Mayor aims to reopen Big Easy

NEW ORLEANS' mayor has the authority to let residents return to his hurricane-damaged city, but the Coast Guard official in charge of the federal disaster response said yesterday that all the information from health and environmental experts recommends against it.

Coast Guard Vice Admiral Thad Allen plans to meet with Mayor Ray Nagin today and develop 'a logical plan to repopulate the city'.

If Allen gets his way, that repopulation won't start today, as the mayor planned, but it will be soon.