Hurricane recovery program short on cash
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A state program to help homeowners with hurricane damage will run out of money by year's end unless Congress steps in to fill the gap, an official said Tuesday.
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By Sean Thomas, Amarillo Globe-News, Texas  Mar. 2--Texas Panhandle residents have another shot at receiving up to  $2,500 to help pay for safe rooms and tornado shelters.
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Insurers are braced to pay out at  least $5 billion in claims for devastation caused by Hurricane  Charley, making the storm the second most costly after  Hurricane Andrew, industry and government officials said on  Monday.
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The 2004 hurricane season is expected to be costly for insurers, with early estimates of $8bn (Â£4.5bn) of losses from just one of the storms that have hit the United States this year.
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With many lawmakers eager to help their own regions, Congress is unlikely to act as quickly on President Bush's latest request for hurricane aid as they did on his first package.
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WASHINGTON - Farmers received $2.9 billion in drought and disaster assistance tacked on to a $11.6 billion hurricane relief package that itself was tacked on to a $10 billion bill to fund military construction today.
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The Philippine Social Welfare Department warned it had run out of money to pay for relief services for victims of a series of storms that left more than 1,400 people dead or missing last week.
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Recovery effort will buoy some industries, but many are hit hard by the hurricanes.
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Insurance claims for damage caused in  the United States this year by four major hurricanes may reach  $23 billion, surpassing payments on claims for 1992's Hurricane  Andrew, an insurance industry group said on Friday.
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In the neighborhood President Bush visited right after Hurricane Katrina, the U.S. government gave $84.5 million to more than 10,000 households. But Census figures show fewer than 8,000 homes existed there at the time.
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Hurricane Charley could cost insurance companies at least $7.4 billion to pay for damaged homes and businesses, according to estimates released Wednesday by the Insurance Information Institute.
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By AMY WOLD  NEW ORLEANS - A federal coastal-restoration task force is combing the books for money to get more projects built.
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Louisiana's grant program for rebuilding hurricane-damaged homes is giving money to thousands who weren't supposed to be eligible, the White House's hurricane recovery czar testified Thursday.
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President Bush planned to ask Congress Monday for about &#36;2.5 billion in additional aid to help Florida recover from its recent bout with hurricanes, congressional aides said.
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(InfoWorld) - Microsoft is working with state officials in Louisiana to offer Windows and Office software free for a year to small businesses still feeling the effects of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita. Microsoft on Monday unveiled a new program, called the Software License Relief Program, in conjunction with the 2007 Hope & Recovery Summit, which is commemorating the second anniversary of both storms. Microsoft is working with the Louisiana Small Business Development Center (LSBDC) to offer the program, which will launch next month and gives eligible small businesses access to software from Microsoft, including Windows and Office, free of charge for a year. The program doesn't come without a catch, however -- there are eligibility requirements for businesses, one of which is to purchase a three-year Microsoft Open Value License that spreads out software license payments over three years. Open Value bundles core software offerings from Microsoft into one license. After purchasing the software, businesses can bring the first year's invoice to any LSBDC, and Microsoft will pay the bill. The businesses themselves are responsible for the last two years of the license. Microsoft estimates that for a typical small business of 50 employees, with 25 PCs licensing Windows Vista and the 2007 Office system suite of programs, that year of licensing at no charge could save the organization as much as $12,050. The company traditionally does not disclose the specific cost for Open Value licenses because they vary by company. To receive the program's benefits, small businesses also must have been in business prior to the dates Hurricanes Katrina and Rita made landfall -- Aug. 29, 2005 or Sept. 24, 2005, respectively. Other requirements include having less than 200 employees; being based in one of the 19 federal disaster-designated Louisiana parishes; and having applied for small-business assistance through at least one federal or state government program, whether the application was approved or not. Microsoft has donated millions of dollars to the recovery effort in the Gulf Coast in the wake of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita, which devastated the region two years ago. In the first year after the storms hit, the company donated more than $11 million in cash and technology to organizations such as the American Red Cross; Governor's Funds in Louisiana, Mississippi, Texas and Alabama; and America's Second Harvest. The company also offered grants to establish or rebuild community technology centers destroyed by Hurricane Katrina.
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The Federal Emergency Management Agency has sold trailers to victims of the 2005 hurricanes at prices that range from $1  to $20,000, under inconsistent policies  that prompted a temporary ban on all trailer sales, according to a new government report.
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PUNTA GORDA, Fla. - Federal disaster assistance money started flowing to Hurricane Charley&#39;s victims and postal workers handed out mail Tuesday outside their damaged building, but hundreds of thousands still had no phones, no running ...