Section 8: Misdirected money, corruption, mismanagement by local officials, and preventable levee failures
This subsection is primarily about mismanagement before Hurricane
Katrina hit. There is a separate page about the FBI raid on the offices of Congressman
William J. Jefferson. The first item
below is just a sample from that page.
Black
politicians should be held to high standard. The [William J.] Jefferson case is
special. He has been on the legal hot seat for months. He's been the target of an
ongoing criminal investigation and a House ethics probe. He left a bitter taste in the
mouths of many New Orleans residents during the Hurricane Katrina debacle when he allegedly
commandeered a National Guard truck to check on his personal property and save personal
belongings.
Experts
Say Faulty Levees Caused Much of Flooding. With the help of complex computer models and
stark visual evidence, scientists and engineers at Louisiana State University's Hurricane Center have
concluded that Katrina's surges did not come close to overtopping those barriers. That would make
faulty design, inadequate construction or some combination of the two the likely cause of the
breaching of the floodwalls along the 17th Street and London Avenue canals — and
the flooding of most of New Orleans.
A Barrier That Could Have Been. In the
wake of Hurricane Betsy 40 years ago, Congress approved a massive hurricane barrier to protect New Orleans
from storm surges that could inundate the city. But the project, signed into law by President Johnson,
was derailed in 1977 by an environmental lawsuit.
Louisiana
Officials Indicted Before Katrina Hit. Senior officials in Louisiana's emergency planning
agency already were awaiting trial over allegations stemming from a federal investigation into waste,
mismanagement and missing funds when Hurricane Katrina struck. And federal auditors are still
trying to track as much as $60 million in unaccounted for funds that were funneled to the state
from the Federal Emergency Management Agency dating back to 1998.
Red Cross
Blocked Before Levee Break. Red Cross workers arrived in New Orleans
with enough food, water and blankets for thousands of Hurricane Katrina victims the
night before levees broke and flooded the city, but were prevented from delivering
the aid to stranded citizens by state officials.
Report: Louisiana
blocked Red Cross. The Louisiana Department of Homeland Security blocked a vanguard
of Red Cross trucks filled with water, food, blankets and hygiene items from bringing relief to
the thousands of hungry and thirsty evacuees stranded in the New Orleans Superdome after Hurricane
Katrina struck, according to a Fox News Channel report.
Multi-Layered
Failures. While the Red Cross and Salvation Army were able and eager to
deliver water, food, medicine, and other relief supplies to those suffering at the
Superdome and convention center, Louisiana officials rebuffed them, for fear that
hydrating and feeding these individuals would chill an already glacial evacuation
while encouraging others to get cozy and settle in for the long haul. In short,
Louisiana officials starved their citizens out of town.
What Caused the
Flood? Hurricane Katrina makes for a straightforward narrative for
liberals: Big government could have prevented the catastrophe, but President
Bush so distrusts government, he didn't spend enough on levees and other projects to
save New Orleans. Leaving aside that the free-spending Bush is hardly a miser,
this narrative has no connection to the grimy facts on the ground.
Money
Flowed to Questionable Projects. Before Hurricane Katrina breached a
levee on the New Orleans Industrial Canal, the Army Corps of Engineers had already
launched a $748 million construction project at that very location. But
the project had nothing to do with flood control. The Corps was building a huge
new lock for the canal, an effort to accommodate steadily increasing barge
traffic. Except that barge traffic on the canal has been steadily decreasing.
New Orleans: A
Green Genocide. As radical environmentalists continue to blame the ferocity of
Hurricane Katrina's devastation on President Bush's ecological policies, a mainstream Louisiana
media outlet inadvertently disclosed a shocking fact: Environmentalist activists were
responsible for spiking a plan that may have saved New Orleans. Decades ago, the Green
Left — pursuing its agenda of valuing wetlands and topographical "diversity" over
human life — sued to prevent the Army Corps of Engineers from building floodgates
that would have prevented significant flooding that resulted from Hurricane Katrina.
Environmental Groups Opposed Flood Protection.
Amid the slow recovery of the Gulf Coast from the destruction of Hurricane Katrina, a great deal of criticism
has fallen on the shoulders of the Bush administration and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers for an allegedly
insufficient commitment to fortifying anti-flood levees. Mostly unremarked upon, however, has been the
opposition of environmental activist groups to building levees in the first place.
Floodgate May Have Thwarted
Storm Tragedy. Hours after Hurricane Katrina passed, New Orleans was
underwater. Some experts say the flooding could have been stopped a quarter-century
ago — had environmentalists not interfered.
Louisiana
Officials in Flood-Money Scam. Nine months before the Hurricane Katrina
disaster, three Louisiana Office of Homeland Security and Emergency Preparedness officials
were indicted for obstructing an audit into flood prevention expenditures.
The Levee board
was under federal investigation before Katrina hit. Rampant public
corruption was doing big business in New Orleans long before Hurricane Katrina
ever hit. What then Congressman, now Senator David Vitter calls "corrupt, good
old boy" practices were apparent in the New Orleans Levee Board just one year before
the collapse of regional levees, emergency communications and government services
brought the Big Easy to the brink of anarchy.
Unquenchable
appetite: Why did we ever think it would work? Whatever possessed us
to look for the ultimate in disaster relief from a governmental system that had dreamed
up public education, the agricultural subsidy program, Medicare, and Social Security? Why
did we think they would get this one right? Truth be told, all the whining about the
supposedly insensitive and slow response to Hurricane Katrina is off the mark.
Louisiana Federal Money Was Not
Spent on Levees. It turns out Louisiana has gotten more than its fair share of
federal dollars for infrastructure but its own lawmakers thought the New Orleans levees were
not a priority.
Army Corps of Engineers projects plentiful in
Louisiana. Over the five years of President Bush's administration, Louisiana has
received far more money for Corps civil works projects than any other state, about
$1.9 billion. … Lt. Gen. Carl Strock, the chief of the Corps, has
said that in any event, more money would not have prevented the drowning of the city,
since its levees were only designed to protect against a Category 3 storm, and
the levees that failed were already completed projects.
Read this: Greens vs.
Levees. The national Sierra Club was one of several environmental groups
who sued the Army Corps of Engineers to stop a 1996 plan to raise and fortify Mississippi
River levees. … Nearly all flood-control projects — even relatively small
ones — are subject to a variety of assessments for effects on wetlands, endangered
species, and other environmental concerns.
Clinton slashed
spending on levees. While the Bush administration is sure to
get most of the heat for cuts in proposed expenditures to maintain and upgrade New Orleans
flood control system, the Clinton administration repeatedly cut congressional allocations
for the projects and the recommendations on spending by the Army Corps of Engineers.
New Orleans had
many warnings. Just a year ago, Hurricane Ivan caused a disaster plan
review. There were hours-long traffic jams. Those who had money fled, while
the poor stayed. The warnings were the same: Forecasters predicted that a
direct hit on the city would send torrents of water over the city's levees, creating
a 20-foot-deep cesspool of human and industrial waste.
They're
at it again. As Michael Tanner, director of health and welfare studies
at the Cato Institute, points out, the federal government has given billions of dollars to
New Orleans' poor since George W. Bush took office. Tanner estimates that
the Bush administration has spent some $10 billion in welfare assistance in Louisiana,
including $1.2 billion in cash assistance and $3 billion in food stamps, as well
as public housing, Medicaid and more than 60 other federal anti-poverty programs. But
all that money did not buy self-sufficiency, the commodity that largely differentiated those
who escaped the deluge from those who got stuck at the Superdome and Convention Center.
Poor Al.
Unfortunately [Al Gore] was addressing the Sierra Club, which was not the best place to bring
up the flooding of New Orleans. The very day he spoke a congressional task force reported that
the levees that failed in New Orleans would have been raised higher and strengthened in 1996 by
the Army Corps of Engineers were it not for a lawsuit filed by environmentalists led by who else
but the Sierra Club.
Flood
protection has taken a back seat. Though he spent eight years on the Orleans Levee Board,
Robert Lupo didn't spend much time talking about levees. Instead, the real estate magnate organized
a $2.5 million renovation of the Mardi Gras Fountain, tried to find takers for the district's vacant
real estate and helped lead a failed effort to find a private manager for Lakefront airport.
Engineers:
1985 test predicted levee break. Scientists working on an independent study of a floodwall that
collapsed during Hurricane Katrina said Monday [3/13/2006] that a government test 21 years ago predicted
the wall could fail.
