Annotations for Subject-headings: Disaster Relief

In the San Antonio federal court, former Texas Congressman Albert Bustamante has been found guilty on two counts of racketeering and using his office to obtain an illegal gratuity. Bustamante, who represented a South Texas district for seven years was acquitted on eight other counts. Migrant worker advocates say farm workers in the Midwest are being left out of the aid effort in that flood-devastated region.

They are viewed as nomads. They're viewed as people who are here to today and gone tomorrow, so it's much easier to focus FEMA funds, for example, on the severe loss that a farmer with 600 acres and millions of dollars worth of crops standing underwater. You can actually see the damage.

Bobbi Ryder is the director of the National Migrant Resource Center in Austin, Texas. The floods have left hundreds of farm workers without work in several Midwestern states. You're listening to Latino USA.

The highest ranking Latina in the Clinton administration, White House aide Regina Montoya is leaving her position. From Washington, Franc Contreras has more.

Since January when Montoya was selected as White House liaison for intergovernmental affairs and made responsible for communications with state and local governments, she has made a regular commute between Washington and her home, Dallas. Just before Montoya announced her decision to leave, the Clinton administration named her husband Paul Coggins, US attorney for Northern Texas that Montoya said, helped finalize her decision to return to her home state and resume work as a private sector lawyer. During her time in Washington, Montoya's office had come under criticism and in May there were speculations she would be replaced, but White House officials corrected that and since then she's been praised for her role in flood relief efforts. I'm Franc Contreras in Washington.

Yesterday, in the morning, if you walked by downtown, you could see little ashes coming.

A large part of Southern California, which has seen its share of troubles in recent years, has been declared a federal disaster area, following a series of destructive fires which have caused billions of dollars in damages. The fires have been concentrated in the areas not heavily populated by Latinos, but according to Róger Lindo of La Opinion Newspaper in Los Angeles, the disaster's economic effects will be felt by all Californians for a long time to come.

It will have an impact. I mean, the state has to stress all its emergency capacities. This is a loss of property. This is a loss of resources for the state, for this part of the state.

Róger Lindo of La Opinion Newspaper in Los Angeles. From Austin, Texas, this is news from Latino USA.