Charleston Gazette

'Drive-Offs' Rise with Prices at Pumps

West Virginians protest rising gasoline prices, 5D sarahkwinn@wvgazette.com

Byrd Will Run Again: ; Announcement for 9th Campaign to Be Wednesday

Robert C. Byrd is expected to announce that he will run for a ninth term in the U.S. Senate next week. "He has every intention to seek re-election," Byrd spokesman Tom Gavin confirmed Thursday. "But I'm going to let the senator make his own announcement."

Anarchy: ; Much-Needed Rescuers Under Fire in New Orleans; Rapes, Beatings, Fires Ensue; Guard, Police Pour In

More on Katrina * Hastert comments, 2A * W.Va. links, 3A * Editorial, 4A * UC, WVU take students, 11A * U.S. economic effects, 3D NEW ORLEANS - Storm victims were raped and beaten, fights and fires broke out, corpses lay out in the open, and rescue helicopters and law enforcement officers were shot at as flooded-out New Orleans descended into anarchy Thursday. "This is a desperate SOS," the mayor said.

Hurricane Disrupts Port of New Orleans

CINCINNATI - Traffic through the Port of New Orleans is going to take a big hit because of Hurricane Katrina, disrupting shipments of produce and fuel and possibly backing up barge traffic. "Our rivers are truly a system. When you have something happen to one part of the system, it impacts the whole thing," said David Smith, port captain with Madison Coal & Supply in Charleston, W.Va.

In Perspective

Hastert Tries to Clarify Remarks On Rebuilding

WASHINGTON - It makes no sense to spend billions of dollars to rebuild a city that's seven feet under sea level, House Speaker Dennis Hastert said of federal assistance for hurricane-devastated New Orleans. Democratic lawmakers from Louisiana were quick to disagree Thursday and Hastert sought to clarify the comment during the day.

W.Va. Links to Hurricane Katrina: ; Pocahontas County Couple, Tulane Student Await Word On Family, Friends

cshumaker@wvgazette.com At 5:30 a.m. Monday, 68-year-old Pat Cuevas was headed to her attic to ride out Hurricane Katrina as the storm battered her Gulf Coast home.

U.S. Military Deaths in Iraq

As of Thursday, Sept. 1, 2005, at least 1,883 members of the U.S. military have died since the beginning of the Iraq war in March 2003, according to an Associated Press count. At least 1,463 died as a result of hostile action, according to the military's numbers. The figures include five military civilians. Since May 1, 2003, when President Bush declared that major combat operations in Iraq had ended, 1,744 U.S. military members have died, according to AP's count. Since the start of U.S. mili...

Saturday

Saturday

Families Demand Answers About Stampede: ; Shiites Bury Nearly 1,000 Victims in Iraq; U.S. Jets Strike Near Syria Border

BAGHDAD, Iraq - Wailing over the coffins of loved ones Thursday, Shiites buried the nearly 1,000 victims of a stampede on a bridge while politicians and ordinary Iraqis demanded the government explain whether botched security controls may have played a part in the tragedy. Tension and confusion persisted one day after the biggest loss of life in a single event in Iraq since the 2003 fall of Saddam Hussein. Gunfire erupted at the bridge during a protest march, killing a 12-year-old girl and wo...

Sa Man Killed After Truck Rolls

A St. Albans area man was killed after a tree fell on him after a truck he was in slipped out of gear and rolled over a hill on Thursday night. James D. Womack, 57, was pronounced dead at the scene at his home on Browns Creek Road, said West Virginia State Police Trooper L.B. Morrison of the South Charleston detachment.

Readers' Voice: ; Call 357-4451

or e-mail readersvoice@wvgazette.com * Let our smug and stupid president visit the Superdome, where he can smell the stench of American poverty, greedy oil interests, global warming and Republican indifference.

Ga. Pastor Is $3 Million Beneficiary of Charity

LITHONIA, Ga. - Bishop Eddie Long, whose 25,000-member New Birth Missionary Baptist Church is said to be Georgia's largest congregation, used money from a charity he started to fund a grand lifestyle, according to a published report. Tax records detailed in The Atlanta Journal-Constitution showed Bishop Eddie Long Ministries Inc. gave Long $3.07 million in salary and benefits between 1997 and 2000, compared with $3.1 million in donations to others.

Australia Rejects Ban On Muslim Scarves

SYDNEY, Australia - Australian Prime Minister John Howard Monday dismissed a call to ban girls from wearing Muslim headscarves in public schools. Bronwyn Bishop, a prominent lawmaker in Howard's ruling Liberal Party, urged the ban. Howard, who held a summit with moderate Muslim leaders last week to counter Islamic extremism, said such a prohibition isn't practical.

State Briefs

Suspect in murder plot commits suicide MARTINSBURG - A man who had been implicated in an alleged murder- for-hire scheme that resulted in the shooting death of a Berkeley County woman has committed suicide.

Legislative Session to Be First Under New Ethics Law

philk@wvgazette.com Next week's planned special session will be the first legislative session under a new, tougher state ethics law that requires lobbyists to report all spending on legislators or other public officials.

Lincoln Man Was Not Read His Miranda Rights, Attorney Says

daveg@wvgazette.com An attorney for one of the Lincoln County men indicted in an alleged vote-buying scheme argued Thursday that a federal agent and a State Police trooper illegally questioned his client about the case.

Obituaries: ; Obit

Richard Lee Alderman Richard Lee "Moon" Alderman, 73, of Chesapeake went to be with his dad, Harry Alderman; mom, Madelyn Weaver Alderman; sister, Doris Burke; and his Heavenly Father on Aug. 30, 2005, at home.

Medicaid Co-Pay Hike Proposed

WASHINGTON - A federal commission hunting for ways to slow increases in Medicaid's price tag on Thursday recommended letting states increase co-payments on some expensive drugs as well as several accounting changes in the program. In most cases, beneficiaries of the nation's health-care program for the poor face a maximum $3 co-payment on drugs and other services. But the commission, set up by Michael Leavitt, secretary of Health and Human Services, suggested states be allowed to increase thi...