NEWS

Hurricane Katrina wars continue

Former Gov. Kathleen Blanco is taking umbrage at statements in a book by Karl Rove, political adviser to former President George W. Bush.

A bad shoot Gradually, the story emerges of what happened on the Danziger bridge

A WEEK after Hurricane Katrina struck New Orleans, on September 4th 2005, the police shot six civilians as they were crossing the Danziger bridge across the Industrial Canal. Two were killed; the others were seriously wounded, one losing an arm. On February 24th a high-ranking officer with a long police career pleaded guilty to orchestrating a vast cover-up of what took place there. It is likely to be only the start of a traumatic reckoning for the city’s long-troubled police department.

Alternative Spring Breaks Combine Service, Learning

Instead of relaxing on white, sandy beaches this spring break, thousands of college students will travel around the globe to volunteer for a variety of social justice causes. Known as "alternative spring breaks," these are public-service-oriented trips, planned and led by students, that focus on volunteerism and education about social justice issues in the United States or overseas. From rebuilding homes damaged by Hurricane Katrina to tutoring students in a remote village in Ecuador, these trips can open students' eyes to issues both close to home and far away.

Charges Filed in Katrina Inquiry

On Sept. 4, 2005, with floodwaters of Hurricane Katrina still standing in much of the city, Lt. Michael J. Lohman of the New Orleans Police Department arrived at the Danziger Bridge in eastern New Orleans. A group of police officers had rushed there just ahead of him in response to a radio call for assistance.

Ex-officer pleads guilty in Katrina killing probe

A former police lieutenant pleaded guilty Wednesday to conspiring to obstruct justice after federal officials say he helped cover for officers who killed two people on a bridge in the chaos following Hurricane Katrina.

HANO Under Scrutiny In New Federal Report

NEW ORLEANS -- Federal officials have issued a scathing review of the agency that oversees public housing in New Orleans.

Post-Katrina shootings by police get federal attention

Federal agents have broadened their investigation of the New Orleans Police Department and are now looking into three post-Katrina police shootings detailed in a news series published in The Times-Picayune in December.

New Orleans Mardi Gras going strong on Claiborne

Brisk early morning tempartures weren't slowing down crowds streaming along Claiborne Avenue towards Orleans Avenue, as New Orleans natives and vistors came together at one of the traditional gathering spots for African-Americans in the city to celebrate Mardi Gras.

SPLC Seeks Justice in Police Shooting of Elderly Louisiana Man

Many African Americans in this town figured a racially charged tragedy was inevitable, given what they say has been a long history of racial profiling and harassment by the local police.

Haiti: A Creditor, Not a Debtor

If we are to believe the G-7 finance ministers, Haiti is on its way to getting something it has deserved for a very long time: full "forgiveness" of its foreign debt. In Port-au-Prince, Haitian economist Camille Chalmers has been watching these developments with cautious optimism. Debt cancellation is a good start, he told Al Jazeera English, but "It's time to go much further. We have to talk about reparations and restitution for the devastating consequences of debt." In this telling, the whole idea that Haiti is a debtor needs to be abandoned. Haiti, he argues, is a creditor--and it is we, in the West, who are deeply in arrears.

New Orleans; Back in the game

NEW ORLEANS is used to big weekends, but the last one stood out. On February 6th voters elected a new mayor, Mitch Landrieu, in a landslide more dramatic than any in memory. The next day the city’s beloved football team, the Saints—famous mostly for bumbling—won the Super Bowl for the first time in their 43-year existence.

Fluor agrees to pay Katrina workers back overtime

Fluor Enterprises has agreed to pay $1 million in back overtime wages to 154 workers who inspected temporary housing trailers during the Hurricane Katrina cleanup. Fluor's agreement resolves a lawsuit the U.S. Department of Labor's Wage and Hour Division filed against the company and its subcontractor, Houston-based Universal Project Management.

