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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...

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.

Run with it, roll with itNew York's centuries-old history as the gateway to America's melting pot has given it a certain multicultural cachet, but the fact that New Orleans culture is built on a melange of cultural flavors is often overlooked. In addition to the French architecture and language, Cajun food and the endless cultural festivals that fill the calendar, New Orleans now brings you a little taste of Spain, too.NOLA Bulls, the organization behind San Fermin in Nueva Orleans, a tip of the hat to the bull run in Pamplona, Spain, is the brainchild of Mickey "El Padrino" Hanning....

New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin refutes the findings of the latest UNO Quality of Life Study that show his approval rating has declined from 40 percent to 31 percent. "I think UNO needs a little more money in its budget. The sample size was pretty small, as well as, the margin of error was at 10 percent in Orleans Parish, which is unusual for somebody trying to assess the approval rating of a political leader. Nobody does that," said Nagin in an exclusive interview with Rush Radio 99.5 WRNO. According to the UNO poll, 49 percent of black respondents approve...

Here is video of police seizing guns from citizens of New Orleans after Katrina. While looters ran wild, cops were seizing guns from law abiding citizens. This video is unbelievable and really must be seen.

Fleeing from St. Charles Parish authorities, a River Ridge man drove a stolen Jefferson Parish Sheriff's Office squad car into the Mississippi River early Sunday, according to both law enforcement agencies. David Mitchell Jr., 22, of River Ridge managed to get out of the car as it started to sink about 30 yards from the river bank, said Capt. Patrick Yoes of the St. Charles Parish Sheriff's Office. A towboat operator dragged Mitchell aboard after he struggled in the current for some time. The incident started in Metairie at about 6:10 a.m., when a Jefferson Parish sheriff's deputy, after investigating...

Hurdles of language, mistrust addressed: A burgeoning Hispanic population has helped rebuild New Orleans during the past two and a half years. Now officials are coming to grips with the challenge of moving and finding safe refuge for that population should another hurricane threaten. Since Hurricane Katrina, as many as 14,000 Hispanic immigrants have arrived in New Orleans to provide muscle and skills for the recovery effort. Now civic groups as well as government officials say overcoming cultural and language barriers between emergency officials and Spanish speakers -- especially the undocumented -- has taken on new urgency.

Another alleged Democrat Party felon is trying to hold on to any power he has left in Washington. New Orleans congressman William Jefferson(D-New Orleans) who is facing trial on federal corruption charges will seek re-election to a 10th term. In a news release on Tuesday, Democrat William Jefferson touted his experience and portrayed himself as a person who still has power in Congress despite his indictment in the corruption case.

Relatives of a U.S. congressman indicted on charges of bribery, fraud, and racketeering, have been charged with using charities for personal financial gain, reports the Associated Press The sister, brother, and niece of U.S. Representative William Jefferson, a Democrat from Louisiana, have been charged with conspiracy and fraud. Mr. Jefferson’s sister, Betty Jefferson, an elected New Orleans property-tax assessor; his brother Mose Jefferson; and Betty Jefferson’s daughter, Angela Coleman, are accused of stealing as much $620,000 from charities that were supposed to benefit poor people. They each face up to more than 200 years in prison. Mr. Jefferson has been...

Excerpt: Friends of New Orleans, a charity formed to help that city recover from the devastation of Hurricane Katrina, is paying for the party, and for a concert with New Orleans-style food at the Fillmore Auditorium afterward for the 6,000 delegates and their guests on Aug. 24, the Sunday before the convention opens.

Excerpt: Friends of New Orleans, a charity formed to help that city recover from the devastation of Hurricane Katrina, is paying for the party, and for a concert with New Orleans-style food at the Fillmore Auditorium afterward for the 6,000 delegates and their guests on Aug. 24, the Sunday before the convention opens.

The New Orleans VooDoo Dolls last Wednesday in Lafayette Square helping to promote the campaign of Helena Moreno, candidate for US Congress in Louisiana’s 2nd District.

During Archbishop Alfred Hughes' first pastoral visit to Our Lady of Good Counsel Church since announcing plans to shut down the 121-year-old Uptown Catholic institution, he tried to calm parishioners' nerves with a joke Saturday afternoon. After exchanging the traditional greeting of "Peace be with you . . . and also with you," Hughes got his broken microphone to work long enough to quip: "The priest made the sign of the cross and said, 'I think something's wrong with the microphone.' To which the congregation dutifully responded, 'And also with you.' " The parishioners at Out Lady of Good Counsel...

