WASHINGTON, Sept 1 (Reuters) - The Washington Post included the following items on its front page on Monday. Reuters has not verified these stories and does not vouch for their accuracy.

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NEW ORLEANS - Hurricane Gustav smashed into Louisiana's Gulf Coast, unleashing torrential rains and 110-mph winds that sent waves of water splashing over this city's levees. But early indications were that the weakened storm caused far less damage than originally feared, and New Orleans appeared to have avoided a disaster on the scale of Hurricane Katrina three years ago.

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NEW ORLEANS - The Big Easy became the Big Empty -- few people and no floodwater, hardly, given expectations. Man, was it strange. Strings of Mardi Gras beads from parties past flapped like pennants from shredded awnings during Hurricane Gustav. But it was a good strange.

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WASHINGTON - Hard economic times are driving some people to take actions that could jeopardize their futures. With home equity lines of credit and other types of loans harder to get, employees are increasingly raiding their retirement plans to take care of immediate needs such as paying down debt and medical bills, staving off foreclosure, or simply covering higher food and fuel prices.

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ST. PAUL, Minn. - Republicans opened their scaled-down national convention with calls for aid and compassion as Hurricane Gustav smashed into the Gulf Coast, but even before the gavel had come down to begin the proceedings, they were met with another jarring distraction, as the party's presumptive vice presidential nominee announced that her 17-year-old daughter is five months pregnant.

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ST. PAUL, Minn. - Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin employed a lobbying firm to secure almost $27 million in federal earmarks for a town of 6,700 residents while she was its mayor, according to an analysis by an independent government watchdog.

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