AP - Tropical Storm Zeta finally started weakening Wednesday and was expected to turn into a tropical depression Thursday, forecasters said.

USATODAY.com - For President Bush, 2005 was a year of growing public impatience with the Iraq war, angst over gas prices, devastation from Hurricane Katrina, the collapse of his Social Security plan and a firestorm over domestic spying. Now he faces a challenge that's upended the best-laid plans of his predecessors. His sixth year in office.

USATODAY.com - For President Bush, 2005 was a year of growing public impatience with the Iraq war, angst over gas prices, devastation from Hurricane Katrina, the collapse of his Social Security plan and a firestorm over domestic spying. Now he faces a challenge that's upended the best-laid plans of his predecessors. His sixth year in office.

AP - Tropical Storm Zeta weakened to a tropical depression early Thursday, nearly a week after tying the record for the latest developing storm since record keeping began in 1851.

Reuters - An international bus line launched tours of devastated sections of New Orleans on Wednesday, amid controversy over whether so-called disaster tourism would help, hurt or humiliate the hurricane-ravaged city.

USATODAY.com - For President Bush, 2005 was a year of growing public impatience with the Iraq war, angst over gas prices, devastation from Hurricane Katrina, the collapse of his Social Security plan and a firestorm over domestic spying. Now he faces a challenge that's upended the best-laid plans of his predecessors. His sixth year in office.

AP - Zeta again strengthened into a tropical storm Thursday and could break the record for the storm lasting the longest into January since record keeping began in 1851.

USATODAY.com - For President Bush, 2005 was a year of growing public impatience with the Iraq war, angst over gas prices, devastation from Hurricane Katrina, the collapse of his Social Security plan and a firestorm over domestic spying. Now he faces a challenge that's upended the best-laid plans of his predecessors. His sixth year in office.

AP - The struggles and stories of some 2,000 Hurricane Katrina survivors across the country will be documented regularly over the next two years in a project that aims to track their recovery. Their tales will be published and their advice sought for government policy makers, researchers said Thursday.

USATODAY.com - For President Bush, 2005 was a year of growing public impatience with the Iraq war, angst over gas prices, devastation from Hurricane Katrina, the collapse of his Social Security plan and a firestorm over domestic spying. Now he faces a challenge that's upended the best-laid plans of his predecessors. His sixth year in office.

AP - Hurricane Katrina evacuees around the nation who faced a Jan. 7 deadline for checking out of their government-funded hotel rooms have received a reprieve: Federal officials will keep paying for the rooms beyond that date as they iron out issues arising from a class-action lawsuit.

AP - It's lunchtime and Elvira and Nick are having a quick bite, then it's back to an afternoon of swimming in their big glass house on the Mississippi River.

Reuters - New Orleans could take three to five years to regain its population of nearly half a million before Hurricane Katrina, Mayor Ray Nagin said on Sunday, in a more optimistic view than some predictions the historic jazz city may never fully recover.

AP - Barry Cowsill, a member of the popular 1960s singing family The Cowsills, was found dead on a wharf nearly four months after he disappeared when Hurricane Katrina flooded the city. He was 51.

USATODAY.com - For President Bush, 2005 was a year of growing public impatience with the Iraq war, angst over gas prices, devastation from Hurricane Katrina, the collapse of his Social Security plan and a firestorm over domestic spying. Now he faces a challenge that's upended the best-laid plans of his predecessors. His sixth year in office.

AP - Hurricane Katrina evacuees around the nation who faced a Jan. 7 deadline for checking out of their government-funded hotel rooms have received a reprieve: Federal officials will keep paying for the rooms beyond that date as they iron out issues arising from a class-action lawsuit.

AP - It's lunchtime and Elvira and Nick are having a quick bite, then it's back to an afternoon of swimming in their big glass house on the Mississippi River.

Reuters - New Orleans could take three to five years to regain its population of nearly half a million before Hurricane Katrina, Mayor Ray Nagin said on Sunday, in a more optimistic view than some predictions the historic jazz city may never fully recover.

AP - Since Hurricane Katrina, Jolie Bonck been living in a FEMA trailer in front of her flood-wrecked house. But on Friday, she will lead a raucous streetcar party to celebrate Twelfth Night, the start of the Carnival season leading up to Mardi Gras.

AP - Tropical Storm Zeta kept its strength Thursday in the eastern Atlantic and could break the record for lasting the longest into January since record keeping began in 1851.

USATODAY.com - For President Bush, 2005 was a year of growing public impatience with the Iraq war, angst over gas prices, devastation from Hurricane Katrina, the collapse of his Social Security plan and a firestorm over domestic spying. Now he faces a challenge that's upended the best-laid plans of his predecessors. His sixth year in office.