3,200 still officially missing 4 1/2 months after Katrina
New Orleans – More than 3,200 people are officially still unaccounted for nearly five months after Hurricane Katrina hit the Gulf Coast, and the state medical examiner wants the search to resume for those missing from the most devastated neighborhoods.
Nearly 11,500 people were reported missing to the Find Family National Call Center, a center run by federal and state workers. The reports included people from throughout the Gulf Coast area. As of Wednesday, all but about 3,200 had been located.
The Louisiana medical examiner said he will ask state and parish officials to recheck about 400 addresses where authorities have consistent information about people missing from badly flooded neighborhoods. Most are in east New Orleans.
It’s possible some of those missing were washed into Lake Pontchartrain, or their bodies remain in the rubble that still blankets much of the city. Over the past several weeks, at least one family returning to a wrecked home has found the remains of a relative inside.
Some of those still listed as missing likely have been found already by relatives, but the center hasn’t been notified of their status, the call center said. Others may not want to be found because of criminal or legal problems.
More than 1,300 Katrina-related deaths have been reported across five states, with 1,080 of those from Louisiana. Seventy of those killed in Louisiana remain unidentified.
WILMINGTON, N.C.
Two die as tugboat sinks in high winds
Two sailors aboard a tugboat died when their boat sank about 40 miles off Cape Fear in gale-force wind and high seas, the Coast Guard said Wednesday as a search continued for one sailor who remained missing.
The 135-foot tugboat Valour began sinking late Tuesday while pulling a 500-foot barge loaded with about 5.5 million gallons of petroleum byproduct.
The tug’s crew called the Coast Guard for help after one sailor fell overboard. That crew member made it back aboard the ship. A Coast Guard helicopter rescued another sailor, and another tugboat rescued five other sailors before the Valour sank. One body was recovered.
COLUMBIA, S.C.
Man jailed, accused of faking his death in ’79
Police arrested a man accused of faking his death more than 25 years ago to avoid paying child support.
Johnny Sterling Martin, 58, had a relative call Family Court in 1979 and report that he died during a bar fight in Alabama, authorities said. That call came after he escaped from a work detail while serving a one-year jail term for failing to pay $4,120 in support for two children.
He was captured Tuesday and jailed, and now owes more than $30,000 in child support and faces an escape charge.
Police got a tip from one of Martin’s ex-wives that he was alive and living in Myrtle Beach. A fingerprint analysis confirmed his identity.
INDIANAPOLIS
8 counties allowed to switch to Central time
In a state where time has long been a contentious issue, the federal government Wednesday granted the requests of eight counties to switch from the Eastern to the Central time zone.
Nine other counties that sought the change were turned down by the Department of Transportation, which regulates time zones.
All but 15 of Indiana’s 92 counties had rejected daylight-saving time for more than three decades. The eight counties will begin following Central time April 2, when Indiana joins all states except Arizona and Hawaii in setting clocks ahead one hour.
TORONTO
Polls: Conservatives seem certain to win
The Conservative Party, which supports policies similar to the Bush administration’s, appeared unstoppable Wednesday as it surged in the polls only five days before Canadians elect a new government.
Conservative leader Stephen Harper was now setting his sights on two traditional Liberal strongholds – Ontario and Quebec – where he addressed supporters chanting one of the campaign’s central themes: “A time for change.”
After 13 years of Liberal Party governments led by Jean Chretien and current Prime Minister Paul Martin, the Conservatives appear poised to not only make big gains in Monday’s vote, but possibly even win a majority in the House of Commons.
MEXICO CITY
Two held for trucking dead puma, deer meat
Mexican police arrested two men driving a truck carrying a dead puma and 175 pounds of illegal deer meat in the northern state of Sonora, officials said Wednesday.
The Federal Preventative Police found the two bags of deer meat and a puma sliced up the middle in the back of the men’s pickup truck during a routine stop along the Nogales-Mexico highway, officials said in a news release. The men were handed over to federal investigators for further questioning and may face charges under Mexico’s animal-protection laws.
COPENHAGEN, Denmark
Two of 10 canvases are real Rembrandts
Copenhagen’s National Gallery said Wednesday that two of its paintings that were previously believed to be fake Rembrandts were actual works by the Dutch master.
International art experts reevaluated 10 canvases that bear Rembrandt’s signature but were kept in storage for years because they were believed to be copies made by his students.
The five experts concluded two of the paintings were done by Rembrandt himself, museum director Allis Helleland said.