NEW ORLEANS - Despite more than $22 million in repairs, a levee that broke with catastrophic effect during Hurricane Katrina is leaking again because of the mushy ground on which New Orleans was built, raising serious questions about the reliability of the city's flood defenses Outside engineering experts who have studied the project told The Associated Press that the type of seepage spotted at the 17th Street Canal in the Lakeview neighborhood afflicts other New Orleans levees, too, and could cause some of them to collapse during a storm. The Army Corps of Engineers has spent about $4 billion so...

As Manu Ginobili dribbled out the final few seconds of the second-round series clincher, Tony Parker walked over and gave him a congratulatory pat on the head. There would be no exuberant celebration for the San Antonio Spurs when the final horn sounded, just a few hugs for a job well done. This playoff-savvy group was exhausted after a seven-game triumph over the younger, upstart New Orleans Hornets, but its title defense endures -- for now. Ginobili scored 26 points, hitting four free throws in the final minute, to send the Spurs to the Western Conference finals with a 91-82...

Mayor Ray Nagin's top aides have charged more than $150,000 to a taxpayer-financed city credit card account over six months, from September to February, most of it on travel, hotels and meals in some of the city's finest eateries. Among the more eye-popping tabs were $3,897 at Morton's Steakhouse in January and $2,800 at the Ray's Over the River nightclub, the most recent city records available show. Both charges were at events intended to foster better relations among the Orleans Parish legislative delegation, the City Council and the Nagin administration, said city communications director Ceeon Quiett, who signed for both...

WASHINGTON - New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin endorsed Barack Obama for president today, giving the Illinois Democrat another superdelegate in his battle for the Democratic nomination. "Since the immediate days following the storm, I have been traveling to our nation's capitol to advocate for policies that aid our rebuilding effort," Nagin said in a statement released by the Obama campaign. "I know first hand, we desperately need the leadership of someone committed to changing the system in Washington that can hold us back from moving forward." Obama said he shares Nagin's commitment to "renewing the great city of New Orleans."...

Nagin Picked As Superdelegate Hasn't said if he will support Obama or Clinton Saturday, May 3, 2008 New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin has been elected a superdelegate to the Democratic Party's presidential nominating convention. The state party's central committee picked Nagin over four other candidates, including Lieutenant Governor Mitch Landrieu, who unsuccessfully challenged Nagin for mayor in 2006. Nagin won 83 votes in voting Saturday, Jerry McKernan of Baton Rouge had 50 and Landrieu had 28. Nagin is one of 11 Louisiana superdelegates who will go to the convention and do not need to pledge their support to a candidate...

4 Investigates: Floodwalls stuffed with newspaper? 11:54 PM CDT on Thursday, April 24, 2008 Lee Zurik / WWL-TV News Anchor "It blows my mind." Those are the words St. Bernard parish president Craig Taffaro used to watch videotape Eyewitness News showed him, of floodwalls built to protect his parish. "That should be criminal," Taffaro continues. What he's talking about was witnessed by a St. Bernard Parish resident whodidn't want to be identified, but did have sharp criticism of the work done by a contractor hired by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. "It's like putting a Band-Aid on the hole...

Mike Reagan just said he wouldn't campaign for John McCain. Michael is disgusted that he would go to New Orleans and condemn the Federal Government for inaction. He also called the people in NOLA who wouldn't step up and accept responsibility losers. He was referring to Nagin and Co. He said McCain is an idiot.

Mexican Consulate New Orleans, Louisiana THE PRESIDENT: Thank you. Sientese por favor. Mr. President, we are sure glad you're here. And thank you for inviting me to be here. Madam Foreign Minister; Consul Garcia Guerra; Ambassador, thanks. Governor; el Alcalde -- Mr. Mayor; Ambassador Garza: I am really glad to be with you on this special occasion. I am pleased that Mexico has chosen to reopen its consulate in New Orleans, and I'm honored to attend. New Orleans has had a long tradition of diplomatic ties with Mexico. In 1824, New Orleans, Louisiana became the first site of the Mexican...

NEW ORLEANS — The Mexican consulate is reopening in New Orleans, six years after the Mexican government, citing budget constraints, closed the consulate to focus on areas with higher concentrations of Mexican tourists and immigrants. The opening is planned for Monday, when President Bush, Mexican President Felipe Calderon and Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper are scheduled to be in the city for the North American Leaders' Summit. Carlos Gonzalez Magallon, Mexico's consul general in Houston, advocated reopening the consulate to protect the rights of Mexicans working in the area. Many immigrant workers moved to the region for the rebuilding effort...

