Conn., Republican-American newspaper wrote an editorial Wednesday entitled, "Is New Orleans worth reclaiming?" "Americans' hearts go out to the people in Katrina's path," it said. "But if the people of New Orleans and other low-lying areas insist on living in harm's way, they ought to accept responsibility for what happens to them and their property." Print \| Send To A Friend \| Permalink (Learn More)
	St. Bernard Parish evacuees wait, worryFor storm refugees from St. Bernard Parish, which is less than 10 miles from the French Quarter and reportedly decimated by the floodwaters, there has been little available news. “They’re not saying anything about St. Bernard,” said Violet resident Kimberly Jones, 33, as she and more than 20 relatives prepared to hunker down, maybe for months, in a shelter in Columbus, Ga., 100 miles southwest of Atlanta. “Our parish probably no longer exists.” Jones was part of a five-car caravan that ended up in Columbus after a relative told her and other families about available hotel space. Now more than 150 evacuees, mostly from Violet but some from other parts of New Orleans, are huddled in a recreation center-turned shelter scanning the news broadcasts for helicopter aerials or any glimpse of the parish. But only scant reports about flooding in Chalmette and Arabi have made the news, Jones said. She and her sister, Bolita, ticked off a list of communities below those areas that could be just as bad off: Violet, Poydras, Braithwaite, Buras. “All the people down there, they’re probably dead,” Violet resident Lois Aisola, 56, said with a matter of fact tone as her pregnant daughter Trenell, 29, sat next to her with a blank expression. While others tried to enjoy a hot meal and bands of children chased one another in circles around her, Aisola’s sister, Janice Washington, 57, sat on the edge of a pool table looking dazed. Although she and more than 25 of her relatives had escaped, Washington left behind four daughters, a son and 12 grandchildren. There has been no word from any of them. In a cell phone text message, another family friend said she saw one of Washington’s daughters on television entering the Superdome, a small comfort. But while the unknown in St. Bernard Parish drives the worries of its refugees in Columbus, it is the little bit that Washington already knows that she says fuels her grief. In another text message she said was sent by a friend who works for the St. Bernard Parish government, Washington learned that the bodies of her cousin, his girlfriend and their two children, were found drowned in a car just blocks from their Violet home. “They must have been trying to get out,” she said. Print \| Send To A Friend \| Permalink (Learn More)
	Nurses appealThursday, 2:18 p.m. To help care for thousands of patients with hurricane-related injuries who have been taken to Baton Rouge, an appeal has been issued for nurses and physical, respiratory and occupational therapists from Louisiana State University Health Sciences Center. People who have worked at LSU-operated hospitals or at the Veterans Affairs Medical Center in New Orleans and want to volunteer in Baton Rouge are asked to call (225) 358-1002. Print \| Send To A Friend \| Permalink (Learn More)
	Bush to tour region FridayThursday, 2:36 p.m. President Bush plans to tour the hurricane-ravaged Gulf Coast by air and land Friday to survey the damage and meet with those directly impacted by the storm, the White House announced Thursday. The president viewed the region from Air Force One Wednesday on his way back to Washington, D.C. from his Texas ranch. He plans to return tomorrow for a day-long, close-up visit to Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama. Bush plans to start his tour in Mobile, Ala., where he will meet with local officials, fly over the coast by helicopter and visit with those on the ground. He then plans to meet up with Louisiana Gov. Kathleen Blanco in New Orleans, which he will also tour by air and possibly on foot as well, according to White House spokesman Scott McClellan. “He wants to offer some encouragement and comfort and boost the spirits of the people,” McClellan said. On Tuesday, members of Louisiana’s congressional delegation sent Bush a letter asking that he come to see the damage first-hand. Print \| Send To A Friend \| Permalink (Learn More)
	School buses used to evacuateBy Ed Anderson Capital bureau BATON ROUGE –National Guard troops will be able to seize school buses as needed to evacuate stranded refugees from hard-hit Hurricane Katrina’s stricken areas, state officials said Thursday. National Guard spokesman Lt. Col. Pete Schneider, said the order, signed by Gov. Kathleen Blanco late Wednesday, means “we are going to take the buses. We need to get people out of New Orleans.. . . .Either they will give them up or we will take them.’’ Blanco’s executive order requires that local school officials in areas that “remain substantially operational following the passage of Hurricane Katrina” provide the state Office of Homeland Security with an inventory of school, buses and drivers in their areas. Blanco’s order said the buses “shall be made available . . .for the mass transportation of Hurricane Katrina evacuees, accompanying law enforcement personnel and necessary supplies to and from areas of concern to areas of safety.’’ Blanco Executive Counsel Terry Ryder said although the order allows the bus-taking for evacuations, the intent is to leave some buses in some areas to transport children to school. Neither Ryder not Schneider would say how many buses may be needed in the evacuation. “We are hopeful this will not require the disruption of schools. Schneider said that it is possible a bus from Caddo Parish in northwest Louisiana may be pressed into service in the New Orleans area, Blanco’s order also requires the school officials to make sure that at least one police officer ride in each bus and at least two more police vehicles accompany every 10 buses. The order also suspends through Sept. 25 the state law, which authorizes free bus transportation for students. Print \| Send To A Friend \| Permalink (Learn More)
