School Group Aims to Help Katrina's Youngest Victims

Thousands of children who were just about to begin a new school year have been displaced by Hurricane Katrina. Scott Montgomery, chief of staff for the Council of Chief State School Officers, tells Linda Wertheimer what his organization is doing to help.

Katrina Evacuees Go All the Way to Memphis

At a Red Roof Inn in downtown Memphis, general manager Michelle Williams and hotel guest Randy Adams are coordinating efforts to help a weary collection of hurricane evacuees cope. Adams is among those who fled New Orleans ahead of Katrina.

Interesting discussions on NPR's Weekend Edition Saturday... The whole aspect of planning, or lack of, regarding dealing with the aftermath of Hurricane Katriana. With the large numbers of people displaced... How do you get things such as schools back up and running... As someone who is responsible for a school, I know that we'll be reviewing our disaster plan.

The other piece is a nice change of pace... After all the stories of the slow response from the government it was nice to hear the story of Michelle Williams and Randy Adams, two people who rose to the occasion... Seems to me we ought to put them in charge of the relief effort...
Note: Both audio pieces will be available later today...

I also read a very good post by Ton Zijlstra discussing the events of the past week on the Gulf Coast and the slow response by all levels of government both before and after the storm and flooding. It is interesting to read the thoughts of someone who lives outside the US and see how we are being perceived. He notes that it makes him wonder why we elect the leaders we do... I'd say well... we didn't but that is another story... He notes that the flooded area of New Orleans is starting to be refereed to as Lake George...