NEW ORLEANS — Less than a week after Guy McEwen was a reluctant witness in a murder trial, he was killed in a barrage of bullets as he ran down a New Orleans street. Assistant Police Superintendent Marlon Defillo declined to speculate Friday if the Thursday night murder was linked to McEwen's appearance as a witness for the prosecution in the murder trial of David Bonds. Bonds was acquitted last week in the death of Dinerral Shavers, a drummer for the Hot 8 Brass Band who also taught high school band.

NEW ORLEANS - Patrick "Deep Dish" Bertoletti looked down at the litter of empty oyster shells in front of him and savored the sweet taste of victory. For Crazy Legs Conti, the bitter taste of defeat could be washed away only by beer. The Acme World Oyster Eating championship belt _ leather, with a silver dish featuring an oyster on the half-shell _ hung on Bertoletti's skinny hips. The 22-year-old Chicago resident took the title Saturday...

NEW ORLEANS — Calling it a “pivotal moment’’ in the 215-year history of the Archdiocese of New Orleans, Archbishop Alfred Hughes said Wednesday that 25 church parishes — 19 of them shuttered since Hurricane Katrina — will close and merge with neighboring congregations by year’s end.The majority of those Catholic parishes are in New Orleans, while a handful are in St. Bernard Parish and one each are in Plaquemines and Jefferson parishes.Hughes also announced that two other church parishes, both in the Jefferson suburb of Kenner, will close and merge by the middle of next year. Four other church parishes...

New Orleans Catholic Archbishop Alfred Hughes today announced the consolidation plan for churches in and around New Orleans. It includes closing dozens of churches. Hughes says, however, only six of those closing have reopened since the storm. He says the other 19 have not operated since [hurricane] Katrina [in 2005]. At those six parishes closing, Hughes says people are being brought in to assist parishioners. "To help them first of all grieve, voice concerns, fears anxieties, hopes." Officials say it's a decision based on economics and fewer people since Katrina. The Archbishop says the number of people attending church is...

The next time you hear a politician use the word 'billion' in a casual manner, think about whether you want the 'politicians' spending YOUR tax money. A billion is a difficult number to comprehend, but one advertising agency did a good job of putting that figure into some perspective in one of its releases. A. A billion seconds ago it was 1959. B. A billion minutes ago Jesus was alive. C. A billion hours ago our ancestors were living in the Stone Age. D. A billion days ago no-one walked on the earth on two feet. E. A billion dollars...

I’m grateful to an article in the National Post on Friday, 28 March, by Colby Cost for bringing this item to my attention. It is about Wal-Mart, but has nothing to do with the legendary business model of that company. Or, does it? As the article recites, shortly before Hurricane Katrina hit New Orleans on 29 August 2005, Lee Scott, CEO of Wal-Mart, send a memorandum to all the regional and store managers in the region about to be hit. His message said: “A lot of you are going to have to make decisions above your level. Make the best...

Hundreds of Indian guest workers rallied in the street Monday. The rally began uptown around 10 a.m. at the Coliseum Square Fountain. According to a press release, 500 workers had filed a class-action anti-racketeering suit against Signal International and various recruiters, including New Orleans attorney Malvern Burnett. The workers, members of the Alliance of Guest Workers for Dignity, filed the lawsuit in federal court in New Orleans late Friday. According to the statement from the workers, about 500 Indian welders and pipefitters were “trafficked” to the Gulf Coast to work for signal, a Northrop Grumman subcontractor. Their complaint alleged that...

Ray Nagin welcomes "V-Day" Founder, Eve Ensler to cityNew Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin says he is "a vagina-friendly Mayor." Nagin made the remark while welcoming the author of the Vagina Monlogues, Eve Ensler to the city to promote the "V-Day" celebration in New Orleans next month. Scheduled to appear during 2 days of educational, cultural and entertainment events at the New Orleans Arena and Louisiana Superdome, are Oprah Winfrey, Jane Fonda, Glenn Close, Salma Hayek, Sally Field, Christina Lahti and Faith Hill. Ensler says they will celebrate V-Day's 10 years of ending violence in the world. Mayor Nagin began his...