Corps of Engineers Sued Over
Hurricane Katrina. Five people whose homes were flooded during Hurricane Katrina sued the
U.S. Army Corps of Engineers on Tuesday [4/25/2006], accusing the agency of ignoring repeated warnings
that a navigation channel it built would turn into a "hurricane highway."
Rebuilding New Orleans: Humans along
the Mississippi determined to live directly in the path of — and contrary to the natural
order of — nature. However, once the levees broke, Katrina, the storm of our lifetime,
sent water again down its natural path, and in addition to the overwhelming human tragedy, also
set in motion political changes of great consequence. But it all began with the far left
environmental activists.
Mississippi
withholds Katrina money amid audit. Mississippi is withholding nearly $17 million in federal
reimbursement money from its most populous coastal county while authorities probe a "multitude of discrepancies"
in bills that contractors submitted for Hurricane Katrina debris removal, according to officials and documents
reviewed by The Associated Press.
146 U.S. levees may fail in
flood. The Army Corps of Engineers has identified 146 levees nationwide that it says pose an
unacceptable risk of failing in a major flood. The deficiencies, mostly due to poor maintenance, are
forcing communities from Connecticut to California to invest millions of dollars in repairs. If the levees
aren't fixed, the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) could determine that they are no longer adequate
flood controls. If that happens, property owners behind the levees would have to buy flood insurance
costing hundreds of dollars a year or more.
Corps proposes
voluntary buyout outside levees. The draft document, which details work the agency already should
have completed, has not yet been released to the public. The corps missed a Dec. 31 deadline to make
recommendations to Congress, angering the state's congressional delegation, as well as state officials and
advocates for coastal restoration and flood protection.
Leaky New
Orleans levee alarms experts. 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.
The U.S. Treasury — A Once and
Everyman's Oyster. Louisiana Senator Mary Landrieu (D) asked Congress for something like
$250 billion — fixer upper money — to throw at New Orleans after Katrina. Whatever they got, many of
the dollars went to Louisiana crooks, some of whom refused to pay Mexican day laborers hired to help with the
cleanup. Criminally, Louisiana's thieves rank right up there with Washington's crooks and are often
compared on the corruption scale with Mexico, which has no law at all.
Section 9: Odd news items connected to Katrina
Generally, the newest items are at the bottom of this subsection.
Homosexuals
Parade in Devastated New Orleans. Despite the devastating conditions left
in the wake of Hurricane Katrina, nearly two dozen homosexuals gathered together to
parade down Bourbon Street to celebrate the 33rd annual "Southern Decadence" festival
in New Orleans. The festival, noted for being the largest homosexual event in the
South, normally fills the French Quarter with thousands of gay, lesbian, bisexual,
and transgendered people flaunting their lifestyle. One newspaper claimed that last
year's event drew more than 110,000 people.
Update: Gay
community prepares for post-Katrina 'Decadence'. The gay community plans to paint the town pink and
green this weekend, just days after the ceremonies that marked the first anniversary of Hurricane Katrina.
Illegals Afraid to Get Storm
Aid. Some sneak into shelters at night and then slip out in the morning, praying they won't
be noticed. Others avoid government help altogether, preferring to ride out the chaos and destruction
alone in a foreign land.
Apocryphal at best: We
had to kill our patients. Doctors working in hurricane-ravaged New Orleans
killed critically ill patients rather than leaving them to die in agony as they evacuated
hospitals, The Mail on Sunday can reveal. With gangs of rapists and looters rampaging
through wards in the flooded city, senior doctors took the harrowing decision to give
massive overdoses of morphine to those they believed could not make it out alive.
On the other hand, maybe not... Doctor Confirms Earlier
Report of New Orleans Mercy Killings. The New Orleans doctor who claims that hospital
patients were euthanized in the days following Hurricane Katrina has tacitly confirmed a NewsMax
report from a month ago.
Update: Katrina hospital deaths
lead to 3 arrests. A doctor and two nurses are charged with murder in the deaths of several
patients stranded in a New Orleans hospital after Hurricane Katrina swamped the city last summer, the Louisiana
attorney general's office said Tuesday [7/18/2006]. Anna Pou, a head and neck surgeon, and nurses Cheri
Landry and Laura Budo, all of Memorial Hospital, face four counts each of second-degree murder, according to
Attorney General Charles Foti.
Three Arrested
in New Orleans Hospital Deaths. [Three people] were accused of intentionally killing four patients
ages 62 to 91 at Memorial Medical Center with a deadly combination of morphine and the sedative Versed.
They were booked on charges of being "principals to second-degree murder," which carries a mandatory sentence
of life in prison. "There may be more arrests and victims that cannot be mentioned at this time," Foti
said. "This case is not over yet."
Another update: Katrina Nursing Home
Owners Acquitted. The owners of a nursing home where 35 patients died after Hurricane Katrina
were acquitted Friday [9/7/2007] of negligent homicide and cruelty charges for not evacuating the facility as the storm
approached.
Big Brother under
the skin. It's 2005 and Big Brother is not watching you; he's under your skin. A
company is implanting Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) tags in corpses in Mississippi to help
identify the dead in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina.
Louisiana
gives back much of the FEMA money. The Department of Health and Hospitals has
declined the bulk of $352 million in disaster assistance handed to the state by the
Federal Emergency Management Agency late last week, with agency officials saying that they
spent only about $10 million during the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina.
Hotel Chain Asks Katrina Evacuees to
Leave. Hurricane evacuees — often several family members packed into a single
hotel room — can be a burden on hotel staff. They also use more water and electricity,
and do not spend much on food and incidentals.
Suit Claims Oil Companies Caused Troubled
Waters. A class-action lawsuit was filed during the week of September 12 alleging the oil
companies are to blame for the damage caused by Hurricane Katrina, according to Associated Press. … The
suit contends oil and gas pipeline canals in the coastal marshes eliminated parts of the marsh area,
which allegedly serves as a buffer zone.
Sounds to me like corrupt Louisiana politics as usual... Politically
connected cycle shop hits the jackpot. The custom motorcycle shop in River Ridge, owned by
the father and uncle of state Rep. Gary Smith, D-Norco, features fast, modernistic machines ... What
Bourget's does not list on its Web site is that it sells travel trailers. Indeed,
state officials confirm the company didn't have a license to sell new trailers
until Oct. 18. Nevertheless, the Federal Emergency Management Agency has
pledged to buy 6,416 travel trailers from Bourget's through three contracts
worth almost $108 million, according to government reports.
Lawmaker's father, uncle
got $108 million FEMA trailer contract. The uncle and father of a Louisiana
lawmaker have won three no-bid contracts worth 108 million dollars to provide temporary
housing for Hurricane Katrina evacuees even though their motorcycle shop didn't have a
license to sell new trailers until after the first deal was signed.
Don't dare
write us off, residents warn. Elected officials and residents from New Orleans' hardest-hit
areas on Monday [11/28/2005] responded with skepticism and, at times, outright hostility to a controversial
proposal to eliminate their neighborhoods from post-Katrina rebuilding efforts.
Katrina Destroys Once Great
Wine Cellar. The wine cellar at Brennan's Restaurant, winner since 1983 of Wine Spectator
magazine's Grand Award as one of the 85 top cellars in the world, has 35,000 bottles that since
Hurricane Katrina have gone from vintage to vinegar.
14
escaped prison in Katrina chaos. Despite assurances from Orleans Parish Criminal
Sheriff Marlin Gusman in the days after Hurricane Katrina that no inmates escaped during a
tumultuous three-day evacuation of Parish Prison, fugitive arrest warrants were issued
for 14 inmates who were in the jail at the time of the storm, records show. They
include a murder defendant who recently was captured and booked with a fresh murder
in Mississippi.
The
Big Easy sacks its no-show police. New Orleans has fired 60 police officers and suspended
more than 25 others who did not show up for duty in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, its police chief
said yesterday [12/9/2005] as officials worked their way through a long list of disciplinary hearings.
Judge Orders Extension of FEMA Hotel
Plan. A program that put Hurricane Katrina evacuees in hotels at government expense
while they sought other housing must be extended until Feb. 7, a month beyond
the deadline set by the Federal Emergency Management Agency, a federal
judge ruled Monday [12/12/2005].
Red Cross president
resigning after difficult year. American Red Cross President Marsha J. Evans, who
oversaw the charity's vast and sometimes maligned response to Hurricane Katrina, is resigning
effective at the end of this month because of friction with her board of governors, the
organization said today [12/13/2005].
