07:13 PM CDT on Tuesday, September 6, 2005

Tom Planchet

10:04 P.M. - (AP): A Mexican Navy ship set sail Monday with aid for victims of Hurricane Katrina and President Vicente Fox said a Mexican Army mission would follow.

"Mexico and the United States are nations which are neighbors and friends which should always have solidarity in moments of difficulty," Fox said in a message issued Monday night.

Fox said the Mexican Navy ship Papaloapan left the Gulf coast port of Tampico on Monday, headed for New Orleans with eight all-terrain rescue vehicles, seven amphibious cargo vehicles, a mobile hospital, two rescue helicopters and drinking water.

An Army convoy of 15 vehicles was to follow on Wednesday, carrying food, health brigades, water-treatment plants and mobile kitchens with the capacity to feed 7,000 people a day.

9:24 P.M. - (AP): The American Red Cross said Monday it had 487 shelters and evacuation centers open and was caring for at least 142,121 hurricane victims in 16 states. These figures do not include refugees still in New Orleans, or at hotels, motels or church or state shelters across the South.

Here is a breakdown of Red Cross shelters in eight states:

--Texas: 74 shelters, including the Astrodome; 56,000 people

--Louisiana: 175 shelters; 55,000 people

--Mississippi: 113 shelters; 17,000 people

--Alabama: 48 shelters; 5,200 people

--Florida: 41 shelters; 3,600 people

--Arkansas: 7 shelters; 3,000 people

--Georgia: 17 shelters; 1,100 people

--Tennessee: 3 shelters; 1,000 people

9:05 P.M. - RUSTON, La. (AP) - Louisiana Tech offered Monday to share its football facilities with Tulane and let its athletes enroll for the fall semester.

"We have made the offer to Tulane to make Louisiana Tech University and Ruston its home for as long as is needed," Tech athletic director Jim Oakes said.

Tulane has spent the last week practicing in Jackson, Miss., and Dallas after evacuating New Orleans because of Hurricane Katrina.

Tech's offer has plenty of appeal. The school has available dorm space and would also share its practice fields and weight room. Louisiana Tech is also on the quarter system as is Tulane.

8:10 P.M. - Rev. Jesse Jackson: There must be a moratorium made on banks/businesses foreclosing on home owners who’ve missed payments because of Hurricane Katrina. The federal government should put a freeze on all foreclosures for the time being.

8:08 P.M. - Jackson: There is a surplus of water and diapers, what we need are mobile homes.

8:06 P.M. - Jackson: Venezuela offered help, but was turned away.

8:05 P.M. - Jackson: Sending people away to Utah, Montana and Minnesota makes no sense. Send them to local military facilities that are not in use, and bringing mobile homes in for people to stay in. Cleo (Fields) is talking about opening up state parks that have cabins and living facilities for evacuees. Louisianans should be living in Louisiana.

FEMA did not have a plan for a massive rescue or of receiving of evacuees. Said Homeland Security turned away the American Red Cross by saying it was too dangerous.

7:42 P.M. - Congressman Bobby Jindal: People who want to volunteer for search and rescue operations, police from outside the state who want to help, all should be able to come to New Orleans without fear of wading through bureaucratic red tape. My constitutients don't care who brings them food and water, or take them to safety, just help these people.

On rebuilding the city: Shame on us if we strive to rebuild the same city -- education and health care wise, etc. We should use this opportunity to construct a better New Orleans. Let's use these resources which can only help to contribute to this greater goal. We need to maintain our history while building for the future.

7:42 P.M. - Jindal: Don't just tell people what they want to hear, be honest with them and let them know that you have a plan for the future. The people don't expect to have all their problems solved overnight, but they expect a plan.

7:37 P.M. - New Orleans Saints head coach Jim Haslett during Monday's press conference:

Q: There ae published reports coming out of Louisiana that the team may never return to New Orleans again. How would you react to that?

Haslett: "I don't know where they would get those reports and I don't think they are true. I think that is the last thing on anybodies mind right now. If somebody would say that obviously they do not have a good handle on what they are talking about so I don't think that is true by any means whatsoever. I don't think it is on anyone's mind and that is something that is going to have to be determined after the season is over. Right now we have four months of football and hopefully we can get though those and get into the playoffs and then figure out where we are going to live. Hopefully it is back where we came from."

Q: Do you have a preference for your home games between San Antonio and Baton Rouge?

Haslett: "I would like to have them here because we are practicing here but I think we owe it to the fans of New Orleans, the Gulf Coast, all the people in Baton Rouge, all the way up to Lafayette and Shreveport. We have season ticket holders all over the Gulf Coast not just New Orleans. I think we owe it to the state and to the region to play a couple games back in Baton Rouge, if we can."

7:30 P.M. - Dr. Tim Ryan, UNO Chancellor: The city has to convince people that the levee has been corrected before people will come back to the city. Home security is a major issue. The real estate market will greatly depend upon the number of people willing to stay in town or move back from outside the state.

7:25 P.M. - Ryan: Leadership, at all levels, will be critical in making sure that the money is distributed properly, and that people/businesses are not scammed.

