NEW ORLEANS- On the two-year anniversary of Hurricane Katrina's rampage through the Gulf Coast, the White House trumpeted how much money the federal government has poured into the devastated region in just two years: $114 billion.

Factor tax relief into the equation and the number jumps to $127 billion. That enormous sum comes close to matching the gross domestic product for the entire state of Louisiana. (Louisiana's GDP is $141 billion, according to the U.S. Department of Commerce.)

AMES and DES MOINES, Iowa-On a sweltering August afternoon in Des Moines, thousands of sweaty carnival-goers creep along the scorching blacktop at the Iowa State Fair. Some stand in line for deep-fried Twinkies or a giant sausage on a stick, while others file past a life-size cow sculpted out of 600 pounds of pure cream Iowa butter.

For Margaret Beale, returning to school this fall is different. Just last spring, the rising junior from South Boston, Va., wasn't sure she would return to Virginia Tech at all. Beale, a 21-year-old history major, walked into Hancock Hall on April 16 around the same time Cho Seung-Hui entered Norris Hall next door. Less than an hour later, Cho's vicious rampage had left 33 dead and 25 injured in the deadliest shooting spree in U.S. history.

In the early morning, nearly 12 hours after an eight-lane Minneapolis bridge packed with rush-hour traffic collapsed into the Mississippi River, Sam Crabtree walked to the surreal scene from his home a half-mile away. The sky was clear and the water looked calm. "It's a beautiful summer morning here," he told WORLD a few hours later from his office at nearby Bethlehem Baptist Church. "But the smell of death is in the air."

Just off Pennsylvania Avenue, small groups of workers stand in line for lunch at a 24-hour Burger King and sip triple lattes at a nearby coffee shop. After work, they might catch a movie at a local theater or check out the latest iPod accessories at a nearby electronics store.

But these aren't White House workers, and this Pennsylvania Avenue isn't in Washington, D.C. Instead, these workers are U.S. troops and Iraqi civilians, and this arid road runs through the largest U.S. military base in Iraq.

CHARLESTON, S.C.-In an open-air quad in the gleaming-white barracks at The Citadel military college in Charleston, S.C., cadet Ivan Rodriguez is demonstrating a proper march. Five freshmen cadets stand at attention, fixing their gaze on Rodriguez, a junior from Texas in a crisp summer uniform and pristine white gloves. Rodriguez makes precise turns around the quad's red-and-white-checkered floor, tracing the same steps that Citadel cadets have learned for nearly 165 years.

In the early morning, nearly 12 hours after an eight-lane Minneapolis bridge packed with rush-hour traffic collapsed into the Mississippi River, Sam Crabtree walked to the surreal scene from his home a half-mile away. The sky was clear and the water looked calm. "It's a beautiful summer morning here," he told WORLD a few hours later from his office at nearby Bethlehem Baptist Church. "But the smell of death is in the air."