Operations for the Hurricane Katrina shelters at the George R. Brown Convention Center, and Reliant Arena are coming to a close today, as more than a thousand New Orleans evacuees are moving into apartments or being sent to other shelters at Ft. Chaffee AK. But as KPFT Local News correspondent Vinny Lombardo reports, many people are left wondering, whats next.

Thursday, September 22nd
5pm
College 10 Café Revolucion
UCSC

This afternoon, first lady Laura Bush toured the George R. Brown Convention Center, where about 400 Katrina survivors are still living; considerably fewer than had been squeezed into the makeshift shelter in weeks past. But the future is uncertain for many, and trying to get a straight answer from officials is difficult. KPFT correspondent Vinny Lombardo reports.

houston.indymedia.org/uploads/0919_kpft_brown_center.mp3

New Orleans is under a dusk to dawn curfew, with near constant helicopter flyovers. Military, police, & private security patrol the streets. Twice daily, low-flying helicopters drop pesticides to kill mosquitoes, which have grown in numbers after the floods. The Algiers neighborhood on the west bank of the Mississippi River did not flood after Hurricane Katrina passed through, and some residents who fled prior to the disaster are starting to return. Meanwhile, grassroots activists from around the US are converging in the area to provide relief, and to help rebuild their infrastructure. FSRN's Vinny Lombardo has more.

neworleans.indymedia.org/uploads/2005/09/0916_fsrn_nola.mp3

MARC EMERY SPEAKS AT WORLD PREMIERE OF FILM ESCAPE TO CANADA
_____________________________________________________________________________
“ESCAPE TO CANADA� highlights the issue of Americans leaving their country to seek freedom in Canada. Canadian cannabis activist Marc Emery is currently facing extradition to the US to face a sentence of 10 years to LIFE IMPRISONMENT for selling marijuana seeds to American customers.

HATE GROUPS TO RALLY IN TUCSON IN OCTOBER We are calling for an emergency phone and email jam of the venue, and are letting it be known that if the meeting is not canceled, the community will be out in force to protest these racist, fear-peddling fools!

On September 17, I spoke with Josh from New Orleans. He was sitting on a curb outside of Reliant Arena in Houston, Texas. Reliant Arena is a building next to the Astrodome and has been considered a part of 'Dome City.' Our interview begins with Josh explaining that he could get arrestted that night just for talking to me and giving me a recorded interview. (42:22 minutes / 19.4 MB)

Audio: Download the mp3 or Download the torrent

the SONG campaign got a lift when Mayor Mike Rotkin sent a letter to every mayor in the state of CA asking them to call for the CA National Guard to come home from Iraq now!! A companion resolution, coordinated by CODEPINK, is currently pending in the State Assembly.

On Saturday September 17, Vinny and I were on our way to the Reliant Arena, but we got a little lost in the sprawling city of Houston, Texas so we made our way to the George R. Brown Convention Center first. This convention center is next to the new baseball stadium where tens of thousands of people were watching an Astros game. Nobody seemed to care that in the building next to the baseball stadium, more than a thousand people still struggling to survive the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina.

Today Sen. John Kerry delivered a speech at Brown University and did some finger pointing at the people who are running our country and world into the ground.