7:20 P.M. - Ryan : I don't care what the Speaker of the House says, this is a great city. New Orleans is a treasure.

7:17 P.M. - Ryan: The city will see an economic boom as tens of billions of dollars pour into town from all levels: FEMA, the federal government, the corporations, local and private money. Small business will be a concern.

6:50 P.M. - (AP): Specialists trying to rescue some of the most historic documents New Orleans history have been stymied in their efforts to get downtown.

The New Orleans Notorial Archives is trying to save documents ranging from original land grants to slave sale records and title records. But federal troops have refused to let workers through checkpoints into the city.

The Notorial Archives has hired a Swedish document salvage firm that freezes and then freeze-dries records to slowly remove moisture from them, to rescue the documents. But the refrigerated trucks were turned away by uniformed troops as they tried to enter the city.

The city was just about to hire a firm to transfer many of the documents in the archive to a computer. But at the Notorial Archives, most abstractors still do hand searches of the 12 million stored documents.

6:45 P.M. - WWL-TV's Mike Ross: Slowly but surely, life is returning to Northshore. Gas stations are starting to get gas, and the wait has gone down -- from three hours to an hour and a half.

6:25 P.M. - (AP): New Orleans is getting tough with people who are still refusing to leave the hurricane-ravaged city.

Mayor Ray Nagin says water will no longer be handed out to people who refuse to leave.

Despite evacuations, rescues and relief efforts, Deputy Police Chief W.J. Riley says some people still don't want to leave their homes while others are hanging back to take part in looting and other criminal activity.

State police are using force to get some to move. A SWAT team, armed with rifles, confronted two brothers at their home in the Uptown section of New Orleans, leaving one sobbing.

One officer says the team tried to make sure that the two men understood that food and water is becoming scarce and that disease could begin spreading.

6:20 P.M. - SAN ANTONIO (AP): South Texas-based musicians Augie Meyers and Flaco Jimenez say today that they are planning a concert to benefit victims of Hurricane Katrina.

Jimenez, a five-time Grammy winner, said the benefit is being planned for Alamo Stadium in San Antonio. A date has not yet been announced.

Jimenez and Meyers attended a portion of the New Orleans Saints practice that was being conducted in San Antonio for the first time Monday. Because of the hurricane, the Saints moved their practices to San Antonio for the remainder of the season.

6:00 P.M. - BATON ROUGE (AP): Saturday's LSU-Arizona football game will be played in Tempe, Arizona, not Baton Rouge.

Due to Hurricane Katrina pushing evacuees into the Baton Rouge area, LSU Chancellor Sean O'Keefe said the school does not have full use of campus facilities.

Athletic Director Skip Bertman says there are no vacant hotel rooms and organizations such as the American Red Cross and area churches, are tied up helping hurricane evacuees.

He said playing in Arizona will be an easy transition and neutral game.

5:55 P.M. - NEW YORK (AP): The Giants-Saints game, driven from New Orleans by Hurricane Katrina, will be played as part of a nationally televised doubleheader starting at 7:30 p.m. EDT on Monday, September 19.

The game, already moved to the Giants' home in the New Jersey Meadowlands, will begin on ABC, then be switched to ESPN at 9 p.m., when ABC goes to the regularly scheduled game between Washington and Dallas in Irving, Texas. In New York and Louisiana, as well as other parts of the Gulf Coast, ABC will continue to carry the Giants-Saints game, switching to Redskins-Cowboys when the Saints game ends.

NFL spokesman Greg Aiello said other details, such as ticket sales, will be announced soon.

"We appreciate the leadership of ABC and ESPN in helping us turn this particular Monday night into far more than a prime-time football doubleheader, making it part of the overall Gulf Coast relief effort," commissioner Paul Tagliabue said in a statement released by the NFL. "The New Orleans Saints know the importance of rising to help meet the Gulf Coast's extraordinary challenges, and we salute them, too."

The NFL said fund-raising efforts for hurricane relief will be intertwined in the telecasts of both games.

Saints coach Jim Haslett, already miffed at losing a home game, found it curious the NFL would allow this game to overlap with the already scheduled Monday nighter.

"I really don't know why they're doing it," Haslett said, rolling his eyes.

Monday was the likely choice because the Meadowlands is playing host to a soccer game Saturday, Sept. 17 and the New York Jets play the Miami Dolphins there on Sunday.

The Saints are still waiting for a decision where they'll play the remaining seven games scheduled for the Superdome. The candidates are LSU's Tiger Stadium, the team's overwhelming choice; the Alamodome in San Antonio, where the Saints are living and practicing; or being on the road for all 16 games.

The scheduling does not totally satisfy the other NFC East teams because the Giants get an extra home game from the switch -- even if they are officially listed as visitors.

"I'd be smart not to comment on that," Dallas coach Bill Parcells said Monday.

The Cowboys are so looking forward to having the national attention on Sept. 19 that they've scheduled the Ring of Honor induction of Troy Aikman, Emmitt Smith and Michael Irvin for halftime of that game.

