http://www.freerepublic.com/tag/neworleans/ en-us Wed, 27 Aug 2008 12:28:02 GMT Focus Forum 15 http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2068989/posts Louisiana, Mississippi keeping eye on Gustav NEW ORLEANS -- As Friday's third anniversary of Hurricane Katrina approaches, officials in Louisiana and Mississippi are keeping an eye on a storm named Gustav. The storm was downgraded from a hurricane to a tropical storm after moving over Haiti but forecasters expect it to regain strength and move into the Gulf of Mexico in a few days. Long-range forecasts say the storm could be a major hurricane threatening the central Gulf Coast by Monday. In New Orleans, where thousands were stranded after Katrina hit and flooded most of the city, officials are making... KATC http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2068989/posts#comment Wed, 27 Aug 2008 12:28:02 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2069144/posts Gustav aside, preparations for the annual Southern Decadence party are underway today in the French Quarter. It is the first day of the five-day Southern Decadence celebration in New Orleans' French Quarter. The Greater New Orleans Convention and Visitors Bureau calls it a long weekend of parties, parades and gay pride, as well as one of the oldest and largest gatherings of gays in the country. This is the 37th Southern Decadence in New Orleans. Each year there are protests of the event, which this year is promoting attractions like "the most amazing group of porn stars ever assembled for... WWL.com http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2069144/posts#comment Wed, 27 Aug 2008 16:23:43 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2068760/posts NEW ORLEANS – It looks like history is repeating itself in the Big Easy: People have forgotten what happened after the last hurricane, four decades ago, that caused catastrophic flooding and again believe the federal government is constructing a levee system that will protect them. In a yearlong review of levee work, The Associated Press tracked a pattern of public misperception, political jockeying and legal fighting, along with economic and engineering miscalculations, that threaten to make New Orleans the scene of another devastating flood. Interviews with a variety of officials confirmed that many have not learned from mistakes made after... http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2068760/posts#comment Wed, 27 Aug 2008 01:30:27 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2068282/posts It was way back in 1897 that 8-year-old Virginia O'Hanlon wrote a letter to The New York Sun asking an editor there if it was true, as her friends said, that Santa Claus didn't exist. If she were around today, addressing newspaper writers with her trademark naiveté, one imagines that she'd be asking if it's true that scandal is to New Orleans what Santa is to the North Pole. "Please tell me the truth," she would write, "Is New Orleans as bad as everyone says it is? Is it the worst place around?" Unlike Francis P. Church, the Sun editor... The (New Orleans) Times-Picayune http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2068282/posts#comment Tue, 26 Aug 2008 14:01:41 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2068011/posts Lies about the levee's in New Orleans! watching the DNC convention http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2068011/posts#comment Tue, 26 Aug 2008 01:11:51 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2067620/posts On one of his frequent visits to New Orleans, federal recovery coordinator Douglas O'Dell delivered a bruising critique of the Nagin administration on Thursday, saying "there is growing frustration" in Washington with the speed, efficiency and competence of City Hall's efforts to manage the local recovery after Hurricane Katrina. O'Dell, who consults with dozens of federal, state and local agencies and troubleshoots regulatory logjams, said Mayor Ray Nagin's recovery director, Ed Blakely, often does not return his calls and seems to be operating under the premise -- erroneous, O'Dell thinks -- that a new presidential administration next year "will reload... The (New Orleans) Times-Picayune http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2067620/posts#comment Mon, 25 Aug 2008 15:37:44 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2066882/posts NEW ORLEANS - Signs are emerging that history is repeating itself in the Big Easy, MSNBC http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2066882/posts#comment Sat, 23 Aug 2008 22:57:09 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2066539/posts New Orleans has a far greater proportion of vacant homes than any other city in the country, due in large part to a lagging recovery in about a third of the neighborhoods that were badly damaged by Hurricane Katrina, new analyses show. The nonprofit Greater New Orleans Community Data Center released two reports Thursday, one of which used U.S. Postal Service data compiled in March to compare New Orleans with seven other American cities that have large inventories of blighted or vacant housing. When it comes to abandoned homes, New Orleans is in a class by itself, the report indicated,... The Times Picayune http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2066539/posts#comment Sat, 23 Aug 2008 04:18:32 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2065391/posts Was it self defense, or a danger to the community? It's a question many residents in the Faubourg St. John area are now asking after a recent shooting left bullet casings up and down their neighborhood block. Video: Watch the Story On Sunday, around 10:30 p.m., New Orleans Police Department officers say two hooded men robbed an employee of the Soprano's Meat Market at gun point at 2703 Ursulines Avenue. Store owner and brother of the employee, Rick Abraham, says surveillance video captured the entire incident. "They