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http://www.maroonspoon.com/wx/gustav.html Live coverage...levee is failing 350 feet of wall falling apart as we speak...

An Open Letter to God, from Michael Moore Dear God, The other night, James Dobson's ministry asked all believers to pray for a storm on Thursday night so that the Obama acceptance speech outdoors in Denver would have to be canceled. I see that You have answered Dr. Dobson's prayers -- except the storm You have sent to earth is not over Denver, but on its way to New Orleans! In fact, You have scheduled it to hit Louisiana at exactly the moment that George W. Bush is to deliver his speech at the Republican National Convention. Now, heavenly Father,...

NEW ORLEANS -- Spooked by predictions that Hurricane Gustav could grow into a Category 5 monster, an estimated 1 million people fled the Gulf Coast Saturday _ even before the official order came for New Orleans residents to get out of the way of a storm taking dead aim at Louisiana. Mayor Ray Nagin gave the mandatory order late Saturday, but all day residents took to buses, trains, planes and cars _ clogging roadways leading away from New Orleans, still reeling three years after Hurricane Katrina flooded 80 percent of the city and killed about 1,600 across the region. The...

On a plane from Denver to Charlotte following the Democrats' convention, I found myself seated behind former National Chairman of the Democratic National Committee Don Fowler and Congressman John Spratt of South Carolina. Their conversation was interesting to say the least. For example, they made fun of Sarah Palin for several minutes, Fowler calling her "Dan Quayle" on steroids and Spratt creatively describing her as "just terrible." They both agreed that, "Other than the simple fact that she's a female," she has nothing to offer. Then there was this gem of a moment from Fowler: VIDEO So you see, it's...

NEW ORLEANS -- Louisiana officials and residents cast a wary eye on the Caribbean Sea as Tropical Storm Gustav strengthened into a Category 1 hurricane. Track The Hurricane At 11 a.m., the center of Gustav was located near latitude 17.9 north, longitude 72.4 west, or about 50 miles south of Port au Prince, Haiti. Gustav is moving toward the northwest at 9 mph. A gradual turn to the west-northwest and a decrease in forward speed is expected later on Tuesday, forecasters at the National Hurricane Center in Miami said. Maximum sustained winds have increased to near 90 mph, with higher...

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.

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.

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 far of the...

NEW ORLEANS (AP) - This hurricane-ravaged city and neighboring St. Bernard Parish top a U.S. Census Bureau list of fast-growing counties released Thursday, but some local officials aren't happy that the agency estimated New Orleans' population to be less than 240,000. The number, an estimate for July 2007, falls more than 30,000 short of at least one other estimate, and efforts based on more recent data had New Orleans topping 300,000 people. The city's population was nearly 454,000 in July 2005, the month before Hurricane Katrina hit and scattered hundreds of thousands of people along the hurricane-ravaged Gulf Coast. City...

"Former U.S. President Bill Clinton and actor Brad Pitt laugh with community members during a groundbreaking ceremony for Pitt's "Make it Right" house construction project in the Lower Ninth Ward of New Orleans."

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...

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...

A Florida teen-ager and two 24-year-old women -- one from New Orleans and the other from Galveston, Texas -- were hit by gunfire about 1 a.m. this morning in the French Quarter, police said.

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?

Did Mayor Take Aim At Chief? POSTED: 10:28 am CST February 14, 2008 UPDATED: 1:53 pm CST February 14, 2008 NEW ORLEANS -- A firestorm of controversy ensued after Mayor Ray Nagin, sporting a broad smile, seemed to aim an assault rifle at Police Superintendent Warren Riley in a Times-Picayune newspaper photo. Watch The Story | Poll: Did He Do It On Purpose? The photograph has pervaded talk radio and cyberspace, creating blog chatter and a forum for public opinion. Many pundits, bloggers and forum-posters took aim at the mayor. The shot was taken at a public unveiling of new...

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.

