Dallas, Houston to get $21.6M in Katrina aid

[TexasStooge]

From DallasNews.com and the Associated Press

The federal government has approved $21.6 million for Texas cities that took in Hurricane Katrina refugees, officials announced Friday.

The U.S. Department of Justice granted $20 million to Houston for law enforcement. The money will help combat crime after the August storm sent thousands of refugees to the city.

The Federal Emergency Management Agency has also approved $1.6 million to pay Dallas back for sheltering victims.

Dallas housed more than 1,000 Katrina evacuees at the Reunion Arena and more than 1,500 at the city Convention Center.

U.S. Rep. Tom DeLay, R-Sugar Land, praised the Houston grant in a news release Friday.

"These are real dollars that are needed now to support our law enforcement and their efforts to protect the community in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina," he said.

Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison, R-Texas, called the Dallas money "critical."

[ROCK]

its about time. The crime rate has soared here in Houston. I would like to know how much money is going to Houston for all the evacees we housed in the Astrodome / convention centers.

[CajunMama]

the crime rate has soared everywhere where there's a large # of katrina evacuees rock. It's not just houston as you think it is. As for the evacuee centers it's fema that's supposed to reimburse them.

[Sean in New Orleans]

That's nice, but, shouldn't those cities return the multi-millions they have enjoyed in sales tax revenues from evacuees of Louisiana? I recently read that 75,000 new automobiles were bought in Texas from Louisianians. If they need to be subsidized for crime in their large cities, we could use those increased revenues back here for many, many things.

[Sean in New Orleans]

J/J..BTW. Hey, they've come back and we're having murders every day again...Maybe we should petition the federal government, now, that they've come back!