Restoration of No. 1 trains to South Ferry would leave just a single section of the subway system out of service because of storm damage, the A train between Howard Beach and Rockaway Park.

WSJ: Downtown, Old Stop on Subway to Reopen

Those are the kind of household items that Howard and Gloria Griffith said they could have used since the storm and still need.

CNN: Supplies for Katrina victims went to Mississippi agencies

These storm-clouds aside, one unsung success of the Howard years has been its willingness to take up the burden of the South Pacific, a collection of dysfunctional island nations that no one else wants to grapple with.

ECONOMIST: The reluctant deputy sheriff