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BATON ROUGE, La. U-S Senator Mary Landrieu has another fight on her hands. Today, she says the state learned it will get 75 (m) million dollars in new federal money to pay for modular quick-assemble homes, known as "Katrina cottages," to replace the cramped FEMA trailers where many residents have lived since Hurricane Katrina. But that's far less than Louisiana sought, and state officials said they're disappointed that Louisiana will get less than one-fifth of the 400 (m) million dollar pool available for the pilot program funded through the Federal Emergency Management Agency. Mississippi, meanwhile, is expected to receive more than 280 (m) million dollars. The divvying up of alternative housing money restarted complaints that Mississippi has been treated better than Louisiana in the allocation of federal hurricane recovery cash.
My grandmother's wisdom came from experience. As a teenager in late nineteenth century Wisconsin, she had cleared tons of rocks from fields and hauled countless buckets of water on the family farm. If she had to select just one modern technology, she said, she'd choose running water. But electricity was a close second. No wonder. Without electricity, modern life reverts to her childhood: no lights, refrigeration, heating, air conditioning, radio, television, computers, safe running water, or mechanized equipment for homes, schools, shops, hospitals, offices, and factories. Billions Live in Darkness Incredibly, this is what life is still like every day for 2 billion people in developing countries. Viewed at night from outer space, Africa really is the Dark Continent: only 10 percent of its 700 million people regularly have electricity.
ROGERSVILLE - Firefighters don't yet know what caused a fire Monday night that destroyed a four-unit modular apartment building, but a faulty heater is suspected. Firefighters from three departments were called to the apartment building at 211 Jackson Road just west of the Rogersville city limits around 10:30 p.m. Monday. Striggersville Volunteer Fire Department Assistant Chief Gary Murrell said when he arrived on the scene the building was fully engulfed in flames. Although it was a mobile modular building, the building was divided into four separate apartment units. At least two and possibly three of the apartments were occupied, but Murrell said everyone made it outside and there were no injuries. Firefighters believe the construction on the modular unit helped create a huge fire that took a little less than three hours to suppress.
MILLBROOK -- Manufactured homes may no longer be allowed in residential areas in Millbrook under a proposed revision to the city's zoning ordinance. The Planning Commission will meet at 6:30 p.m. Tuesday at the Millbrook Judicial Complex to discuss changes to the manufactured home ordinance, written in 1980, and other zoning regulations. Councilman Fred Watts, who is not on the commission but has worked on revising various ordinances, said when zoning classifications within the city were changed a few years back, it created inconsistencies with rules that were not updated. Most of the changes being proposed Tuesday to the zoning ordinances are not that drastic, but updating the regulations for manufactured homes is, Watts said. Currently, residents are allowed to move manufactured homes into zones other than those designated for such homes on a case-by-case basis.
It took nearly seven months, but the town's planning board has finalized a recommendation for the town board on a revised conservation reserve district. The town board will consider the planning board's recommendation when it meets Jan. 8 at 7 p.m. In May, residents who noticed that conservation reserve districts were on both ends of Sunset Beach island complained, said town administrator Linda Fluegel. To make matters worse, an investigation into the ordinance that created such a district in 1993 had the town's attorney seeking an outside legal opinion as to whether the residents could challenge the validity of the district if the town never gave proper notification to adjoining property owners. The legality issue was settled, giving the planning board the go-ahead to clarify its ordinance.
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