05:27 PM CDT on Sunday, September 18, 2005

Tom Planchet

5:26 P.M. - (The Houma Courier): Katrina's silver lining might be healthier coast.

4:10 P.M. - GONZALES (AP): In a little Baptist church tucked among trees near a pasture, a New Orleans couple exchanged wedding vows and, at least for a moment, forgot that they were homeless, penniless and living in a shelter indefinitely with hundreds ofother evacuees.

The handful of American Red Cross volunteers who helped plan the couple's big day sat in a pew at the back of the church. Some cried as the couple declared their love for one another in a Sunday morning ceremony. Click here.

4:00 P.M. - WWL-TV: CARVILLE – In a continued effort to assist and inform National Guard Soldiers, their families and the public, Joint Task Force Pelican has launched a website intended to provide current information, stories and pictures on Guard activities in Southeast Louisiana. Information like important phone numbers for assistance for families and Soldiers affected by Hurricane Katrina, resources for local, state and national media, and operational information for Task Force Pelican personnel. Also included will be Soldier stories and photographs telling and showing how Louisiana Guardsmen and Guardsmen form over 40 states and territories are helping Louisiana citizens recover from this catastrophic event. This website can be reached at www.la.ngb.army.mil/pelican.

1:56 P.M. - VIOLET (AP): It had been barely three weeks since Brenda Manuel had seen her street, but St. Bernard Parish seemed to have aged decades.

"It looks like a black and white photo," she said as she crunched through the drying black mud outside her one-story brick home across a highway from the Mississippi River. "There's no color."

Gray. That is how Hurricane Katrina has left this once-lush outpost on the toe of Louisiana, where the people make their living from the fish in the water and the oil beneath it.

Just east of New Orleans, this ruggedly beautiful area of bayous and roads overarched with stately oaks took the full force of the Category 4 storm. A surge as high as 20 feet overtopped the parish's protective levees, flooding most homes and scouring others to their foundations. Click here.

12:59 P.M. - LOS ANGELES (AP): Two people face federal charges for allegedly posing as American Red Cross volunteers to collect money for Hurricane Katrina victims, prosecutors said.

Tino Lee, 44, of Burbank and Gina Liz Nicholas,19, of Glendale were charged Friday in the country's first federal case involving an alleged Katrina relief scam, the U.S. attorney's office said in a statement. Federal law bars anyone from impersonating a Red Cross worker. Lee and Nicholas, who were in custody pending a hearing Monday, could face five years in prison if convicted.

Police said the two allegedly set up a table with a collection box outside a Best Buy store in Burbank and displayed fliers that read "Help Now. American Red Cross Relief For Hurricane Katrina."

Lee and Nicholas were arrested Thursday night after police determined they lacked paperwork proving they represented the relief group. A third suspect, a 14-year-old girl from Pico Rivera, received a citation to appear in Juvenile Court and was released to her parents. She was not identified because she is a minor. The three collected as much as $2,000 in cash, as well as a check for $200, authorities claim.

"We have taken a zero-tolerance position against those who would use a national tragedy such as Hurricane Katrina to line their pockets with money intended for victims," U.S. Attorney Debra Wong Yang said.

The Red Cross rarely posts individual volunteers outside stores to raise funds and typically provides a receipt for cash donations, prosecutors said.

The case comes after the U.S. Justice Department formed a task force to investigate and prosecute charity scams, insurance fraud and other disaster-related crimes.

12:57 P.M. - BATON ROUGE (AP): Damage to hotels in the Gulf Coast states hit by Hurricane Katrina was far worse than originally projected with nearly 46,000 rooms now unavailable, an industry study group says.

According to Portsmouth, N.H.-based Lodging Econometrics, 286 hotels in Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama sustained storm damage that required them to at least close some rooms. The group said computer modeling originally forecast a loss of 30,000 to 40,000 rooms.

The figures, which were based on surveys and interviews with hotel officials, are preliminary, the organization said. Click here.

12:21 P.M. - (AP): Katrina lessons fill a how-not-to textbook.

12:18 P.M. - (AP): Residents of the Algiers section of New Orleans gathered together today to pray for those who lost their lives in Hurricane Katrina and those who are struggling to put their lives back together.

The Reverend John O'Halloran officiated at morning Mass at the historic All Saints Church, nestled against the banks of the Mississippi. O'Halloran is himself displaced by the flooding that followed Katrina. His own church, St. Raymond's, still holds about three feet of flood water.