Aerial photo of the disappearing wetlands of south Louisiana. Credit: Roy Dokka, Louisiana State University A study by NASA and Louisiana State University scientists finds that sediments deposited into the Mississippi River Delta thousands of years ago when North America's glaciers retreated are contributing to the ongoing sinking of Louisiana's coastline. The weight of these sediments is causing a large section of Earth's crust to sag at a rate of 0.1 to 0.8 centimeters (0.04 to 0.3 inches) a year. The sediments pose a particular challenge for New Orleans, causing it to sink irreversibly at a rate of about...

NEW ORLEANS — Thousands of people are looking for a place to live in this city. Many thousands of houses are vacant or for sale, and acres of land sit empty. But turning potential housing into inhabited homes is proving to be a major challenge, even for a city that survived the fury of Hurricane Katrina and the failure of the levees. For those who need shelter the most, these houses are out of reach. More than 8,800 houses are for sale in the New Orleans metropolitan area — almost as many as were sold in the last 12 months,...

<p>NEW ORLEANS -- The bloodiest city in the country in 2006, reeling from crime in its struggle to recover from Hurricane Katrina, got even worse in 2007.</p> <p>New Orleans registered 209 homicides last year, a nearly 30 percent increase from the 161 recorded in 2006.</p>

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...

NEW ORLEANS — The National Rifle Association has hired private investigators to find hundreds of people whose firearms were seized by city police in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, according to court papers filed this week. The NRA is trying to locate gun owners for a federal lawsuit that the lobbying group filed against Mayor Ray Nagin and Police Superintendent Warren Riley over the city's seizure of firearms after the Aug. 29, 2005, hurricane. In the lawsuit, the NRA and the Second Amendment Foundation claim the city violated gun owners' constitutional right to bear arms and left them "at the...

NEW ORLEANS (AP) - The National Rifle Association has hired private investigators to find hundreds of people whose firearms were seized by city police in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, according to court papers filed this week. The NRA is trying to locate gun owners for a federal lawsuit that the lobbying group filed against Mayor Ray Nagin and Police Superintendent Warren Riley over the city's seizure of firearms after the Aug. 29, 2005, hurricane. In the lawsuit, the NRA and the Second Amendment Foundation claim the city violated gun owners' constitutional right to bear arms and left them "at...

LAKE CHARLES, La. — With resignation, anger or stoicism, thousands of former New Orleanians forced out by Hurricane Katrina are settling in across the Gulf Coast, breaking their ties with the damaged city for which they still yearn. snip Now, they are adjusting to places where the pace is slower, restaurants are fewer, existence is centered on the home, and streets are lonely and deserted after 5 p.m., as in this city in southwest Louisiana. These exiles, still in semi-limbo and barely established in a routine, describe their new lives less in terms of what it now consists of than...

NEW ORLEANS - Dozens of Hurricane Katrina victims still living in Federal Emergency Management Agency trailer parks will have to find new housing by today, as the agency works to shutter the temporary facilities it set up after the 2005 storm.

On a cool, clear mid-October weekend six people were murdered in New Orleans. The killings brought the tally of the slain in the Crescent City this year to 163, above the total of 162 for the entirety of 2006. The following weekend three more people were murdered in New Orleans - on Saturday alone. With nearly two full months left in the year, it is looking like the homicide rate in New Orleans will substantially outpace 2006's near-record numbers, which themselves far eclipsed even gang-plagued, hopelessly violent cities like Compton, California. Indeed, with a murder rate of nearly 70 per...

Did you see any looters on television last week? Neither did I. When New Orleans was flooded two years ago, there were looters all over my TV screen. Men with assault rifles waded through the streets menacingly. At first, I thought I was looking at footage from Somalia, but I looked at the crawl underneath the images - it wasn’t Somalia; it was Louisiana. What about the rapists? There were rapists at the refugee camp formerly known as the Superdome, but did you see any reports about rapists at Qualcomm Stadium last week? I didn’t. Did the mayor of San...