Crackdown
on relief fraud brings more arrests. At least 25 people have been arrested and
accused of attempting to "double dip" and fraudulently receive Hurricane Katrina relief funds
from the American Red Cross, Houston Police Chief Harold Hurtt announced Friday [9/16/2005].
Two in
Dallas Accused of Katrina Fraud. Two Dallas residents have been accused of separate schemes
to impersonate hurricane evacuees and bilk the Federal Emergency Management Agency out of thousands of
dollars, authorities said. Lakietha Hall, 35, was arrested Wednesday [12/21/2005] and charged with
stealing more than $65,000 in FEMA money, according to a release from the U.S. Attorney's
office. Authorities seized more than $10,000 in cash during a search of Hall's
apartment, the release said.
Numerous other cases of fraud connected to Katrina:
[1].
[2].
Hurricane fraud
suspects held. A federal task force has arrested 143 persons nationwide for bribery,
extortion and fraudulent claims on hurricane disaster funding, and at least 1,000 investigations
are ongoing in New Orleans. … In addition, the Homeland Security Inspector General's office is
reviewing an estimated 350 contracts worth nearly $5 billion, and investigating more than 300
possible criminal cases, which so far have netted 51 arrests, 67 indictments and five convictions.
Four injured in evacuee-related
shooting. A shooting Friday night [12/30/2005] at a southeast Houston apartment complex
in which four people were reportedly wounded is another example, one tenant said, of the tension
between Katrina evacuees and local residents.
'You'd be out
of your mind to say no'. When the city of Las Vegas offered New Orleans help in the wake of
the Hurricane Katrina disaster, Crescent City Mayor Ray Nagin asked Las Vegas Mayor Oscar Goodman to do
something for his weary emergency workers. The response was first-rate. Local casinos offered
rooms and show tickets and Vegas-based Allegiant Air offered flights to the weary firefighters, police
officers and medics. At least that's who they thought was coming for the R&R. The majority of
seats on the first flight to Vegas, however, were filled by Nagin's aides, janitors and people who don't
work for New Orleans at all.
Grand
Jury to Probe New Orleans Police. A Louisiana grand jury will investigate several
controversies involving police in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, including the theft of cars from a
Cadillac dealership and the shooting deaths of two men suspected of firing on contractors.
Dome repair
cost goes through the roof. The Superdome will sport a new, stronger roof before the end
of the next hurricane season. That's the good news. The bad news is it's going to cost
a whopping $32 million, more than twice as much as officials thought. Now the potentially
controversial news: It might be a different color.
Suit seeks to halt Katrina
evacuee evictions. Lawyers asked for a temporary restraining order today to stop
the evictions of 12,000 families left homeless by hurricanes Katrina and Rita from hotels across
the nation on Monday [2/13/2006].
New Orleans says it won't give
free ride. New Orleans doesn't want its poorest residents back — unless they agree
to work. That was the message from three New Orleans City Council members who said government
programs have "pampered" the city's residents for too long.
[Oh, great. Now Dallas and Houston are stuck with the ones who aren't inclined to work.]
Contempt
Motion Filed Against New Orleans Mayor, Police Chief. The Second Amendment Foundation and the
National Rifle Association filed a motion on Wednesday [3/1/2006] to have New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin and
Police Superintendent Warren Riley held in contempt of court. The city leaders have refused to comply
with a federal injunction to stop illegal gun confiscations and return all seized firearms to their rightful
owners.
Refugees Have Mixed Feelings
on Mardi Gras. For some New Orleans residents still waiting to return home, this is going to
be a pathetic Mardi Gras. To other refugees, however, the big parades in New Orleans seem almost
grotesque. They wonder whether the city has its priorities straight in throwing a party at a time
when many homes lay in ruins.
Teachers
union loses its force in storm's wake. When the Orleans Parish School Board gathered last
month and voted to fire virtually the entire work force of 7,500 teachers, custodians, bus drivers and
kitchen staff, union brass might have been expected to clamor loudly in opposition. Instead, but
for one or two nonunion gadflies who spieled and sat down, you could practically hear the crickets.
New
Hampshire named most livable state. Researchers consider 44 factors in ranking the
states. This year Louisiana ended up in last place for the first time in eight years.
Evacuees' poor TAKS scores revive money
issue. Hurricane Katrina evacuees trailed their Texas peers in third and fifth grade on reading
tests taken last month, adding urgency to school districts' request
for more funding to help the displaced students catch up. Forty-one percent of third-graders and
53 percent of fifth-graders failed the reading portion of the Texas Assessment of Knowledge and Skills,
putting them at risk of having to repeat a grade unless they pass the tests on future attempts.
Hurricane
Benefits Deadline Extended. FEMA is extending a deadline for benefit applications by a month in
Louisiana, Mississippi and Texas to give the non-English-speaking hurricane victims more time to seek help,
the agency said Friday [3/10/2006].
Reid 'Ashamed' Over Katrina
Mobile Homes. Senate minority leader Harry Reid said Saturday [3/11/2006] he was "ashamed for
our country" after visiting the thousands of FEMA-owned mobile homes lined up at Hope Airport that have yet
to be used as shelters for hurricane victims on the Gulf Coast. "I can't imagine that we could have a
sea of 11,000 mobile homes sitting there, rotting, while people around the country can't find a place to
live," the Nevada Democrat said.
Georgia Governor Gives up
Tax 'Windfall'. The governor's tax cut follows a one-month moratorium on the state sales
tax on gasoline that was implemented after hurricanes Katrina and Rita hurt supplies. That
moratorium was ratified by the General Assembly in a special session and saved motorists an
estimated $77 million.
Katrina
evacuees' mental health eyed. As many as 500,000 Katrina evacuees around the country may need
mental health counseling, according to the U.S. Substance and Mental Health Services Administration.
FEMA
trailers in Miss. sit in harm's way. The dots represent 132 trailers set up by FEMA for people
whose homes were destroyed by Hurricane Katrina. The trailers are crammed into a one-square-mile
neighborhood, and most of them are along the banks of the Jourdan River.
Free advice:
Katrina wasn't the first or the last hurricane. There will be
others.
FEMA Says Arkansas will
Keep Half of Trailers. The government has no plans to move at least half of the 10,000
emergency housing trailers sitting empty in Hope, Ark., saying they may be needed for the 2006
hurricane season.
Price
no object in N.O. car-removal. In seeking a contract to remove thousands of flooded and
wrecked cars from New Orleans, Mayor Ray Nagin's administration recommended that the city go with the
highest quoted price for the job, a review of the 14 proposals submitted last year shows. It
appears the chosen proposal, a $1,000-per-car bid from Colorado-based CH2M Hill, was nearly triple
the cost of at least three other bids, records show. The gap between CH2M Hill and the other
companies cannot be precisely ascertained, because not every proposal included a price, and some of
those that did listed tasks that others did not.
Katrina
Evacuees Wear Out Their Stay in Houston. Seven months after taking in about 200,000 Louisiana
residents left homeless by Hurricane Katrina, Houstonians aren't feeling so hospitable anymore. Many
people in the nation's fourth-largest city complain that the influx has led to more murders and gang violence,
long lines at health clinics and bus stops, and fights and greater overcrowding in the schools.
New Orleans' recovery may take
25 years. A full recovery in New Orleans could take 25 years as homeowners, businesses
and tourists are coaxed back to the city devastated by Hurricane Katrina, the Bush administration's
Gulf Coast recovery coordinator said today. [3/30/2006]
[Again, that's assuming there will be 25 years without another hurricane.]
Bill
Cosby tells New Orleans blacks to reject crime. Entertainer Bill Cosby urged New
Orleans' black population on Saturday [4/1/2006] to cleanse itself of a culture of crime as it
rebuilds from the devastation caused by Hurricane Katrina last year.
Houston's homicides up
nearly 25% in 2006. The number of homicides in Houston rose nearly 25 percent
during the first three months of 2006, compared with the same period last year, despite a
multimillion-dollar police effort in the city's most crime-ridden areas. … The carnage
this year reflects the same trends that police publicized in 2005 after a bloody Thanksgiving
weekend and a spate of homicides involving Hurricane Katrina evacuees from New Orleans.
Houston's homicide rate is on
track to be the worst in a decade. With more than 300 homicides since January, Houston
is on pace to record nearly 400 slayings for the year — which would be the highest number of
killings the city has seen in more than a decade. … The Houston Police Department said an uptick in
homicides by Hurricane Katrina evacuees has contributed to that increase.
