Samedi

LSU Threatens to Close Med School after Land Grab fails in Legislature~Bill Barrow
~Taking a cue from the Corps of Engineers, LSU has resorted to Tax-Funded Public Relations Spinn to turn up the heat in a battle over plans to build a state teaching hospital in lower Mid-City.
No longer able to cravenly Cheat the People, snap up property
-without a business plan- LSU now tries to Scare the People.
The Foundation for Louisiana State University is airing a radio ad that raises the specter of LSU moving some of its medical school operations out of New Orleans. Oh? What Hippocratic Hypocrisy!
This is an ill-advised use of scant state tax money to run these ads to lobby for Real Estate interests. It would behoove the Public to read this "Foundation's" affiliation agreement pdf.

Post Netherlands Study: Louisiana Sen. Landrieu To Start Corps Replace, Reform Hearings ~BBuzz~Senator Mary L. Landrieu (D-Louisiana) again commented that she is developing a bill and starting hearings beginning next week that will look at new models “that might work” that could affect changes in the US dependency upon the US Army Corps of Engineers.
Editilla coins this: The Landrieu Doctrine
In order of scoop...
~Christopher Tidmore, BBuzz
~Sandy Rosenthal, Levees.org
~Mark Schleifstein, Times-Picayune
~Suzanne Goldenberg, The Gaurdian
~Daniel McBride, Daily Comet
~Gerard Sheilds, Advocate
~Richard A. Webster, NO CityBusiness
~Lee Zurik, WWL

Corps to hold flood control meeting~Christine Harvey
~The corps will be discussing the Louisiana Coastal Protection and Restoration Project, a study to develop hurricane protection measures, including flood control and coastal restoration, that span across coastal Louisiana, Poche said. In addition, representatives will talk about various southeast Louisiana flood control projects, including work on the W14 canal in and around Slidell, said Rene Poche, Corps Public Relations Spokesman.
However, no other plans are pending for more stringent flood control measures for St. Tammany Parish, with the regional flood control and restoration plans several years from reality, he said.

Corps snookers state officials into sharing $11.8 million cost for more studies of coastal projects.

Miss. River to begin rapid fall ~Vershal Hogan~Expected to stand at 52 feet this morning, the water level in the Mississippi River is projected to start a significant fall over the next week.
The National Weather Service’s Lower Mississippi River Forecast Center has predicted that the river will fall approximately a foot a day, bringing the river within a half-foot of falling back below flood stage by Wednesday at 48.5 feet.

Preparing technologically for hurricanes~Mary Tuma

Leges napping again
~C.B. Forgotston

Kirby Sommers testifies on Human Rights for Survivors

New life for 1938 WPA guide to New Orleans~Susan Larson

Experience Latinola Today!

Michael Arnone's 20th Anniversary Crawfish Festival: New Orleans Comes to New Jersey ~Wade Luquet

Trombone Shorty unleashes his magic on the Wakarusa festival

“Stew Called New Orleans”, John Boutté and Paul Sanchez
~Robert Frost's Banjo

Hilton Ruiz, "Going Back to New Orleans"~all about Jazz

Red Collar @ the Circle Bar, 6.16
~Captains Dead

Vendredi

Never Should Have Built it There -- New York~Harry Shearer

Army Corps of Engineers: Price for New Orleans’ storm surge barrier work rises to $1.8B???
~Editilla Mugs'Up~Clowns to the left of us, Jokers to the right, here we am STUCK IN THE MIDDLE WIT'CHU.
~And should we thank this "journalist" for Not Asking Why?

Mid-City hospital site may be sold ~Kate Moran

Bill Requiring LSU Funding Approval Wins 94-2
~Walter Gallas
~By a vote of 94 to 2, the Louisiana House on Wednesday passed House Bill 780, which would require LSU to have the financing plan for its proposed new hospital approved by the Joint Legislative Committee on the Budget before it could purchase or seize property on the proposed Lower Mid-City site.
~Editilla Who'dats & Chin'Chillas~ 3 Cheers!
Hip'Hip WHO'DAT! Hip'Hip WHO'DAT!
Hip'Hip WHO'DAT! Congratulations! Thanks youz.