Increasing number of South La. residents seek emergency food assistance

A study released last week by Second Harvest Food Bank of Greater New Orleans and Acadiana (GNOA) and Feeding America, the nation's largest domestic hunger-relief organization, reports that more than 262,800 people, including 82,000 children and 40,000 seniors, receive emergency food assistance each year through Second Harvest Food Bank and its 235 faith-based and nonprofit member agencies. Second Harvest Food Bank reaches approximately one half of the population in poverty in the 23 south Louisiana parishes it serves, stretching from the Mississippi border to the Texas state line.

New Orleans Saints are Super Bowl XLIV champions

MIAMI GARDENS, FLA. - After the confetti had dropped, after the tears were shed, after they stood in front of the cameras and the microphones and tried to put the greatest night of their professional lives in perspective, Sean Payton and Drew Brees shared a quiet moment together.

New Orleans Chooses First White Mayor In 32 Years

Louisiana Lt. Gov. Mitch Landrieu has been elected mayor of New Orleans, replacing term-limited Ray Nagin and becoming the majority-black city's first white mayor since 1979.

Majora Carter: “We Have to Dream Bigger”

Education Secretary Duncan, Rahm Emanuel both apologize

Education Secretary Arne Duncan apologized Tuesday for asserting that Hurricane Katrina was "the best thing that happened to the education system in New Orleans," calling the remark "a dumb thing to say."

Workers who helped rebuild after Hurricane Katrina offer advice to their compatriots in Haiti.

Though both disasters were tragic, destructive, and heartbreaking, there are big differences between the situation in post-earthquake Haiti and life in New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina. While the destruction from Katrina was intense, displacing tens of thousands of citizens, the earthquake in Haiti destroyed almost the entire city of Port-au-Prince, leaving almost 100 percent of the city's population homeless. Katrina made landfall in a wealthy, industrialized nation; the earthquake hit the capital of an impoverished country already struggling to survive. "Katrina was different because [many aid workers] were from outside and had no emotional ties to the community," says Andre Filiatrault, a structural engineering professor at the University at Buffalo. Filiatrault worked in New Orleans after Katrina and is currently providing support in Haiti. "Here, the people who are providing help, the U.N. members themselves, have lost family members. Over 150 U.N. employees have been killed, and people providing health care have to cope with their own loss as well. It is a very difficult situation."

Racing against the Super Bowl clock

It is almost a dream of a weekend to come. The Saints in the Super Bowl on Sunday, and Mardi Gras parades rolling down St. Charles Ave on Saturday afternoon, as people tailgate and celebrate the big game the next day. It would be easy to forget about another dream for which so many of our ancestors fought and often died. Amidst the revelry, joy, and anticipation on Saturday, February 6, 2010, as we prepare for a 40-year NFL dream deferred, please do not forget much older and more important dreams finally realized. The power to speak. The power to choose. The power to vote.

Bridge blockade lawsuit dismissed by federal judge

A federal judge on Monday dismissed a lawsuit filed by a New Orleans couple who claimed the decision by Gretna and Jefferson Parish police to bar them from walking across the Crescent City Connection and out of Orleans Parish after Hurricane Katrina violated their constitutional rights.

Education Secretary Duncan calls Hurricane Katrina good for New Orleans schools

Education Secretary Arne Duncan called Hurricane Katrina "the best thing that happened to the education system in New Orleans" because it forced the community to take steps to improve low-performing public schools, according to excerpts from a television interview made public Friday.

Katrina on Film and Canvas

David Bates since 1982: From the Everyday to the Epic. David Bates, a Texan by birth and still a Texan by choice, makes art. In a way, Bates’ art is like the city of New Orleans: both can mean different things to different people.

Ex-FEMA worker, cousin plead guilty to $721K Hurricane Katrina fraud

JACKSON, Miss. (AP) — A former Federal Emergency Management Agency worker and her cousin have pleaded guilty to orchestrating one of the biggest Hurricane Katrina scams to become public since the 2005 storm.