Houston
Homicides Spike; Evacuees Cited. Evacuees from Hurricane Katrina have contributed to an increase
in Houston's annual murder rate, which could climb this year to its highest level in more than a decade, police
said. … "We recognize that the homicide rate is up as far as raw numbers and as well as percentages relative
to the population," Capt. Dwayne Ready said. "We also recognize that Katrina evacuees continue to have
an impact on the murder rate."
Atlanta Crime Spree Blamed On Katrina.
Atlanta police said they've been experiencing a level of crime never seen before in the city and a lot of it was
imported from New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina. … In the past two weeks, Atlanta Police, the US Marshals
and the ATF rounded up eight men and charged them with at least three murders and one aggravated assault.
Investigators said three of the men are Katrina evacuees and brought their violent crime spree to Atlanta.
Big Easy hit by crime wave as dealers
return. The wail of police sirens is back and gunfire again punctuates the night. As
drug dealers move into flood-damaged houses, alarmed residents say that in the past few weeks they have
begun to sense a return to the bad old days before Hurricane Katrina, when crime was an omnipresent
straitjacket on life in New Orleans.
Katrina
left a flood of felons in Texas. As many as 3,000 Hurricane Katrina evacuees in Texas are on
probation or parole in their home state but most are probably living under no form of supervision, and state
officials are providing their names to local authorities because they could be suspects in new crimes.
Towing firm
runs out of gas. State officials are expected to rebid a contract today [4/20/2006] for the
removal of storm-ruined cars and boats in southern Louisiana, after the previous low bidder's shot at the
deal dissolved in the face of financial uncertainty. … Scott Sewell, one of the leaders of the
consortium that now stands as the lowest responsive bidder with a price of about $120 million for the
previous scope of work, said it's too late to reverse opinion. "When the people see the gymnastics
state officials went through to give this contract to a company with no experience and no assets and no
management, there's already been an erosion of public trust on this one," Sewell said.
Storm
Evacuees Strain Texas Hosts. Houston is straining along its municipal seams from the 150,000
new residents from New Orleans, officials say. Crime was already on the rise there before the hurricane,
but the Houston police say that evacuees were victims or suspects in two-thirds of the 30 percent
increase in murders since September [2005].
The 'Katrina effect' increases Houston
crime. Violence among Hurricane Katrina evacuees has accounted for nearly a quarter of homicides
in Houston so far this year, police officials said. Police have investigated 124 homicides since
Jan. 1, and 29 of them involved evacuees as victims or attackers, said Capt. Dale Brown of the
Houston Police Department.
Southern
Louisiana in a Severe Drought. Nature has outdone herself with this cruel joke: Southern
Louisiana, much of which was underwater not so long ago, is in the throes of a severe to extreme drought.
Employment recruiters
say New Orleans is a tough sell. It was pretty tough to persuade someone to move to New Orleans
for a job before Hurricane Katrina, recruiters and human resource specialists say. Since the storm,
recruiting has become even harder as the area's pre-storm problems, such as leadership and education, have
been exacerbated.
Murder
is making a comeback in New Orleans. Jane Anderson misses the old days — the days
right after Hurricane Katrina when National Guardsmen with rifles roamed the street outside the New Orleans
shop where she works. The days when there weren't many people around and crime was down sharply.
"I know it's still pretty safe," Anderson says. "But it doesn't feel that way. We're hearing about
more things happening, more murders, more bad guys returning."
669
Sue State Farm Over Katrina Claims. A lawsuit filed Tuesday [5/9/2006] by nearly 700 Gulf Coast
homeowners accuses State Farm Insurance Co. of using a "one-size-fits-all" engineering report as the basis for
refusing to cover damage to homes destroyed by Hurricane Katrina.
Police:
suspect posed as Katrina evacuee. Police arrested a man accused of sexually assaulting at least
six women after talking his way into their homes by pretending to be a Hurricane Katrina evacuee.
Students
who fled hurricanes lag in test. Just one in six high school sophomores displaced from
Louisiana by hurricanes Katrina and Rita passed a standardized test that is a precursor to the exam
they must pass next year to graduate. Test results were just as dismal for displaced high school
and middle school students in other grades, who scored much lower than their Texas peers.
Illegals exploited in Katrina cleanup, study
says. Because many are in the country illegally, immigrant workers rebuilding New
Orleans are especially vulnerable to exploitation, according to a study released Tuesday [6/6/2006] by
professors at Tulane University and the University of California at Berkeley.
Census outlines face of today's
New Orleans. The city of New Orleans lost about 64% of its residents after the storm, going
from 437,000 in July to 158,000 in January, the Census Bureau says.
HUD to demolish some
Louisiana housing projects. The federal government said Wednesday [6/14/2006] it will demolish
some of the largest public housing projects in New Orleans, using the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina to
help improve poor, crime-ridden neighborhoods.
In
New Orleans, the Money Is Ready but a Plan Isn't. Billions of federal dollars are about to start
flowing into this city [but] local officials have yet to come up with a redevelopment plan showing what kind of
city will emerge from the storm's ruins. No neighborhoods have been ruled out for rebuilding, no matter
how damaged or dangerous.
Nagin Says
New Orleans Is Recovering. New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin said Monday [7/3/2006] his city is
recovering and that people have been "hoodwinked and bamboozled" into believing it won't be rebuilt.
Texas gets funds for hurricane
double-whammy. Texas will get almost half a billion dollars in federal relief funding to help the
state recover from last year's hurricane double-whammy, officials announced in Houston today [8/18/2006].
Who's to blame for state
of New Orleans? In many ways, New Orleans is a huge crime scene, with bodies and victims and
fingerprints — many, many sets of fingerprints. But who did it? Who is responsible for this
mess, for a barely functioning city with large swathes still uninhabited — or
uninhabitable — a year after Hurricane Katrina?
Nagin
takes a swipe at NYC in defending local recovery efforts. On a tour of wreckage in the
devastated Lower 9th Ward, Nagin said much of the debris has been removed from public property. When
a "60 Minutes" correspondent pointed out flood-damaged cars on the streets, Nagin shot back, "You
guys in New York can't get a hole in the ground fixed, and it's five years later. So let's be
fair," according to CBS.
Nagin Throws a
Stone. Who can forget Mayor Nagin — the fellow who dissolved into hysterical sobs, on
national TV no less, at the height of the Katrina crisis a year ago. Remember the utterly false
claims about how evacuation centers were being overrun by gangs of heavily armed rapists and
murderers? And whose police force was it that virtually deserted its posts in the
dark of night? Ray Nagin's.
Two
tales of New Orleans: Although President Bush took some heavy and deserved hits to his approval
ratings for his administration's slow response to the Katrina emergency, most fingers of blame for the city's
sluggish recovery now point to [New Orleans Mayor Ray] Nagin.
Two unrepentant about selling
Katrina gift. A [Memphis] church that wanted to do something special for Hurricane Katrina
victims gave a $75,000 house, free and clear, to a couple who said they were left homeless by the storm.
But the couple turned around and sold the place without ever moving in, and went back to New Orleans.
Lott's
'title washing' bill is needed. U.S. Sen. Trent Lott's proposed legislation to impede the practice
of "title washing" is a step in the right direction to protect consumers. Lott, a Katrina victim himself,
knows full well the dangers of "title washing" — in which cars with troubled histories are sold to
unsuspecting consumers.
Mayor:
Evacuees Increased Murders. The number of murders last year in Houston hit a 12-year high and
increased by 13.5 percent over 2005, figures the mayor attributes in part to the arrival of evacuees from
Hurricane Katrina. Houston had 379 homicides in 2006. That was the most since 1994, when 419 murders
were reported, police said. In 2005, the city had 334 homicides. Mayor Bill White pointed to
Hurricane Katrina evacuees from New Orleans as one reason for the increase.
Struggling New Orleans
tries to find more teachers. Some of New Orleans' most desperate, run-down schools are beset
with a severe shortage of teachers, and they are struggling mightily to attract candidates by appealing to
their sense of adventure and desire to make a difference. Education officials are even offering to help
new teachers find housing.
Salaries
soar for Nagin's top aides. Salaries of top New Orleans administrators have nearly doubled in the
past eight years, and paychecks for some positions have almost tripled, thanks to aggressive pay increases
pushed through by Mayor Ray Nagin. But whether the city is getting a big bang for the big bucks is an
open question.
