NEW ORLEANS -- The largest child-recovery effort in US history is complete after more than six months, with 5,192 children missing after Hurricanes Katrina and Rita reunited with family members, officials said yesterday. The National Center for Missing & Exploited Children worked with the FBI, Federal Emergency Management Agency, US Postal Service, Red Cross, and other agencies to find the thousands of children separated from their parents or guardians when Hurricane Katrina hit Aug. 29 and Hurricane Rita struck just a few weeks later. In the months following Katrina, the agency received reports of 4,710 children missing or displaced in Louisiana, 339 in Mississippi, and 39 in Alabama. In Louisiana, most of the reports were about children in the New Orleans area, where heavy flooding and frantic rescues separated families. After Rita, another 28 children were reported missing or displaced in Louisiana, and 76 were reported in Texas. Of the more than 5,000 children, all but 12 were found alive. (AP)
North Carolina
Judge dismisses suit challenging lottery
RALEIGH -- A judge yesterday dismissed a lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of the new North Carolina lottery, clearing the way for ticket sales to begin as scheduled next week. Superior Court Judge Henry Hight rejected arguments that the General Assembly illegally ignored procedures for establishing a tax when it passed a bill creating the North Carolina Education Lottery last year. The plaintiffs said the House and Senate failed to hold two roll-call votes on separate days for the bill, as required. (AP)
Texas
DNA clears man jailed for 18 years in attack
DALLAS -- A man who spent 18 years in prison for an attack on a woman in her home has been released after DNA testing excluded him as the attacker. ''I don't know how to apologize. I don't know where to start, but I'll start with me and 'I'm sorry,"' District Judge John Creuzot said Monday as he released Gregory Wallis, now 47. Creuzot was not involved in the original trial. Wallis was a 29-year-old warehouse worker when he was convicted in 1988 of burglary with intent to commit sexual assault and sentenced to 50 years in prison. The case was closed until Wallis's 2004 request for postconviction DNA analysis. (AP)
Oregon
Lost family discovered alive in remote area
GLENDALE -- A family that disappeared more than two weeks ago after leaving for a short trip in an recreational vehicle was found alive yesterday in a remote area of southwestern Oregon. The group of six left Ashland on March 4 for a trip across the mountains to the coast, which normally takes a couple of hours. A relative reported them missing March 8. Officials said the six had taken a shortcut, instead of a well-traveled route to the coast, and then became stranded in up to 4 feet of snow. They ate snow and dehydrated food. (AP)
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