	Federal fundingBy Bill Walsh Washington bureau WASHINGTON -- President Bush agreed Thursday to have the federal government pick up the whole tab for rescue and recovery efforts along the Gulf Coast following Hurricane Katrina. Bush’s decision came in response to requests from governor’s of Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama, who feared that the price tag – likely to be in the billions of dollars – would overwhelm their state budgets. The president agreed to waive federal rules that shift 25 percent of the post-disaster debris removal and emergency response cost onto state and local government. White House Spokesman Scott McClellan said Thursday that the federal government will pay the whole bill for 60 days retroactive to Monday’s storm. “This action recognizes the unprecedented scope and impact of this disaster,” McClellan said. The day after the hurricane slammed into the Gulf Coast, Louisiana officials wrote to Bush saying the storm was “well beyond anything that has happened in our history.” They pleaded for financial assistance, saying they didn’t have the means to pay. “Without your direct intervention, we will not receive this much needed assistance,” they wrote. Post-disaster financing rules have been relaxed before. The last time was in 1999 when Hurricane Floyd ravaged parts of the east coast causing $6 billion in damage. Print \| Send To A Friend \| Permalink (Learn More)
	No increase in B.R. crimeReports of increased crime in Baton Rouge as a result of restless evacuees at local shelters are not backed up by the local police statistics, U.S. Attorney David Dugas said early Thursday afternoon. While there has been an up-tick in car thefts, the data does not show an overall hike in crime, he said. But local police presence has been increased in the city in order to deter any future crime, while federal law enforcement is also being beefed up, Dugas said. Print \| Send To A Friend \| Permalink (Learn More)


	Gunshots, death, frustrationThursday, 3:37 p.m. By James Varney Staff writer The stench of death. The shouts of frustration after waiting for rescue crews that haven’t come. Rampant rumors of riots and armed gangs running amuck. A body being dragged along on a luggage dolly. Many of those left behind in New Orleans are just dissolving. “You’ve got no organization here. It’s mass confusion,’’ said Paul Davis, 54, who rode out the storm at the Guste high rise and was brought to the Convention Center by police. “Psychologically, everybody’s emotions are high. There’s no water. There’s no food. They didn’t do nothing to prepare for Katrina.’’ About 8:30 a.m. Thursday, Kevin Daigle saw a dead body in a wheelchair covered with a sheet. "I started pushing her to the back,'' said Daigle, who ws crying. Five New Orleans police cars "raced past me and I’m waving and yelling at them to stop to tell me where I can put this lady,''said Daigle, 32, who used to live in the 9th Ward. Brenda Austin, 52, who lived on Dale Street in eastern New Orleans, said she and her five family members walked from their eastern New Orleans home to the Convention Center. But their journey wasn’t without travail. When they stopped on the Interstate 10 high-rise, someone started shooting at them. “We did stay. That’s our fault, but we were told we’d be picked up. We don’t have information. There’s no food. There’s no water,’’ Austin said as her 18-year-old son Matthew tapped her on her shoulder, imploring. “Mom, we’ve got to get out of here. We’ve got to walk across the bridge.’’ Brenda Austin said that they left home with some food and some water, but now they are down to their last bottle of water. “We were trying to do what we need to do,’’ she said. Print \| Send To A Friend \| Permalink (Learn More)
	Oakwood mall on fireLooters set fire to Oakwood Shopping Center in Terrytown today. The fire was reported at 12:56 p.m., and firefighters fought the blaze for more than an hour before giving up, said Bryan Adams of the Terrytown Volunteer Fire Department. "There's just no water and the fire was out of hand,'' an emotional Adams said, adding that crews had to fight the blaze with one hose and water from a canal. "I've lived in this communitiy all my life --45 years. It's tough.'' Adams said the fire was intentionally set in multiple locations by people who apparently went in to loot the mall. Authorities found a ladder on the side of a building and a vent ripped off the roof allowed suspects to gain access, he said. Print \| Send To A Friend \| Permalink (Learn More)