5:45 P.M. - Louisiana officials say repairs have been completed on the 17th Street canal levee breach in New Orleans and water is being pumped out of the canal and into Lake Pontchartrain.

5:30 P.M. - (AP) Even Americans who were nowhere near Hurricane Katrina are being socked by its impact on gasoline prices. Motorists are paying over 30 percent more for gas than before the storm. Analysts say prices are starting to level off, but Triple-A Auto Club South says the average cost for regular unleaded today is three-20 a gallon.

That's 75-cents a gallon more than before Katrina, and a dollar-35 higher than a year ago. Much of the reason for the jump was the shut down of almost 95 percent of the Gulf Coast's oil refining capacity. Refining capacity was already tight, so Katrina magnified the situation.

5:05 P.M. - BILOXI, Miss. (AP) -- A retired Air Force captain says many third world countries have it better than those still living in devastated areas along Mississippi's coast.

5:05 P.M. - Blanco on her relationship with President Bush: There is no divide.

5:00 P.M. - Governor Kathleen Blanco: the visit by the president to a local shelter, it raised the spirit of the residents and they sensed that he was there to take care of them.

4:35 P.M. - Police Chief Compass: There were rumors that police officers were sitting by watching people being raped. Are you crazy? Not one of my officers. We had so many brave men and women and you guys interviewed a few cowards who walked away and

4:32 P.M. - Compass: This mayor will go down in history as the greatest mayor in the history of New Orleans. If we didn’t have Ray Nagin, a lot more people would have been killed.

4:31 P.M. - Compass: Our primary mission was protection of human life. We were the first boats in the water. When the fire dept. started putting out fires, they started firing at our officers and we had to send officers to go protect the fire department.

4:28 P.M. - Compass: We had to use so much of our manpower to fight this criminal element. I had officers in boats trying to save people and they wereP. being shot at. What kind of person shoots at people trying to save people.

4:26 P.M. - Compass: We were sleeping on the streets. I had the same underwear on for five days. There were no restroom facilities. I had two of my officers commit suicide because they were worried about their families. The sacrifices our police officers faced were unprecedented in the history of the United States. Instead of looking for a few cowards who walked away, you should tell these stories.

4:19 P.M. - TULSA, Okla. (AP) -- Oklahoma's school superintendent says she wants children evacuated from storm-ravaged New Orleans in public schools as early as this week.

Superintendent Sandy Garrett says she wants to cut through red tape to allow the evacuees to enroll immediately in school.

4:12 P.M. - CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) -- Two plane loads of evacuees from Hurricane Katrina have arrived in Charlotte and two more are expected there later today.

Officials say two more planes MAY fly evacuees to Raleigh-Durham International Airport tonight or tomorrow. Some 210 people have been brought to the Charlotte Coliseum so far. About 470 are expected at the Coliseum by the end of the day.

4:05 P.M. - HARVEY, La. (AP) -- Jefferson Parish officials say one man died nd six other people were severely poisoned with carbon monoxide from running an electricity generator inside a Harvey home.

The identities of the victims were not available. The survivors were taken to West Jefferson Medical Center.

Robert Wilson, assistant chief of the Marrero-Ragusa Volunteer Fire Department, said he saw four generators in the home. Wilson says the dead man was in his 50s and, judging from the condition of the body, might have died as early as Friday. Because carbon monoxide poisoning impairs mental functions, Wilson said, the other occupants of the house might not have realized that the man was dead.

3:32 P.M. Ben Morris, Slidell mayor: We are still hampered by some of the most stupid, idiotic regulations by FEMA. They have turned away generators, we've heard that they've gone around seizing equipment from our contractors. If they do so, they'd better be armed because I'll be damned if I'm going to let them deprive our citizens. I'm pissed off, and tired of this horse$#@@."

3:11 P.M. - From all corners of this country, hundreds of would-be rescuers are wending their way to the beleaguered Gulf Coast in buses, vans and trailers. But government red tape has hampered many who ache to help Katrina's victims.

Louisiana's Jefferson Parish is desperate for relief, but parish President Aaron Broussard says officials of the Federal Emergency Management Agency turned back three trailer trucks of water, ordered the Coast Guard not to provide emergency diesel fuel and cut emergency power lines.

Why? FEMA has not explained. But the outraged Broussard said Sunday on NBC's "Meet the Press" that the agency needs to bring in all its "force immediately, without red tape, without bureaucracy, act immediately with common sense and leadership, and save lives."

The government says it is doing the best it can in the face of a massive and complicated disaster.

"Even as progress is being made, we know that victims are still out there and we are working tirelessly to bring them the help they need," said Michael Brown, head of the Federal Emergency Management Agency.

Some of the delays can be explained by the need to control a volatile situation. Long lines of volunteers are being stopped on freeways on their way into New Orleans.

"Anyone who self-responded was not being put to work. The military was worried about having more people in the city. They want to limit it to the professionals," said Kevin Southerland, a captain with Orange Fire Department in Orange County, Calif., a member of one of eight 14-member water rescue teams sent to New Orleans at FEMA's request.

