Today's headlines.

Advocate: Home purchase plan gets support

The proposal by Baker, R-Baton Rouge, would create a corporation backed by U.S. Treasury bonds that could purchase the property of willing sellers and pay off their lenders. Former owners would have first right to re-purchase the lots after they've been restored.

Advocate: Boustany upset with FEMA work

Boustany said he has repeatedly called Powell to discuss his 7th Congressional District and has gotten no response.

TP:La. elections chief: Postpone Feb. elections in New Orleans

Ater laid much of the blame for the delay on the Federal Emergency Management Agency, which he said has not provided "a penny" of the $2 million his office requested to repair voting machines damaged in the storm, which struck Aug. 29, and upgrade New Orleans' absentee voting system.

TP: Coroners: Tests being run on as many of 100 patients in euthanasia probe


TP: N.O. blown OFF TOURISM LIST

The emotionally sensitive part of being dumped is the new city on the list: San Antonio. Yes, the same place often touted as a new home for the New Orleans Saints. The fact that New Orleans was displaced by San Antonio smarts.

WWLTV: Illegal aliens working at N.O. airport arrested

“Those businesses that knowingly hire illegal aliens and allow them to be placed in areas that are critically important to this country will face significant criminal and administrative charges,” said Michael A. Holt, special agent in charge for the New Orleans office.

US Newswire: National Museum of American History Sets Up Hurricane Katrina Collection;

". . . the museum recognizes its responsibility to collect, preserve and document this episode in the country's history," said Brent D. Glass, museum director. "Just as the National Museum of American History became the official repository of artifacts related to the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, collecting from Hurricane Katrina continues to fulfill the museum's national mission and is our first concerted effort at documenting a natural catastrophe."

USA Today: New Orleans unhealthy, groups say

The Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC), one of the nation's largest environmental groups, and several local Louisiana environmental groups said that heavy metals, petroleum components and pesticides in the dusty residue left behind by Hurricane Katrina's floodwaters pose such a risk that families with children shouldn't return until it is cleaned up.

There's also a NY Times article on this subject.


Lawyer: Sue feds on levee

TP: New Orleans should file a multibillion-dollar claim against the federal government for faulty levee construction that rose to the level of a "criminal act" and led to the city's flooding after Hurricane Katrina, a prominent trial lawyer and developer told the City Council on Thursday.

Miss. coastal areas resisting new advisory elevations for rebuilding

t will be costlier for residents to rebuild at the new advisory elevations. But if they don't, they could pay more for flood insurance in the future, lose their properties to another hurricane and get less money if they sell in a few years.

Epsilon is record 14th hurricane in Atlantic

Forecasters said it posed no threat to land.

N.O. City Business:Governor Blanco releases Katrina documents

"These documents will demonstrate what I have said for several months - that dedicated employees of the state of Louisiana worked tirelessly and effectively during this period to save many thousands of lives.

Yahoo: [Women's NCAA] Volleyball bounces Saints from Alamodome

Players will be filled in next week on their schedule for the trainer's room at the baseball field. They don't expect much luxury. "Right now, I don't know how we're going to work everything out," Jacox said. "You don't say this is why things are going the way they are on the field, but there are little things you'd like to do, things that you're accustomed to. I mean, we've got a trash can for a cold tub."

TP: Petition drive set for levee board consolidation

Citizens for 1 Greater New Orleans, a newly formed nonpartisan grass-roots group, has scheduled a petition drive and rally to call for the consolidation of the Orleans, St. Tammany, St. Bernard and East Jefferson levee boards.