	Evacuees dwindling at SuperdomeIn a press conference Thursday, Gov. Kathleen Blanco said that the number of evacuees in the Superdome was down to 2,400 after busloads left for Houston's Astrodome. Evacuations were ongoing Thursday afternoon. Print \| Send To A Friend \| Permalink (Learn More)
	House Speaker: Rebuilding N.O. doesn't make senseThursday, 2:55 p.m. By Bill Walsh Washington bureau WASHINGTON - House Speaker Dennis Hastert dropped a bombshell on flood-ravaged New Orleans on Thursday by suggesting that it isn’t sensible to rebuild the city. "It doesn't make sense to me," Hastert told the Daily Herald in suburban Chicago in editions published today. "And it's a question that certainly we should ask." Hastert's comments came as Congress cut short its summer recess and raced back to Washington to take up an emergency aid package expected to be $10 billion or more. Details of the legislation are still emerging, but it is expected to target critical items such as buses to evacuate the city, reinforcing existing flood protection and providing food and shelter for a growing population of refugees. The Illinois Republican’s comments drew an immediate rebuke from Louisiana officials. “That’s like saying we should shut down Los Angeles because it’s built in an earthquake zone,” former Sen. John Breaux, D-La., said. “Or like saying that after the Great Chicago fire of 1871, the U.S. government should have just abandoned the city.” Hastert said that he supports an emergency bailout, but raised questions about a long-term rebuilding effort. As the most powerful voice in the Republican-controlled House, Hastert is in a position to block any legislation that he opposes. "We help replace, we help relieve disaster," Hastert said. "But I think federal insurance and everything that goes along with it... we ought to take a second look at that." The speaker’s comments were in stark contrast to those delivered by President Bush during an appearance this morning on ABC’s “Good Morning America.” “I want the people of New Orleans to know that after rescuing them and stabilizing the situation, there will be plans in place to help this great city get back on its feet,” Bush said. “There is no doubt in my mind that New Orleans is going to rise up again as a great city.” Insurance industry executives estimated that claims from the storm could range up to $19 billion. Rebuilding the city, which is more than 80 percent submerged, could cost tens of billions of dollars more, experts projected. Hastert questioned the wisdom of rebuilding a city below sea level that will continue to be in the path of powerful hurricanes. "You know we build Los Angeles and San Francisco on top of earthquake issures and they rebuild, too. Stubbornness," he said. Hastert wasn't the only one questioning the rebuilding of New Orleans. The Waterbury, Conn., Republican-American newspaper wrote an editorial Wednesday entitled, "Is New Orleans worth reclaiming?" "Americans' hearts go out to the people in Katrina's path," it said. "But if the people of New Orleans and other low-lying areas insist on living in harm's way, they ought to accept responsibility for what happens to them and their property." Print \| Send To A Friend \| Permalink (Learn More)
	St. Bernard Parish evacuees wait, worryFor storm refugees from St. Bernard Parish, which is less than 10 miles from the French Quarter and reportedly decimated by the floodwaters, there has been little available news. “They’re not saying anything about St. Bernard,” said Violet resident Kimberly Jones, 33, as she and more than 20 relatives prepared to hunker down, maybe for months, in a shelter in Columbus, Ga., 100 miles southwest of Atlanta. “Our parish probably no longer exists.” Jones was part of a five-car caravan that ended up in Columbus after a relative told her and other families about available hotel space. Now more than 150 evacuees, mostly from Violet but some from other parts of New Orleans, are huddled in a recreation center-turned shelter scanning the news broadcasts for helicopter aerials or any glimpse of the parish. But only scant reports about flooding in Chalmette and Arabi have made the news, Jones said. She and her sister, Bolita, ticked off a list of communities below those areas that could be just as bad off: Violet, Poydras, Braithwaite, Buras. “All the people down there, they’re probably dead,” Violet resident Lois Aisola, 56, said with a matter of fact tone as her pregnant daughter Trenell, 29, sat next to her with a blank expression. While others tried to enjoy a hot meal and bands of children chased one another in circles around her, Aisola’s sister, Janice Washington, 57, sat on the edge of a pool table looking dazed. Although she and more than 25 of her relatives had escaped, Washington left behind four daughters, a son and 12 grandchildren. There has been no word from any of them. In a cell phone text message, another family friend said she saw one of Washington’s daughters on television entering the Superdome, a small comfort. But while the unknown in St. Bernard Parish drives the worries of its refugees in Columbus, it is the little bit that Washington already knows that she says fuels her grief. In another text message she said was sent by a friend who works for the St. Bernard Parish government, Washington learned that the bodies of her cousin, his girlfriend and their two children, were found drowned in a car just blocks from their Violet home. “They must have been trying to get out,” she said. Print \| Send To A Friend \| Permalink (Learn More)