2:55 P.M. - HAMMOND, La. (AP) -- Southeastern Louisiana University, which was on the ragged edge of Hurricane Katrina, plans to open its administrative and academic offices tomorrow. Students will return Thursday.

President Randy Moffett says it will take many students some time to return.

Southeastern also plans to work with displaced college students from New Orleans. Moffett says two special sessions for displaced students will held Saturday and Monday.

2:35 P.M. - Statement from Omni Bank: OMNI BANKhas opened a full service branch in Baton Rouge to serve OMNI customers that have evacuated due to Hurricane Katrina. The office is located at 6300 Corporate Blvd, Ste 120 and will open from 10 am to 2 pm effective Tuesday, September 6. Additionally, the LaPlace Office at 113 Belle Terre Blvd is open from 10 am to 2 pm Monday through Saturday. More locations in Mandeville, Metairie, Kenner and the West Bank will open soon.

ATM FEES WAIVED FOR OMNI CUSTOMERS: OMNI BANK is waiving all ATM fees across the country for its customers. In addition, customers can continue to access account information and transfer money between OMNI accounts through on-line banking at www.omnibk.com. As facilities open, our website will bring up-to-date information on available locations.

FOR CUSTOMERS IN TEXAS: OMNI BANK has made arrangements with OMNI Bank of Houston to provide limited banking transactions at four locations in Houston. OMNI Bank of Houston is not affiliated with OMNI BANK but offering these services during this time of need.

Customers may receive assistance with deposit transactions, check cashing, credit cards, or loan requests by calling:

(225) 927-9088, (225) 927-9089, (225) 927-9090

2:32 P.M. - Chris Spence: Chase Bank - branches opened in Baton Rouge Sunday and on Labor Day. We've had an overflow of visitors from New Orleans.

2:31 P.M. - Spence: Chase Bank will allow deferred payments.

2:30 P.M. - BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) -- As President Bush visits Louisiana, it's hard to hide the rift with Louisiana's governor over hurricane relief efforts.

Both leaders have been talking to people in Baton Rouge today, but not always with each other.

At the Bethany World Prayer Center, Bush and Kathleen Blanco seemed like estranged in-laws at a holiday gathering, keeping their distance as they walked around.

According to Blanco's office, the governor wasn't informed of the timing of Bush's visit, nor was she immediately invited to meet him or travel with him.

2:28 P.M. - State Department of Transportation: The breach in the 17th Street canal has been repaired. The condition of the pumps near the area is uncertain.

2:27 P.M. - WASHINGTON (AP) -- Most of the 2,800 Louisiana National Guard soldiers who are returning home early from their Iraq mission intend to join in the Hurricane Katrina relief effort, their commander said Monday.

"The people of Louisiana have been worrying about us these past 12 months; now we are worried about them," said Brig. Gen. John Basilica Jr., commander of the 256th Brigade Combat Team of the Louisiana National Guard.

2:25 P.M. - EL DORADO, Ark. (AP) -- Aerial photographs confirm that a leak at the flooded Murphy Oil refinery in Meraux, La., is spreading into a nearby neighborhood.

The crude oil spill was discovered Sunday leaking from an 85,000-barrel tank. The aerial photographs later showed it seeping through the flood waters to the neighborhood west of the refinery, which is owned and operated by El Dorado-based Murphy Oil.

2:24 P.M. - (AP) Some 400 to 500 police officers from New Orleans' 1,600 member force were unaccounted for, Deputy Police Chief W.J. Riley said.

Reinforcements for police arrive from around the country, allowing a rest for emergency workers who have been working nearly nonstop since before the storm hit.

2:20 P.M. - Senator David Vitter on George Bush's visit: President said, "we're going to get this done."

2:19 P.M. - Vitter: I haven't heard anyone say we shouldn't rebuild N.O. except for that ridiculous statement from the Speaker of the House.

2:18 P.M. - Vitter: There will be plenty of blame to go around, it will be bipartisan, but now is not the time.

2:15 P.M. - Vitter: This is the biggest natural disaster in this country's history - period.

2:10 P.M. - Site to try to find pets that were left behind.

2:00 P.M. - Tangipahoa Parish Update

1:20 P.M. - Office of emergency preparedness spokesman - President Bush said top priority is still to save lives.

1:18 P.M. - HOUSTON (AP) -- The Reverend Jesse Jackson went to Houston's Astrodome today to visit those left homeless by Hurricane Katrina.

He told reporters that the hurricane's victims shouldn't be sent to faraway states where they can't participate in the rebuilding of their hometowns. Jackson said if the dispossessed are living thousands of miles away from their homes, they couldn't help rebuild their communities and make use of the jobs and retraining opportunities.

1:00 P.M. - WWL Reporter Jonathan Betz on Canal Street - several French Quarter residents don't want to leave.

12:36 P.M. - METAIRIE, La. (AP) -- One week after Hurricane Katrina devastated the region, miles-long lines of vehicles crawled into Jefferson Parish on Monday as residents were allowed to return to salvage what was left of their homes. New Orleans' mayor warned that 10,000 people may have died.