Aid after Haiti earthquake: Faster, but will it be bigger?

Americans gave more aid to Haiti in the first four days than for any other disaster, including hurricane Katrina.

FEMA ordered to pay $474 million for Charity Hospital

New Orleans - A FEMA arbitration committee has reportedly decided to award LSU more than $474 million for damages caused to the school’s Charity Hospital during Hurricane Katrina, according to a spokesman with LSU. LSU had been asking for $492 million for damages.

Haiti: Obama’s Katrina: Many post-quake deaths could have been prevented

Four years ago the initial medical response to Hurricane Katrina was ill equipped, understaffed, poorly coordinated and delayed. Criticism of the paltry federal efforts was immediate and fierce. Unfortunately, the response to the latest international disaster in Haiti has been no better, compounding the catastrophe.

To help Haiti’s earthquake victims, change U.S. immigration laws

After Hurricane Katrina devastated New Orleans and the Gulf Coast in 2005, one of the principal ways its victims helped themselves was by leaving. Katrina prompted one of the biggest resettlements in American history. Who would have blocked Interstate 10 with armed guards, forcing hundreds of thousands of people to suffer in the disaster zone, no matter how much assistance was coming in from outside? We wouldn't have done that, because it would have made us collectively responsible for their continued suffering.

Haiti: A Reading List

By now we all realize that poverty, not just the Richter Scale, contributed to the devastation in Haiti. Even after donating to the relief effort, many of us feel helpless as we sit comfortably in safety and privilege. How might we continue to help? Well, once the rebuilding begins, Haiti will need us, and to do our part, we can start by acquiring an understanding of the country’s history, culture, religion, and mores.

Mayor Ray Nagin recommends slate of changes in federal disaster recovery act

The executive committee of the U.S. Conference of Mayors on Thursday approved a white paper calling for sweeping changes in the federal Stafford Act authored by a task force of two dozen mayors led by Ray Nagin of New Orleans and Kevin Johnson of Sacramento.

Aid Groups Focus on Haiti’s Homeless

Aid flowed into the ravaged Haitian capital on Thursday, and relief workers began shifting their focus to longer-term challenges, primary among them providing shelter for as many as a million people displaced by last week’s earthquake.

US Mercenaries Set Sights on Haiti

We saw this type of Iraq-style disaster profiteering in New Orleans, and you can expect to see a lot more of this in Haiti over the coming days, weeks and months. Private security companies are seeing big dollar signs in Haiti thanks in no small part to the media hype about "looters." After Katrina, the number of private security companies registered (and unregistered) multiplied overnight. Banks, wealthy individuals, the US government all hired private security. I even encountered Israeli mercenaries operating an armed checkpoint outside of an elite gated community in New Orleans. They worked for a company called Instinctive Shooting International. (That is not a joke).

New Orleans’ Heart is in Haiti

New Orleans and Haiti are connected by geography, history, architecture and family. News of mass devastation and loss of life in the island nation has hit hard in the Crescent City. Almost every hurricane that has hit the Gulf Coast first brought devastation on our neighbors in Haiti. We are linked not just by a shared experience of storms, but also by first-hand understanding of the ways in which oppression based on race, class and gender interacts with these disasters.

Ten Martin Luther King Jr. quotes

Martin Luther King Jr. quotes on love, justice, and human purpose changed the way America – and the world – thought about race and demonstrated the power of nonviolence to overcome even the most entrenched prejudices.

Haiti’s history as first black republic creates a special bond with many African-Americans

A terrible earthquake anywhere in the Caribbean would have hit a sympathetic nerve in most Americans. But as the first black republic of the West, born when slaves overthrew white rulers, Haiti holds a unique place in the hearts of many American blacks.

WORLD SOCIAL FORUM:  New and Old, US Groups Forge Broad Alliances

With civil society gearing up for the 2010 World Social Forum, and later this summer, the 2010 U.S. Social Forum in Detroit, Michigan, activists here say new alliances created at the first USSF in 2007 are going strong.

