NATION IN BRIEF

Tuesday, February 7, 2006

Louisiana Legislature Convenes in Superdome

NEW ORLEANS -- Gov. Kathleen Babineaux Blanco (D) called for unity Monday on the opening day of a second special legislative session for hurricane recovery, warning that many Washington politicians have moved beyond the hurricanes.

Blanco said she would ask Congress for further help, but was worried by President Bush's scant reference to Hurricane Katrina in his State of the Union Speech last week.

"The harsh reality is that for many people in Washington, Katrina is yesterday's problem and Rita never happened," Blanco told a joint session of the Louisiana legislature held at the New Orleans convention center, where thousands of evacuees had languished for days after Katrina.

For the first time, Blanco outlined how she wants to use $6.2 billion in federal hurricane recovery block grants and $1.5 billion in federal aid to minimize future damage from flooding. Most of the aid, about $5.6 billion, would go to housing assistance under plans up for debate during the session.

Rep. Jim Tucker, chairman of the state House's Republican caucus, said he was relieved to hear Blanco spell out her plan for spending the federal money.

"At least she gave us a basic plan for how the money is going to be spent," Tucker said.

The governor said her legislative proposals were long overdue: to consolidate levee boards to strengthen hurricane protection and to streamline government in New Orleans.

The location of her speech, away from Baton Rouge, and a bus tour earlier in the day of hurricane devastated areas upended legislative tradition.

Some said the governor was wasting time in a 12-day session and was using sites of devastation and suffering as a publicity stunt to repair her image. Fewer than half the 144-member legislature took the tour, but most lawmakers showed up for her speech.

Hundreds Flee Fire In Southern California

LOS ANGELES -- A fast-moving brush fire fanned by warm Santa Ana winds forced hundreds of Orange County residents to evacuate and sent up plumes of smoke that could be seen 50 miles away in downtown Los Angeles.

The blaze started at dawn in a remote area of the Cleveland National Forest months before the Southern California fire season officially starts in June. It quickly scorched 1,200 acres, and embers started two smaller fires near houses in rural Anaheim Hills and Orange Hills. Three schools were closed for the day because of the smoke.

Fire officials said they had no idea when the blaze would be contained, and as afternoon winds picked up and temperatures rose to around 80 degrees, they issued mandatory or voluntary evacuation orders for about 1,500 residents as a precaution.

Judge Wins No Fans With Seahawks Cheer

TACOMA, Wash. -- A judge overseeing a manslaughter case embarrassed prosecutors and upset the victim's family when she called for a Super Bowl cheer for the Seattle Seahawks before the start of the sentencing hearing.

As Judge Beverly G. Grant took the bench Friday, she asked everyone in court -- twice -- to say "Go Seahawks." Then she sentenced Steve Keo Teang, 24, to 13 1/2 years in prison for the shooting death of Tino Patricelli, 28.

"Super Bowl Sunday is Tino's one-year anniversary of the day he was murdered," said his stepmother, Kathy Patricelli. "I was a little tiny bit offended -- well, a lot offended -- because this was kind of an important day for us. Cheering for the Seahawks with Steve Teang in the room, I didn't think it was appropriate."

Pierce County Superior Court personnel were embarrassed, sheriff's detective Ed Troyer and deputy prosecutor Sunni Y. Ko said.

"One family is seeing a son go off to prison, and one family is here to find justice for their loved one who was murdered. It's important to them. Do you think they want to root for the Seahawks?" Ko said.

Grant said she did not mean to offend anyone.

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· LOS ANGELES -- Black and Latino inmates were segregated in one Los Angeles County jail and the entire jail system was on indefinite lockdown after weekend riots that left one inmate dead and about 60 injured. Los Angeles County Sheriff Lee Baca ordered the lockdown for the 21,000 inmates in his control after two riots at a detention center complex that he said reflected daily "brown on black" violence.

· NASHVILLE -- The Tennessee legislature passed a bill to reshape ethics laws in a special session called to clean up state government less than a year after four lawmakers were arrested on bribery charges. The bill would create an independent ethics commission, restrict lobbyist activities and cap cash political contributions at $50.

· HOUSTON -- Thousands of Hurricane Katrina evacuees who have been staying in hotels at FEMA's expense will have to pay their own way beginning Tuesday unless they were able to arrange extensions from federal officials. The Federal Emergency Management Agency will allow those who received extensions to stay in 20,000 hotel rooms through Feb. 13 or March 1, depending on their circumstances.

· DETROIT -- City leaders are using the Super Bowl, and the trouble fans had getting to the game Sunday, to push for a new mass-transit system. Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick said he was lobbying state House Speaker Craig DeRoche to help bring a transit system to the city. On Sunday, more than 300,000 people used Park and Ride shuttles, filling suburban lots to capacity, and people waited hours for buses, the mayor said at a news conference.

· SELMA, N.C. -- Investigators searching a farm for a missing man found two groups of decomposing human remains, possibly belonging to two people, and arrested a couple who live on the property, authorities said. Police were looking for Caesar Ruvalcava Ortiz after receiving a tip that someone was killed on the farm in August 1997. Robert Bruce Pollard, 34, was charged Saturday with first-degree murder and his wife, Cecilia Louise Pollard, 34, was charged with being an accessory to murder. Police said Ruvalcava and his girlfriend, Robin Clark -- a relative of Louise Pollard's -- often stayed with the Pollards in 1997. Relatives reported Clark missing in August 1997, when she was 17.

-- From News Services