2 - The Michigan Daily - Tuesday, September 13, 2005 NEWS Embattled FEMA chief resigns NEWS IN BRIEF WASHINGTON (AP) - Federal Emergency Management Agency director Mike Brown resigned yester- day, three days after losing his onsite command of the Hurricane Katrina relief effort. The White House picked a top FEMA official with three decades of firefighting experience as his replacement. R. David Paulison, head of FEMA's emergency preparedness force, will lead the beleaguered agency, accord- ing to three administration sources who spoke on condition of anonym- ity because the announcement had not yet been made. Paulison is a career firefighter from Miami who was among emer- gency workers responding to Hurri- cane Andrew in 1992 and the crash of ValuJet Flight 592 in the Florida Everglades in 1996, according to a biography posted on FEMA's Web site. He also has led the U.S. Fire Administration since December 2001, according to the site. As chief of the Miami-Dade Fire Rescue Department, Paulison led 1,900 personnel under a $200 mil- lion operating budget. He was also in charge of Dade County's emer- gency management office, accord- ing to his biography. Paulison will lead an agency that has been under fire for its response to the Katrina disaster. Local officials and members of Congress have cited confusion and a lagging response to the Gulf Coast devastation. Brown had taken much of the heat. and was relieved of his onsite com- mand on Friday. In an interview yes- terday with The Associated Press, Brown said he resigned "in the best interest of the agency and best inter- est of the president." He said he feared he had become a distraction. "The focus has got to be on FEMA, what the people are trying to do down there," Brown said. His decision was not a surprise. Brown was abruptly recalled to Washington on Friday, a clear vote of no confidence from his superiors at the White House and the Home- land Security Department. He also was accused of padding his resume, which Brown has denied. The president ducked questions about Brown's resignation. "Maybe you know something I don't know. I've been working," the president said to reporters on an inspection tour of damage in Gulfport, Miss. Bush said he planned to talk with Brown's boss, Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff, from Air Force One on the flight back to Washington. "There will be plenty of time to figure out what went right and what went wrong," Bush said. Polls show most Americans believe Bush could have done more to help Katrina's victims, though they also blame leaders of Louisiana and New Orleans. Bush's overall job approval rating is at the lowest point of his presidency. House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi said Brown's departure wsas long overdue. "His resignation is the right thing for the country and for the people of the Gulf Coast states," Pelosi said in a statement. Brown, who said he last talked to Bush five or six days ago, said the res- ignation was his idea. He spoke Sat- urday to White House chief of staff Andrew Card, who did not request his departure, according to Brown. Dozens found de a ead at hspital RAFAH, Gaza Strip Gazans celebrate Israeli pullout Joyous Gazans flooded into empty Jewish settlements yesterday and Pales- tinians climbed ropes and clambered over walls dividing this border town to join a chaotic celebration of the end of 38 years of Israeli military rule over the Gaza Strip. Plans by Palestinian police to bar crowds from the settlements quickly dis- integrated. Militant groups hoisted flags, fired wildly into the air and set aban- doned synagogues ablaze, illustrating the weakness of the security forces and concerns about their ability to control growing chaos in Gaza. The pullout is widely seen as a test for Palestinian aspirations of statehood. Among those crossing were purported members of the radical Islamic group, Hamas, who waved the group's green flag on Egyptian territory, raising imme- diate concern over Egypt's ability to meet Israeli demands to prevent militants from leaving Gaza. Egyptian security forces stood by and let crossings in both directions take place, describing it as a "humanitarian" gesture to let people separated for years reunite. TAL AFAR, Iraq Blast outside popular restaurant kills 170 In Baghdad, a huge car bomb exploded outside a popular restaurant in the upscale Mansour neighborhood last night, witnesses said. Hospital officials reported at least two people were killed and 17 were wounded. A doctor at Yarmouk Hospital said most of the victims were women. The offensive "was a great shock to al-Qaida. They were thrown off bal- ance and issued this threat. We will be on the lookout," Interior Minister Bayan Jabr said at a news conference. Militant positions were found mainly deserted Sunday, and the invading force discovered a network of tunnels below the city through which the insurgents were believed to have fled to the surrounding countryside. The offensive exacted a heavy toll on the insurgents, leaving almost 200 suspected militants dead and more than 315 captured, Iraqi military officials said. LOS ANGELES Utility error blamed for LA blackout Utility workers connected the wrong wires and caused a blackout across major portions of Los Angeles yesterday afternoon, trapping people in ele- vators and snarling traffic at intersections, authorities said. About 2 mil- lion people were affected by the resulting power surge and outages, which were reported from downtown west to the Pacific Coast and north into the San Fernando Valley. The electricity was knocked out shortly before 1 p.m. in the area, which encompasses hundreds of thousands of residents and thousands of businesses. Los Angeles International Airport lost power, but its emergency genera- tor kicked in promptly, and no flights were affected, said Harold Johnson, an airport spokesman. NEW ORLEANS (AP) - The bodies of 45 patients have been found at a flooded-out hospital, a state health official said yesterday amid otherwise encouraging signs large and small that New Orleans is climbing back two weeks after it was slammed by Hurricane Katrina. The bodies were found Sunday at 317-bed Memorial Medical Center, which was abandoned more than a week ago after it was surrounded by floodwaters, said Bob Johannesen, a spokesman for the Department of Health and Hospitals. The Louisiana death toll rose to 279, up from 197 on Sunday, Johan- nesen said. Meanwhile, more than half of southeastern Louisiana's water treat- ment plants were up and running again yesterday, and business own- ers were issued passes into the city to retrieve vital records or equip- ment as New Orleans continued to stir back to life. Also, President Bush got his first up-close look at the destruction in New Orleans yesterday, taking a tour that took him through several flooded neighborhoods. Occasional- ly, he had to duck to avoid low-hang- ing electrical wires and branches. In Washington, Federal Emer- gency Management Agency direc- tor Mike Brown announced he is resigning "in the best interest of the agency and best interest of the presi- dent." Brown has been vilified for the government's sluggish response to the tragedy. Last week, he was stripped of responsibility for over- seeing the cleanup and was abruptly recalled to Washington. As for the discovery of the bod- ies at the hospital, Johannesen said he had no further information, and Police Chief Eddie Compass declined to answer any questions, including whether police received any calls for assistance from those inside Memorial Medical Center after the hospital was evacuated. "I can't say nothing," Compass said, referring questions to a spokes- woman for Mayor C. Ray Nagin who did not immediately return a mes- sage seeking comment. Dr. Jeffrey Kochan, a Philadel- phia radiologist volunteering in New Orleans, said he spoke Sunday night with members of the team that recov- ered the bodies. He said they told him they found 36 corpses floating on the first floor. "That's what they were talk- ing about last night," Kochan said. "These guys were just venting. They need to talk. They're seeing things no human being should have to see." BELFAST, Northern Ireland Protestant crowds block city roads in protest Crowds of Protestant hard-liners blocked key roads in Belfast and rioted for a third straight night yesterday in a long-building explosion of frustration at Northern Ireland's peace process. At least 50 officers were wounded over the weekend when extremists fought riot police and British troops in the worst Protestant violence in a decade. The British governor and the territory's police chief said two outlawed Protestant paramilitary groups mounted machine-gun and grenade attacks on police. - Compiled from Daily wire reports. CORRECTIONS A story in Monday's edition of the Daily said Claire Otwell is a freshman. She is a redshirt freshman A caption on the front page of SportsMonday was incorrect. It should have said sopho- more Chad Henne fumbles on the goal line in the fourth quarter. 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