TALLAHASSEE - Hundreds of refugees from Hurricane Katrina say they are being forced to leave Tallahassee hotels to accommodate fans coming to town for the Miami-Florida State game Monday night.
"There is absolutely no compassion here whatsoever," Lynne Bernard wrote on a bulletin board on the Web site of the Times-Picayune of New Orleans. "The Hampton Inn in Tallahassee is pretty much throwing us out because of a football game."
Hoteliers said they had to honor long-standing reservations for the football weekend. At the Courtyard Marriott near the Capitol, evacuees were in 15 of the hotel's 154 rooms on Wednesday. A Quality Inn had several dozen of its 90 rooms filled by storm refugees.
Antwan Hinkle, front desk manager at the Quality Inn, said it would be unfair to people who have planned trips for months if they were told just days before the game they no longer had rooms.
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There is some good news on the storm front.
Tropical Storm Lee formed Wednesday about 900 miles east of Bermuda and likely poses no threat to land. Lee, the 12th named storm of the 2005 hurricane season, was moving north-northeast at about 14 mph.
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With colleges in Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama canceling or postponing classes because of Hurricane Katrina, the University of South Florida is poised to take in students affected by the storm.
USF officials said Wednesday they will "make special accommodations" to enroll undergraduate and graduate students.
"Our goal is to allow students to pursue their college education without interruption until these universities reopen," Bob Spatig, USF's director of undergraduate admissions, said in a release.
To inquire about enrolling for the fall semester at USF, call 1-877-873-2855.
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TALLAHASSEE - Sen. Bill Nelson said Wednesday he will push Congress in the coming year to alter the federal tax code to allow insurance companies to hold money tax-free in reserves for events such as Hurricane Katrina.
Nelson, who discussed his idea in a speech before the Economic Club of Florida in Tallahassee, said he doesn't favor an idea to create a multistate government-run catastrophe reinsurance fund, similar to the one established in Florida after Hurricane Andrew in 1992.
Many politicians, including Gov. Jeb Bush and Rep. Mark Foley, R-West Palm Beach, support that concept.
Nelson said he thinks it would be more efficient to allow insurance companies to set aside money policyholders pay in anticipation of a catastrophe in tax-free reserves.
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Jim Dunnam of Lutz worried about his family in Mississippi after Katrina hit. But his caller ID provided some welcome news.
"They dialed our house from OnStar," Dunnam, 32, said Wednesday, relieved that his parents, aunt and uncle were okay.
OnStar, a safety and security service from General Motors that uses satellite technology, is better known for providing roadside assistance. But it became a phone system for the Dunnams after Katrina wiped out power and phone service in Leaksville, Miss., just west of the Alabama line.
Dunnam's aunt's Cadillac has OnStar. Dunnam's family went to the car and gave the OnStar operator the number to dial.
"It comes through just like any other call," Dunnam said.
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Florida law enforcement officers dispatched to Mississippi to help out after Hurricane Katrina have found the police there don't have enough patrol cars.
Florida officials are checking whether any agencies have patrol cars they could donate to their Mississippi counterparts. More than 500 Florida law enforcement officers are in Mississippi to help with recovery efforts.
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Carnival Cruise Lines said Wednesday the federal government has asked whether cruise ships could be used as emergency shelters or help in Katrina relief efforts in some other way.
A statement from the cruise line, based in Miami, said that although "to undertake such an endeavor would involve many complicated issues, we are actively taking a look at it." Carnival operates 21 ships, each able to hold 1,500 to 3,000 passengers.
This report includes contributions from Shannon Colavecchio-Van-Sickler, Joni James and Dave Gussow, and the Associated Press and Cox News Service.