New Orleans shares culture, and tragedy, with Haiti: Jarvis DeBerry

When my cousin Cequita visited the Creole cottage I rented in Treme, her boyfriend came with her. It was Garry's first visit to New Orleans; yet, somehow, he'd seen so much of it before. He'd seen our architecture. The shape of my house -- built in the 1830s -- evoked memories of his past. What about the other houses in the neighborhood, those bedecked in the loudest, most outrageous colors from the paint store? That was familiar, too. To Garry, it all looked like Haiti. It all looked like his home.

Ten Things the US Can and Should Do for Haiti

One. Allow all Haitians in the US to work. The number one source of money for poor people in Haiti is the money sent from family and workers in the US back home. Haitians will continue to help themselves if given a chance. Haitians in the US will continue to help when the world community moves on to other problems.

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Supplies begin to arrive in Haiti as aftershocks shake stunned nation

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti -- Rescue workers dragged corpses from collapsed buildings, dazed homeless wandered the streets and the death toll climbed Wednesday as dozens of aftershocks from a massive earthquake rattled this capital city.

Haiti devastated by massive earthquake

A massive 7.0-magnitude earthquake has struck the Caribbean nation of Haiti. The extent of the devastation is still unclear but there are fears thousands of people may have died.

Haiti: Some Ways To Help

Many of us are looking for ways to help the people of Haiti, even from far away. Here are some resources:

The New Orleans music scene: A decade in review

January 2010 marks not only the first month of a brand new year but the start of a new decade. Like everything else in life, the New Orleans music scene had its ups and downs since 2000 and was hard hit by Katrina and the resulting flood caused by the levee breaches.

Black coalition pushes for ‘unified’ 2010 Census tally

The campaign to get blacks to participate in the 2010 Census has forged an unprecedented bond between two groups that have not traditionally shared common goals: African Americans and black immigrants.

Activists call on White House to use its ‘bully pulpit’ for Black economic progress

As 2009 ended with Black unemployment rates at 15.6 percent - more than twice the rate of a decade ago, a dramatic five points more than a year ago, and twice the White unemployment rate - civil rights leaders are calling on President Obama to pointedly use his 'bully pulpit' on behalf of African Americans.

EPA chief’s quest for environmental justice traces back to New Orleans roots

More than four years after Hurricane Katrina, the single-storey brick rancher in Pontchartrain Park where Lisa Perez Jackson grew up stands empty. Floodwaters long ago ate away the walls of her corner bedroom, where the current head of the Environmental Protection Agency once hung Michael Jackson and Prince posters and studied her way to the top of her high school class.

Judge dismisses Miss. NAACP suit on Katrina funds

WASHINGTON - A federal judge has dismissed a lawsuit by the Mississippi NAACP and others trying to stop the state from diverting Hurricane Katrina housing money to a Gulf Coast port project.

Katrina negligence lawsuit has implications for all hospitals

Once the power blinked out, Althea LaCoste's lungs were on their own. She struggled to breathe without the help of a respirator, and even a team of nurses hand-bagging air into her ailing lungs couldn't save her, according to court documents. LaCoste, 73, died before she could be evacuated from Pendleton Memorial Methodist Hospital in the chaotic days after Hurricane Katrina.

Will the New Orleans mayoral race turn into an all-white showdown?

This year will mark the fifth anniversary of Hurricane Katrina -- a disaster that brought dramatic changes not only to the physical landscape of the Gulf Coast but also to the region's politics. Some of those political changes are apparent in the current race for mayor of New Orleans, where it's becoming increasingly likely that the election could turn into a battle between two white candidates -- a scenario that the city's daily paper describes as "unthinkable" pre-Katrina.

