Katrina Coverage

GRETNA — Rather than send pump workers 100 miles north of the city when a hurricane threatens, Jefferson Parish will build 20 "safe houses" to ensure that pumps can be started quickly in case of floods, Parish President Aaron Broussard said.
When Hurricane Katrina struck, Broussard sent 236 pump workers to Washington Parish under the "Doomsday […]

The phrase "Brownie, you're doing a heckova job" has been selected as the "Top Bushism of 2005" by the Global Language Monitor, Reuters gleefully reports.
The hitherto and henceforth obscure GLM rose to prominence after being called upon to explain the word "chad" during the Sore-Loserman controversy.

More than two thousand Katrina evacuees are registered sex offenders. That number is based only a match between the names of offenders and the names of those who applied for disaster assistance. From this:
…[Wade Horn, assistant secretary for children and families at the Department of Health and Human Services] wrote the nation's 50 governors in […]

From 9/24:
The leader of the [South Carolina] chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union says racism was at the heart of assumptions that led to South Carolina to do criminal background checks of Hurricane Katrina evacuees.
From the same state:
"We want to uphold everyone's constitutional rights," State Law Enforcement Division Chief Robert Stewart said. "But […]

From this:
Gov. Bob Riley's administration has been running criminal background checks on Hurricane Katrina evacuees living in temporary housing in Alabama's 13 state parks, a move opposed by a federal Homeland Security official…
A federal official, Michael Waters, protective security adviser in the Birmingham district of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, had opposed the background […]

The Army Corps of Engineers did a design review of the New Orleans levees in 1990. Apparently the engineers on the project thought the soil under the 17th Street Canal was stronger than it was, and one of their offices discovered this at that time:
Corps documents show the mistake of overly optimistic levee strength was […]

According to ESPN, an agreement in principle has been reached between the NFL and New Orleans Saints owner Tom Benson that will have the team returning for practices for 2006. That will likely lead to them playing the whole season in NO.
…Under the accord, which is expected to be finalized soon, the Saints will return […]

As of mid-November, the number of recoveries had dwindled to a one or two a week, and Kenyon International Emergency Services' contract to do collections ended around that time.
The backstory is in this story from 11/16:
Kenyon… first arrived in the storm-ravaged region Sept. 7 as a short-term contractor for the Federal Emergency Management Agency. Six […]

From this:
…The report by Homeland Security Inspector General Richard L. Skinner aimed some of its most pointed criticism at one of DHS's major entities, the Federal Emergency Management Agency. Katrina and a subsequent storm, Rita, increased the load on FEMA's "already overburdened resources and infrastructure," the report said.
In addition, the report found, "the circumstances created […]

Earlier this month, at the request of Rep. Cynthia McKinney, five community activists made some rather disturbing charges before Congress. And, as previously discussed, the MSM ate it up: "Community activists charge racism before Congress, but…"
Now, this article has a bit more on the activists and their charges.