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Where did all the money go? “Your guess is as good as mine,” David Montoya, the inspector general of the Department of Housing and Urban Development, says of $700 million in missing taxpayer money that Louisiana homeowners were given in the wake of Hurricane Katrina to elevate and protect their homes from future storms. A new report released from the inspector general’s office shows that more than 24,000 homeowners who received grants of up to $30,000 to elevate their homes either misspent or pocketed the money. “The fact of the matter is that the money they received was for a...

They're kidding, right? VH1 Classic will present a full hour of the English and German music videos for the 1984 hit "99 Luftballons," aka "99 Red Balloons," by German rock group Nena. The music video presentation, to air Sunday (2 p.m. EST), caps off the cable channel's "Pay to Play for Hurricane Katrina Relief," which raised over $200,000 for Mercy Corps, a humanitarian relief organization.

President Bush, in his first visit to New Orleans since two reports criticized the government's response to Hurricane Katrina, today urged Congress to approve a $4.2 billion initiative to help Louisiana residents who lost their homes in the Aug. 29 storm. Speaking in front of a broken levee in New Orleans' hardest-hit Lower Ninth Ward, Bush spoke of a plan that would make as much as $150,000 available to each homeowner.

WASHINGTON - Weeks before one of its companies sought U.S. approval for its ports deal, the United Arab Emirates contributed $100 million to help victims of Hurricane Katrina, officials confirmed Thursday. The Bush administration said the money it received from the United Arab Emirates was nearly four times as much as it received from all other countries combined. Other countries, including some in the Middle East, also pledged large contributions but have not yet sent the money. The White House said the $100 million for storm victims demonstrates the close relationship between the two governments now caught in a firestorm...

The government squandered millions of dollars in Katrina disaster aid, including handing $2,000 debit cards to people who gave phony Social Security numbers and used the money for such items as a $450 tattoo, auditors said Monday. Federal money also paid for $375-a-day beachfront condos and 10,777 trailers that were stuck in mud and unusable. Overcharges, poor accounting and abuses will take "months or years" to rectify, the Government Accountability Office and the Homeland Security Department's inspector general concluded in preliminary reports on how billions of dollars in taxpayer money is being spent. The Federal Emergency Management Agency recognizes it...

BILOXI, Miss. The Czech ambassador to the United States will travel to the Mississippi and Alabama coasts this week to deliver money for Hurricane Katrina recovery. Petr Kolar, the country's former deputy minister of foreign affairs, will present a check Wednesday for over 111-thousand dollars to the Tapia Public Library in Bayou La Batre, Alabama, which plans to buy books. On Thursday, Kolar plans to present a 100-thousand-dollar check for the revitalization of the Saint Vincent de Paul Community Pharmacy in Biloxi. The money will help the charitable facility purchase medical supplies. Media officials with the Czech embassy said the...

NEW ORLEANS (AP) — A judge turned aside a last-minute attempt Monday to force the federal government to continue paying directly for hotel rooms of 12,000 families made homeless by last year's hurricanes. The Federal Emergency Management Agency has promised evacuees from hurricanes Katrina and Rita they will still receive federal assistance they can use toward hotel stays or fixing their ruined homes, though FEMA will no longer pay for the hotels directly after Monday. Attorneys for the evacuees tried unsuccessfully to get U.S. District Judge Stanwood Duval to issue a temporary restraining order aimed at forcing FEMA to continue...

PHOTOS VIDEO Click image to enlarge STORIES •GAO: FEMA Overpaid for Katrina Victim Hotel Rooms•FEMA to Stop Paying for Katrina Evacuees' Hotel Privileges•Thousands of Katrina Evacuees Booted From Hotels•Katrina Evacuees Face Hotel Deadline•More Than 3,200 Still Missing After Katrina•Many on Mississippi's Coast Feeling Neglected•Congressional Panel Probes Delay in Getting Trailers to Katrina Victims•Congress Criticizes FEMA for Lack of Hurricane Housing•New Orleans Residents Angry Over Rebuilding Plans•Bush Praises Recovery in Gulf Coast•'Katrina' Students Head Back to New Orleans Colleges•New Orleans Hotel Evicts 100 Katrina Victims•Bush Administration Gives $250 Million for Hurricane Relief•Program Employs Returning Soldiers in Hurricane Relief•New Orleans Delays Katrina...

WASHINGTON (AP) - In its rush to provide Katrina disaster aid, the Federal Emergency Management Agency wasted millions of dollars and overpaid for hotel rooms, including $438-a-day lodging in New York City, government investigators said Monday. Two reports released by the Government Accountability Office and the Homeland Security Department's office of inspector general detail a series of accounting flaws, fraud or mismanagement in their initial review of how $85 billion in federal aid is being spent. The two audits found that up to 900,000 of the 2.5 million applicants who received aid under FEMA's emergency cash assistance program - which...

(2/10/06 - KTRK/HOUSTON) - Hurricane Katrina survivors have another opportunity to get back on their feet. This time, there's a program to get free furniture. The Hurricane Housing Task Force says this is the last call for evacuees to take part and get new furniture for their apartments and homes. Friday, February 17 is the last day officials will accept calls from evacuees living in the city voucher units. So far, they have made 15,000 furniture deliveries. The city says they have had a great response from families who are very emotional about how this program has helped them get...