12:25 P.M. - WASHINGTON (AP) -- More active-duty troops are joining the Hurricane Katrina relief effort than originally planned, and a senior commander said Monday they likely will be needed for months, not weeks.

12:10 P.M. - (AP)-- Kids who spent last Monday escaping floodwaters in New Orleans are spending Labor Day playing basketball in an air conditioned warehouse.

They're among thousands of evacuees who are now living in a warehouse at the former Kelly Air Force base in San Antonio, Texas. Portable chillers have been placed next to the building to air condition the huge facility. Sections of the building have been set aside for supplies of used clothing and other items. There's a small library, and big-screen televisions are tuned to news from Louisiana that grips the attention of many adults.

12:05 P.M. - LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (AP) -- Medical teams from the Central Arkansas Veterans Healthcare System and Arkansas Children's Hospital have been performing triage on evacuees being run through Little Rock National Airport and Little Rock Air Force Base.

They should be at the Central Flying Service at the airport into this afternoon, according to Central Arkansas Veterans Health Care spokeswoman Laurie Driver. The VA Hospital in Little Rock already took in patients from the New Orleans VA on Friday.

12:00 P.M. - GAUTIER, Miss. (AP) -- Lines are long and tensions are high at some gas stations along the Gulf Coast. Members of the National Guard are at an Exxon station in Gautier, Mississippi. They're trying to prevent people from cutting in line, and also trying to put a stop to fist fights. Sergeant Jerry Griffin says the problem has been made worse by the heat. He says soldiers are just trying to keep the peace.

11:44 A.M. - BATON ROUGE - The LSU Health Care Services Division is seeking information on the locations of patients who were evacuated from the Medical Center of Louisiana at New Orleans (Charity Hospital and University Hospital campuses) over the past several days. Patients transferred from these facilities were transported by other agencies under emergency conditions to hospitals, shelters and other sites in Louisiana and elsewhere, and the Medical Center of Louisiana is unable to answer inquiries from families about the current location of these patients.

Hospitals, shelters, long term care facilities and any other facilities that have received patients transferred from MCLNO's Charity and University Hospital campuses are asked to call the LSU hospital headquarters in Baton Rouge at 800-735-1185, or to fax a patient list to 225-922-1502 as soon as possible.

Patients should not call this number with inquiries.

11:27 A.M. - Asst. Police Superintendent Warren Riley: This is the greatest catastrophe in American history, on American soil.

11:23 A.M. - Riley: Would not address officers who fled the city. "That's a story for another time," he said. People should be proud of police officers, firefighters, EMTs, who stayed in town to rescue stranded residents.

11:19 A.M. - Riley: Said people should not try to stay in the city. "There is absolutely no reason to stay here...This city has been destroyed."

11:17 A.M. - Riley: The city is making progress. Police, while still in rescue mode, are beginning to focus more on law enforcement in town. About 4,000 law enforcement agents are in New Orleans, and are working to stem the tide of chaos in the area. "We're more cohesive," Riley said, referring to the return of communications between law enforcement agencies in town.

Riley said anyone who wants to take their own boats out and conduct their own rescue operation should come down to Harrah's on Canal Street in order to be a part of a coordinated rescue effort.

11:15 A.M. - (AP): Louisiana's largest newspaper is lashing out at the federal government's response to Hurricane Katrina.

In an open letter to President Bush, the Times-Picayune is calling for every official at the Federal Emergency Management Agency to be fired -- especially director Michael Brown.

The editorial says "We're angry, Mr. President, and we'll be angry long after our beloved city and surrounding parishes have been pumped dry."

The newspaper goes on to say "Our people deserved rescuing. Many who could have been were not. That's to the government's shame."

The letter says "No expense should have been spared. No excuses should have been voiced."

11:09 A.M. - PASCAGOULA, MS (AP): More than 700 Northrop Grumman Ship Systems employees have responded to the call to clean up and bring the company's shipyards along the Gulf Coast back to operational after Hurricane Katrina.

Ship Systems President Philip Teel toured the facilities in Pascagoula and Gulfport on Friday, then flew to the New Orleans Saturday to assess recovery efforts at the shipyard there.

Northrop Grumman has transferred the Pascagoula shipyard command center from the U-S Navy's guided missile destroyer, Forrest Sherman, back to its headquarters administration building.

Teel called the move "a striking indication of how far the recovery effort has come."

A number of major shipyard assets such as cranes and most fabrication facilities at all the Ship Systems facilities appear to have survived the hurricane.

More than 16,000 gallons of fuel were transferred Friday from the Chevron refinery in Pascagoula to Northrop Grumman to fuel the increasing fleet of rolling stock trucks and heavy lifting equipment.

A convoy of trucks arrived at the Avondale Operations in New Orleans Saturday from Northrop Grumman facilities in Lake Charles bringing much needed fuel, water and food.

11:07 A.M. - MONROE (AP): About 150 medical patients, most of them elderly and a few barely clinging to life, have been airlifted to Monroe from New Orleans.