Katrina vehicles flood the DC
area. Cars and trucks waterlogged by Hurricane Katrina are turning up in Virginia and Maryland in
numbers far exceeding the national average, according to a study released yesterday [2/1/2007]. The number
of vehicles for sale with undisclosed water damage increased in Virginia from 2002 to 2006 by 189 percent over
the previous five years, according to a report released yesterday by Carfax, a Centreville, Va., company that
sells vehicle history reports nationwide.
Judge OKs Katrina flood
suit vs. Corps. Residents whose homes were flooded during Hurricane Katrina can sue the Army
Corps of Engineers over claims the agency ignored warnings about defects in a nearby navigation channel, a
federal judge ruled Friday [2/2/2007].
Shift sought for New Orleans
levee funds. The Army Corps of Engineers is proposing to divert up to $1.3 billion for
levee repairs from the Mississippi River's East Bank, which was ravaged by Hurricane Katrina, to the West
Bank, where tens of thousands of people have resettled.
In New Orleans, Dysfunction
Fuels Cycle of Killing. There were 161 homicides in this city last year, and there have been
18 so far this year, making New Orleans by most measures the nation's per capita murder capital, given its
sharply reduced population. Many of the victims and the suspects are teenagers. About two-thirds of
the deaths have gone unsolved: the killers, in many cases, continue to walk the streets and are likely
to kill again, the police say.
New Orleans Residents Are Bailing Out.
New Orleans is a city on a knife's edge. A year and a half after Hurricane Katrina, an alarming number of
residents are leaving or seriously thinking of getting out for good. They have become fed up with the
violence, the bureaucracy, the political finger-pointing, the sluggish rebuilding and the doubts about the
safety of the levees.
Gov. Wants New Orleans
Projects Reopened. Gov. Kathleen Blanco said Monday [2/12/2007] she wants to temporarily reopen the
New Orleans public housing projects that have been closed since Hurricane Katrina, despite federal plans to demolish
them. Hundreds of people protested the demolitions in January. Last week, a federal judge dismissed a claim
that the plans discriminated against the projects' black residents, a move that housing authorities said cleared the
way to raze the buildings.
New
Orleans Seeks Mardi Gras Donations. New Orleans may have half the population it did before
Hurricane Katrina, but the cash-strapped city still loves a party, so to help pay for Mardi Gras, it's
trying a new money source: text-messaged donations. The fundraising campaign, which also
includes online giving, aims to raise $1 million over the next year.
Woman found guilty of fraud. A
Gulfport woman is in custody awaiting a possible 20-year sentence for conviction of FEMA fraud. Rose Maria
Crosby, 48, was found guilty Tuesday on five counts involving a false statement for disaster-relief assistance
after Hurricane Katrina.
N.O.
asks whopping $77 billion in claim to corps. Submitting a claim for a staggering $77 billion,
the city of New Orleans joined tens of thousands of would-be plaintiffs who rushed to beat a Thursday
[3/1/2007] deadline to alert the Army Corps of Engineers that they may sue for losses resulting from
the levee breaches after Hurricane Katrina.
Mayor Nagin: We 'Piled It on' in Suit
Against Army Corp of Engineers. Only $1 billion of the $77 billion the city is seeking
from the Army Corps of Engineers is for infrastructure damages it says it suffered because of levee breaches
during Hurricane Katrina. The rest is for such things as the city's tarnished image and tourist industry
losses. The city "looked at everything and just kind of piled it on," Mayor Ray Nagin said.
The Editor says...
This is the entitlement mentality at work. The mayor evidently sees $77 billion as free money
because it comes from the federal government. Has he no shame? This is nothing more or less
than unmitigated greed. Does the mayor (or anyone else) really believe that the city's "image" and
tourist industry are worth $76 billion?
Update: Forms
filed with corps so far seek $400 billion. Only halfway through the process, Army Corps of
Engineers officials who are examining claim forms filed by tens of thousands of people over Hurricane Katrina
flooding estimate the alleged damages have already passed the $400 billion mark. The demands run the
gamut, from damages for the loss of a pet to a $200 billion claim by the state of Louisiana — the
single largest to surface thus far.
Thousands Suspected of Katrina
Fraud. An Illinois woman mourns her two young daughters, swept to their deaths in Hurricane
Katrina's floodwaters. It's a tragic and terrifying story. It's also a lie. An Alabama woman
applies for disaster aid for hurricane damage. She files 28 claims for addresses in four states.
It's all a sham. Two California men help stage Internet auctions designed to help Katrina relief
organizations. Those, too, are bogus.
Katrina fraud swamps system.
Federal agents investigating widespread fraud after the Gulf Coast hurricanes in 2005 are sifting through more
than 11,000 potential cases, a backlog that could take years to resolve.
New
Orleans putting together gay travel guide. Tourism officials still trying to lure leisure visitors
back to New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina have put together a guidebook aimed at gay and lesbian travelers.
Are FEMA Trailers
Making Residents Sick? August marks the two-year anniversary of Hurricane Katrina. Today
the government says 86,000 families are still living in those white FEMA travel trailers across the Gulf —
more and more waking up with a host of health problems — tied, medical experts believe, to the place they
still call home.
FEMA trailers for sale to occupants.
FEMA is asking families currently living in FEMA temporary housing units if they want to buy them. The
purchase, under FEMA's "Sales to Occupants" program, applies to the government-owned temporary travel trailers
and mobile homes now provided as temporary housing to victims of hurricanes Katrina and Rita.
New Orleans scales back rebuilding plans. After
struggling for months to come up with $1.1 billion for stage one of New Orleans' hurricane rebuilding plan,
city officials faced with growing public frustration intend to move ahead with a drastically scaled-back first
step of $216 million.
N.O. police want federal
troops to stay. Violent crime has been a major concern in New Orleans as it slowly recovers from
Hurricane Katrina, which flooded 80 percent of the city in August 2005. An estimated 273,000 people
live in the city, which had a pre-Katrina population of 455,000. … The city earned the title of murder
capital of the nation in 2006, when 162 people were killed. This year the count stands at 163 with
2½ months remaining.
Katrina-ravaged cars being sold in Bolivia.
The bathtub ring of mold on the ceiling of Colleen McGaw's Mini Cooper marks how high Hurricane Katrina's
floodwaters rose inside the sporty red coupe. … Two years later, McGaw was shocked to learn from The
Associated Press that her beloved Mini turned up 3,600 miles south in Bolivia.
We fear missing
out on something. The headquarters of Intermarine Inc. exist in New Orleans in name only.
The company's chief executive, chief financial officer and most of its senior staff live and work in Houston.
Most of the company's clients are in Houston, too. "The official headquarters is in New Orleans.
There is no desire to change the headquarters," said Mike Dumas, the company's chief financial officer.
"But now most of our employees are in Texas.
Razing awareness! Razing
of New Orleans Housing Halted. Demolition of three public housing complexes,
slated to start this weekend, was halted Friday [11/14/2007] amid complaints about the
scarcity of housing for the poor after Hurricane Katrina.
Stun guns, pepper spray used on New
Orleans protesters. Police used chemical spray and stun guns today as dozens of protesters
tried to force their way into a packed City Council chamber during a debate on the planned demolition of some
4,500 public housing units. One woman was sprayed with chemicals and dragged from the gates.
Battered N.O. OKs
Razing Public Housing. Despite occasionally violent protests outside, the City Council voted
Thursday [12/20/2007] 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.
[They're concerned about preserving the city's "heritage" of public housing?]
New Orleans population
nears 300,000, about 65% of pre-Katrina. Mayor Ray Nagin has pointed frequently
to the population estimates as a key way to gauge the city's success at recovering from the
August 2005 storm. Some of New Orleans' hardest hit areas are still dotted with
overgrown lots, empty houses and crumbling streets. But Nagin has said he thinks 2008
will be a turning point, as additional federal aid is freed up and more rebuilding grants are
made available to homeowners.
Murder Rate Rises in 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. New Orleans registered 209 homicides last year, a nearly 30 percent
increase from the 161 recorded in 2006.
Katrina
General Retiring From the Army. The gruff, cigar-chomping general who led federal troops
into New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina is convinced America hasn't learned its lesson from the storm.
As Lt. Gen. Russel Honore gets ready to retire from the Army and hand over his
command … he says he wants to spend the rest of his life creating a "culture of
preparedness" to prevent another post-disaster disaster.
Judge Throws Out Katrina Suit
Against Army. A federal judge threw out a key class-action lawsuit against the U.S. Army Corps
of Engineers over levee breaches after Hurricane Katrina, saying that the agency failed to protect the city
but that his hands were tied by the law. U.S. District Judge Stanwood Duval ruled Wednesday [1/30/2008]
that the Corps should be held immune over failures in drainage canals that caused much of the flooding of
New Orleans in August 2005.
