Some good news.

It looks like the death toll in New Orleans won't near the 10,000 figure predicted by the mayor and others. While no count exists yet, NOLA homeland security chief Terry Ebbert says, "Numbers so far are relatively minor as compared to the dire projections of 10,000."

And: Al Gore, activated by a request from a neurosurgeon who operated on the former VP's son after a car accident in 1989, airlifted 270 people from New Orleans on September 1. By using his influence to cut through red tape, and paying $50,000 for each of the flights, sick patients from Charity Hospital were evacuated to Knoxville.