Officers Indicted For Fake Katrina Camp

Another Hurricane Katrina Scam Here In Houston:

A grand jury indicted two Houston police officers Tuesday on charges alleging they billed the Red Cross $160,000 to operate a two-week basketball camp for Hurricane Katrina evacuees that only lasted two days.

Patrol officer Tracie Denise Bell and Kirshondra Richardson, a probationary officer in her first year with the department, allegedly claimed the June camp had 310 attendees when only 10 actually participated.

Both are charged with theft of more than $100,000, a second-degree felony with punishment ranging from probation to 20 years in prison if convicted.

This is just another example of corrupt individuals using a painful experience for their own person gain.

Powell Quits Gulf Recovery Job

The Bush administration's federal coordinator of long-term hurricane recovery efforts on the Gulf Coast resigned unexpectedly yesterday, acknowledging frustration at the slow pace of rebuilding but expressing confidence that the foundation for progress is in place.

"It was just a good time" to go, said Donald E. Powell, 66, a major Texas backer of President Bush who took the Katrina post in November 2005, after serving as chairman of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp.

Powell's announcement came nine months before the executive order establishing his position expires -- and 30 months after Hurricane Katrina's landfall on Aug. 29, 2005.

Katrina Activist Gets Probation

NEW ORLEANS (AP) — An activist who has been a leader in efforts to rebuild a New Orleans neighborhood destroyed by Hurricane Katrina was sentenced Wednesday to five years of probation for his role in a loan fraud scheme.

Robert Green had pleaded guilty in April to federal felony charges stemming from a scheme in which he prepared false tax returns attached to fraudulent home loan applications from as early as 2001.

Before word of his guilty plea surfaced in December, Green had been championed by actor Brad Pitt to be among the first to receive a home through Pitt's Make It Right program.

He could have been sentenced to five years in prison and $250,000 in fines, but U.S. District Judge A.J. McNamara said he was impressed because Green had turned his life around since Katrina.

Linkin Park To Help Rebuild Homes In New Orleans

After Tuesday's show in Nashville, TN, alt-rock band Linkin Park will head to New Orleans to help families that were affected by Hurricane Katrina. The band, along with Coheed and Cambria, will be helping out Music for Relief, and Habitat homeowner families from New Orleans Area Habitat for Humanity, building homes in an undisclosed hurricane-affected area.

Music for Relief was formed by Linkin Park as a nonprofit organization that provides aid to victims of natural disasters. Since the organization was formed in 2005, over $2.5 million dollars was raised for the victims of the tsunami in Southeast Asia and Hurricane Katrina and Rita.