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Report: Disaster Assistance was unnecessary

By TIMES WIRES
Published October 26, 2006

Much of the $2.6-million the Agriculture Department gave in rental aid to victims of hurricanes Katrina and Rita was unnecessary, a federal audit said. The department's inspector general said in an audit released Wednesday that officials overlooked some basic controls to make sure that the right amount of assistance went to disaster victims and that only victims got the assistance, the report said. Most housing costs were already covered by the Federal Emergency Management Agency, and several people obtained the aid fraudulently, it said.

Possible breach at Los Alamos lab

Authorities in northern New Mexico have stumbled on what appears to be classified information from Los Alamos National Laboratory while arresting a man suspected of domestic violence and dealing methamphetamine from his mobile home. Sgt. Chuck Ney of the Los Alamos Police Department said the information was discovered during a search Friday. FBI Special Agent Bill Elwell confirmed the search, but he refused to discuss details. A spokesman at the nuclear weapons lab declined to comment. Los Alamos has a history of high-profile security problems in the past decade, with the most notable the case of nuclear scientist Wen Ho Lee. Lee pleaded guilty in a plea bargain to one count of mishandling nuclear secrets at the lab.

Group accused of bogus voter forms

Hundreds of fraudulent voter address changes have been submitted to St. Louis County election officials by ACORN, the activist group that has been criticized for its voter signup work elsewhere in the nation. ACORN spokesman Kevin Whelan said it could be the fault of overzealous employees of the organization. The Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now, founded in 1970, has run voter registration drives in Missouri and 16 other states this year. Similar allegations have been made in Pennsylvania, Ohio and Colorado, though no charges have been filed.

Jane Pauley sues New York Times

Broadcast news personality Jane Pauley filed a suit against the New York Times on Monday, saying she was misled to believe she was being interviewed for a mental health news article when she actually was being featured in an advertising supplement. New York Times spokeswoman Catherine Mathis said Wednesday she did not believe the case had merit.

Elsewhere ...

Burlington, Vt.: A man seen on surveillance video walking with a 21-year-old college student who disappeared Oct. 7 and was found strangled a week later was charged Wednesday with aggravated homicide. Police said DNA found on Michelle Gardner-Quinn's body matched DNA from Brian L. Rooney, 36.

Washington: The Agriculture Department was faulted Wednesday for donating $20-million in powdered milk to a Mississippi feed mill that sold it as catfish food. The department's inspector general said there was no legal authority for the department to donate the milk and urged Agriculture officials to try to recover the value of the milk and the $579,000 cost of shipping it.

[Last modified October 26, 2006, 02:24:28]