Ray Nagin welcomes "V-Day" Founder, Eve Ensler to city Friday, March 7, 2008 New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin says he is "a vagina-friendly Mayor." Nagin made the remark while welcoming the author of the Vagina Monlogues, Eve Ensler to the city to promote the "V-Day" celebration in New Orleans next month.Scheduled to appear during 2 days of educational, cultural and entertainment events at the New Orleans Arena and Louisiana Superdome, are Oprah Winfrey, Jane Fonda, Glenn Close, Salma Hayek, Sally Field, Christina Lahti and Faith Hill. Ensler says they will celebrate V-Day's 10 years of ending violence in the world....

Driving down to Austin lately has become a real trip. I-35 is usually packed for most of the 185 miles, and what used to take three or four hours now can take five or six. Flying down can take almost as long, when you figure in airline security delays, more flight delays, and the time it takes getting into and out of crowded airports. But what if it took 45 minutes to travel from the Metroplex to Austin by train or an hour to make a trip to Houston? Advocates of high-speed rail lines are floating these ideas once again...

GENEVA (AP) — Two human rights experts for the United Nations on Thursday criticized a plan by New Orleans authorities to raze public housing projects, saying it will force the predominantly black residents into homelessness. They charged that demolition would harm thousands of people by denying them a place to live in a city where housing already is scarce since Hurricane Katrina hit in August 2005. The joint statement was not a U.N. finding, but only the individual views of Miloon Kothari, a special investigator on housing matters for the U.N. Human Rights Council, and Gay McDougall, a lawyer who...

A national American-Islamic group is calling on local, state and national law enforcement authorities to investigate an alleged incident in which a Muslim woman was ejected from the Oakwood mall near Gretna for refusing a security guard's demand to remove her headscarf, known as a hijab.

NEW ORLEANS (AP) - Since Hurricane Katrina flooded his home 30 months ago, Donald Collins says, he has fled to an evacuation center, huddled in an abandoned house and lived in a tent outside City Hall. Eventually the former sanitation worker migrated to a downtown underpass where crack sales and clothing donations seem equally common. Mayor Ray Nagin has another stop in mind for Collins and about 200 other people who have been squatting there for months: a military- style barrack that critics say is short on long-term solutions to a homeless epidemic. "I'm not going," Collins, 52, said as...

Robert Green, who became a symbol of suffering and resilience in the Lower 9th Ward after Hurricane Katrina, will be sentenced in federal court Wednesday for his role in a house-flipping scam before the 2005 storm. Green's personal experience when floodwaters poured into his neighborhood through a break in a levee has become emblematic of the misery many others suffered: his home was destroyed and he lost two family members: his 73 year-old mother and a 3 year-old granddaughter. But according to federal prosecutors -- and by his own admission in a guilty plea last spring -- Green used his...

HOUSTON -- In a cramped guard booth on the edge of a community of luxury townhouses, the sense of helplessness that has become so familiar to Gregory Sam since Hurricane Katrina uprooted him from his home town of New Orleans can become all-consuming. "I'm struggling," said Sam, 29, a college graduate who took an $8-an-hour post as a security guard after more than 20 job interviews led to nothing. "I feel like I'm isolated in the country somewhere . . . in a time warp." For the nearly quarter-million people such as Sam who were evacuated to Texas after the...

New Mississippi delta would limit hurricane damage 13:20 18 February 2008 NewScientist.com news service Phil McKenna The proposed diversion would create up to 1000 square kilometres of new delta by 2100 (Image: Science) Diverting parts of the Mississippi would create up to 1000 square kilometres of new wetlands between New Orleans, Louisiana and the Gulf of Mexico, forming a vital storm surge buffer against hurricanes, researchers say. The formation of new delta lands could also help stem ongoing coastal erosion without disrupting important shipping traffic. "The scientific and engineering barriers are easily overcome," says Gary Parker, a geologist and engineer...

I can't find the video of Patricia Konie being slammed to the floor and dragged out of her home after Katrina. Does anyone have a link?

New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin and Police Superintendent Warren Riley on Tuesday used the floor of the Superdome to display more than $1 million in new armament and other equipment, largely for use by the SWAT squad in emergency and riot situations, including a fully equipped mobile command post, two armored cars and modern assault rifles.

MARINE FORCES RESERVE, New Orleans (Jan. 7, 2008) -- Members of a local Mardi Gras organization gave an overview presentation of its group at force theater here Jan. 7. The Zulu Social Aid and Pleasure Club, one of many krewes taking part in Mardi Gras festivities here, talked about parts of its history, gave explanations of characters in its parade, and even gave out trinkets during the hour-long presentation. The krewe, which has over 500 members, started parading in 1909, with only marchers, instead of the elaborate floats of the present day. The krewe’s historian, Clarence A. Becknell, explained many...

