Free Republic

Democratic gubernatorial candidate Bill White released his income tax returns Tuesday for the entire time he served as Houston mayor, disclosing $11.8 million in adjusted gross income over six years, largely related to his energy career, including investments, fees and sales of stock in companies on whose boards he served. ...White previously had released his 2009 return and said he released the 2004 to 2008 returns to “call his (Perry's) bluff.” ...“This partial release of some tax returns creates further questions about how Bill White profited while serving Houston as a part-time mayor,” Miner said, citing work by BTEC Turbines,...

MCALLEN - Jurors today will hear about maintenance and safety practices of charter bus company Global Limo Inc. but not about the bus fire that killed 23 nursing home residents evacuated from Houston last year as Hurricane Rita bore down. U.S. District Judge Ricardo Hinojosa granted a defense motion to limit testimony to alleged mismanagement that occurred during a four-month period before last year's accident. James H. Maples, president and director of Pharr-based Global, faces charges he falsified driver time records and failed to adequately inspect and maintain his fleet of buses. The company was shut down for safety violations...

CAMERON – The rest of the United States should realize that rebuilding southwest Louisiana after Hurricane Rita is crucial to the nation’s economy, Gov. Kathleen Blanco said Saturday. Southwest Louisiana processes much of the nation’s oil and gas, catches a large share of its seafood and exports the nation’s goods to the rest of the world through its ports, Blanco said. America’s WETLAND and the Southwest Louisiana Chamber of Commerce staged a symbolic cattle drive Saturday to demonstrate that the region is recovering and also to commemorate the first anniversary of Rita. “We have so much value here in Louisiana....

BIRMINGHAM, Mich., Sept. 20 /PRNewswire/ -- Three Michigan businessmen, who purchased a truckload of relief supplies for Hurricane Rita victims and drove down to Louisiana to deliver them, are suing the Calcasieu Parish Sheriff Department, certain sheriff department deputies, Harrah's Entertainment (the owner and operator of a local gambling casino), and certain Harrah's employees for assault, false arrest, false imprisonment, willful misconduct, and deprivations of civil and constitutional rights under the U.S. Constitution and federal law. The Michigan businessmen have retained the Birmingham, Michigan-based law firm of Norman Yatooma & Associates, P.C. (NYA) to represent them and manage the litigation...

LAKE CHARLES, La. — A steady procession of congressmen and U.S. senators have visited the Gulf Coast this month, inspecting Hurricane Katrina damage. But they didn't show up here, one of the places devastated by Hurricane Rita, Louisiana's "other" storm. Four months after Rita caused $4.7 billion in damage, people in southwest Louisiana and southeast Texas say they're concerned the storm has been erased from the country's memory, overshadowed by Katrina's assault on New Orleans. While New Orleanians fret about "Katrina fatigue," people here say they've been victims of "Rita amnesia." "We don't want anyone to lose sight of the...

It's at least the 26th time so far this year, that Lake Charles Police respond to a call at Lakeview Motel where FEMA pays to house people displaced from the hurricanes; people like Stacy Arceneaux and her mother Charlotte Broussard. The frightened women who live here have this notice on the door: "Identify yourself, do not disturb, gun in room." Arceneaux says, "I will shoot you if I do not know who you are, period. If you look at my family wrong, I will shoot you." "I'm expecting a bullet to come right through the walls. There's a bullet right...

A car rests against a mound of sand and debris Wednesday in Holly Beach. The destruction caused by Hurricane Rita on Sept. 24 in coastal Cameron Parish is still evident in the background. Mandatory evacuation in place as cleanup mucks along HOLLY BEACH -- The north-south route through Cameron Parish west of the Calcasieu Ship Channel is cleared and open, though crumbling in places. But the only structure still standing in the Holly Beach community that it once led to is the water tower. A full month and a half has passed since Hurricane Rita scoured coastal Cameron Parish...

Rita sends rural Texans back to 'caveman days' By PAM EASTON Associated Press Writer WOODVILLE, Texas — Five days after Hurricane Rita came ashore, some East Texans took baths and brushed their teeth using water from the Neches River while others affected by the storm waited in line for federal assistance and gas. Crumpled tin roofs and canopies in Woodville's town square still littered parking lots Wednesday. Downed power lines and trees were in people's yards and lined nearly every road. Many people were still without power or water. "We went from normal life back to caveman days in a...

AVERY ISLAND, La. (AP) — On a salt dome that rises from the Cajun flatlands like an island from the sea, the plant which makes Tabasco sauce was safe from floods caused by Hurricane Rita. And it had enough stock on hand to ship out until the factory regained power. Many of its workers weren't as lucky. "We've got a lot of employees that live in Delcambre and Erath and Lydia and low-lying areas around Avery Island," Paul McIlhenny, chief executive of McIlhenny Co., said Wednesday. [snip] Power had been out since Friday night, when the storm was still offshore....

