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The internal affairs division of the Plaquemines Parish Sheriff's Office on Wednesday (Aug. 8) began looking into a complaint that a patrol deputy is part of a right-leaning organization that some have categorized as a hate group. The Sheriff's Office received Facebook screenshots and other images purportedly showing that Deputy Brian Green is a member of the Proud Boys, a conservative, men-only group whose members describe themselves as "Western Chauvinists." "To determine the factual and credible intentions and values of this organization, we are in contact with our federal partners to obtain reliable law enforcement intelligence that confirms or exonerates...

GRAND ISLE, La. -- Billy Nungesser, the president of Plaquemines Parish whose frustrations about the federal government response have been featured prominently on TV in the past few weeks, told ABC News that in the private meeting the president had with local leaders here today, President Obama "chewed me out."

After weeks of estimates, countless models and hundreds of boat excursions seeking hints of oil in Louisiana's marshes, a bleak picture began to emerge this week as the first signs of thick, dark oil from the Gulf of Mexico oil spill could be seen blanketing a patch of marsh grass near the mouth of the Mississippi River. At the eastern reaches of the delta, where Pass a Loutre meets open water, dark brown oil was covering an entire patch of cane grass on Wednesday. On the open water, a dark-brown tint could be seen on grasses just above the water's...

Empire and 10 other towns spread over 57 miles are now under 10 feet of water. "They're gone. They don't exist anymore," Deputy Sheriff Arceneaux said Wednesday as he guided a Reno skiff over oil-fouled waters — the only way into Empire and points south. His journey took him by his former trailer, which he couldn't see because it was submerged in churning floodwaters. This string of fishing and oil towns was the first inhabited area on the Gulf Coast to be hit by Hurricane Katrina. The parish took the full brunt of the storm, with thousands of homes and...

BELLE CHASSE -- The only building left standing in Empire is St. Ann Catholic Church. Looking north on La. 23, the houses are shattered, covering the area with debris and shredded wood. The civic center is destroyed, the post office is reduced to cinder block rubble, and all that's left of the houses are partial floors, roofs or frames. Half of a mobile home trailer landed in the middle of a nearby bridge, and a burst line down the street continues to forcibly emit natural gas. South and north of this little high ground at the Doullut Canal Bridge,...

Several people have requested a thread JUST for images of the storm. Post them here, please.

It could take months for maritime commerce in south Louisiana along the Mississippi River to return to pre-Hurricane Katrina levels, said the director of the Port of New Orleans. “In Plaquemines Parish, they can’t even tell where the ship channel was,” said Gary LaGrange, head of the New Orleans port. “The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is so busy trying to repair the levees around New Orleans that they can’t release the personnel to go out to Southwest Pass and map the channel.” LaGrange, who was temporarily working out of the Port of West St. Mary Wednesday, said he...