There is a lot that Americans agree about in the wake of Hurricane Katrina: that government agencies initially stumbled but are doing better now, for one, and that more money and attention should be paid to addressing the issue of poverty. But a USA TODAY/CNN/Gallup Poll taken Thursday through Sunday finds a stark racial divide on other issues, including attitudes toward the hurricane's victims, the performance of President Bush and the reasons the government's early response was so wanting.
President Bush returned Monday to the Gulf Coast for third time since Hurricane Katrina devastated the region, this time marveling at reconstruction that's already begun. But he acknowledged, "There's a lot of serious and hard work that's yet to be done." While Bush gazed at recovery efforts on the Gulf Coast, the head of the Federal Emergency Management Agency, Michael Brown, stepped down from his post after coming under severe fire for FEMA's response time to Katrina. R. David Paulison, a career firefighter who heads FEMA's emergency preparedness force, is replacing Brown.
Alfred James "BaBa" Gourrier survived World War II and 30 years in the U.S. Navy. He even survived the harsh winds of Hurricane Katrina, tucked safely in the VA hospital in downtown New Orleans. What he didn't survive was three days without food or water, says his daughter, Assunta Jackson. "He dehydrated," she says. "The government killed my father."
The port that services the Gulf of Mexico oil and gas facilities responsible for supplying 18 percent of U.S. demand is running at half capacity because of electrical outages caused by Hurricane Katrina.
With Ophelia, an on-again, off-again hurricane, heading for an uncertain landfall, South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford ordered a voluntary evacuation Monday of along the state's coast.
The arrest of an escaped Mississippi murder suspect Friday outside the Hurricane Katrina shelter in Molino is an isolated event and does not represent a security problem at hurricane shelters, American Red Cross officials said Monday. If anything, Friday's arrest of Curtis Dixon, 24, who escaped from a Mississippi jail, showed that Red Cross security measures worked well, Red Cross spokeswoman Joanie Erickson said.
It's official. Tiger Stadium in Baton Rouge, La., will be the home away from the home away from the home of the New Orleans-San Antonio Saints. NFL commissioner Paul Tagliabue said Monday that the Saints would play four of their home games in Tiger Stadium because the Superdome in New Orleans was seriously damaged by Hurricane Katrina and its aftermath.
Used to battling forest fires in the western United States, members of the Navajo Nation from New Mexico and Arizona found themselves in unfamiliar surroundings Monday, cutting and clearing downed trees in the heart of New Orleans.
Hurricane Katrina has left the Gulf Coast region left without casinos for at least a few months, a timber industry reeling from the loss of inventory snapped, twisted or bent by the storm and, in Mississippi, the nation's fourth highest unemployment rate. But the consensus of Mississippi economists and business leaders is that Katrina could trigger an economic boom.
For Monday, Sept. 12
The number of dead bodies recovered from New Orleans and outlying areas since Hurricane Katrina totaled 154 Saturday, a day after a company specializing in body recovery and grief counseling joined the search. On Sunday, that number jumped to 197, but rescue crews are not finding the huge number of bodies that some officials had predicted.
Life aboard the USS Iwo Jima, which is serving as a floating central command for Louisiana hurricane relief, seems defined these days by the near-constant whirling of helicopter blades as soldiers and government officials shuttle in and out of New Orleans, planning the city's security and eventual cleanup. What they see is mind-boggling: roofs that resemble lily pads surrounded by fetid, toxic water -- whole neighborhoods that will have to be bulldozed and decontaminated.
Sheriff's deputies in Escambia County, Fla., captured a Mississippi murder suspect who was profiled on "America's Most Wanted" after the man sought a handout at a local Hurricane Katrina shelter. The fugitive, who is also faces charges in New Orleans, escaped Sept. 5 through an air vent at a jail struck by the storm.
Law enforcement agencies logged hundreds of overtime hours to monitor looting, patrol gas stations and catch curfew violators in the wake of Hurricane Katrina. Reimbursement for overtime hours could come from the Federal Emergency Management Agency, local officials say.
The lesson to be learned from Katrina is that there's only one direction that matters for rebuilding New Orleans -- up. Far beyond the French Quarter and Garden District beloved by tourists, New Orleans' architecturally significant neighborhoods are intact, with little structural damage.
In a time of crisis, when the dead are marked not by tombstones in a cemetery but by spray-painted symbols on the roofs of homes, the Rev. Dennis Hayes has been the calming voice that has held together Chalmette, La., a community southeast of New Orleans ravaged by Hurricane Katrina. Despite having lost everything, including his church in nearby Arabi, Hayes has become an overnight spiritual adviser to the rescue workers and officials working to save lives and rebuild.
Robert Hinojosa pointed to the 18-wheeler he and Darrell Hedden had driven 1,900 miles from Tulare, Calif., to the parking lot of a Baton Rouge, La., church. "There's nothing but love in that truck," Hinojosa told the Rev. Bland Washington Sunday. Love came in form of food, water, diapers, toys and other basics donated by the residents of Tulare for victims of Hurricane Katrina.
Evacuees from Hurricane Katrina have at least some access to mental health counselors in most shelters, but there's particular concern about police, paramedics, firefighters and other first responders who may suffer serious, long-term trauma, government officials say.
For Sunday, Sept. 11
The view from a plane flying over the Murphy Oil Refinery in Meraux, La., on Saturday showed a distressing scene. Oil cleanup crews with vacuum trucks and skimmers were tackling a massive spill that had leaked into the nearby marsh and communities after Hurricane Katrina passed through. "Right now, the big nightmare we have is that we have all these really big oil spills and diesel spills and releases in the hurricane impact area that you just can't get to," says Dwight Bradshaw, an environmental scientist with the Louisiana Department of Environmental Quality.
As Mississippi struggles to rebuild after Hurricane Katrina, many people are asking how a natural disaster became a national tragedy of miscommunication, missed opportunities and needless suffering. In Washington, they call it the "blame game." In Hattiesburg, which was hit hard by the hurricane, they call it figuring out what went right, what went wrong, and what can be done differently the next time a killer storm comes ripping out of the Gulf.
Louisiana State and Arizona State raised a million dollars for Hurricane Katrina relief on Saturday night and played like a million bucks. No. 5-ranked LSU, showing resiliency that it hopes will inspire more of the same from the ravaged Gulf Coast, outlasted equally inspired No. 15 ASU 35-31.
Hurricane Katrina devastated lives across the Gulf Coast, but the loss of electricity and telephones made a dangerous situation even worse for deaf storm victims who had no way to communicate with the outside world.
Told the town would be open Saturday, anxious homeowners who hoped to view their properties and recover any mementos lined the road leading into Pass Christian, Miss, a town of 6,500 that serves as a second home to many from New Oreleans. But they were turned away. "We got in 24 hours (after Hurricane Katrina hit), but we can't get in now?" Stephen Cook, a Tulane research scientist says. Residents complain it's more difficult to get into Pass Christian than it is to enter New Orleans.
Good Samaritans from across the Gulf Coast - forgetting their own hurricane woes - have emerged to help ambulance and bus drivers, for instance, who have been going nonstop - hungry, tired and close to dehydration. "... What I did was help get a kitchen up and running," says Jessica Broadus, a finance manager whose family's home was leveled by Hurricane Katrina. "Instead of being a spreadsheet queen, I have become a chef the past few days."