NOLA
Police Officer Shot to Death. A vagrant wanted for questioning in a rape overpowered a police
officer who was trying to handcuff him, then shot her to death with her own weapon, police said. … [Officer
Nicola] Cotton was among the first graduates of the police academy after Katrina. At the time, the Police
Department was hemorrhaging officers and was aggressively recruiting.
New Orleans police struggle with
mental patients. Authorities here say they're still having a horrendous time dealing with the
mentally ill, more than two years after Hurricane Katrina washed away a massive mental hospital that has yet
to be replaced.
Louisiana Katrina
victims still awaiting cottages. In December 2006, the Federal Emergency Management Agency
announced a $74.5 million grant for Louisiana to build about 500 cottages. More than 18 months
later, the state hasn't produced a single unit for storm victims. But the contractor waiting to build
cottages for Katrina survivors sold a virtually identical version to [Chris] Cheramie, 34, who moved to
Baton Rouge earlier this year.
After despair, New Orleans
homeless camp cleared. Inhabitants of a New Orleans tent city that attracted donations, drugs and despair
for nearly a year were cleared Thursday [7/17/2008] by a nonprofit group, which says it now must find lasting solutions
to a doubling of homelessness since Katrina.
Feds descend on nonprofit's
office. Federal investigators descended Monday [8/11/2008] on the office of a nonprofit
hired by the city to run a home gutting and clean-up program that's now under investigation. Sheila
Thorne says agents from the FBI and IRS as well as the offices of inspectors general of the U.S. Housing
and Urban Development and the city were at the office Monday morning. The FBI spokeswoman declined
to provide details but said it wasn't for the execution of a search warrant. A newspaper's photo
showed agents wheeling out boxes from the building where the New Orleans Affordable Homeownership
Corporation, or NOAH, operated.
City mistakenly
demolishes couple's newly bought home. The scenario was perfect: a bigger house in the same
New Orleans neighborhood, plus they would be restoring a property that hadn't been touched since Hurricane
Katrina. So it came as a surprise Friday [8/15/2008] when Erica DeJan, who is nearly eight months
pregnant with her fourth child, found a sticker on the house stating that Mayor Ray Nagin's administration
had declared it a public health threat and planned to tear it down.
Feds say woman filed fraudulent claim
for Galveston home. A Houston woman appeared in court today after being charged with filing
multiple fraudulent claims for federal disaster assistance during hurricanes Katrina, Rita and Ike.
Phyllis Ann Taylor, 28, is the first person charged in the area with fraud in connection with Hurricane Ike
and the 86th charged in connection with hurricanes Katrina and Rita.
Government can't do
it all. [John] Stossel visited New Orleans to see how government reconstruction is progressing
three years after Hurricane Katrina. What he found should not surprise anyone. Huge numbers of
houses remain unrepaired thanks to a bureaucracy that could serve as a plot for a horror movie called
"Nightmare on Bourbon Street." The forms necessary to apply for permits to conduct any repairs or
construct new buildings take 10 minutes to explain.
Plan for New Orleans Hospitals
Draws Outcry. Local and federal officials on Tuesday announced plans for a 70-acre medical
campus in the heart of New Orleans to replace two hospitals damaged during Hurricane Katrina, a $2 billion investment
that supporters say will create thousands of jobs and begin to rebuild the city's shattered health care system.
Still Waiting for the Recession in New
Orleans. Much of America's news in recent months has been dominated by the gravest economic and financial
crisis in decades. But parts of this region continue to experience an economic boom mainly driven by recovery
efforts related to Hurricane Katrina.
The Editor says...
Will George W. Bush get the credit for good economic times in New Orleans?
$3.9B in hurricane aid still
unspent. A massive effort to fix public works destroyed more than three years ago by the Gulf
Coast hurricanes remains largely stalled, leaving more than $3.9 billion in federal aid unspent and key
repairs far from complete. The scale of that job is enormous. The Federal Emergency Management
Agency (FEMA) has promised $5.8 billion to repair everything from flooded libraries and schools to sewer
systems and roads that were ruined when Hurricanes Katrina and Rita obliterated huge sections of coastal
Louisiana and Mississippi in 2005.
The Editor asks...
How does a flood ruin a sewer system?
Guard to pull out of New Orleans
after 3½ years. Three and a half years after Hurricane Katrina, the National Guard is pulling
the last of its troops out of New Orleans this weekend, leaving behind a city still desperate and dangerous.
Residents long distrustful of the city's police force are worried they will have to fend for themselves.
New Orleans, Unguarded. The
last members of the patrolling National Guard are pulling out of New Orleans by the end of this weekend, and residents are
petrified at the prospect of not having federal troops around to aid and protect them. ... Residents of an American city
don't want to "have to fend for themselves" in the absence of federal troops. This is an astounding comment on the
enduring failure of Louisiana's local and state government.
'First real trial' about Katrina under
way. A landmark trial against the United States government began [in New Orleans] today [4/20/2009],
with prosecution lawyers arguing that the Army Corps of Engineers contributed to the catastrophic flooding
that hit the city after hurricane Katrina in 2005.
Houston woman sentenced on false
hurricane claims. A Houston woman who fraudulently claimed she had homes damaged by hurricanes Katrina,
Rita and Ike has been sentenced to nearly five years in prison. Acting U.S. Attorney Tim Johnson says Phyllis Ann
Taylor's sentence is one of the longest imposed nationwide related to fraudulent claims for hurricane assistance.
FEMA working to move Gulf Coast trailer-dwellers.
The only thing keeping Gerard Rigney from getting back into his home is the FEMA trailer in his front yard. It needs to
vanish so his plumber can redo the piping into the house, which was damaged by Hurricane Katrina's flood waters almost four years ago.
New Orleans Wants Ex-Residents Counted.
New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin is calling on former residents displaced by Hurricane Katrina in 2005 to claim their
old city addresses in next year's census, drawing criticism for trying to circumvent rules for winning federal
funds. The mayor — encouraged that New Orleans has thrown off its post-Katrina malaise to become the
U.S.'s fastest-growing big city by percentage — wants the U.S. Census Bureau to grant an exception for its
former residents, currently living elsewhere, who want to rebuild homes in New Orleans.
Katrina victims in Oprah homes
indicted. Three Hurricane Katrina evacuees who found homes in Houston thanks to Oprah Winfrey's
charitable foundation are accused of bilking the government of tens of thousands of dollars in housing assistance.
Federal agents arrested the women Wednesday morning at their homes on Angel Lane, to the surprise of neighbors
who have struggled to build a thriving community in their southwest Houston subdivision. They plan to
arrest the sister of one of the women today on similar charges.
Katrina
victims rebuilding lives. When Hurricane Katrina blew drummer Quin Kirchner from New Orleans to
Chicago, he thought for sure he'd move back. He hasn't, and now he won't. Holistic therapist
Sharon Mathieu saw the hand of fate and settled in Uptown. Page and Carter Wilson built a new life in
Downers Grove — not New Orleans, but at least it's not Buffalo, they say.
The Editor says...
This is not news. Many people move from bad situations to better ones.
Judge: Corps' negligence
caused Katrina flooding. A federal judge ruled Wednesday [11/18/2009] that the Army Corps of Engineers'
failure to properly maintain a navigation channel led to massive flooding in Hurricane Katrina, a decision
that could make the federal government vulnerable to billions of dollars in claims.
Section 9A: Post-Katrina politics and election plans
Election Postponement Gives
Democrats Time to Regroup. Is the postponement of the Orleans municipal
election a form of political engineering? Secretary of State Al Ater announced
Friday [12/2/2005] that the February 4th New Orleans election is impossible, given
the physical destruction in that parish. But this buys more time for the state to
track down displaced New Orleans voters, most of whom are democrats.
The Editor blurts out...
Yes, and it will give them time to find all the dead and fictitious voters, most of whom are Democrats.
The politicians may have to face the fact that many potential Democrat voters were
evacuated to Texas and may never return.
Odds of Governor Blanco
Recall. At the heart of the recall effort against Louisiana Governor Kathleen
Blanco comes massive frustration. From the pundits to the public, everyone can agree
on one thing: There appears to be a strong desire to appoint blame sooner rather than
later; and lots of it.
NAACP: Postpone
New Orleans Election. The Department of Justice should postpone upcoming elections in
New Orleans until displaced voters have been located, NAACP officials said Saturday [2/18/2006].