The Mass was attended by approximately two dozen people. Residents will be officially permitted to re-enter the Algiers neighborhood beginning tomorrow.

11:36 A.M. - (AP): All it takes is cash and time. Given enough money, engineers agree that they could eventually build a system of levees and other flood control structures sufficient to protect New Orleans from another Katrina or even a stronger hurricane. But it would cost billions, and the work might not be completed for up to 30 years. The question is, and always has been, how much the federal government is willing to pay for that protection. Click here.

11:18 A.M. - TELLURIDE, CO (AP): San Miguel County Sheriff Bill Masters and four of his deputies had one of the more unusual jobs in the Hurricane Katrina relief effort: guarding more than $30 million in a waterlogged Federal Reserve vault.

"The vault was under water, to a degree, but the water was receding, and they were concerned about the looting in the area. S omebody was eventually going to break into the vault and steal over $30 million," Masters said. "They wouldn't tell us the exact amount."

Masters and his deputies were summoned to the site of Hurricane Katrina's onslaught by the National Sheriffs' Association.

Although Masters began driving home Sunday, the deputies -- Operations Commander Eric Berg, John Kirkendoll, Todd Rector and Brian Beckham -- remained behind in New Orleans to "see if they can help out," Masters said in a telephone interview.

He said the deputies were driving around New Orleans in an eight-wheel-drive all-terrain vehicle that the sheriff's office has access to.

Masters said his team also got help from the Nebraska National Guard, led by Lt. Col. Thomas Brewer. They took command of the vault site in the pitch-black dark of night, using night-vision goggles.

"Because of night-vision devices, we were able to own the night. Our team was tasked to provide security for that top-secret facility and develop a plan to evacuate the money from the vault and eventually from the city," he said. "It was pretty chaotic. There was still looting going on, a tremendous amount of flooding."

11:00 A.M. - Special message from Slidell Mayor Ben Morris.

10:55 A.M. - Beginning Monday, September 19, and continuing until Thursday, September 29, Plaquemines Parish residents are encouraged to return to the parish for the limited purpose of viewing their homes or businesses and picking up valuables that remain from the devastating effects of Hurricane Katrina. Click here for details.

10:45 A.M. - WASHINTGON (AP): Following the president's announcement of a sweeping federal initiative to restore the hurricane-ravaged Gulf Coast, Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist said private business will bear most of the cost of rebuilding.

Returning from a day trip to the Gulf Coast on Friday, the Tennessee Republican also urged President Bush to appoint a single chief to direct the reconstruction effort.

"There's no way the federal government has enough money to shoulder this burden on its own," he told The Associated Press by phone. "The investment at the federal level will be huge, but it will even be larger by several fold by the private sector."

Frist and 15 other senators, including Minority Leader Harry Reid of Nevada, toured New Orleans and cities in Mississippi and Alabama for several hours on Friday. It was the second Gulf trip since Katrina for the majority leader, who volunteered as a physician there six days after the catastrophic storm. Click here.

10:25 A.M. - (AP): The death count in Louisiana from Hurricane Katrina has risen to 646. That's according to a count assembled by state officials and parish coroners.

According to the state, 490 are at a storm morgue in St. Gabriel.

Among storm-related deaths reported by parish coroners: two have come from Assumption Parish, 63 from East Baton Rouge Parish, six from Iberia Parish, 30 from Jefferson Parish, four from Livingston Parish, three from Plaquemines Parish, five from St. Charles Parish, seven from St. Tammany Parish, 20 from Tangipahoa Parish and two from West Baton Rouge Parish.

9:30 A.M. - ALEXANDRIA (AP): Initial testing of job applicants has found more than enough welders to staff the Union Tank Car Company plant now under construction in Alexandria.

Three months of testing by the Department of Labor and the Alexandria campus of Louisiana Technical College showed the area's work force has a reserve of experienced welders.

An official with the Central Louisiana Chamber of Commerce says less than five percent of the applicants tested positive for illegal drugs, below the national average.

Union Tank Car plans to hire 850 workers and begin production in early 2006.

9:05 A.M. - (AP): Mayor Ray Nagin defended his plan to return up to 180,000 people to the city within a week and a half despite concerns about the short supply of drinking water and heavily polluted floodwaters.

Coast Guard Vice Admiral Thad Allen, head of the federal disaster relief effort, said yesterday that Nagin's idea is both "extremely ambitious and "extremely problematic."