robbed him, beat him with the gun, threw him on the floor, and... wwltv.com http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2065391/posts#comment Thu, 21 Aug 2008 12:08:41 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2065219/posts Today President Bush traveled to Orlando, Florida to speak to the Veterans of Foreign Wars National Convention. Unlike the whiney messiah who spoke to the VFW yesterday, President Bush didn’t hesitate to thank those have served and defended America in time of war. (Transcript) I know you share with me a deep love for America and an awesome pride in those who defend her. When I meet with our troops, they always inspire me with their sense of duty and honor.They are America's finest citizens. (Applause.) The President also spoke about the situation in Georgia, reinforcing the United States’ solidarity... WhiteHouse.gov & other sources http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2065219/posts#comment Thu, 21 Aug 2008 00:51:20 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2062099/posts NEW ORLEANS (Reuters) - Ask the man assigned to combat corruption and bureaucracy in New Orleans how the fight is going and he will tell you about his telephone problems. "I started last September and they only switched my phone lines on two weeks ago," said Robert Cerasoli, New Orleans' first-ever Inspector General in a recent interview. "Everything has been a battle since, everything has been a fight." < > "This is Louisiana," Cerasoli said with a shrug. < > Reuters http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2062099/posts#comment Fri, 15 Aug 2008 00:12:45 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2062045/posts The state attorney general has opened an investigation into possible criminal wrongdoing by Mandeville Mayor Eddie Price and other city officials after St. Tammany District Attorney Walter Reed recused himself from the case. A report released earlier this week by the Louisiana Legislative Auditor found that Price accepted lavish gifts, including golfing trips to Pebble Beach, from companies that do business with the city. The Times-Picayune http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2062045/posts#comment Thu, 14 Aug 2008 22:49:47 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2061883/posts NEW ORLEANS — The citizens of this scarred city have grown accustomed to promises of grand official projects that will infallibly transform life here but somehow never do. Their attention is diminishing. But not in the case of Karen Gadbois. She jumps in her car and checks up on the promises, driving for hours across the city, then blogs about the results on her kitchen table while her dogs yap around her. A few months ago, she discovered a city renovation program that was not actually fixing up houses. That activism might normally go down as well-meaning naïveté. Here though,... nytimes http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2061883/posts#comment Thu, 14 Aug 2008 18:05:36 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2061721/posts Murder and attempted murder charges against seven New Orleans police officers, accused of shooting unarmed civilians on the Danziger Bridge after Hurricane Katrina, were tossed out by Criminal District Court Judge Raymond Bigelow, who concluded that an Orleans Parish prosecutor tainted the secrecy of the grand jury process by showing a piece of testimony to another officer. "The violation is clear, and indeed, uncontroverted. The state improperly disclosed grand jury testimony to another police officer," Bigelow said, reading his ruling from the bench. The judge also dealt a blow to the prosecution on two other pending defense challenges to the... Nola.com http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2061721/posts#comment Thu, 14 Aug 2008 13:14:45 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2061115/posts Federal investigators collected documents Monday from the shuttered New Orleans Affordable Homeownership Corp., the city-chartered and city-financed nonprofit that ran a home-remediation program in 2006 and 2007. Officials arrived just before 10 a.m. at the agency's Poydras Street offices, on the 10th floor of the Amoco building. They declined to speak in detail to a reporter. "We're guests" at the office, one of them said. The (New Orleans) Times-Picayune http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2061115/posts#comment Wed, 13 Aug 2008 13:49:29 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2060307/posts Federal investigators this morning began examining documents in the Poydras Street offices of the shuttered New Orleans Affordable Homeownership Corporation, a nonprofit supervised and financed by Mayor Ray Nagin's administration that ran a home remediation program in 2006 and 2007. Officials arriving just before 10 a.m. at NOAH offices near City Hall, on the 10th floor of an office building at 1340 Poydras Street, declined to speak in detail to a reporter, as one of them said simply that "we're guests" at the offices. But they appeared to be carrying out a subpoena issued last week as part of a... The Times Picayune http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2060307/posts#comment Tue, 12 Aug 2008 03:11:05 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2058320/posts Mayor Ray Nagin told the City Council this morning that the city has found 90 properties where storm remediation work that was supposed to be conducted by taxpayer-financed contractors was not done. Nagin said his staff visited all 870 properties enrolled in a now-defunct home remediation program run by the nonprofit New Orleans Affordable Homeownership Corp. Of the 90 properties where "discrepancies" were found, contractors involved with the program billed the city for work on 46. The city has notified those contractors of the problems and asked for reimbursement or documentation of work, Nagin said. While