Disasters

Race and the hurricane
In the weeks following Hurricane Katrina, President Bush acknowledged that the disaster laid bare the persistent racial inequalities in America, but Bush strongly rejected the idea that the federal government's response to Katrina was somehow racist. Social critic Michael Eric Dyson was not convinced.
Chernobyl's shadow
It was 20 years ago that a nuclear reactor blew up at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant in Ukraine, in what became the worst nuclear disaster in world history. Even after two decades have passed, the health effects of Chernobyl are still a subject of debate.
The journalistic response to Hurricane Katrina
The 2006 Pulitzer Prizes recognized two Gulf Coast newspapers for their coverage of Hurricane Katrina, but National Public Radio's Michele Norris says that not all the journalism that came out of the storm was stellar.
People will be sandbagging and shoring up dikes Monday in the Fargo-Moorhead area. Gov. Pawlenty has called on 135 National Guard troops to help bolster flood preparations in that area as the Red River keeps rising. MPR's Bob Reha updates the situation from Moorhead.
Bird Flu - Come fly away
The H5N1 virus has killed people in seven countries and infected birds in more than 40 nations. Reporter Nikki Tundel freaks out host and self-proclaimed hypochondriac Mary Lucia with the latest update on the bird flu.
New Orleans' population is growing again, due to the return of most of Tulane University's student body. But some criticize the rebuilding plan for the rest of the city as discriminatory against the city's poorer, African-American residents.
One of the biggest stories of 2005 was undoubtedly Hurricane Katrina. And the story continues as the storm-ravaged Gulf Coast rebuilds itself.
James Lee Witt, who was director of the Federal Emergency Management Agency during the Clinton Administration, says that if he was in charge during Hurricane Katrina, he would have handled things differently. Speaking at the City Club Forum in Cleveland Friday, Witt also said that FEMA needs to be removed from the Department of Homeland Security.
Laura Kenig and Annie DesLauriers of Ely leave for New Orleans this weekend, where they will deliver a motor home to Lance Eden and his family. Rev. Eden is pastor of First Street United Methodist Church in New Orleans.