Friday, May 9, 2008
NEW ORLEANS
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NORCO — Less than four weeks after it was partially opened to relieve pressure on downriver levees, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers on Thursday closed the last 30 open bays of the Bonnet Carré Spillway control structure in St. Charles Parish.
The new federal hurricane-recovery czar said President Bush challenged him to complete as much rebuilding as possible on the Gulf Coast between now and January of next year, when a new administration takes office. WASHINGTON — Congress today will unfurl a massive emergency war spending bill expected to include $5.8 billion to secure levees in the New Orleans area. NEW ORLEANS (AP) -- Worried about the start of a new hurricane season and lingering fears about health hazards in federally supplied travel trailers, Mayor Ray Nagin is pushing to empty the thousands of trailers still standing in his city. NEW ORLEANS (AP) -- More than 10 fraternity pledges at Tulane University were burned with hot water and pepper spray during a "hell night" initiation, an attorney representing one of the pledges say. NEW ORLEANS — A federal appellate court has upheld U.S. District Judge James Brady’s decision to throw out a Denham Springs man’s triple murder conviction and death sentence and grant him a new trial. NEW ORLEANS (AP) -- A shocking 29 murders in New Orleans between April 1 and May 6, quickly wiped out the slight drop in first-quarter homicides that police had trumpeted. Louisiana Recovery Authority Executive Director Paul Rainwater acknowledged the Jindal administration is hamstrung to a large degree by the contract former Gov. Kathleen Blanco’s administration entered into with ICF International, of Virginia, to administer the Road Home, but he said the state is doing what it can to hold ICF’s feet to the fire while also trying to improve the program. NEW ORLEANS — The American Civil Liberties of Union of Louisiana will honor retired Judge Calvin Johnson of Orleans Criminal District Court during its annual dinner and membership meeting Saturday at the Denechaud Room in the Le Pavillon Hotel on Poydras Street. NEW ORLEANS — With the North American Leaders Summit now in New Orleans’ rearview mirror, the Big Easy is preparing for yet another big international event — Louisiana’s second-annual World Cultural Economic Forum. NEW ORLEANS — Flood insurance: If you don’t have it, get it. With the start of the 2008 hurricane season just a month away, that was the message Thursday from the Federal Emergency Management Agency and the Governor’s Office of Homeland Security and Emergency Preparedness. NEW ORLEANS — UNO Filmmakers will open its second annual University of New Orleans Film Festival today in the Nims Theater at the Performing Arts Center on the Lakefront Campus. NORCO — With the swollen Mississippi River in a slow fall, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers on Wednesday began slowly closing the Bonnet Carré Spillway control structure and said the process should be completed by mid-May. NEW ORLEANS — Federal prosecutors are asking a judge not to cancel an order garnishing former Louisiana Senate President Michael O’Keefe Sr.’s state pension. NEW ORLEANS (AP) -- Scientists are searching the eastern half of Lake Pontchartrain for 35 dolphins that might be endangered by an influx of fresh water. They love New Orleans. It’s where they were born, grew up and lived most of their adult lives until Hurricane Katrina in 2005. But Lula and Charles Breaux have decided to call Baton Rouge home. NEW ORLEANS — Hurricanes Katrina and Rita continue to affect the health, particularly the mental health, of Louisianians more than 2 1/2 years after the storms ravaged the southern part of the state, according to the results of a new survey released Tuesday. The embattled private contractor running Louisiana’s Road Home program for victims of hurricanes Katrina and Rita could face nearly $1.7 million in penalties if it does not meet new performance measures, including closing 116,000 homeowner grants by the end of June, the state said Friday. NEW ORLEANS — Displaced New Orleans residents still living in the Baton Rouge area more than 2 1/2 years after Hurricane Katrina are being asked to attend a “listening session’’ Tuesday in Baton Rouge. |
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