Lundi

Monroe Losing Battle with Corps Over Safer Levees
~Local flood control officials in Monroe, La. met with the Army Corps of Engineers on Friday as they feverishly fight to stave off the de-certification of the Ouachita River levee system, but no solution is in sight. Corps officials have said numerous bank cave-ins along the Ouachita will trigger an unacceptable rating from their fall inspection, but the corps said it can't stabilize the banks because it has neither the authority nor money to do so.
~Officials say corps fails area on levees: "The corps is up to its normal games, and quite frankly, it's disingenuous," said U.S. Sen. David Vitter, R-La. "The corps has made this as difficult as possible and put obstacles up at every turn."

Fairbanks Morse Pump Wins $70M Contract From Army Corps For New Orleans
~The Kansas City, Kan., company said in a release that the contract is part of the Gulf Intracoastal Waterway West Closure Complex, a more than $500 million project that is a key component of the system, whose intermediate goal is to create a surge barrier, reducing the risk of storm surge for residents and businesses in the west bank area of New Orleans.
~Editilla Sourcerellas~ We have it on Good Word that the Corps is NOT running the infamous Bad MWI Hydraulic Pumps at the London Ave Canal Gate, though they are installed still in all 3 outfall canals and exclusively in Orleans Ave Canal. Of course had the Exquisite Corps Pumped those ASCE'forked Hozers we would have heard it by now all the way across the city like the sound of a combine getting raped by bull dozer. Well! Ahem...
And, we aren't saying Fairbanks Morse will be into replacing these Corps'cycled Monstrosities, but they are now ready to assume the position before the Exquisite Corps, eh?
Whew! Thank you anonymous Civil Engineer fo'da Tip!
We all feel way'mo'betta now... right? Right?

Corps closes Company Canal ~Fox 8~Stay Tuned at 5:30 and 9 Tonight
as Levees.org Research Director and NOLA Civil Engineer
H. J. Bosworth will come on to explain these Pumps the Corps is using to evacuate these closed Canals.

Corps asked to scrap floodgate plans in Belle Chasse
~Paul Rioux
~Plaquemines Parish President Billy Nungesser is calling on the Army Corps of Engineers to scrap plans to build a floodgate south of Belle Chasse, proposing an alternative that he said would improve flood protection for 1,400 homes in the Jesuit Bend area at no additional cost.

Company says oilfield barge first of its kind in 40 years
~Kathrine Schmidt

Census survey delivered by hand
~Donna Melton

Y Usted Madrid?
~Jen DeGregorio

Why does 99.5 FM hate
New Orleans?~People Get Ready
H/T-Big Molluski

Tax Increment Financing sought to pay for Lake Forest Plaza Mall
~Deon Roberts
This week, the City Council is scheduled to rule on whether to support the developers’ request to use sales taxes — through a mechanism known as tax increment financing, or TIF — generated at the mall to finance the roughly $200 million project.
But the developers will also use tax dollars to pay off private debt, said Janet Howard, president of New Orleans-based BGR. “TIF dollars are supposed to fund new improvements that otherwise would not occur. It’s simply outrageous to use public funds to pay off third-party debt,” Howard said. “Too much of this money isn’t even going to New Orleans East. Basically it’s going into private pockets to settle private debt rather than to new investment in the area.”

Amendments to False Claims Act – implications for Katrina qui tam litigation ~slabbed

Port OKs alternate site for
New Orleans Cold Storage

Small businesses unprepared for major disasters
~James Jay Carafano

The EPA Blocks 79 Mountaintop Removal Permits

Four years later, Flood devastation revisited in art and fund raising~Alexys Esparza

My Damn Channel Flaunts 'New Fall Season' Like Real TV (Except...Not)

Loyola may add New Orleans culture to academic program
~John Pope

You don’t get to be 125 year-old club by punking out on account of some rain~Red Cotton

Finding Harmony in Mid-City
~Stephen Maloney
~The decidedly old-school neighborhood watering hole, mere blocks from the former C.J. Peete Housing Project in the middle of what has traditionally been one of the most crime-ridden neighborhoods in Orleans Parish, seemed an ungainly fit for a band composed of four middle-aged white musicians.

Services for Juanita Brooks set for Friday, Sept. 18~Keith Spera