Thousands of hurricane-weary residents joined with rowdy visitors for Fat Tuesday, taking a break from rebuilding New Orleans to put on wild costumes and celebrate the second Mardi Gras since Hurricane Katrina.

By Peter Henderson NEW ORLEANS (Reuters) - Alabama native Sarah Jane Keith, 30, stopped on a desolate street of the New Orleans Lower Ninth Ward where porches had teemed with neighbors a year ago, before Hurricane Katrina. "I stood in the middle of the street and screamed. I cried.

By Ja'Rena Lunsford, The Daily Oklahoman Feb. 28--It's not the Big Easy, but Oklahoma City still will be draped in beads today as restaurants and patrons celebrate Mardi Gras.

Hundreds of thousands of costumed revelers shouted for beads and danced in the streets on Tuesday as New Orleans bid the blues goodbye, at least for a day, to close the first Mardi Gras season after Hurricane Katrina devastated the city.

By RUKMINI CALLIMACHI NEW ORLEANS - Sunshine and