Three large Air Force planes delivered the patients to the Monroe Air Service terminal at the Monroe Regional Airport.

A doctor in charge of the medical effort in Monroe said 90% of the patients were in need of immediate hospital care. Some were close to death.

By yesterday afternoon, all the patients had been triaged and transported to either shelters or one of Ouachita Parish's four acute-care hospitals by a parade of ambulances from throughout northeastern Louisiana.

One of the few who didn't require hospitalization was Betty Rogers of New Orleans, who had access to her regular medication and was awaiting word of where she would be sent.

Rogers and her family were originally taken to the Morial Convention Center in New Orleans and then to Louis Armstrong International Airport in Kenner before being flown to Monroe.

Air National Guard Staff Sergeant Medie Still was flying one of the C-130s that delivered patients to Monroe. Patients were also flown to Atlanta, San Antonio, Fort Worth and Jackson, Mississippi.

10:51 A.M. - Reuben Smith, New Orleans evacuee: Lived on Marengo Street, between Louisiana and Napolean Avenue. When the waters started rising, Smith made makeshift floatation devices using plastic bags and duck tape. The rising waters forced him to swim to a nearby two-story home and wait for rescue.

Smith said he could not leave the city before the storm hit, despite owning two trucks. The first truck, he said, had a faulty fuel pump that was not fixed, and the second vehicle was unreliable. When asked if he'd stay for another storm, Smith said no.

10:12: A.M. - Jefferson Parish President Aaron Broussard: I'm not surprised at what the feds say, they're covering their butts. They're keeping the body counts down because they don't want to horrify the nation. It's worse than Iraq, worse than 9-11. They just don't want to know how many were murdered by bureaucracy.

10:10 A.M. - Broussard: I know what the body count is so far, but I won't horrify the nation.

10:08 A.M. - VIENNA, Austria (AP) -- Oil prices fell Monday after industrialized nations agreed to release 60 million barrels of crude from their strategic stockpiles to help avert a severe fuel shortage in the United States.

The U.S. refinery system was struggling to recover from Hurricane Katrina.

9:48 A.M. - Five Plaquemines schools have cancelled classes for all of 2005-06. Belle Chasse high schools are trying to open by January.

9:46 A.M. - Video from oil company spokesman shows total devastation in lower Plaquemines.

9:40 A.M. - NEW YORK (AP) -- With memories of the Sept. 11 attacks still vivid, hundreds of police officers and firefighters left New York City on Monday, bound for Louisiana.

The 150 police officers and support vehicles join 172 officers already sent Saturday. Some officers will be federalized, which gives them the same powers as local authorities "to provide much needed law enforcement to keep people safe in and around New Orleans," Mayor Michael Bloomberg said.

9:35 A.M. - (AP) A steady stream of reinforcements for police poured down interstate highways toward New Orleans on Monday -- long convoys of police cars, blue lights flashing, emblazoned with emblems from scattered police, sheriff, and other jurisdictions, in and out of state.

Mayor Ray Nagin, in a telephone interview on WWL radio, the city's linked emergency broadcast center, said he was arranging to rotate out the city officers who have been working virtually around the clock since before the storm hit.

He said they and their families would get five or more days in cities with large numbers of hotel rooms -- Atlanta and Las Vegas in particular. In addition to the police, firefighters and dispatchers will be included.

9:16 A.M. - Former President Clinton: Wal-Mart giving employees at stores closed by Katrina jobs in other markets where they've relocated.

9:13 A.M. - Former President Clinton: Nothing we do can be an adequate response to the suffering we've seen.

9:12 A.M. - Former President George Bush: Recovery will take years. We need to help the Gulf Coast communities and the great city of New Orleans to get back on their feet.

9:11 A.M. - Bush: The job is to big for any one group.

9:11 A.M. - Bush: We're establishing the Bush/Clinton Katrina disaster fund and the money will go to the state's governors to be distributed as the state's need.

9:10 A.M. - Bush: Wal-Mart is contributing $23 million to the fund.

9:10 A.M. - JP Sheriff Harry Lee: Worried about people coming back armed because they heard of isolated incidents in Orleans. Don't come back and try to be "Rambo" to protect your home, that's my job.

9:05 A.M. - Jefferson Parish Sheriff Harry Lee: It looks like the people coming back into Jefferson Parish is going smoothly. However, my personal recommendation was to not let people back until the power was back on, but I understand people's anxiety to see their home.

9:04 A.M. - Lee: If anyone's car stalls in the roadway during this return, we will remove it by any means we can and it may get damaged, but we can't delay those trucks.

9:04 A.M. - Lee: We will enforce the dusk to dawn curfew.

9:03 A.M. - ABC News Anchor Robin Roberts (sister of Sally Ann Roberts) on WWL-TV: The people I've met and talked to around the country are committed to helping rebuild New Orleans.

9:00 A.M. - (AP) The man overseeing the military effort in New Orleans says it looks like fewer than 10,000 people remain in the city.Lieutenant General Russel Honore tells ABC the number is based on aerial reconnaissance.

