GULF COAST

Gulf Coast officials asked lawmakers for fast federal money for hurricane recovery -- and a minimum of red tape.

Texas is looking at $11.4 billion in damage from Hurricane Ike, including $16 million in damage to Houston, Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst said. Devastation in Galveston is an additional $2 billion, that city's mayor said.

Louisiana faces $1 billion in damage, Lt. Gov. Mitch Landrieu said. New Orleans Mayor C. Ray Nagin said in prepared testimony that the $40-million cost of evacuating his city for Hurricane Gustav had led to hiring freezes and a halt of new expenditures until disaster costs could be reimbursed.

GEORGIA

Justices act to stop execution

The U.S. Supreme Court issued a reprieve to a convicted murderer less than two hours before his scheduled execution for the 1989 slaying of an off-duty police officer.

Family and advocates of Troy Anthony Davis, 39, contend that he deserves a new trial because seven of the nine witnesses who helped put him on death row have recanted their testimony.

NEW YORK

New Guggenheim Foundation chief

The Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation announced that its trustees had confirmed Richard Armstrong, longtime director of the Carnegie Museum of Art in Pittsburgh, as foundation director.

Armstrong, 59, will oversee an art and architecture empire that includes the flagship museum in New York, the Guggenheim Bilbao in Spain, exhibition spaces in Venice and Berlin, and the Guggenheim Abu Dhabi, to open in 2013.

From Times staff and wire reports