NEW ORLEANS (AP) - Mayor Ray Nagin says the state could take over the New Orleans district attorney's office as early as Monday as the agency faces a multimillion-dollar civil judgment. A federal judge ruled this past week that district attorney office assets could be seized to pay off a $3.65 million judgment pending from a 2005 case in which dozens of white office workers successfully sued District Attorney Eddie Jordan for replacing them with black workers. Jordan is not personally responsible for the payment. And in an opinion released Friday, City Attorney Penya Moses-Fields concluded after reviewing state and...

Exerted.... "SAN DIEGO — Like Hurricane Katrina evacuees two years earlier in New Orleans, thousands of people rousted by natural disaster fled to the NFL stadium here, waiting out the calamity and worrying about their homes. The similarities ended there, as an almost festive atmosphere reigned at Qualcomm Stadium." "Bands belted out rock 'n' roll, lavish buffets served gourmet entrees, and massage therapists helped relieve the stress for those forced to flee their homes because of wildfires." "At Qualcomm, thousands of tents, many set up by relief organizations, provided temporary roofs, while hundreds of people slept on open-air cots. Some...

I am not joking. As a general rule, I don't like to cherry-pick quotes because you can always find crazy things said anywhere. But there were enough of these that it was actually becoming a groupthink theme. Some quotes below (spelling mistakes left as they were, but out of respect for Red State, curse words have been put in asterisks). The Daily Kos is rich territory for conspiracy theories, and this one is no exception: From "Walt star": We now see the Katrina plan played out in full Force the Dmeocrats to move out. That was the plan all along....

New Orleans is narrowly retaining a black majority after Hurricane Katrina, according to a study released Wednesday by The Brookings Institution. ADVERTISEMENT The study determined that while blacks left the city at a much faster rate than whites, New Orleans was still 58 percent black during 2006. Before Katrina, which hit Aug. 29, 2005, the city was 67 percent black, according to the U.S. census. "It's certainly still a predominantly African-American city," said William Frey, a demographer and senior fellow at Washington, D.C.-based Brookings. "Speculation that there was not going to be a black majority in the city is not...

A church is more than a building, and Faith Temple Ministries illustrates the point. This non-denominational congregation holds services in a large white tent behind the frame of its new structure, which is under construction. Two years ago Hurricane Katrina destroyed the old one. Buras, a community of about 3,500, is in lower Plaquemines Parish, the southeastern corner of Louisiana. This is where Katrina first hit, and the hurricane's effects are very much in evidence on the 90-minute drive from New Orleans along the Mississippi River's west bank. Partly completed new buildings stand alongside wrecked ones. Trailers sit on the...

When the timing is right, the two parades meet on North Rampart Street, one showcasing men in skimpy skirts and bouffant wigs, the other with high-steppers waving handmade umbrellas and beaded fans. Both parades -- one hosted by Southern Decadence, the other by Black Men of Labor -- strolled through the streets Sunday within several blocks of each other in downtown New Orleans. This year, Decadence, a three-day gay festival, lured nearly 125,000 visitors to the city, while the Black Men of Labor parade attracted thousands of local and displaced New Orleanians. Behind each parade's glitz and glamour, participants said,...

Today, on the second anniversary of Hurricane Katrina, President and Mrs. Bush visited Louisiana and Mississippi and met with officials and citizens as they continue to recover from the devastation caused by the storm. This was the president’s fifteenth visit to the Gulf Coast in two years. President Bush: “This is the second anniversary of an event that changed a lot of people's lives ... And Laura and I are honored to be with some of those who endured the storm and have dedicated their lives to rebuilding this part of the world. The first couple arrived in Louisiana...

