Joe Allbaugh

WASHINGTON -- Joe Allbaugh, the "gentle giant" who managed George W. Bush's presidential campaign, announced his resignation Monday as head of the Federal Emergency Management Agency but cautioned that he was "not going very far." Allbaugh, 50, is the latest in a series of administration officials to announce his return to the private sector. Like several others, he intends to play a role in Bush's reelection campaign.

WASHINGTON -- Joe Allbaugh, the "gentle giant" who managed George W. Bush's presidential campaign, announced his resignation Monday as head of the Federal Emergency Management Agency but cautioned that he was "not going very far." Allbaugh, 50, is the latest in a series of administration officials to announce his return to the private sector. Like several others, he intends to play a role in Bush's reelection campaign.

Joe Allbaugh, a longtime aide to President Bush, was confirmed by the Senate to head the Federal Emergency Management Agency, placing him at the helm of the nation's assistance efforts in natural disasters. The Senate voted, 91 to 0, to confirm Allbaugh. FEMA is best known for providing emergency assistance in the wake of natural disasters. It also administers the National Flood Insurance Program and Project Impact, an effort to develop storm- and flood-resistant communities.

Two years after a government-set wildfire roared out of Los Alamos Canyon and into the town, the banging of hammers and the hum of heavy equipment fills the air. Houses are springing up from the mud, the construction starkly new against a backdrop of blackened mountainsides. "Los Alamos is on its way back," Federal Emergency Management Agency chief Joe Allbaugh said during a recent visit. More than 350 families lost their homes when the Cerro Grande Fire--named for the peak where the National Park Service began burning brush on May 4, 2000--blew out of the pine forest like a blowtorch.

The incoming Bush administration Thursday denounced efforts to defeat the president-elect's nomination of former Sen. John Ashcroft for attorney general, saying that such attempts smack of partisan posturing designed to elicit campaign contributions. "It's unfortunate that there are still some in Washington that want to play the old game of tearing opponents down," Dan Bartlett, a spokesman for George W. Bush, told reporters here.

Two years after a government-set wildfire roared out of Los Alamos Canyon and into the town, the banging of hammers and the hum of heavy equipment fills the air. Houses are springing up from the mud, the construction starkly new against a backdrop of blackened mountainsides. "Los Alamos is on its way back," Federal Emergency Management Agency chief Joe Allbaugh said during a recent visit. More than 350 families lost their homes when the Cerro Grande Fire--named for the peak where the National Park Service began burning brush on May 4, 2000--blew out of the pine forest like a blowtorch.

Tropical Storm Allison killed more people and caused greater damage than expected because people were taken by surprise, said Joe Allbaugh, director of the Federal Emergency Management Agency, said in Miami. At least 50 deaths in six states have been blamed on Allison since the storm came ashore in Texas nearly two weeks ago. Twenty-three of the deaths were in Texas, where damage estimates are expected to exceed $4 billion.

The Mississippi River crested Wednesday at Davenport, where the levees held and a war of words with the Bush administration's top disaster official quieted--at least for the moment. The river crested early Wednesday alongside this city of nearly 100,000 people at 22.3 feet, shy of the predicted peak of 22.5 feet and below the record crest in 1993 of 22.6 feet.

With one leading forecaster predicting 10 tropical storms, including a half-dozen hurricanes, emergency management officials gathered Wednesday to plan for the upcoming hurricane season. "We can change the impact of disasters. We, as a nation, can reduce the loss of life . . . by taking effective action now," Joe Allbaugh, director of the Federal Emergency Management Agency, told the opening session of the 2001 National Hurricane Conference.

President Bush on Tuesday assigned the task of responding to a terrorist attack in the United States to the government agency responsible for mopping up after hurricanes and floods. "It is clear that the threat of chemical, biological or nuclear weapons being used against the United States--while not immediate--is very real," the president said.

Joe Allbaugh, a longtime aide to President Bush, was confirmed by the Senate to head the Federal Emergency Management Agency, placing him at the helm of the nation's assistance efforts in natural disasters. The Senate voted, 91 to 0, to confirm Allbaugh. FEMA is best known for providing emergency assistance in the wake of natural disasters. It also administers the National Flood Insurance Program and Project Impact, an effort to develop storm- and flood-resistant communities.

The incoming Bush administration Thursday denounced efforts to defeat the president-elect's nomination of former Sen. John Ashcroft for attorney general, saying that such attempts smack of partisan posturing designed to elicit campaign contributions. "It's unfortunate that there are still some in Washington that want to play the old game of tearing opponents down," Dan Bartlett, a spokesman for George W. Bush, told reporters here.

In the early 1800s, Capt. Henry Shreve (as in Shreveport) ignited a constitutional debate by suggesting that the federal government help clear old logjams from waterways like the Mississippi River. Federal, state and local governments haven't stopped their vast interstate plumbing projects since. Governments (and barge companies) like straight lines. Rivers want to meander, spreading the benefits of silt everywhere. Homeowners don't see silt that way.

Texas Gov. George W. Bush, the presumptive GOP nominee for president, has been broadening his stable of campaign advisors, recently adding three men allied with his fiercest rival, Sen. John McCain of Arizona. Rick Davis, McCain's former campaign advisor, will assist in planning for the Republican National Convention this summer. The Bush camp is also reaching out to lobbyists Vin Weber and Kenneth M. Duberstein, who informally advised McCain during his Republican primary bid.