<p>Despite official calls following the 1993 floods along the Mississippi to remove development from flood plains, more housing and retail developments continue to be built along vulnerable areas.</p>
<p>Rising temperatures, shrinking ice packs and the salinization of coastal fresh water sources are all contributing to a growing water crisis in the United States.</p>
<p>Congressional leaders are preparing to propose dramatic new federal initiatives to help homeowners squeezed by the mortgage crisis. Most Republicans -- and the White House -- remain unconvinced that a federal role is appropriate.</p>
<p>While housing markets in the rest of the country reel from the mortgage crisis, Irvine, the city that was once home to 18 subprime lenders, is seeing its local economy suffer as the effects of high profile bankruptcies ripples to other businesses.</p>