At least part of the city has been destroyed. And it should never be rebuilt, again. You know who is calling for it to be rebuilt at any cost? The same idiots who didn't lift a finger to evacuate the city – people like Mayor Ray Nagin, whose legacy will always be that photograph of an armada of school buses submerged in the big muddy. Joining him are Sen. Barack Obama, former Sen. John Edwards and Sen. Hillary Clinton – all of whom don't see any reason to limit the spending on rebuilding the underwater city. Good thing these folks...

On the second anniversary of Hurricane Katrina, anger over the stalled rebuilding was palpable throughout a city where the mourning for the dead and feeling of loss for flooded homes, schools, snow cone stands, old-time hairstylists and hardware stores doesn't seem to subside. Hurricane Katrina made landfall south of New Orleans at 6:10 a.m. Aug. 29, 2005, as a strong Category 3 hurricane that flooded 80 percent of the city and killed more than 1,600 people in Louisiana and Mississippi. It was the worst natural disaster in the history of the United States. President Bush commemorated Hurricane Katrina's devastating blow...

The Katrina and Rita “Hope and Recovery Summit” in New Orleans hosted by US Senator Mary Landrieu on Monday had an almost surreal texture to it. Aside from the mixture of University Presidents, law enforcement agents, housing advocates, business leaders, President Bush’s Gulf Coast Coordinator, Don Powell, participating in the all-day event, it included an element of political show business—rock star Presidential candidates running for the top position in the land, and yes, talking about Katrina. The Presidential discussion was peppered with questions by Soledad O’Brien of CNN. Without doubt, the Presidential forum was not the sole substance of the...

Former Sen. John Edwards said at a Hurricane Katrina conference he would propose what he called "Brownie's Law" requiring that qualified people, not political hacks, lead key federal agencies. Edwards, who is seeking the Democratic presidential nomination, drew laughter when he spoke on Monday of the proposal at the "Hope and Recovery Summit" ahead of the two-year anniversary of the storm on Wednesday. "It's an absolute travesty to have people who are essentially political hacks in a very responsible position," he told the audience at the University of New Orleans. "Brownie" refers to Michael Brown, who was head of the...

Two killed in New Orleans home invasion NEW ORLEANS, Aug. 26 (UPI) -- The slaying of two members of a family and wounding of another five is the latest in a spike in home invasion attacks in New Orleans. Seven relatives had been meeting at a home in the city's Village de l'Est neighborhood Friday when gunmen forced their way inside, robbed them and then opened fire without warning, The (New Orleans) Times-Picayune reported Sunday. A man in his late 20s and a woman in her late 30s sustained fatal wounds, making the incident the second double-homicide in the area...

Mayor Ray Nagin said he worries that slayings in the city make it seem dangerous, but news of such crimes "keeps the New Orleans brand out there." In a city where the tourism industry is the lifeblood of a fragile economy, the wave of violence threatens to derail efforts to bring visitors -- and former residents -- back. Yet Nagin, at a bricklaying ceremony Thursday, told reporters it's a "two-edged sword." "It's not good for us, but it also keeps the New Orleans brand out there, and it keeps people thinking about our needs and what we need to bring...

It is just after Christmas in 2003 and John Edwards is running hard for president of the United States. He is in Iowa, with the caucuses about three weeks away. Pundits, guided by a massive disinformation campaign, have decided that Howard Dean is going to win Iowa. Edwards remains undiscouraged. A highly effective stump speaker, Edwards always gets a laugh by saying, "Objects in the mirror may be closer than they appear." Edwards is a product of the American middle class. His father worked in a textile mill, and his mother ran an antique refinishing business and then became a...

New Orleans, LA (LifeNews.com) -- Two nurses accused of euthanizing patients in the wake of Hurricane Katrina have seen the charges against them dropped by the district attorney in the case. Nurses Lori Budo and Cheri Landry were arrested along with physician Anna Pou on charges that they killed four patients. All three worked at New Orleans' Memorial Medical Center at the time of the hurricane. The three were accused of killing as many as nine patients so they could relinquish their responsibility for patients and flee the hospital as conditions there deteriorated. John DiGiulio, Landry's attorney, said he was...