Dambusterbusters: Some clever, new ways of stopping rivers flooding

THE destruction of New Orleans by Hurricane Katrina in 2005 showed the importance of keeping levees—the artificial banks that contain the flow of partly canalised rivers—in tip-top condition. In practice, though, that is hard. Levees fail for many reasons, not all of them associated with violent storms, and there are so many of them (100,000 miles-worth in America alone) that keeping an eye on all of them is an almost impossible task. It is good, therefore, to have a backup plan to block up unexpected holes before they can cause too much damage.

Louisiana homeowners insurance is nation’s third-most-expensive, study says

Louisiana remains the third most expensive homeowners insurance market in the nation behind Florida and Texas, according to newly released data from the National Association of Insurance Commissioners.

The New Katrina Flood: Hospital Liability

Three years before Hurricane Katrina inundated New Orleans, a senior executive at Pendleton Memorial Methodist Hospital assessed its vulnerability to the sort of flooding that had been long feared there.

The Year in New Orleans News [2009]

New Orleans has always been out of step with the rest of the country — we march to brass bands and second lines, not John Philip Sousa — and this year it paid off. The recession swept across the nation and the overall unemployment rate hit 10 percent, but in New Orleans it never went above 7.8 percent. While states were looking for a share of the Obama stimulus plan, our recovery was already almost four years going strong with construction booming — yes, Eddie Blakely, there really are cranes in the sky.

In Katrina’s Aftermath, Still a Struggle to Help

When Renaissance Village, the vast trailer park that housed Hurricane Katrina evacuees outside Baton Rouge, was closing down in May 2008, Theresa August was one of the last to leave. Babbling, singing and wearing a baby’s onesie on her head, she had to be coaxed into packing up the clothes and trash that crammed the trailer she called home.

2009: The Year Wall Street Bounced Back and Main Street Got Shafted

In September 2008, as the worst of the financial crisis engulfed Wall Street, George W. Bush issued a warning: "This sucker could go down." Around the same time, as Congress hashed out a bailout bill, New Hampshire Sen. Judd Gregg, the leading Republican negotiator of the bill, warned that "if we do not do this, the trauma, the chaos and the disruption to everyday Americans' lives will be overwhelming, and that's a price we can't afford to risk paying."

Pam Dashiell, community activist, dies

Pam Dashiell, co-founder and executive director of the Lower 9th Ward Center for Sustainable Engagement and Development, passed away Tuesday morning at the age of 61.

Fewer Katrina, Rita victims in FEMA trailers but challenges remain on road to recovery

Nearly 1,600 families in Louisiana and Mississippi remain in government-supplied trailers and mobile homes more than four years after hurricanes Katrina and Rita. State and federal officials see progress in the number: It's thousands less than in January and a fraction of the estimated 143,000 households that once dotted the Gulf Coast after the 2005 storms damaged or destroyed thousands of homes and virtually wiped out some communities.

Charter Schools Rise in New Orleans After Hurricane Katrina

A suburban New Orleans sheriff is asking a federal judge to dismiss him from a class-action lawsuit over a police blockade that kept many Hurricane Katrina victims from crossing a bridge out of the city in the storm's aftermath.

LJ Best DVDs of 2009: 10 Titles

Library Journal names Trouble the Water one of the 10 Best DVDs of 2009!

Law and Disorder: Police shootings in the week after Hurricane Katrina, Part 4

SWAT team sees armed man, shoots him three times, but where's the gun? Was he a robber, or just looking for water with his mom?

Katrina: DA seeks 1 autopsy in hospital deaths

The New Orleans district attorney has requested an autopsy on a terminally ill patient whose doctor acknowledged increasing the drugs the patient received in the wake of Hurricane Katrina, the city's coroner said Tuesday.

Law and Disorder: Police shootings in the week after Hurricane Katrina, Part 3

Police shootings after Katrina: How does a man waving down a police car die from a shotgun blast to his back? The investigation into his death by New Orleans police contains contradictions.

Shot or not, dead or alive? Two men’s fates lost in chaos after Katrina

A motionless body lay on the pavement. Perhaps 20 riled-up police officers milled around. On the shoulder of the road, an RTA bus was parked at a crazy angle, like a dislocated elbow. Nearby was a long white limousine, crashed into a pole.

