All disaster, all the time

- Today's FEMA map shows the contiguous U.S. in parlous shape: disaster or emergency declarations active in every one of the lower 48 except Vermont -- and this past week yr humble correspdt saw high water and road washouts in Vermont as well. Now we've got Hurricane Wilma bearing down on Florida, and possibly bringing rain to that unstable dam above Taunton, Massachusetts. A friend in Texas says the FEMA clerks are asking newcomers, "One hurricane or two?" Now we're heading for "One, two or three?"

- The activist ACORN group has organized a new ACORN Katrina Survivors' Association to seek influence in the recovery planning and a right of return to areas such as New Orleans' Ninth Ward that some figures have suggested should not be rebuilt as before.

- One of our editors asked yesterday if the Davis-Bacon Act had been suspended for Rita-affected areas as well, and the answer is no, apparently not, or anyway not yet. HUD provides detailed guidance on the suspension of usual federal contract wage requirements in Katrina-affected areas, but nothing one way or the other on Rita recovery wages. Can't find anything on a Rita suspension on the White House site, nor in the Federal Register thus far, nor at Wage Determinations Online. Anyone who hears otherwise, do please so note in the comments section provided for yr convenience below.