Katrina Coverage

Rep. Richard H. Baker (R-Baton Rouge) has proposed the "Louisiana Recovery Corporation" which would spend up to $80 billion to buy up property, pay off the banks, and the like: "A Big Government Fix-It Plan for New Orleans". It was passed over late last year, but Baker's hopeful it will be approved this year. Join […]

WASHINGTON (AP) - Overwhelming Senate passage of a bill bearing $29 billion to help rebuild after Hurricane Katrina has put the massive aid package a step away from being sent to President Bush for his signature.
Nearly four months after the maelstrom devastated New Orleans and much of the nearby Gulf Coast, the House was expected […]

The NYT reports on canvas and plywood tent cities being constructed in Mississippi. Frankly, they don't sound that overly bad:
The tents, built by the Navy Seabees at a cost of $1 million, can be heated and cooled, and have plywood floors and walls that create an 18-by-32-foot wooden box inside the exterior fabric. They are […]

The affirmative action-supporting NYT reports in "Governor's Relative Is Big Contract Winner":
Rosemary Barbour happens to be married to a nephew of Mississippi's governor, Haley Barbour. Since the Reagan administration, when Mrs. Barbour worked as a White House volunteer as a college student, she has been active in the Republican Party.
She also happens to be […]

The LAT offers "Image Problem Is Costing Louisiana" about how not too many DC politicians want to go out of their way for LA because of LA's reputation and because of Sen. Mary Landrieu's "in-your-face approach":
After battling in Congress for months to get more federal money for their hurricane-ravaged state, some Louisiana officials have come […]

From Storm Hit Little, but Aid Flowed to Inland City:
When the federal government and the nation's largest disaster relief group reached out a helping hand after Hurricane Katrina blew through here, tens of thousands of people grabbed it.
But in giving out $62 million in aid, the Federal Emergency Management Agency and the American Red Cross […]

From this:
The Republican chairman of a House panel investigating the response to Hurricane Katrina threatened Wednesday to issue subpoenas for documents if the White House and other agencies don't provide them by Nov. 18.
Rep. Tom Davis of Virginia made the commitment after a Louisiana Democrat, Charlie Melancon, pointed out the panel still hadn't seen some […]

From this:
If an insurance policy bought by the owner of a home or business says, specifically, that hurricane damage is a covered loss, that should be that.
So says Attorney General Jim Hood, who has named a bevy of insurance companies as defendants in suits filed in federal court.
If the federal government defines an area as […]

From Recovery Costs May Be Less Than First Anticipated:
Gov. Haley Barbour said an initial estimate of federal money needed to recover from Hurricane Katrina in Mississippi is less than expected.
He said the request for $38 billion has been decreased to about $33.5 billion by "fine tuning."
Nothing was removed from the recovery package, Barbour said that […]

See the completely unverified reports here.