After Hurricane Katrina, "refugee" became a dirty word. Its "pejoration," as the linguists called it, was swift. Displaced Gulf Coast residents, and those who claimed to speak for them, said the word implied that New Orleanians were not Americans. The Rev. Jesse Jackson, Washington lawmakers, the N.A.A.C.P. and ultimately even President Bush objected to its use, and it quickly became incorrect.

But on a recent afternoon in Houston, Linda Jeffers, a tall New Orleanian in a broad-brimmed straw hat, told a roomful of evacuees that she wished she were a refugee....

Full Article, New York Times

The race for mayor of New Orleans is turning into a jet fuel-consuming marathon across the South as candidates with the deepest pockets jump from Houston to Atlanta and points in between trying to reach displaced voters.

In the political landscape jumbled by Hurricane Katrina, residents living out of state can cast absentee ballots - and the city has the potential to elect its first white mayor in almost 30 years. Passion is high among New Orleans evacuees, who seek a voice in how their city rebuilds and fear being excluded....

Full Article, Houston Chronicle

Many residents in Houston, particularly its poorest, pay an unfair share in taxes while many Texas businesses and professional service industries are exempt, members of the Texas Tax Reform Commission were told Wednesday...

"We pay our share of taxes, but a lot of companies in Texas do not, and they should so that we are not the only ones carrying the burden."

Gonzales and a handful of other members of The Metropolitan Organization, a collection of churches, synagogues and nonprofit agencies, pressed the commission on needed tax reforms, including the group's proposal to broaden business taxes to include attorneys, accountants and computer programmers...

Full Article, Houston Chronicle

Danielle James came to the clubhouse at Summercrest Apartments in search of information about social services. As a young mother of a newborn, she wanted to know how to navigate Houston's public health system.

She left with something she didn't expect - her name on a list for an absentee ballot for next month's municipal elections in New Orleans....

Full Article, Houston Chronicle

In the two months since Hurricane Katrina hit, the Metropolitan Organization, a group of professional organizers affiliated with the Industrial Areas Foundation, a grass-roots network founded by the Chicago radical Saul D. Alinsky, has been busy sowing nonpartisan political activism and mobilizing survivors to champion their own interests in resettlement and rebuilding decisions.

Early on, with at least a quarter-million people finding refuge in the Houston area alone, it helped organize evacuees in the Astrodome, winning a playground for children and secure areas for the elderly. It persuaded the Federal Communications Commission to maintain evacuees' cellphone service even if they fell behind in their bills...

[Photo Credit: Josh Merwin, The New York Times]

Full Article, New York Times

With thousands of signatures already collected, a new organization of residents in the Reliant Park shelter complex continued to circulate a petition for improved services.

The Survivor Leadership Group, an organization of New Orleans community leaders who have been living in the Reliant Astrodome, began circulating the petition Tuesday evening. The leaders came together last week with the assistance of a Houston advocacy group known as The Metropolitan Organization, or TMO.

Full Article, Houston Chronicle