Nagin acknowledged that his... The Times Picayune http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2058320/posts#comment Thu, 7 Aug 2008 23:51:21 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2057878/posts A 31-year-old woman was shot when she tried to flee an armed robbery attempt Tuesday night in Mid-City, police said. The woman was shot in the chest, but the wound apparently was not life-threatening, police said. The Times Picayune http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2057878/posts#comment Thu, 7 Aug 2008 06:23:08 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-bloggers/2056734/posts Dollar Bill Jefferson who allegedly had $90,000 of bribe money in cold hard cash in his freezer was confronted by Hot Air and the YAF. All the interviewer wanted to know was which product Dollar Bill preferred ZipLock or Hefty Bags. Jefferson has no sense of humor. Stuck On Stupid http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-bloggers/2056734/posts#comment Tue, 5 Aug 2008 12:33:44 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2055646/posts ZCZC MIATWOAT ALL TTAA00 KNHC DDHHMM TROPICAL WEATHER OUTLOOK NWS TPC/NATIONAL HURRICANE CENTER MIAMI FL 200 AM EDT SUN AUG 3 2008 FOR THE NORTH ATLANTIC...CARIBBEAN SEA AND THE GULF OF MEXICO... 1. A SURFACE TROUGH OF LOW PRESSURE ACCOMPANIED BY SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS IS LOCATED IN THE NORTH-CENTRAL GULF OF MEXICO. SURFACE PRESSURES ARE FALLING IN THE AREA...AND ENVIRONMENTAL CONDITIONS APPEAR TO BE FAVORABLE FOR SLOW DEVELOPMENT. THIS SYSTEM COULD BECOME A TROPICAL DEPRESSION DURING THE NEXT COUPLE OF DAYS AS IT MOVES SLOWLY TO THE WEST OR WEST-SOUTHWEST. A RECONNAISSANCE PLANE WILL INVESTIGATE THE AREA THIS AFTERNOON...IF... National Hurricane Center http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2055646/posts#comment Sun, 3 Aug 2008 07:03:42 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2052444/posts State Sen. Derrick Shepherd was released early Sunday morning after being arrested Saturday night, accused of punching his ex-girlfriend and stealing her cell phone and $100, the Jefferson Parish Sheriff's Office reported. Shepherd, D-Marrero, was arrested Saturday about 6:45 p.m. and booked with unauthorized entry of an inhabited dwelling, simple battery and theft of more than $500. Speaking to reporters after his release from the Jefferson Parish Correctional Facility, Shepherd said his mother and sister had been threatened, and he tried to take action on his own instead of calling police. He did not detail the nature of the alleged... The (New Orleans) Times-Picayune http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2052444/posts#comment Mon, 28 Jul 2008 13:17:20 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2050922/posts NEW ORLEANS, LA – A 35-year veteran police officer with the New Orleans Police Department was suspended, with only 15 minutes left on his last shift, for wearing the wrong uniform shirt. Sergeant Bobby Guidry was moving his personal belongings from his office to his car when he was informed by a supervisor that the older, powder-blue uniform shirt he was wearing was out of regulation. The department had recently changed from the powder-blue shirts to an unpopular all-black uniform following Hurricane Katrina. Superintendent Warren Riley, who has defended Sergeant Guidry’s suspension, says there are plans to switch back to... Police Link http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2050922/posts#comment Fri, 25 Jul 2008 01:17:12 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2049887/posts After an investigation by Eyewitness News on New Orleans Affordable Homeownership program -- NOAH -- Mayor Nagin held a press conference in response, calling the story “biased and inaccurate” and saying that the story is hurting the recovery effort. On Tuesday, one by one, the Nagin administration discounted a 4 Investigates report from the previous night that highlighted properties NOAH had claimed to remediate more than a year after Hurricane Katrina. The investigation which aired Monday evening used three separate sets of documents obtained in records requests from NOAH that showed properties that didn't appear to qualify for the program.... wwltv.com http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2049887/posts#comment Wed, 23 Jul 2008 12:38:30 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2047431/posts Pelosi to lead group to assess storm recovery WASHINGTON -- A U.S. House delegation, led by its three top Democratic leaders, plans to view levees and tour communities in the 9th Ward, Lakeview and St. Bernard Parish as part of a fact-finding visit this weekend to evaluate progress as the third anniversary of Hurricane Katrina nears. The delegation, led by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Majority Leader Steny Hoyer and Majority Whip James Clyburn, is expected to arrive Saturday in New Orleans and participate in a bus tour. Afterward, the representatives will travel to Baton Rouge for a meeting with some... nola.com http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2047431/posts#comment Fri, 18 Jul 2008 12:34:49 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2044923/posts Census Bureau says New Orleans is the fastest-growing large city in the nation, recovering from being wiped out by Hurricane Katrina. NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- After being pummeled by Hurricane Katrina in 2005, New Orleans is showing signs of recovery - ranking as the fastest-growing large city in the nation, according to a government report released Thursday. The Census Bureau said New Orleans' population rose 13.8%, to 239,124, in the year ended July 1, 2007. That was a faster growth rate than any other city with a population of 100,000 or more. CNN Money http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2044923/posts#comment Sun, 13 Jul 2008 22:30:10 GMT