Appearing separately on NBC, Honore said New Orleans is "not a city under siege." He says his native city "needs help from the big people in America" -- as well as from its technology -- in order to "get back on its feet."

8:57 A.M. - MIAMI (AP) -- Carnival says that earnings should be cut by a penny to three cents a share with most of the impact in the fourth quarter due to Hurricane Katrina.

The world's largest cruise operator says it had to cancel one voyage and shorten two others for its Carnival Cruise Lines brand because of the storm.

The brand has chartered the Sensation, Holiday and Ecstasy to the federal government for six months to be used as shelters for up to seven-thousand hurricane refugees.

8:55 A.M. - The latest on St. Bernard Parish from the parish's web site.

8:40 A.M. - METAIRIE, La. (AP) -- One week after Hurricane Katrina turned the region into a disaster of biblical proportions, miles-long lines of vehicles crawled into Jefferson Parish on Monday as residents were allowed to return for brief inspections of what's left of their homes.

The traffic began moving into the parish west of New Orleans at about 6 a.m., and officials planned to allow traffic in for 12 hours, though they encouraged residents to inspect their property, pick up personal items and leave.

8:38 A.M. - Email from viewer: Some Tulane Hospitals evacuees were sent to Florida. I found my grandmother, who was on the 5th floor at Tulane Hospital during the hurricane, at W. Florida Regional - 850.494.4400

8:30 A.M. - St. Tammany Parish information: 1-985-898-2323

8:28 A.M. - (AP) -- Offers of help keep pouring in from countries all around the world, in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. Greece says it's offered the U.S. the use of two cruise ships "for several months" to help house thousands made homeless by the storm.

Greece is also offering relief supplies and emergency crews. Greece is experienced in rescuing victims of earthquakes and other natural disasters. Spanish officials say they can help too. They say they've received a laundry list of needs from the U-S ambassador that include oil, canned food and medical equipment. The ambassador also highlighted the need for logistics specialists.

8:21 A.M. - St. Tammany Parish President Kevin Davis to residents: Please continue to stay away and give us a few more days. We're getting power on one at a time and we can move faster if the crews have total access.

8:15 A.M. - Davis: 5,500 still in St. Tammany Parish shelters.

8:10 A.M. - Davis: We have taken over AM 730 to broadcast news locally and we've taken over two pharmacies to provide medicines. We have two gas stations open in Covington but the lines are very long.

7:48 A.M. - Jefferson Parish President Aaron Broussard - There's no textbook on how to rebuild from the most devastating hurricane in history.

7:47 A.M. - Broussard: We've already begun to rebuild. We need to get up and running in three weeks to be a staging area for the rebuilding of New Orleans, St. Bernard and Plaquemines.

7:46 A.M. - Broussard: We're pushing everything hard to get rebuilt as fast as we can. We want to build up quickly.

7:46 A.M. - Broussard:

7:40 A.M. - New York Times article: If nation couldn't respond to this hurricane, how could they handle large-scale terrorist attack.

7:35 A.M. - BEVERLY HILLS, Calif. (AP) -- The Jerry Lewis Labor Day Telethon raised more than $3 million by late Sunday night in a unique edition of the annual event that benefits both the Muscular Dystrophy Association and victims of Hurricane Katrina. Viewers pledged more than $3 million by 10:30 p.m., according to Bob Mackle, a telethon spokesman. The total amount of donations to aid hurricane victims was not immediately available, he said. The telethon, which started at 6 p.m. Sunday, ends Monday afternoon.

7:20 A.M. - Senator Frist volunteers as doctor, criticizes administration's response.

7:14 A.M. - (AP) Sen. Mary Landrieu, D-La., lashed back, saying she won't tolerate federal officials' denigrating local efforts to deal with the catastrophe.

"If one person criticizes them or says one more thing, including the president of the United States, he will hear from me," she said on the ABC's "This Week." "One more word about it after this show airs and I might likely have to punch him. Literally."

7:08 A.M. - New Orleans Times-Picayune editorial: "Every official at the Federal Emergency Management Agency should be fired, Director Michael Brown especially."

7:07 A.M. - WWL-TV: Residents of Jefferson Parish are being allowed back in without having to show identification, as previously planned. A long line of cars is streaming in at a good pace.

7:05 A.M. - Homeland Security Chief Michael Chertoff on the coming death toll: "We need to prepare the country for what's coming... It is going to be about as ugly of a scene as I think you can imagine."

7:00 A.M. - (AP) -- A week after Hurricane Katrina, dozens of military and U.S. Coast Guard helicopters filled the air over New Orleans. But it's getting harder to find people who needed rescuing. One Navy helicopter crew flew in from Pensacola Naval Air Station, only to spend most of their 13-hour shift fruitlessly searching flooded neighborhoods.

6:55 A.M. - (AP) Miles-long lines of vehicles crawl into Jefferson Parish today. The traffic began moving into the parish about 6 a.m. and officials plan to allow traffic in for 12 hours, though they encouraged residents to inspect their property, pick up personal items and leave.