...Hurricanes are...bigger...meaner...more numerous than many people have seen...[not]global warming,experts warn. ...Mayfield,director,National Hurricane Center...period of heightened hurricane activity"...since'95...natural fluctuations...cycles...driven by the Atlantic Ocean itself...not enhanced substantially by global warming"...recent studies about global warming and hurricanes raise more questions than they answer...indicate global warming could increase hurricane wind speeds...5%---100 years from now. ...Union of Concerned scientist...[said]making them more intense...recent studies...carbon dioxide is raising ocean temperatures."...converting low-grade storms into powerful hurricanes..." ...not all hurricane experts...link...global warming and hurricanes...saying,past two seasons signal a return to normal. "From 1970-95...weren't...many hurricanes,[except]nice,well-mannered,housebroken hurricanes that stayed out to sea and didn't make a mess,"Willoughby,hurricane researcher... "This year...nature is...

Despite statements to the contrary from the director of the National Hurricane Center, Barbra Streisand is declaring a "global warming emergency." "We are in a global warming emergency state and these storms are going to become more frequent, more intense," the singer, actress and liberal activist told Diane Sawyer of ABC News.

Hurricane Rita landfall is anticipated within the next few hours. Strong winds and heavy rains are battering southern Louisiana and southeastern Texas. MSM news crews are shouting over the howling winds as they foolishly describe blowing rain, swaying trees, and crashing waves through rain splattered camera lenses. It's a hurricane. We know these things already. An 18 wheeler rig reportedly overturned on an I-10 bridge. The fate of the truck driver is unknown at this time. Reports of widespread power outages in Lake Charles. KPLC-TV Lake Charles local news has remarkably improvised their reporting from a remote location. They are...

By STEPHEN OHLEMACHER Associated Press Writer WASHINGTON Hurricane Rita smashed into a region that is wealthier, more mobile and much less densely populated than the one devastated by Hurricane Katrina. Most of Rita's victims are by no means wealthy. But they are less likely to live in poverty, more likely to own a car, and less likely to be a member of a minority group than were Katrina's victims, according to an Associated Press analysis of census data. Experts said the wealth and mobility of people in Rita's path combined with a new sense of urgency following Katrina led to...

Hurricane Rita landfall is anticipated within the next few hours. Strong winds and heavy rains are battering southern Louisiana and southeastern Texas. MSM news crews are shouting over the howling winds as they foolishly describe blowing rain, swaying trees, and crashing waves through rain splattered camera lenses. It's a hurricane. We know these things already. An 18 wheeler rig reportedly overturned on an I-10 bridge. The fate of the truck driver is unknown at this time. Reports of widespread power outages in Lake Charles. KPLC-TV Lake Charles local news has remarkably improvised their reporting from a remote location. They are...

NEW YORK, Sept 23 (Reuters) - Utility operator Entergy Corp., which provides electricity to much of the U.S. Gulf Coast, on Friday said its New Orleans subsidiary has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection due to damage caused by Hurricane Katrina. Entergy New Orleans filed with the United States Bankruptcy Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana, saying that the storm "dealt a body blow" to the unit, destroying facilities, disrupting revenue, and impairing the ability of its customer base to pay bills. The company asked the court to approve debtor-in-possession financing that includes $200 million in loans to...

Rita steams toward Gulf Coast; Rains breech New Orleans levy HOUSTON - A slowly weakening Hurricane Rita steamed toward the Texas and Louisiana coast with 125 mph winds Friday, taking direct aim at the nation's oil-refining industry. As many as 24 people were killed when a bus carrying elderly evacuees caught fire in a traffic jam. "We're going to get through this," Texas Gov. Rick Perry said. "Say a prayer for Texas." (snip) Texas' emergency management coordinator, Jack Colley, predicted Rita would destroy nearly 5,700 homes in the state and cause $8.2 billion in damage. President Bush headed for his...

Heading back to Mexico, while they still can Mexicans on the Texas Gulf Coast head for home ahead of Rita’s landfall The Associated Press Updated: 8:51 p.m. ET Sept. 22, 2005 MONTERREY, Mexico - Hundreds of Mexicans living on the Texas Gulf Coast were rushing home Thursday to avoid Hurricane Rita, while authorities in northern Mexico readied shelters and prepared for heavy rains. Nuevo Leon state tourism director Jorge Cantu said Monterrey hotels are lowering rates 20 to 30 percent for people fleeing the Texas Gulf Coast. In Nuevo Laredo, across from Laredo, Texas, Mexican families coming from Houston, Galveston,...

Washington, DC: Congressman Ron Paul has joined Texas Governor Rick Perry in requesting a federal state of emergency declaration for the entire state of Texas. Under a federal declaration of emergency, federal assistance in many forms becomes available to the people of Texas. This assistance includes Disaster Unemployment Assistance, Hazard Mitigation, SBA disaster loans, and USDA loans, in addition to assistance from the U.S. Coast Guard, Federal Emergency Management Agency, and the Department of Homeland Security in general. President Bush declared the emergency today, pledging a stepped-up federal response to what may be the biggest Hurricane ever to hit Texas....

Water gushes into NO 9th ward.