Jackson, Mississippi's Clarion-Ledger newspaper concluded, after obtaining an email the Justice Department sent to various U.S. attorneys' offices, that "federal officials appear to be seeking proof to blame the flood of New Orleans on environmental groups." The email read, in part, "Has your district defended any cases on behalf of the (U.S.) Army Corps of Engineers against claims brought by environmental groups seeking to block or otherwise impede the Corps work on the levees protecting New Orleans?" A Justice Department spokesperson refused to comment, "because it's an internal e-mail." In related news, Senator James Inhofe introduced a bill that would allow Environmental Protection Agency administrator Stephen L. Johnson to "suspend any law governing air, water or land in responding to Hurricane Katrina." Environmental groups are concerned the measure could be applied broadly and inappropriately; "Mr. Bush has declared 41 states disaster areas as a result of the storm."

California's November 8 elections on "several controversial propositions" dealing with state redistricting, the school system, budget and drug prices "could be one of the biggest political scrapes of the year, involving $125 million in ad spending," reports Advertising Age. Supporters of Proposition 79, which would require pharmaceutical companies to reduce drug costs for lower-income patients, have hired former Howard Dean adviser Joe Trippi "to launch a grassroots, viral Internet campaign." Pharmaceutical companies are countering with Proposition 78, which would establish a "voluntary system of drug discounts." Their $75 million campaign for Prop. 78 includes television ads claiming that Prop. 79 would create "a costly new bureaucracy." Union groups have raised nearly $50 million to fight two other measures, Prop. 74 and Prop. 75, which would make it easier to fire new teachers and would restrict union spending on politics, respectively.