Saturday, May 27, 2006

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. — In these last days before the June 1 start of hurricane season, forecasters and disaster-response planners are coming to the dispiriting conclusion that few lessons were learned last year from Katrina, Rita and Wilma. ... Most city, state and federal emergency management authorities still can't communicate by phone or radio in a crisis because a $2-billion special outlay for "interoperability" is mired in legislative wrangling or being spent without federal coordination.