| Anger, Sadness Mark Katrina Anniversary
NEW ORLEANS (AP) -- On the second anniversary of Hurricane Katrina, anger over the stalled rebuilding was palpable Wednesday throughout the city where the mourning for the dead and feeling of loss doesn't seem to subside.Hurricane Katrina made landfall south of New Orleans at 6:10 a.m. Aug. 29, 2005, as a strong Category 3 hurricane that flooded 80 percent of the city and killed more than 1,600 people in Louisiana and Mississippi. It was the worst natural disaster in the history of the United States.New Orleans churches staged memorial services, including one at the historic St. Louis Cathedral on Jackson Square, and ring bells in honor of the victims. People throughout the city will hold their own private ceremonies to remember where they were when Katrina hit, and what they lost."We ring the bells today for the 17, 1,800 people who have gone on to a better place," Mayor Ray Nagin said after large bell tolled a dozen times and a crowd wordlessly sounded handheld bells for more than a minute.
Lohan gets 1 day, Richie 1 hour-plus
Lindsay Lohan reached a plea deal yesterday on misdemeanor drunken driving and cocaine charges that calls for her to spend one day in jail, serve 10 days of community service, and complete a drug treatment program. Nicole Richie, meanwhile, was released from jail after serving 82 minutes of a four-day sentence for driving under the influence of drugs. Richie, was released from jail in Lynwood, Calif., "based on her sentence and federal guidelines," Los Angeles County Sheriff's Deputy Maribel Rizo said without elaborating. When asked whether Richie, who is four months pregnant, spent her sentence in a jail cell, Rizo replied: "I have no further comment." Sheriff's spokeswoman Kerri Webb said Richie, who arrived at jail with her attorney and her boyfriend, Joel Madden, "was processed into the jail system, she was highly cooperative, and she was released." As for Lohan, she was placed on 36 months probation and required to complete an 18-month alcohol education program, pay hundreds of dollars in fines, and complete a program in which she'll talk to victims of drunken drivers and visit a morgue.
CALENDAR
Used-book sale � Friends of the Tulare City Library is having a used-book sale 10 a.m. to noon Saturday at the Tulare Public Library, 113 North F St. Features fiction, sports, cooking, crafts and hobbies, non-fiction, vintage, text and computer books. Cost: $3 per bag. To make a book donation and information: 685-2341. .
Vancouver Symphony loses concertmaster
Newfoundland-born Mark Fewer will step down as violin concertmaster at the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra after being offered a teaching post at McGill University in Montreal. Fewer has performed as violin soloist and director of the strings section since 2004, when the VSO lured him away from a freelance career in Toronto. He is expected to remain in the post for the 2007-8 season, while the VSO conducts auditions for a replacement. However, the popular concertmaster will be playing fewer concerts while he takes up teaching duties in Montreal. Fewer has performed with major orchestras across Canada and the U.S. and is an accomplished chamber musician. He was a founding member of the Duke Piano Trio and violinist with Canada's SuperNova String Quartet and served as artistic director of the Scotia Festival of Music in Halifax and SweetWater Music Weekend in Owen Sound, Ont.
Communities mourn the loss of Michael Zapletal
Hundreds of people attended the Requiem Mass for Michael Zapletal at the Saint John Vianney Church in Maple Hill Saturday. And though his body hasn't been found, mourners are glad to know that Michael is in a better place. There were songs of grief - and words of distress... “We cannot say that there is no sorrow in the death of Michael, there is sorrow indeed. There is a great sorrow. There's a great loss," said Father Angelo VanderPutten during the service. .
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