FEMA retracts plans to evict 3,000

The Federal Emergency Management Agency has scrapped plans to evict 3,000 Mississippi households suspected of being ineligible for post-Hurricane Katrina emergency trailers after some recipients said the government’s mistaken determination had left them facing homelessness.

Last month, the Los Angeles Times interviewed a number of Mississippians who said they had received eviction notices in error. The letters gave the recipients 60 days to appeal the decision – but 30 days to get out of their trailers. The manager of one trailer park in D’Iberville, Miss., said a number of families who received the notices had already moved away.

Sen. Joe Lieberman of Connecticut, ranking Democrat on the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, said in a statement Tuesday that the evictions were part of a “mismanaged recovery process.”

“The people of the Gulf Coast are in extreme need,” he said. “The idea that they would be kicked out of the temporary trailers that were provided to them is inconceivable to me.”

FEMA spokesman Eugene Brezany said the agency had stopped sending the eviction letters and would meet individually with hurricane victims whose eligibility was questionable. The agency is calling approximately 450 households that already received letters to tell them the notices no longer apply.

Redlands, Calif.

‘Most Wanted’ man caught taking purse

A man profiled on “America’s Most Wanted” was arrested after he snatched a woman’s purse and she chased him down, authorities said.

Redlands police on Monday arrested Jesse Anthony Caron, 28, of Lewiston, Maine, on suspicion of theft and discovered he had warrants in several eastern states for burglary, assault, auto theft and weapons charges, said Carl Baker, a police spokesman in Redlands, about 60 miles east of Los Angeles.

Katherine Bolter’s purse was snatched outside an Office Depot store Monday morning. Bolter, 51, said she kicked off her shoes and chased after Caron. Two carpenters working nearby joined the pursuit and helped surround him, she said.

One of the carpenters tackled him, and Bolter held on to his belt until police arrived, she said.

South Bend, Ind.

High court allows foreign lease

The Indiana Supreme Court unanimously rejected a claim Tuesday that the law allowing the state to lease the Indiana Toll Road to foreign investors is unconstitutional.

The ruling clears the way for a private Spanish-Australian partnership to sign a $3.8 billion, 75-year lease for the highway.

The justices also ruled that the case is a public lawsuit – a legal status meaning the challengers would have to post a $1.9 billion bond to continue to fight the case in court.

“It’s over,” said plaintiff Steve Bonney, a West Lafayette farmer, adding that he and other opponents probably cannot raise enough cash to post such a large bond.

Bridgeport, Conn.

Mayor admits to cocaine abuse

Mayor John M. Fabrizi admitted Tuesday he had abused cocaine while in office and said he wanted to apologize “to all the people of the city” but had no plans to resign.

The admission followed the inadvertent release of an FBI document in which an alleged drug dealer claimed an associate had a videotape of the mayor using cocaine.

In a tearful speech to about 200 city employees and residents in City Council chambers Tuesday, Fabrizi said he had not used drugs in 18 months and had sought help for a drug addiction that he had hoped to handle privately.