Galveston mayor urges people to get out
GALVESTON, Texas, Sept. 16 (UPI) -- Galveston, Texas, city officials say they expect the death toll to rise as searchers go door to door looking for survivors of Hurricane Ike.
As waters recede and emergency crews expand their search areas, city officials said they moved in a refrigerated mobile morgue, the Houston Chronicle reported Tuesday.
As of Monday, searchers have been through about 90 percent of the inundated neighborhoods but thousands of homes remain to be searched, the Chronicle said. Two people are confirmed dead and the fate of four others undetermined.
Galveston Mayor Lyda Ann Thomas warned that the city was unfit for habitation and wasn't allowing residents who fled from Ike to return.
"There is nothing to come here for right now," Thomas said. "Please leave. I am asking people to leave."
City officials were discussing whether to force people off Galveston Island. City Manager Steve LeBlanc said 15,000-20,000 residents of a population of about 60,000 remained Monday, while 3,000 were trying to get off the island, he said.
Officials said health conditions continue to deteriorate. Representatives from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta traveled to Galveston to assess the situation.
Thomas, meanwhile, limited media access to herself and LeBlanc, saying other city and emergency personnel were too busy to talk.
Ike may limit Texas beach construction
HOUSTON, Sept. 16 (UPI) -- Some Texas officials say there will be second thoughts about rebuilding along the coastline where Hurricane Ike came ashore.
The hurricane battered homes and businesses in areas where state officials had earlier proposed limiting construction to prevent beach erosion.
The Houston Chronicle said Tuesday that while coastal communities have vigorously opposed restrictions, the damage done by Ike has reinvigorated the debate.
"We now have a graphic example of why you should build as far away from the dunes as possible," Jerry Patterson, the state's land commissioner, said Monday after an aerial inspection of the coast.
The newspaper said Ike also postponed a $13.5 million sand restoration project for a 3-mile stretch of beach in Galveston, which took the brunt of Ike's landfall.
Poll: Obama = change; McCain = experience
PRINCETON, N.J., Sept. 16 (UPI) -- U.S. voters see Democrat Barack Obama as a change agent and Republican John McCain as experienced, Gallup Poll results released Tuesday indicate.
Despite McCain's recent effort to take Obama's message of change as his own, only 3 percent of the Republican's supporters say they're voting for him because of his ability to muster change, the poll indicated, while 37 percent of Obama's backers list change for their support.
The main reasons given by McCain's supporters focus on experience, named by 27 percent, followed by the U.S. senator's ability to handle terrorism and national security matters, cited by 18 percent. Ten percent said they would vote for McCain because of his choice of Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin as his running mate, Gallup reported.
People supporting Obama listed the senator's economic plan and ability to handle the economy or say they generally agree with his values or his position on issues.
Results are based on telephone interviews Sept. 8-11 with 1,007 adults. The margin of error is 3 percentage points.
Obama says no to Reid's funding appeal
WASHINGTON, Sept. 16 (UPI) -- Barack Obama's campaign said no to U.S. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid's request to share Obama's $77 million for congressional races, insiders said.
While Democratic insiders say a better deal could be struck, the Obama campaign agreed only to let Senate Democrats use Obama's name -- and those of his wife and running mate -- in fundraising efforts, Politico reported Tuesday.
No joint fundraising events are planned for House or Senate Democratic candidates, sources told the Washington publication.
Obama raised a record-setting $66 million in August, leaving his campaign with $77 million in cash. Since he refused public financing, the Illinois senator can keep raising money through Election Day.
Reid and Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee Chairman Charles Schumer of New York hoped to get up to $10 million from the Obama campaign, Politico said. With 23 GOP seats up for election, Democrats see an opportunity to add to their majority.
Matthew Miller, the committee's communications director, said the committee was "working closely with the Obama campaign on fundraising and on field operations and political organizing."
Obama has done two e-mail and two direct-mail appeals for the DSCC this cycle, while Biden did one earlier this month, Miller said.
Kissinger: Open direct Iran talks
WASHINGTON, Sept. 16 (UPI) -- Former U.S. Secretary of State Henry Kissinger says the United States should begin direct negotiations with Iran over its nuclear enrichment program.
Kissinger, speaking Monday at George Washington University along with four other former U.S. State Department secretaries, said the next president should initiate high-level discussions with Iran "without conditions," ABC News reported.
The opinion of the former secretary of state for Republican presidents Richard Nixon and Gerald Ford differs sharply with that of the current GOP administration, which has maintained a strict policy of not negotiating directly with governments deemed to sponsor international terrorism. The Bush administration has demanded that Iran dismantle its nuclear program as a precondition for any direct talks.
The other former secretaries of state, Madeleine Albright, James Baker III, Warren Christopher and Colin Powell, were asked to identify the biggest challenges the next president will face. They answered the fight against terrorism, restoring America's reputation abroad, r-building U.S. economic power and global climate change, ABC reported.
Gaza gunfight kills 11
GAZA, Sept. 16 (UPI) -- Eleven people, including a Hamas police officer, were killed in a gunfight Tuesday in the city of Gaza, Hamas officials said.
The incident began when two members of a Palestinian Doghmush clan, described by Hamas as a family involved in political and criminal activity, resisted arrest, CNN reported.
The violence started when two men wanted by police allegedly opened fire when authorities tried to arrest them, a Hamas source told CNN.
A gun battle took place in the crowded area of Gaza, with machine-gun fire and explosions heard throughout the city, witnesses told the BBC.
The British broadcaster said one report indicated the 11 dead included two bystanders, one Hamas police officer and eight members of the Doghmush family. Forty people were reported wounded.