NEW ORLEANS -- Gov. Kathleen Blanco complained on Thursday that Louisiana is not getting its fair share of hurricane aid from the federal government. Blanco said that Louisiana suffered 70 percent of the damage caused by Hurricane Katrina but that it is not getting an equivalent amount in aid. "We are all American citizens, we cannot allow ourselves to be treated like second-class citizens," the governor said during an update on rebuilding to the New Orleans city council. Sam Jones, Blanco's deputy director of community programs, pointed out that Louisiana got only $6.2 billion out of $11.5 billion in Community...

Congress Approves $29 Billion More in Katrina Aid WASHINGTON (Dec. 17) - Congressional Republicans agreed Saturday on $29 billion in additional aid for the victims of Hurricane Katrina and the other powerful storms that lashed the United States earlier this year, far more than the Bush administration proposed earlier this fall. "We have a good agreement," said Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour, who has patrolled the Capitol for days in an effort to coax as much money as possible from lawmakers eager to adjourn for the year. Officials stressed the additional funds would not add to federal deficits, a priority for...

Lott: I lost my nest egg to Katrina, too By GEOFF PENDERglpender@sunherald.com WASHINGTON - Mississippi's junior senator, Trent Lott, was frustrated and angry but also in rare form Friday as he and the rest of the state's delegation pushed for Hurricane Katrina relief from a Congress that appears consumed by both partisan and inter-party battles on every front - Katrina, the budget, the war. Lott covered many topics in an interview. Some highlights: Q: You've said your house was your nest egg for retirement, and you lost it to Katrina. That leads to the question a lot of people have...

(AP) — Congress passed nearly $8 billion in tax breaks for Gulf Coast businesses on Friday but denied federal help for casinos, liquor stores and golf courses. Almost four months after Hurricane Katrina slammed into the coast, destroying businesses and jobs, lawmakers responded to President Bush's appeal for revitalizing the region with a special enterprise zone. Both the House and Senate passed the bill by voice vote on Friday. "It'll help to get our local government back on its feet, and it'll help to get our businesses incentivized to come back," said Rep. William Jefferson, D-La. "It'll make a huge...

The next time you see Coast Guard Vice Admiral Thad Allen in Louisiana, it will be to hand over the reins of his role as principal official for the Katrina response to somebody else. Admiral Allen will leave Louisiana on Saturday and will return at the end of the month to wrap things up. In his last few weeks as the top FEMA operator on Katrina, Allen talked to 9 News about what he believes FEMA has learned from this disaster and where the federal agency is headed next. Admiral Allen, appearing at his last media appearance in Louisiana Friday,...

Former U.S. Presidents George H.W. Bush and Bill Clinton announced Wednesday the recipients of $90 million of Hurricane Katrina relief money, unveiling the grants at the University of New Orleans. The Bush-Clinton Katrina Fund, a tax-exempt charity established to assist the recovery that has raised $110 million from individual and corporate donors, will distribute the first amounts in three grants. They include: $40 million to funds established by the governors of Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama for non-governmental needs. $30 million to more than 30 colleges and secondary schools in the three states. $20 million to a ministers fund, administered by...

WASHINGTON, Dec. 5 (UPI) -- Federal officials have set aside $200 million to help homeowners whose residences were damaged by recent hurricanes. The Department of Housing and Urban Development said Monday it will make mortgage payments for up to one year for disaster victims with mortgages insured by the Federal Housing Administration who want to move back home. To be eligible for this mortgage assistance, families must have homes that are "repairable" within an "adequate" time and in a presidentially declared disaster area designated for individual assistance. Potential aid recipients must have funds from insurance proceeds, loans or personal resources...

WASHINGTON -- The Federal Housing Administration is launching a program to pay the mortgages of up to 20,000 victims of hurricanes Katrina, Rita and Wilma for as much as a year. The unprecedented mortgage relief will be offered to people who own homes with FHA-insured mortgages in designated hurricane-ravaged parts of Alabama, Florida, Louisiana, Mississippi and Texas. "These families have been devastated, Not only are they living far from home right now, but many have lost their source of income," Housing and Urban Development Secretary Alphonso Jackson said in remarks prepared for delivery when the program is announced today. "We...

Louisiana residents gave churches higher marks than government agencies in responding to Hurricanes Katrina and Rita, and most prefer that the federal government control rebuilding funds rather than local officials, according to a Louisiana State University study. On a scale of one (not effective) to 10 (very effective), residents gave churches the highest mark of 8.1, and New Orleans city agencies and state agencies received the lowest rating of 4.6. "Louisiana residents were not particularly charitable when it came to evaluating government response ... but were considerably more favorable of the efforts of faith-based organizations and nonprofits, including local community...

When the Firm Foundation Worship Center got the call that a family of nine escaping Hurricane Katrina had arrived in Westminster needing a house, church members jumped into action. "They came here with nothing," said Marge DiMaggio, the church's co-pastor. As quickly as possible, church members made a house on church property look like a home. When the Brown family left on Sunday, the DiMaggios were horrified to find the house in shambles. "Hurricane hits Firm Foundation," said Marge DiMaggio. While answering the call in September, church members' hearts were filled with compassion for the unknown family. "We brought our...