	Nurses appealThursday, 2:18 p.m. To help care for thousands of patients with hurricane-related injuries who have been taken to Baton Rouge, an appeal has been issued for nurses and physical, respiratory and occupational therapists from Louisiana State University Health Sciences Center. People who have worked at LSU-operated hospitals or at the Veterans Affairs Medical Center in New Orleans and want to volunteer in Baton Rouge are asked to call (225) 358-1002. Print \| Send To A Friend \| Permalink (Learn More)
	Bush to tour region FridayThursday, 2:36 p.m. President Bush plans to tour the hurricane-ravaged Gulf Coast by air and land Friday to survey the damage and meet with those directly impacted by the storm, the White House announced Thursday. The president viewed the region from Air Force One Wednesday on his way back to Washington, D.C. from his Texas ranch. He plans to return tomorrow for a day-long, close-up visit to Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama. Bush plans to start his tour in Mobile, Ala., where he will meet with local officials, fly over the coast by helicopter and visit with those on the ground. He then plans to meet up with Louisiana Gov. Kathleen Blanco in New Orleans, which he will also tour by air and possibly on foot as well, according to White House spokesman Scott McClellan. “He wants to offer some encouragement and comfort and boost the spirits of the people,” McClellan said. On Tuesday, members of Louisiana’s congressional delegation sent Bush a letter asking that he come to see the damage first-hand. Print \| Send To A Friend \| Permalink (Learn More)
	School buses used to evacuateBy Ed Anderson Capital bureau BATON ROUGE –National Guard troops will be able to seize school buses as needed to evacuate stranded refugees from hard-hit Hurricane Katrina’s stricken areas, state officials said Thursday. National Guard spokesman Lt. Col. Pete Schneider, said the order, signed by Gov. Kathleen Blanco late Wednesday, means “we are going to take the buses. We need to get people out of New Orleans.. . . .Either they will give them up or we will take them.’’ Blanco’s executive order requires that local school officials in areas that “remain substantially operational following the passage of Hurricane Katrina” provide the state Office of Homeland Security with an inventory of school, buses and drivers in their areas. Blanco’s order said the buses “shall be made available . . .for the mass transportation of Hurricane Katrina evacuees, accompanying law enforcement personnel and necessary supplies to and from areas of concern to areas of safety.’’ Blanco Executive Counsel Terry Ryder said although the order allows the bus-taking for evacuations, the intent is to leave some buses in some areas to transport children to school. Neither Ryder not Schneider would say how many buses may be needed in the evacuation. “We are hopeful this will not require the disruption of schools. Schneider said that it is possible a bus from Caddo Parish in northwest Louisiana may be pressed into service in the New Orleans area, Blanco’s order also requires the school officials to make sure that at least one police officer ride in each bus and at least two more police vehicles accompany every 10 buses. The order also suspends through Sept. 25 the state law, which authorizes free bus transportation for students. Print \| Send To A Friend \| Permalink (Learn More)
	Federal fundingBy Bill Walsh Washington bureau WASHINGTON -- President Bush agreed Thursday to have the federal government pick up the whole tab for rescue and recovery efforts along the Gulf Coast following Hurricane Katrina. Bush’s decision came in response to requests from governor’s of Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama, who feared that the price tag – likely to be in the billions of dollars – would overwhelm their state budgets. The president agreed to waive federal rules that shift 25 percent of the post-disaster debris removal and emergency response cost onto state and local government. White House Spokesman Scott McClellan said Thursday that the federal government will pay the whole bill for 60 days retroactive to Monday’s storm. “This action recognizes the unprecedented scope and impact of this disaster,” McClellan said. The day after the hurricane slammed into the Gulf Coast, Louisiana officials wrote to Bush saying the storm was “well beyond anything that has happened in our history.” They pleaded for financial assistance, saying they didn’t have the means to pay. “Without your direct intervention, we will not receive this much needed assistance,” they wrote. Post-disaster financing rules have been relaxed before. The last time was in 1999 when Hurricane Floyd ravaged parts of the east coast causing $6 billion in damage. Print \| Send To A Friend \| Permalink (Learn More)
	No increase in B.R. crimeReports of increased crime in Baton Rouge as a result of restless evacuees at local shelters are not backed up by the local police statistics, U.S. Attorney David Dugas said early Thursday afternoon. While there has been an up-tick in car thefts, the data does not show an overall hike in crime, he said. But local police presence has been increased in the city in order to deter any future crime, while federal law enforcement is also being beefed up, Dugas said. Print \| Send To A Friend \| Permalink (Learn More)