In response, the editor says...
Those who were displaced can vote in their new places of residence, if they are inclined to vote at
all. But this isn't Cuba. In a free country it is not the government's responsibility to
round up voters and make sure they vote.
Justice Department OKs New Orleans Election
Plan. Over the bitter objections of some black leaders, the U.S. Justice Department
approved a plan Thursday [3/16/2006] for New Orleans' first elections since Hurricane Katrina.
Prominent blacks
want N.O. satellite voting. Displaced New Orleans residents deserve the same voting
privileges as the people of war-torn Iraq, several black leaders argued Friday [3/24/2006] in pushing
for satellite voting from locations outside Louisiana.
Judge Refuses to
Delay New Orleans Vote. A federal judge on Monday [3/27/2006] refused to delay New
Orleans' April 22 mayoral election, telling both sides to solve any problems that might hinder
displaced residents' ability to vote. "If you are a displaced citizen, like I am, we have a burning
desire for completeness," said U.S. District Judge Ivan Lemelle, whose own New Orleans home flooded after
Hurricane Katrina.
New Orleans Business
Leaders Sour on Nagin as Mayor. New Orleans business leaders who helped bankroll Mayor Ray
Nagin's political career before Hurricane Katrina have given at least $279,600 to his two strongest
opponents in this month's election.
Voting
to begin for New Orleans mayor. Hundreds of Hurricane Katrina evacuees from as far away
as Texas and Georgia have signed up to board buses and return to Louisiana in order to vote on the
future of New Orleans.
[The buses in New Orleans seem to run really well when there's an election at
stake. What happens after they vote? Will they be re-evacuated?]
All politics is local. In New Orleans and
satellite sites around Louisiana, voting has begun in a mayoral election that may well blow incumbent Ray
Nagin out of City Hall. Twenty-two candidates are challenging the reelection bid by Mr. Nagin,
a black man whose post-hurricane leadership many critics said consisted more of finger-pointing
and race-baiting than practical policy.
Losing the Race: Nagin
says win would send racial message. Mayor C. Ray Nagin says a victory in tomorrow's election
will send a message on race that "will echo throughout America." "This election will say in spite of
American prejudice, I was able to attract votes from all races and classes and move forward with the process
of healing," said Mr. Nagin, who has hinted that whites locally and nationally are working to unseat him from
the post, which blacks have held for nearly 30 years.
Update: Nagin
wins re-election as Big Easy mayor. Voters re-elected Mayor Ray Nagin, the colorful leader whose
blunt style endeared him to some but outraged others after Hurricane Katrina, giving him four more years to
oversee one of the largest rebuilding projects in U.S. history.
Why Spend More Federal Money To
Rebuild New Orleans? Ray Nagin, the man who completely ignored his most-important responsibilities
as Mayor of New Orleans over the past few years, has been reelected. The man who would not order a
mandatory evacuation of New Orleans because he was afraid of lawsuits from the hospitality industry will be
leading New Orleans again. … The primary blame goes to the voters, many of whom voted by absentee
ballot and will never make New Orleans their home again.
White House suitors deluge New
Orleans. Although New Hampshire and Iowa hold the first-in-the-nation presidential primary and
caucuses, the Gulf Coast region ravaged by Hurricane Katrina has emerged as a crucial stop for 2008 contenders.
Louisiana Democrats
Suffering After Katrina. Katrina's floods then scattered thousands of residents from New Orleans,
normally a Democratic stronghold. "Welcome to post-Katrina electoral politics," said Silas Lee, a New
Orleans-based political analyst. "Displacement is going to be a factor. How important that will
be remains a big question."
Nagin
Suspects a Plot To Keep Blacks Away. New Orleans Mayor C. Ray Nagin has suggested that the
slow recovery and rebuilding of New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina — which has prevented many black
former residents from returning — is part of a plan to change the racial makeup and political
leadership of his and other cities.
Nagin
raising cash but mum on plans. Just a year after he won a second term, speculation is swirling that
Mayor Ray Nagin is looking for another job — perhaps governor or congressman.
Updated 11/18/2007: NOLA Council Wins White
Majority. A former councilwoman won an at-large seat on the New Orleans City Council on Saturday
[11/17/2007], creating the first white majority in more than two decades. … Analysts had said the race
could set a baseline for the changing political landscape in a post-Hurricane Katrina city in which the gap
between white and black voters is narrowing. Blacks remain the majority but are now about 58 percent
of the population, down from 67 percent before Hurricane Katrina struck in August 2005.
Citizen
Nagin a sporadic voter. New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin recently pronounced himself "disgusted" with
apathy among city residents, saying it was "unacceptable" that only about a quarter of registered voters bothered
to cast a ballot in the Oct. 20 primary. Turns out the mayor himself has skipped a few
elections, according to state records.
Race and Crime in New Orleans:
For many critics, the disarray in the DA's office can be traced to a decision [District Attorney Eddie]
Jordan made shortly after being elected to a six-year term in 2002. During the campaign, Mr. Jordan
pledged to make the DA's office look "more like New Orleans," code words, many assumed, for hiring more black
staffers and attorneys. Using a "cultural-diversity report" compiled by his transition team, Mr. Jordan
proceeded to systematically fire veteran white staffers and replace them with African Americans with
little or no experience.
Is violent reputation
hurting N'Orleans? In the last two years, New Orleanians have been killed at a rate well above
pre-Katrina years when factoring in the city's huge population drop. That's giving New Orleans a
reputation as a national murder capital, even though it was listed as the 65th most dangerous U.S. city in a
recent report based on FBI crime statistics, which were analyzed by Washington-based CQ Press. Last
summer, Mayor Ray Nagin drew harsh criticism from activists when he said violence "helps keep the New Orleans
brand out there."
New Orleans
Cracks Down on Corruption. 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.
Frustration
and Optimism in New Orleans. [Scroll down] "I think it's bad," said Merline Kimble, 59, a
music promoter from the Treme neighborhood who recently returned to New Orleans. "For people who want to
come home, rent is more expensive, utilities are more expensive, everything's more expensive. Nobody's
doing anything to get people home."
The Editor says...
Billions of dollars have been spent on New Orleans since hurricane Katrina, and yet there are people who
say "nobody's doing anything." Why would anyone want to return to New Orleans, knowing it is at or
below sea level and the same thing could happen again? More importantly, the taxpayers in the
other 49 states now realize how easily New Orleans can be flooded. After the next big storm hits,
why should Uncle Sam pitch in and help ungrateful people who see reconstruction as an entitlement?
Back to normal, at last! New Orleans ranks highest in crime, survey
finds. A controversial ranking of U.S. cities' crime rates indicates New Orleans, Louisiana,
has the worst crime rate, while a New York exurb has the lowest. The CQ Press "City Crime Rankings"
list named New Orleans its most crime-ridden city based on a reported 19,000-plus incidences of six major
crimes — including 209 murder cases — in 2007. The Gulf Coast city of about
250,000, still grappling with the aftermath of 2005's Hurricane Katrina, was followed in the rankings by
Camden, New Jersey; Detroit, Michigan; St. Louis, Missouri; and Oakland, California.
Obama hates white
people and wants them to die. With nearly 1.5 million people in the mid-west without power
during a cold snap, what other possible reason is there that this new "competent" administration and FEMA
would be failing so spectacularly in helping in this natural disaster? ... Of course, I am just aping what
lefty blogs were saying about Bush less than 24 hours after Katrina's hurricane winds stopped
blowing. ... Isn't it interesting that now that we have a Democrat as president that all of a sudden,
disaster relief is a state and local matter and the federal government should stand aside and allow
them to do their jobs?
Kentucky: No Power, No FEMA. When a
million people in flyover country are suffering, and 42 people have died, we don't hear much about it. If this
was New York, Washington, Boston, [New Orleans,] (or if the president had an R after his name) you'd see non-stop reports,
and the press would be roundly criticizing FEMA's absence, and the White House's disregard. Right?
Fedzilla Goes Quack. Amazingly, the
stooges who bitterly complained about the slow response of Fedzilla to Hurricane Katrina are the same morons
who are clamoring for Fedzilla to take over the nation's health care. If you are one of these terminally
dumb logic-challenged buffoons, please do America a favor and do not breed.
Section 10: People who helped, and people who didn't
Religious Leaders
Quit Katrina Fund Panel. Their ranks included rabbis, imams and ministers, including the man
hailed by some as the next Billy Graham. But as of Thursday [7/13/2006], seven of the nine religious
leaders serving on a committee created by the Bush-Clinton Katrina Fund to disburse money to churches destroyed
by Hurricane Katrina had quit their posts, claiming their advice was ignored.