New Orleans Police Department shootings after Katrina under scrutiny

During the turbulent days after Hurricane Katrina made landfall, New Orleans police shot 10 civilians , at least four of whom died, according to interviews and internal police documents. Some incidents involving police were widely publicized and have prompted a U.S. Justice Department inquiry into the conduct of the New Orleans Police Department that has brought dozens of officers before federal grand juries to testify.

Police shootings after Katrina: Was a gun inside a bag a threat to 5 officers?

One man's death on a Marigny street corner at the hands of New Orleans police officers is shrouded in mystery.

Most New Orleans residents don’t feel safe outside their neighborhood, survey shows

Most New Orleans residents don't feel safe outside their own neighborhood and only 33 percent are satisfied with the performance of the New Orleans Police Department, according to a new survey conducted by the New Orleans Crime Coalition, a citizen-led movement that was formed in 2007 to stem violent crime in the city.

Atlanta native leads effort to groom women for political office

She may be the most influential person in women's politics that most voters have never heard of. Long before Hillary Clinton ran for president or the world outside of Alaska heard of Sarah Palin, Atlanta native Marie Wilson was finding, training and pushing women to run for public office.

Very low-income housing hard to find, study shows

As the economic downturn worsened last year, the nation’s poorest households found it increasingly difficult to find housing they could afford, according to a newly released report analyzing 2008 census data. The National Low Income Housing Coalition, an advocacy group for the poor, details in stark numbers the daunting challenges facing the neediest households when it comes to finding low-cost shelter. Among all income groups, there is none who have been hit harder than them, the coalition found.

Four years after Hurricane Katrina, 20,000 children remain in crisis

A new report provides some remedy to the dysfucntional disaster response system that has left more than 20,000 gulf region children in crisis more than four years after the hurricane. The Children's health Fund calls for a new case managment protocal as a part of a creation of a national recovery framework.

FEMA director says agency tackles more than just hurricanes

The Federal Emergency Management Agency gained notoriety in the wake of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita in 2005, but a lot has changed since then. In his first appearance on Federal News Radio, Administrator Craig Fugate explains the agency's role and his goals, starting with getting the word out about preparedness.

Post-Katrina New Orleans as “Fictional Space”

Videogame developers often shy away from putting real places in their games. That's perhaps for good reason. In 2007, Insomniac Games provoked the ire of the Church of England for using the Manchester Cathedral during one of the firefight sequences in Resistance: Fall of Man. Never mind that the game's title makes direct reference to the Christian doctrine of original sin nor the fact that film directors have long been demolishing holy sites without a whiff of controversy. For director Roland Emmerich, flattening the sacred in movies has become a matter of sport.

Deal in works to resolve some FEMA trailer claims

NEW ORLEANS — Lawyers for one of several trailer manufacturers accused of supplying the federal government with toxic hurricane shelters said Wednesday they were negotiating a settlement for thousands of claims.

Appeals Court Rules Contractors Not Liable for Katrina Flooding

Federal contractors cannot be held liable for flood damage in New Orleans linked to the dredging of the Mississippi River-Gulf Outlet shipping canal prior to Hurricane Katrina, a federal appeals court has ruled.

Ruling on Katrina Flooding Favors Homeowners

A federal judge found Wednesday evening that poor maintenance of a major navigation channel by the Army Corps of Engineers led to some of the worst flooding after Hurricane Katrina. The ruling was a major victory for homeowners who suffered damage in the aftermath of the storm.

New Orleans: Where Accountability Failed, Liability Follows

Okay, now it's official, or as official, at least, as the considered ruling of a Federal district judge can make it. The United States Army Corps of Engineers has been found by Judge Stanwood Duval liable for the damages inflicted on at least three plaintiffs by its failure to mitigate the damage its construction and operation of the MR-GO channel caused to the wetlands and, ultimately to the Lower Ninth Ward and St. Bernard Parish on August 29, 2005.

