Wrong parish gets evacuation warning
A snag in Gov. Kathleen Blanco's automated telephone message setup led to residents of the wrong parish being told on Thursday to evacuate for Hurricane Rita.
Blanco resorted to the mass calls in hopes the governor's recorded voice would be persuasive enough to get people in the path of the storm to get to higher ground.
The company that set up the message confused Jefferson Parish with Jefferson Davis Parish, said the governor's deputy press secretary, Roderick Hawkins.
The message was supposed to be only for Cameron, Calcasieu, Vermilion, St. Mary, Jefferson Davis, Lafourche, Terrebonne, Assumption and Acadia parishes.
The mistake was corrected, Hawkins said.
Lawmakers to review response to Katrina
New state House and Senate panels have been appointed to look into disaster response, recovery, relief and rebuilding efforts in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina.
The panels will make recommendations for policy and law changes.
The chairman of the House panel will be Rep. John Alario, D-Westwego, and vice chairman will be Rep. Jalila Jefferson-Bullock, D-New Orleans. Co-chairmen of the Senate panel will be Sens. Walter Boasso, R-Chalmette, and Ed Murray, D-New Orleans.
Ascension sheriff takes Association post
Ascension Parish Sheriff Jeff Wiley is the newly elected president of the Louisiana Sheriffs' Association. Wiley will serve in the post until September 2006.
Other new officers are Iberia Parish Sheriff Sid Hebert, first vice president; St. Charles Parish Sheriff Greg Champagne, second vice president; Madison Parish Sheriff Larry Cox, secretary-treasurer; and Natchitoches Parish Sheriff Victor Jones, sergeant-at-arms.
The association is a professional law enforcement and public safety organization established in 1938.
Campbell Brown's La. reports win favor
Former Insurance Commissioner Jim Brown's daughter, Campbell, is one of the few reporters sent down by the networks to cover Hurricane Katrina who could pronounce Louisiana names.
Her reports, including having a 9-year-old guide her through the Convention Center, have made the NBC correspondent and "Today, Weekend Edition" co-anchor a leading contender to succeed the "Today" show's Katie Couric, according to U.S. News & World Report.
NBC officials say they hope Couric stays with NBC until next year, but she has been named as a leading candidate for the nightly news anchor jobs at ABC and CBS.
Red Cross' storm costs will reach $2 billion
Jack Sheehan, public information officer for the American Red Cross, said recovery efforts for Hurricane Rita and Hurricane Katrina will cost the organization $2 billion. Sheehan said that is 20 times more expensive than any previous Red Cross disaster.
Lt. Gen. Honore: 'We ain't stuck on stupid'
U.S. Army Lt. Gen. Russel Honore took after reporters who questioned the city of New Orleans' plan of gathering people at the Convention Center to await evacuation for Hurricane Rita, particularly given the number of people who died there while waiting to evacuate from Hurricane Katrina.
Mayor Ray Nagin stumbled during Wednesday's news conference. Honore jumped in to remind reporters that those questions were about Katrina and not Rita.
Honore used the same colorful quote the week before to explain away government's slow response.
"This is a disaster," he said on Sept. 11. "This isn't something somebody can control. We ain't stuck on stupid."
New Orleans may well be 'Houstonized' 'Houstonization' not derogatory after all
The Houston Press took offense that plans to bulldoze large sections of the Crescent City have been likened as a step toward the "Houstonization of New Orleans."
The newspaper tracked down the source of the quote, S. Frederick Starr, who turns out to be the author of the hardcover book, "Southern Comfort: The Garden District of New Orleans."
When asked what that meant, Starr was quoted saying, "I think 'Houstonization' is simply mass demolition followed by low-density, green-fields development. … All those one-story houses that go on forever."
"OK, OK. So he's got a point," conceded Press columnist Richard Connelly.
Compiled from the notebooks of John LaPlante, Mark Ballard, Marsha Shuler, Will Sentell, Michelle Millhollon and Jessica Fender of the Capitol news bureau.
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