Bush signs $51.8B Katrina relief bill
WASHINGTON, Sept. 8 (UPI) -- President Bush has signed a bill providing nearly $52 billion for victims of Hurricane Katrina, CNN reported late Thursday.
The U.S. House and Senate quickly passed the president's request for the relief earlier in the day.
A total of $50 billion will go to fund emergency relief operations of the widely criticized Federal Emergency Management Agency and $1.4 billion will go to the Defense Department.
The $51.8 billion in emergency aid bill follows a $10.5 billion installment approved by Congress last week.
Federal officials have estimated the total cost for rescue, recovery and relief for as many as 1 million residents of Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama could reach $150 billion.
Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev., criticized the federal recovery effort and said the bulk of the money should not go to FEMA because of its slow response to the worst natural disaster in U.S. history.
Democrats have proposed an independent investigation of the hurricane response like that conducted by a committee after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks. Republicans have announced plans for a committee of members of Congress to look into the hurricane response.
Powell: Government 'failures' on Katrina
WASHINGTON, Sept. 8 (UPI) -- Former Secretary of State Colin Powell says government's response to Hurricane Katrina included "a lot of failures on a lot of levels."
In an interview with ABC's Barbara Walters, Powell also said his presentation to the United Nations during the lead-up to the 2003 invasion of Iraq is a "blot" on his reputation.
Powell told Walters government generally failed to prepare properly for Hurricane Katrina.
"I think there have been a lot of failures at a lot of levels -- local, state and federal," he said. "There was more than enough warning over time about the dangers to New Orleans. Not enough was done."
Powell is widely credited with engendering public support for the war in Iraq with his U.N. speech, but many of the claims he made about Iraq's weapons of mass destruction capacity turned out to be unfounded. He told Walters the speech will tarnish his reputation.
"Of course it will. It's a blot," he said. "I'm the one who presented it on behalf of the United States to the world, and (it) will always be a part of my record. It was painful. It's painful now."
FAA inspector questions Northwest safety
ST. PAUL, Minn., Sept. 8 (UPI) -- A federal inspector has been reassigned after raising safety concerns about Northwest Airlines during a mechanics' strike against the carrier.
Federal Aviation Administration inspector Mark Lund claimed in a memo poor maintenance at Northwest "jeopardizes life or property." Replacement workers and Northwest managers have been maintaining the airline's fleet since union mechanics went on strike Aug. 20.
Lund described an incident in which a maintenance manager couldn't find the right switches to check an engine on one plane, and another in which a replacement mechanic failed to properly test brakes on another.
Minnesota Public Radio News, which obtained the memo, reported the FAA reassigned Lund to administrative duties after Northwest complained.
Northwest and federal officials say the airline's fleet is safe. MPR said there are indications maintenance has improved since the early days of the walkout.
FAA spokesman Greg Martin says the FAA and the Department of Transportation's Office of Inspector General are investigating safety at the airline.
Martin said investigators are also looking into Lund.
"We had received complaints that the inspector was intimidating Northwest replacement workers, was unprofessional in his conduct and exceeded his authority," he said.
Berger fined $50,000 over documents
WASHINGTON, Sept. 8 (UPI) -- Former National Security Adviser Samuel Berger has been fined $50,000 for removing and destroying copies of classified documents from the National Archives.
Berger avoided jail time Thursday when he was sentenced in a federal courtroom in Washington, D.C. He said his decision to remove the material during three visits to the archives in 2003 was "indefensible."
Berger, who served as former President Bill Clinton's top national security official, said his actions "were wrong, they were foolish, I deeply regret them, and I have every day since."
Federal Magistrate Deborah Robinson imposed the higher-than-expected fine and ordered Berger to perform 100 hours of community service.
Berger was reviewing the material as part of his preparation for testifying before the federal commission investigating the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. He shed little light on his motive for removing the documents, the newspaper reported, except to say he had put his own "personal convenience" ahead of federal law during his review of the papers.
Court filings suggest both prosecutors and defense lawyers believe Berger's action resulted from pressure, fatigue and confusion, rather than from intent to hide damaging information about the Clinton administration, as some Berger critics charge.