Community leaders discuss ‘Poverty Under the Stars’

The true test of solidarity: sitting through a two-hour presentation in 40 degree weather. And then sleeping outside in the cold all night. The purpose of the fourth annual Poverty Under the Stars event titled "The Great Recession" was to feel a sense of solidarity with people suffering from the economic crisis, said associate sociology professor Scott Myers-Lipton.

Court affirms class-action lawsuit for former N.O. public school employees

Eleven months after New Orleans Civil District Court Judge Ethel Simms-Julien certified a class-action lawsuit filed on behalf of more than 8,500 former employees of Orleans Parish Public Schools who were terminated after the State of Louisiana seized control of more than 100 public schools in the wake of Hurricane Katrina, the Louisiana Fourth Circuit Court of Appeal has affirmed the decision of the trial court. The three-judge panel was comprised of Judge Edwin A. Lombard, Judge Terri F. Love and Judge Paul A. Bonin.

James Perry: Candidate touts change

You might know James Perry from his work as executive director of the Greater New Orleans Fair Housing Action Center, where he regularly made news by filing suit over things like the Road Home's housing grant formula, and St. Bernard Parish's ban on new multifamily housing and its attempt to prevent homeowners from renting to non-family members.

The Drummer’s Roots

Tragedies have a way of highlighting the heroes in our midst, and if ever there was a tragedy, Katrina was it.

Filmmaker Philippe Diaz on “The End of Poverty?”

IMF and the World Bank warned that the financial crisis posed a serious challenge to reducing poverty. The World Bank predicted that the economic crisis could push another 53 million people in the global South into poverty. Well, according to the latest numbers from the United Nations, we’re now up to 2.7 billion people around the world who survive on less than two dollars a day, one billion of whom live on less than a dollar a day. Given the dire statistics and the widening gap between the rich and the poor, how can we see the eradication of poverty? That’s the central question of a new documentary called The End of Poverty?

Wandering New Orleans in the Heart of Oyster Season

November in New Orleans brings pleasantly cool temperatures and the heart of oyster season. The city's classic restaurants are doing brisk business, and several new places of note have opened in the business district. With its intriguing collection of one-off shops specializing in everything from toy soldiers to out-of-print cookbooks, the French Quarter has long dominated the city's shopping scene, but Magazine Street, particularly the stretch between Jackson and Louisiana, has emerged as a pleasant thoroughfare of boutiques and cafés.

Ida downgraded

Ida has been downgraded to a Tropical Storm with winds of 70mph.

Hurricane Ida heads into Gulf

Hurricane Ida headed toward the northern Gulf Coast on Sunday night as a Category 2 storm, strengthened by 9 p.m. to maximum sustained winds of nearly 105 mph.

Planet Earth film fest: a call to action

The Tales of Planet Earth film festival kicked off Friday evening with more than 1,200 people pressed into the Wisconsin Union Theater for the keynote address, seven short student films and a showing of "Trouble the Water," a film about portraying the devastating lack of aid for residents of New Orleans' 9th Ward during and after Hurricane Katrina.

New Orleans in the forefront of a green building revolution

Hurricane Katrina provided New Orleans with the opportunity to be part of an environmental revolution and rebuild its houses, schools, and neighborhoods in a green, sustainable way.

FAIR HOUSING CENTER KEEPS PRESSURE ON ST. BERNARD PARISH

Greater New Orleans Fair Housing Action Coalition keeps pressure on St. Bernard Parish; Parish overturns ordinance that would put a multi-family ban on the ballot for a public vote

New Orleans poised on springboard of hope

The story of New Orleans’ economic recovery — from Katrina and the recession — is turning into a chicken-egg scenario. What’s going to come first? Will it be consumers who will create the demand for more goods and services? Or must the businesses offering goods and services come first to lure the consumers back into the market?