But Nagin says his plan was developed in cooperation with the federal government and balances safety concerns and the needs of citizens to begin rebuilding.

Nagin says the Algiers, Garden District and French Quarter sections would reopen over the next week and a half, bringing back more than one-third of the city's half-million inhabitants. City officials later backed off setting a specific date for reopening the famous French Quarter -- the city's main tourist draw.

Allen says a prime public health concern is the tap water, which in most of the city remains unfit for drinking and bathing. He says he's concerned about the difficulties of communicating the risk of using the water to people who return and might run out of bottled water.

8:45 A.M. - LAFAYETTE (AP): Hurricane evacuees swarmed around Governor Kathleen Blanco and peppered her with questions today as she visited a shelter. Many were asking her when they could return home and inquired about transitional housing.

One by one, Blanco patiently fielded questions from the evacuees, who were mostly from New Orleans' flood-ravaged Ninth Ward.

They had sought refuge in the Cajundome, a sports arena in Lafayette, 135 miles northwest of the stricken city.

Blanco eventually suggested that they make a list of questions and complaints and give it to the shelter director to forward to her. The Cajundome shelter opened August 30 and held more than 1,000 people today.

Some evacuated before Katrina hit Louisiana. Others were from the throngs that initially filled New Orleans' Superdome and convention center.

8:33 A.M. – Jackie Catalanatto, Covington Food Bank: America’s Second Harvester Food Bank is setting up in Covington due to damage to the N.O. facility. Items include personal hygiene items and baby diapers. PICTURE ID and Social Security card needed.

8:32 A.M. – Catalanatto: Food bank hours are 9a-2p.

8:32 A.M. – Catalanatto: Hope to have doctors on site.

8:31 A.M. – Catalanatto: Anyone who needs food can come. They will be categorized by alphabet and people can return once a week.

8:30 A.M. - DALLAS (AP): A pilot program announced today by the Department of Housing and Urban Development is offering some help to residents displaced by Hurricane Katrina.

The "Welcome Home Project" is providing 100 rent-free homes for refugees in Dallas-Fort Worth and Houston.

The program places families in empty HUD-owned homes rent-free for 18 months.

Appliances are being provided and a private anonymous donor is furnishing the homes at no cost. The program has placed ten families so far. Homeowners are responsible for utilities.

Families can apply for the program with HUD. But FEMA and the Interfaith Housing Coalition, are placing the families.

Recipient Patricia Livas of New Orleans says her new single story, three bedroom home in southern Dallas promises some stability as she tries to care for two sons and look for a new job.

8:29 A.M. – Catalanatto: Normally only serve St. Tammany, Tangipahoa and Washington, but serve everyone now. Normally serve 60 people per week, but can serve more now and may allow more than one visit a week if the amount of food is available. 840 North Columbia in Covington in Downtown. Coming from Causeway, go straight for about 7 miles, go over bridge that crosses Bogue Falaya to second traffic light, turn left at the light, see another traffic light, take a left and we’re the blue building on the left-hand side.

8:00 A.M. - (AP): At Cafe' du Monde in New Orleans, hot fried b eignets topped with powered sugar and cafe au lait have been served since 1862.

But now, tables and chairs are stacked almost to the ceiling in the dining room. On the patio, leaves and remnants of the green and white awnings were scattered.

Next door, at Aunt Sally's Creole Pralines, the smell of the candy cooking has been replaced with the smell of rotting garbage.

Across the street, an "Open Sign" hangs in the door of a business. The glass in the door is gone and inside leather goods are scattered across the floor.

A sign posted at the French Market gives a phone number for business owners and vendors to call for information on when they can reopen.

7:59 A.M. – David Passey, FEMA – We understand the mayor’s desire to have people come back to N.O., but we are concerned about safety, especially the 911 system that is not yet working.

7:58 A.M. – Passey: About 800,000 people have applied to receive aid and we expect 4-500,000 more.

7:55 A.M. – Passey: This is the largest national disaster in the country’s history.

7:05 A.M. WWL Traffic Reporter Jill Hezeau – Some N.O. ferries will be back running Monday. There will be one ferry at Jackson/Gretna and one at Algiers/Canal. The ferry at Algiers/Chalmette is supposed to be up and running in about two weeks.

7:04 A.M. – Hezeau: Causeway officials say the bridge will reopen at 5 a.m. Monday.