The Lee County Red Cross opened a shelter on Saturday to house those citizens fleeing Category 2 Hurricane Gustav. The Covington Recreation Center located at 213 Carver Avenue in Opelika, open as a disaster relief shelter, is housing about 60 guests.

Maurisha Gaiter is sending 11-year-old Maurisha and 14-year-old Sakiijdra into some of the state’s wealthiest suburbs to join hundreds and possibly thousands of other Chicago students in protesting an unequal system for funding schools.

The Army Corps of Engineers says the federal flood protection system that protects New Orleans should hold up as Hurricane Gustav hits west of the city. Spokesman Rene Poche said Monday the Corps doesn’t expect any storm surge flooding.

A man with a bra draped over his head danced into the night as waves churned up by Hurricane Gustav lashed the beach just yards away. Welcome to what passes for hurricane preparation at the Flora-Bama Lounge. ‘Twas the Sunday night before Gustav, and the place was rocking.

Alabama’s port city woke up to tornado sirens Monday as rain and strong winds from Hurricane Gustav forced road closings due to flooding in coastal Mobile County. There was no flooding in downtown Mobile, which was quiet with little traffic.

A weakened Hurricane Gustav closed in on flood-prone coastal Louisiana Monday, bringing punishing wind and sheets of rain. As a nervous nation watched to see if Gustav would deliver another Katrina-style hit on the partially rebuilt city.

The U.S. military handed over control of once brutally violent Anbar province to Iraqi forces Monday — marking a major milestone in America’s plan to eventually send its troops home. But American officials warned that the struggle against al-Qaida in Iraq and other insurgents was not over in the western region.

Russia’s conflict with Georgia and recognition of its small breakaway territories as independent states may have broad repercussions for separatist movements in the former Soviet sphere and around the world. The crisis could give a jolt of energy to other breakaway regions, especially those with links to Russia.

John McCain tore up the script for his Republican National Convention on Sunday, ordering the cancellation of all but essential opening-day activities as Hurricane Gustav churned toward New Orleans. “This is a time when we have to do away with our party politics and we have to act as Americans,” he said.

PERDIDO KEY, Fla. - A man with a bra draped over his head danced into the night as waves churned up by Hurricane Gustav lashed the beach just yards away.

NEW ORLEANS - Hurricane Gustav steamed toward the Louisiana coast early Monday on track to hit west of New Orleans as the few remaining in the city watched nervously and hoped levees only partly reinforced in the three years since Katrina would hold.

MONTGOMERY, Ala. - Alabama’s community colleges are serving another purpose and sheltering people who are getting away from Hurricane Gustav.

MONTGOMERY, Ala. - Governor Bob Riley says President Bush has approved his request for disaster assistance in response to Hurricane Gustav.

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The Lee County Chapter of the Red Cross opened the county’s first disaster relief shelter at Covington Recreation Center on Carver Avenue in Opelika noon Sunday in preparation for evacuees from Hurricane Gustav.

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The death of an Opelika woman found floating in her pool Friday is being treated as accidental, according to a statement released by Lee County Coroner Bill Harris.

24 hour of Hurricane Gustav from our partner station in Mobile, Ala.

HOUSTON —Royal Dutch Shell, BP and other oil companies wrapped up evacuations and shut down production Saturday as an intensifying Hurricane Gustav churned toward the petroleum-rich waters of the Gulf of Mexico.

MOBILE, Ala. - Alabama Gov. Bob Riley has issued a mandatory evacuation order for some coastal areas of Mobile and Baldwin counties, effective at 7 a.m., in response to Hurricane Gustav.

HAVANA - Hurricane Gustav roared into the oil-rich Gulf of Mexico on Sunday after destroying homes and roads in Cuba, and the mayor of New Orleans ordered residents to flee the “storm of the century” by morning.
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The 22nd season of The Arts Association of East Alabama Performance Series features a number of familiar faces, as well as two long-anticipated Broadway musical smash hits.

Auburn’s spending for the next two years will be decided at the Auburn City Council meeting Wednesday.

NEW ORLEANS—Spooked by predictions that Hurricane Gustav could grow into a Category 5 monster, an estimated 1 million residents fled the Gulf Coast Saturday - ahead of the official order to get out of the way of a storm taking dead aim at Louisiana.
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The storm is likely to change the course of the Republican convention scheduled to open Monday in St. Paul.

Gov. Bob Riley says coastal Alabama residents should be aware of Hurricane Gustav’s track and have an evacuation plan ready if the powerful storm shifts to the east, increasing increase its threat to the state.

Recently elected Lafayette City Councilman Toney Ben Thomas bonded out of jail, according to Srg. Teddy Hancock at the Chambers County Jail.

WASHINGTON - President Bush, confronted with the prospect of a second monster hurricane striking the still-battered Gulf Coast, checked in with governors and federal officials Saturday to make sure Washington was doing all it can.

MOBILE, Ala. - Alabama Gov. Bob Riley says no evacuation order is planned for now but Hurricane Gustav could change course before making landfall.

HAVANA - Gustav swelled into a fearsome Category 4 hurricane with winds of 145 mph (235 kph) on Saturday as Cuba raced to evacuate more than 240,000 people and Americans to the north clogged highways fleeing New Orleans.
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