In New Orleans, Mayoral Race Still Lacks Heft

The most noteworthy announcements of the 2010 mayor’s race here have so far come from those declining to be part of it.

Historic Landmarks Commission honors 35 architectural projects

Thirty-five architectural projects completed between 2006 and 2008 were honored recently by the New Orleans Historic District Landmarks Commission.

Idaho Gets Four Times More Stimulus Money in Contracts Than Louisiana

Idaho has received nearly four times as much money in federal stimulus contracts than hurricane-ravaged Louisiana. And Louisiana has three times as many residents.

President Barack Obama: ‘We will build it stronger than before’

Making his first visit to Louisiana since becoming the nation's 44th chief executive, President Barack Obama told a spirited crowd at the University of New Orleans Thursday that he will help build a stronger Gulf Coast than the one Hurricane Katrina and broken levees wrecked four years ago.

New Orleans embodies nation’s new spirit:

President Obama visits New Orleans today at a pivotal point in the city's recovery, almost midway through what many consider a 10-year undertaking.

New Orleans embodies nation’s new spirit: A guest column by James Joseph and Phyllis Taylor

Op-Ed, "New Orleans Embodies Nation's New Spirit," co-authored by Louisiana Disaster Recovery Foundation Chairman of the Board, Ambassador James Joseph, published in Oct. 14th Times Picayune.

Majora Carter and Brad Pitt speak at Clinton Conference

New Orleans Police Face Swarm of Inquiries

In its September newsletter, underneath a notice about using antibacterial wipes during flu season, the local Fraternal Order of Police reminded New Orleans officers they had a right to be represented by a lawyer when questioned by the F.B.I., whether as a witness or as a potential target.

Housing Battle Reveals Post-Katrina Tensions

CHALMETTE, La. — The parish of St. Bernard, a quiet, insular suburb just east of New Orleans, has in the end agreed to allow housing for low-income families.

Local leader wins award for ‘outrageous acts’ on Web site

When the terms “outrageous acts” and “Facebook” are mentioned together, it is doubtful most people think about simple acts to empower women. But, then again, Brenda Dardar-Robichaux isn’t most people. The United Houma Nation’s principal chief was recently honored by the Ms. Foundation For Women for recruiting the most members to the non-profit organization’s Ms. Foundation Outrageous Activists Cause on Facebook, a social networking Web site.

Four West Bank pump stations to get floodwalls, closing gaps in hurricane-protection system

The Army Corps of Engineers has awarded contracts worth more than $115 million to build floodwalls in front of four pump stations along the Algiers Canal, closing gaps in West Bank storm-surge barriers.

Relief Supplies Heading to American Samoa After Tsunami

President Obama issued a major disaster declaration for the territory of American Samoa Tuesday evening, and the first U.S. relief flight to the tsunami-whipped Pacific islands was expected to touch down shortly after dawn Wednesday local time, or around 1 p.m. Eastern time, U.S. emergency officials said.

Brad Pitt gives Katrina update at Clinton meeting

The average electric bill for one of the energy-efficient homes built in New Orleans by Brad Pitt's Make It Right foundation is $35 a month, the actor said Thursday during an update on the project at the Clinton Global Initiative. The cost of building the homes also is dropping. And by the time all 150 promised homes are completed, the cost will be comparable to standard buildings, Pitt said. "I don't know how we build any other way anywhere else," he said. "We can no longer tell ourselves that implementing this technology is too complex a problem because it's just been proven on this little spot on the map."

Banker pay curbs, clawbacks sought at G20 summit

World leaders at the G20 meeting on Thursday closed in on a statement calling for new restraints on banker pay, an issue that became inflammatory during the global financial crisis, but would not endorse specific monetary caps -- a deal-breaker for the United States.

Report shows that disparities continue between area’s black, white residents

HOUMA — Assumption, Lafourche and Terrebonne are ranked among the worst areas in the state for the quality of life of their black residents, a new report shows.