Nation briefs 4/2/06

Hundreds rally for Louisiana voters

NEW ORLEANS -- The Revs. Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton led hundreds of protesters Saturday, demanding the right of all displaced residents to vote after Hurricane Katrina. Fewer than half of the city's 460,000 residents have returned. Jackson and other activists are demanding satellite polling places for displaced voters in cities outside New Orleans, and even outside Louisiana. The system set up for the April 22 election for mayor and other city positions makes it difficult for displaced voters to cast a ballot, Jackson and other activists said.

Strong storms leave one dead in North Dakota

Heavy rain that fell in the Grand Forks, N.D., region Thursday closed at least 35 bridges and more than 25 county roads in Richland County, south of Fargo, said county engineer Tim Schulte. The National Weather Service predicts major flooding at Grand Forks, saying the Red River could rise to about 47 feet there by next Friday. One woman died in a water-filled ditch, where she apparently fell while trying to walk home after her car stalled on a flooded road, authorities said. The rain was part of a line of damaging thunderstorms that rolled across the middle of the nation with large hail and tornadoes. The severe weather reached Indiana on Friday. Tornadoes touched down in northwestern Ohio and in central Indiana. The twisters damaged homes and businesses, but caused no serious injuries.

Border volunteers kick off return engagement

THREE POINTS, Ariz. -- Minuteman volunteers concerned over the continued flow of illegal immigrants across the border from Mexico gathered Saturday with lawn chairs, binoculars and cell phones for a new monthlong campaign aimed at raising public awareness of the issue. A year after their first watch-and-report operation along the border in southeastern Arizona, members of the Minuteman Civil Defense Corps embarked on a much larger effort in the busy migrant-smuggling corridor. Each month, thousands cross into Arizona. So far this fiscal year, which began Oct. 1, agents have caught more than 48,000 illegal immigrants in the area staked out this weekend, up 53 percent from the same period a year earlier. The group says it plans similar exercises along the border in California, New Mexico and Texas, and along the Canadian border in Washington, New Hampshire, Vermont and New York state.

-- From wire reports