New Haven, CT - The Knights of Columbus announced today that it set new records for charitable giving and volunteer service hours in 2006. The results of the Order's Annual Survey of Fraternal Activity for the year ending December 31, 2006 show that total contributions to charity at all levels reached $143,816,004 - exceeding the previous year's total by more than $4 million. The figure includes $35,133,393 donated by the Supreme Council, and $108,682,611 in charitable donations from state and local councils, Fourth Degree assemblies, and squire circles. The survey also shows that the reported number of volunteer hours by...

“He saw getting reelected mayor of New Orleans as a kind of vindication — it was like saying, ‘It wasn’t your fault, Ray,’” a political science professor at the University of Louisiana-Lafayette, Pearson Cross, said. “He would immediately, I think, be the favorite for that seat.”

Police said a man was shot to death by his wife Monday evening in the Central City neighborhood, the fourth killing in New Orleans in three days and the second Monday, police said. The Orleans Parish coroner's office identified the dead man as George Hammond, 45, of New Orleans. Police said his wife, Janet Hammond, was a suspect. Police responded to a call about gunshots in the 1800 block of Second Street shortly before 7:30 p.m. and found George Hammond inside a blue shotgun double, police spokeswoman Sabrina Richardson said. Hammond was pronounced dead at the scene. He had been...

<p>Sources tell CBS NEWS that Congressman William Jefferson (D-LA) will be indicted this afternoon on more than a dozen counts involving public corruption. Jefferson has been the subject of a ongoing probe in which FBI agents allegedly found more than 90-thousand dollars in cash in his freezer. The Justice Department is expected to unveil the charges later today... Developing...</p>

New Orleans (AP) -- Mayor Ray Nagin, in his first State of the City address since Hurricane Katrina, said Wednesday that New Orleans is a city on the mend, despite broken promises from the state and federal governments. "New Orleans is coming back, whether you like it or not," Nagin said to applause from the crowd of city workers and community members gathered at the National World War II Museum. "And you might as well deal with it." Nagin called on President Bush and Gov. Kathleen Blanco to do more to help speed the city's recovery from the August 2005...

I've been hearing rumors for a couple of weeks now that New Orleans Mayor C. Ray Nagin is considering running for Governor. I finally found a news outlet that confirms this rumor, thanks to freelance journalist Jason Berry, who appeared on Informed Sources last night to predict that Nagin will run for Governor. Hat tip to Library Chronicles. As an aside, is this Jason Berry the author of Amazing Grace, an account of Charles Evers' run for Governor in Mississippi back in 1972? But back to the issue at hand - Ray Nagin running for Governor of Louisiana. This makes...

When I boarded the flight to New Orleans this month, I was ready. Ready to be angry and heartbroken all over again. Nearly two years after Hurricane Katrina drowned New Orleans, the images of people clinging to their rooftops and waving for help that came too late won't soon leave me. Nor will the haunting chants of "help!" from evacuees at the Superdome. Nor will the photos of dead bodies. And then I got my feet on the ground in New Orleans. The anger I was ready to embrace never materialized, because the people I met were moving beyond it.

a few questions: Is anyone on FR a resident of New Orleans, live nearby, work in New Orleans or commute there often? Is there a New Orleans ping list? Who on FR lives in Louisiana in general and is there a Louisiana ping list?

Nagin Sang Different Tune During Recent Visit To City PHILADELPHIA -- New Orleans mayor Ray Nagin criticized the cleanliness of Philadelphia after a visit to the city last week. "Let me tell you something. You ought to go to Philly and you will appreciate how clean New Orleans is," Nagin said Saturday to a crowd of New Orleans residents concerned about the city's recovery from Hurricane Katrina. "Just go and walk around Philly a little bit and you will appreciate," Nagin said. " ... We still have some work to do but we definitely beat them by a long shot."...