NEW ORLEANS - Fed up with crime and political corruption, New Orleans' business leaders in 1952 organized to flush out the twin poisons they believed were harming economic development. It was a time when illegal gambling and the Carlos Marcello crime family operated openly in a city that was a bustling business hub. Fast forward 55 years. Gambling is legal and the mob has faded into obscurity. The city's economy is a shadow of its former self, thanks to the 1980s oil bust, an exodus of big businesses and the shattering blow of Hurricane Katrina, which ran off at least...

Mixed in with the rent-a-rioters who stormed the New Orleans City Council meeting over public housing were a few homegrown thugs who refuse to be weaned from the public teat without a finger-pointing, racial epithet-hurling fight. Case in point: That angry lady in the BDS shirt shouting “I will not be treated like a slave!” and “Back up and Shut up! Shut up, white boy! Shut up, white boy!” at a citizen attending the council hearing. Watch closely and note that there is a child behind her being subjected to her diatribe against the man. She’s your tax dollars at...

You read about that poor, sweet little old welfare lady with the hardwood floors and BIG SCREEN TV forced to live in the slums of New Orleans. But it turns out, she might not be so sweet after all

Ted Jackson / Times-PicayuneSharon Jasper sits in the living room of her voucher-backed private residence. "I might be poor but I don't like to live poor. I thank God for a place to live but it's pitiful what people give you." Sharon Jasper, a former St. Bernard complex resident presented by activists Tuesday as a victim of changing public housing policies, took a moment before the start of the City Hall protest to complain about her subsidized private apartment, which she called a "slum." A HANO voucher covers her rent on a unit in an old Faubourg St. John home,...

Presidential hopeful Senator John Edwards (D-North Carolina) released the following statement on the New Orleans City Council’s approval of the HUD plan to begin demolishing public housing in New Orleans: “I am disappointed in the decision today by the New Orleans City Council to approve the demolition permits that HUD needs to begin demolition of public housing in New Orleans. As I’ve said before, knocking down historic and livable housing that withstood the winds of Katrina is counterproductive to the goal of giving residents a home to which to return. Decentralizing poverty by encouraging new mixed-income income makes a lot...

NEW ORLEANS - Despite occasionally violent protests outside, the City Council voted Thursday in favor of demolishing some 4,500 public housing units, a milestone in the city's effort to balance its heritage and its hurricane rebuilding efforts. The unanimous vote to permit the federal government to tear down four public housing developments — a critical moment in a protracted fight between the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development and residents, activists and preservationists — followed hours of debate and periodic clashes in the street.Police used chemical spray and stun guns as dozens of protesters tried to force their way...

NEW ORLEANS -- The scene outside New Orleans' City Hall boiled on the brink of a riot Thursday as protesters stormed the gate and were met with police spraying mace and firing Tasers. Protesters broke through the gates outside City Hall shortly after 11 a.m. Click Here: Council Chaos Livestream A woman identified by bystanders as Jamie Bork Laughner, was sprayed and dragged away from the gates. She was taken away on a stretcher by emergency officials on the scene. Before that, she was seen pouring water from a bottle into her eyes and weeping. The first brawl of the...

NEW ORLEANS - Police used chemical spray and stun guns Thursday as dozens of protesters seeking to halt the demolition of 4,500 public housing units tried to force their way through an iron gate at City Hall. One woman was sprayed with chemicals and dragged from the gates. She was taken away on a stretcher by emergency officials. Before that, the woman was seen pouring water from a bottle into her eyes and weeping. Another woman said she was stunned by officers, and still had what appeared to be a Taser wire hanging from her shirt. "I was just standing,...

The most audacious of the 13 "Make it Right" house designs, unveiled on Monday, may also be the most sensible. "Make it Right" is actor and architecture enthusiast Brad Pitt's plan to provide affordable, ecological housing to a largely depopulated section of the Lower 9th Ward. That stretch of low ground between Tennessee Street and the Industrial Canal, visible from the Claiborne Avenue bridge, became a landmark on Aug. 29, 2005, when the modest neighborhood filled with raging floodwater. Some of the houses in the direct path of the deluge were swept away. Most of the rest were unsalvageable and...