Tropical storm risk results in New Orleans' evacuation
NEW ORLEANS - Under pressure from President Bush and other top federal officials, the mayor suspended the reopening of large portions of the city Monday and instead ordered nearly everyone out because of the risk of a new round of flooding from a tropical storm on the way.
"If we are off, I'd rather err on the side of conservatism to make sure we have everyone out," Mayor Ray Nagin said.
The announcement came after repeated warnings from top federal officials - and the president himself - that New Orleans was not safe enough to reopen. Among other things, federal officials warned that Tropical Storm Rita could breach the city's temporarily patched-up levees and swamp the city all over again.
The news came as the state Health Department raised the death toll from Hurricane Katrina in Louisiana by 90 to 736. The toll across the Gulf Coast was 973.
NASA unveils costly new moon exploration mission
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. - It will cost $104 billion throughout the next decade to send astronauts back to the moon, NASA's chief said Monday, defending the price tag as an investment the nation can afford despite the expense of Hurricane Katrina.
Described as "Apollo on steroids," the new moon exploration plan unveiled by the space agency will use beefed-up shuttle and Apollo parts and aims to put people on the moon by 2018.