The parish, which has about 500,000 residents, has been closed since a mandatory evacuation just before Hurricane Katrina hit a week ago. Wide portions of Metairie and Kenner suffered heavy flooding and authorities say thousands of homes were damaged.

6:45 A.M. - Robin Cooper, CLECO spokesperson: 7,000 homes in St. Tammany have power restored, but 73,000 remain without. Power restored to hospitals.

4:15 A.M. - (AP) -- When night falls, Charlie Hackett climbs the steps to his boarded-up window, takes down the plywood, grabs his 12 gauge shotgun and waits.

He is waiting for looters and troublemakers, for anyone thinking his neighborhood has been abandoned like so many others across the city. Two doors down, John Carolan is doing the same on his screened-in porch, pistol by his side. They are not about to give up their homes to the lawlessness that has engulfed New Orleans in the wake of Hurricane Katrina.

"We kind of together decided we would defend what we have here and we would stay up and defend the neighborhood," says Hackett, an Army veteran with a snow-white beard and a business installing custom kitchens.

4 A.M. - WASHINGTON (AP) -- Since two days after Hurricane Katrina lashed much of the Gulf Coast into oblivion, President Bush hasn't gone a day without a public event devoted to the storm.

Monday was no different, as he planned a return to the storm-ravaged region for a third look at Katrina's effect with visits to Baton Rouge, La., and Poplarville, Miss.

But none of it -- including a stream of Cabinet secretaries and other high-level federal officials to the area and on the airwaves Sunday -- has quieted the complaints that Washington moved too slowly in the storm's aftermath.

3:15 A.M. - (AP) -- Not even Hurricane Katrina could prevent the Decadence Parade from being staged in the French Quarter. The annual Labor Day gay celebration drew about two dozen people. Street musician Matt Menold summed it up best: "It's New Orleans, man. We're going to celebrate."

2 A.M. - Transcript from Meet the Press: MR. RUSSERT: Well, many Americans believe now is the time for accountability. The Republican governor of Massachusetts said, "We are an embarrassment to the world." The Republican senator from Louisiana, David Vitter, said that you deserve a grade of F, flunk. How would you grade yourself?

SEC'Y CHERTOFF: You know, Tim, again I'm going to--the process of grading myself and grading everybody else is one that we will examine over time. I will tell you that my focus now is on what is going to go forward. What would really be--require a grade of F would be to stop thinking about the crisis we have now so that we can start to go back and do the after-action analysis. There are some things that actually worked very well. There are some things that didn't. We may have to break the model that we have used for dealing with catastrophes, at least in the case of ultra-catastrophes.

And let me tell you, Tim, there is nobody who has ever seen or dealt with a catastrophe on this scale in this country. It has never happened before. So no matter what the planning was in advance, we were presented with an unprecedented situation. Obviously, we're going to want to learn about that. I'll tell you something I said when I--a month ago before this happened. I said that I thought that we need to build a preparedness capacity going forward that we have not yet succeeded in doing. That clearly remains the case, and we will in due course look at what we've done here and incorporate it into the planning. But first we are going to make sure we are attending to the crisis at hand.

MR. RUSSERT: So no heads will roll?

SEC'Y CHERTOFF: Tim, in due course, if people want to go and chop heads off, there'll be an opportunity to do it. The question I would put to people is what do you want to have us spend our time on now? Do we want to make sure we are feeding, sheltering, housing and educating those who are distressed, or do we want to begin the process of finger-pointing?

1:30 A.M. - Transcript from msnbc.com

MR. BROUSSARD: I'm telling you most importantly I want to thank my public employees...

MR. RUSSERT: All right.

MR. BROUSSARD: ...that have worked 24/7. They're burned out, the doctors, the nurses. And I want to give you one last story and I'll shut up and let you tell me whatever you want to tell me. The guy who runs this building I'm in, emergency management, he's responsible for everything. His mother was trapped in St. Bernard nursing home and every day she called him and said, "Are you coming, son? Is somebody coming?" And he said, "Yeah, Mama, somebody's coming to get you. Somebody's coming to get you on Tuesday. Somebody's coming to get you on Wednesday. Somebody's coming to get you on Thursday. Somebody's coming to get you on Friday." And she drowned Friday night. She drowned Friday night. (Broussard is crying)

MR. RUSSERT: Mr. President...

MR. BROUSSARD: Nobody's coming to get us. Nobody's coming to get us. The secretary has promised. Everybody's promised. They've had press conferences. I'm sick of the press conferences. For God sakes, shut up and send us somebody.

MONDAY 1:15 A.M. - HOUSTON (AP) -- They've already raised eleven (m) million dollars to help victims of the tsunami in southern Asia. Now former Presidents George Bush and Bill Clinton will do the same for victims of Hurricane Katrina. The pair are set to formally announced the Bush Clinton Katrina Fund in Houston this morning. They'll do it from the Reliant Center in Houston -- not far from the Astrodome. Houston has taken in some 24-thousand Hurricane Katrina evacuees.

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