Bush-Bashing
Black Charity Sits on Katrina Cash. The Congressional Black Caucus Foundation, which slammed
the Bush administration for its allegedly slow and racially insensitive response to Hurricane Katrina, has
yet to spend any of the estimated $400,000 that it raised for the victims of the Aug. 29 storm.
Update: Congressman
Linked to Katrina Charity Controversy. The Congressional Black Caucus Foundation, criticized
on Dec. 22 for admitting that it had not distributed any of the estimated $400,000 it raised for
Hurricane Katrina victims, now claims to have handed out most of the money on Dec. 9. However,
a Cybercast News Service investigation has uncovered a possible conflict of interest between the chairman
of the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation and the group that received the $290,000 grant.
Americans
Atheists: Don't Pray for Katrina Victims. The American Atheists
say that government officials should stop encouraging prayer for victims of Hurricane
Katrina because it violates the Constitution.
"Dirty Harry"
Christians. Many people, including Muslims and atheists, are getting their
hands dirty in post-Katrina help. So are government and nonprofit professionals. But
everyone knows that church groups are key.
249 New Orleans Police
Officers Left Their Posts. Nearly 250 police officers roughly 15 percent
of the force could face a special tribunal because they left their posts without permission
during Hurricane Katrina and the storm's chaotic aftermath, the police chief said.
New Orleans police chief
resigns. New Orleans police chief Eddie Compass has unexpectedly resigned,
four weeks after law and order broke down in the city following Hurricane Katrina.
Reagan Beats Nagin. Earlier
in the day, the department said that about 250 police officers — roughly
15 percent of the force — could face discipline for leaving their posts without permission
during Katrina and its aftermath. … Sally Forman, a spokeswoman for the mayor, said it is not
clear whether the deserters can be fired. She said the city is still looking into the civil
service regulations. … What we see here is Democratic big government at work. Employees
walk off their job when they are most essential, and weeks later their bosses haven't figured out if
that's a firing offense!
NOPD
investigation of Cadillac cops may involve brass. Acting New Orleans Police
Superintendent Warren Riley said Thursday [10/06/2005] that as many as 40 officers from the
department's 3rd District, including the commanding captain, are "under scrutiny" for
possibly bolting the city in the clutch and heading to Baton Rouge in Cadillacs from a
New Orleans dealership.
Faith under
siege: Extremists at the grandiosely named Americans United for Separation
of Church and State are at it again. The group, best known for trying to drive religion
from the public square, now wants to make sure no faith-based organizations are reimbursed for
rescuing and caring for thousands of victims of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita.
New
Orleans needs more freedom. When Hurricane Katrina struck, private citizens wanted
to help, but often the government got in the way. The doctors who wanted to heal people in
New Orleans, but were told to fill out tax forms instead, experienced just one of many horror
tales. Government seemed to have declared a monopoly on helping people — but
then its insane bureaucracy made certain it did a lousy job helping.
Head of New
Orleans' Levee Board Quits. The head of the Orleans Levee Board has quit amid questions
about no-bid contracts to his relatives in the days after Hurricane Katrina. The final days of board
president Jim Huey's tenure also had been marred by his collection of nearly $100,000 in back pay several
weeks before the storm. Huey had led the board for nine years.
N.O. Police Fire 51 for
Desertion. Fifty-one members of the New Orleans Police Department — 45 officers
and six civilian employees — were fired Friday [10/25/2005] for abandoning their posts
before or after Hurricane Katrina.
N.O.
cops get chilly reception in Dallas. As many as 10 New Orleans police officers suspected of
desertion during Hurricane Katrina have been rejected for employment by the Dallas Police
Department. Dallas Deputy Chief Floyd Simpson said his department's screening process
for new applicants exposed about 10 New Orleans officers who vanished during the storm.
Two officers
fired for their role in taped New Orleans beating. Two police officers were fired
Wednesday [12/21/2005] for a beating in the French Quarter shortly after Hurricane Katrina that
was videotaped by The Associated Press. A third officer was suspended.
Americans gave $260 billion
in 2005. US charitable giving rose 6.1 percent to $260.28 billion in 2005, fueled by a
record response to three major natural disasters, a study showed on Monday [6/19/2006].
Seven New Orleans
officers indicted in post-Katrina killings. Seven police officers were indicted Thursday [12/28/2006] on
murder or attempted murder charges in a pair of shootings on a bridge that left two people dead during the
chaotic aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. The district attorney portrayed the officers as trigger happy.
Former
Leftist Activist Pulls Back the Curtain On ACORN. [Scroll down] Over the following years, that
particular style of political attack was prominent in New Orleans. Anytime that ACORN was displeased, the other
party was deemed a racist. If the other party disagreed with the label or with ACORN's agenda, they were met
with "of course you feel that way. You are a racist." Though it is clearly woefully inaccurate and
unethical to use such an accusation as a political attack and as a means of shutting down philosophical debate
and discourse, some at ACORN didn't let that stop them.
Section 11: Red Cross issues
Red
Cross Fires Administrators in New Orleans. In a major shake-up of its relief operations in
New Orleans, the American Red Cross dismissed two key supervisors yesterday [3/24/2006] as part of a
wide-ranging inquiry into the improper diversion of relief supplies after Hurricane Katrina, a Red Cross
official said.
Red Cross cash 'wasted' on
stars. The American Red Cross has come under fire over payments to publicists who recruited
stars to add lustre to its image, even as funds ran short for victims of Hurricane Katrina.
Millions of Katrina
aid wasted, review finds. In the Justice Department probe, the largest investigation
centered on a Red Cross call center in Bakersfield, California, in which some employees schemed to
steal the emergency money for themselves and others, prosecutors said. Fifty-three people have been
charged in this probe.
Tsunami Relief: Reconsider the Red
Cross. Laurie Morrow, hostess of a conservative talk radio show in Vermont, cautions
against giving your money to Red Cross. Part of her discontent is with Red Cross's behavior
following 9/11. In November of 2001, "Red Cross officials decided, without the knowledge or
consent of most of the donors, that better use of this money could be made than distributing it among
the victims. Acting as if the $564 million were the Red Cross's money rather than donors' money
entrusted to them for distribution, the officials decided to spend the money as they saw fit, regardless
of the donors' intentions. They planned to distribute only about 1/3 of the Fund to the
victims of September 11th. $264 million of the $564 million would be set
aside for vaguely defined "long-term effects of the disaster."
Related article: American
Red Double Cross. Six weeks after the September 11 attacks, the Liberty Fund, set up by the
American Red Cross, had filled up with a staggering $505 million from average Americans, but
the ARC appeared reluctant to disperse the funds.
Is the Red Cross Too
Politically Correct for Christians? Michael Hartman worked with the American Red
Cross for eight months before he was fired over his disagreement with an organizational decision
to celebrate gay and lesbian pride month. The firing raises questions about the direction
of the relief organization, which was founded by Christians, including Clara Barton, in 1881.
As
Its Coffers Swell, Red Cross Is Criticized on Gulf Coast Response. Time and again in
past disasters, the Red Cross has raised more money than it has needed for relief. It has
also been less than clear in the past about where its money goes, and it has rarely shared its
money with other organizations that tackle long-term needs of victims.
The Red Cross money pit. With
Hurricane Rita now making news, it's time for Americans to take a more disciplined look at their tremendous
generosity. As of last week, the American Red Cross reported that it had raised $826 million in private
funds for Hurricane Katrina victims. … I doubt each victim under Red Cross care will see more than a
doughnut, an interview with a social worker and a short-term voucher for a cheap motel….
[Viewing the entire article requires registration.]
Red Cross Donations are
Wasted in Africa. To argue these people, aid agencies, pop stars and celebrity publicists
didn't know the profound mess they are causing is a nonsense. They stand accused of knowing exactly
what they were doing, the effects their actions would have in ratcheting the numbers up, and therefore
the fact a percentage factor of Africans would die as a result.
Editor's Note:
Personally, I would recommend a donation to the
Salvation Army instead. Here's why:
Salvation Army
giving $155M to hurricane victims in Mississippi and Louisiana. The Salvation Army has
announced a $155 million program to provide housing and other assistance to hurricane victims now
living in Mississippi and Louisiana. The program is the second phase of the Salvation Army's
$362 million hurricane recovery effort.
Note: More information about the Red Cross can be
found here.