FEMA chief vows to clean up rules ~Gerard Shields

The archdiocese wants to shift federal funds earmarked for poor neighborhoods to construction projects in suburban parishes
~Bruce Nolan and Kia Hayes
~But the request, which New Orleans parishioners recently noticed in a dense Federal Emergency Management Agency legal notice soliciting public comment, has angered scores of Catholic families, especially in the former Epiphany of Our Lord parish, which had qualified for $8.3 million in FEMA reimbursement.

New Orleans City Council OKs economic development funds
~Bruce Eggler

Affordable Streetcar
~The standard fare for all three lines is $1.25, with discounts for seniors. Passengers with disabilities and passengers two and under are admitted free.

Tulane University launches disaster academy

Dispatch from New Orleans: What can Katrina teach us about real economic recovery?
~Chris Kromm, Facing South

WLAE to debut new series dedicated to wetlands restoration~Dave Walker

Hurricane levee meeting planned~A public hearing on changes to a project to raise the St. Charles Parish East Bank Hurricane Levee, including shrinking the levee's footprint, will be held Wednesday at the American Legion Post in St. Rose.

Ohio farmers worry about plan to control flooding

$37.5million – “pay to play” down payment ~slabbed
~Connect the dots and you’ll see the $37.5 million the insurance industry invested in Congressional campaigns was a down payment on the industry’s “pay to play” the regulatory game at the federal level.

Hedgers brace for hurricane season~Jeremy J. Repanich
~With the Atlantic hurricane season getting underway this week, rising temperatures and wind speeds on the Eastern Seaboard and Gulf Coast could give way to rising trade volumes for the Chicago-based CME Group Inc. for hurricane derivatives.
THAT'S RIGHT FOLKS! PLACE'YA BETS! PLACE'YA BETS!

Reinsurers should preserve capital amid bigger risks
~As hurricane season kicks off and the economic recession continues to take a toll on economies worldwide, reinsurers must make sure they are sitting on a bigger capital cushion, said executives at an insurance conference on Tuesday.

Meet IDF at the ADA Scientific Sessions in New Orleans

The Society for Human Resource Management's 61st Annual Conference & Exposition

Music Is Art Brings New Orleans Talent To Buffalo
~Music is Art is proud to foster a connection between our community and the artists of New Orleans and Louisiana through The Big Easy in Buffalo. The series brings New Orleans and Louisiana bands to the area for school music education, cultural programs, and public concerts, and is centered around the annual Mardi Gras Jam.

Running of The Bulls...
--in New Orleans! Year Three!
~Carly Zander

NOLA Brewing/Defend New Orleans Scavenger Hunt

Eric Lindell returns,
Anders Osborne for free
~Keith Spera

Aaron Neville Goes 'High Natural' ~Maggie Burbank

Master Of Vibrato:
Sidney Bechet~Big Geez

Jeudi

Jarvis DeBerry: How to figure out the New Orleans murder rate

Tiananmen 20th anniversary of brutal democracy massacre brings new repression from China's Rulling Junta Thugs
~Christopher Bodeen
~Chinese police aggressively deterred dissent on Thursday's 20th anniversary of the merciless crackdown on democracy activists in Tiananmen Square. Foreign journalists were barred from the vast square as uniformed and plainclothes police stood guard across the area which was the epicenter of the student-led movement that was crushed by the military on the night of June 3-4, 1989. ~Photo above of a Worker Shredding bullet used by the Chinese Army murderers, courtesy of Christusrex

There Was No
"Tiananmen Square Massacre"
~This story was filed by CBS News correspondent Richard Roth, who was detained by Chinese authorities for 20 hours on June 4, 1989, while covering the Tiananmen Square "crackdown".
But there's no question many people were killed by the army that night around Tiananmen Square, and on the way to it — mostly in the western part of Beijing. Maybe, for some, comfort can be taken in the fact that the government denies that, too.


LRA backs Obama trailer plan
~Don Ames~The president will offer $50 million in new housing vouchers and sell trailers for as little as a dollar in a bid to avoid mass evictions of hurricane victims still living in federally supplied trailers.

Grand Isle gets stimulus money for trees~Mark Schleifstein

Grand Isle recovery may move forward~Nikki Buskey

Senate wants Orleans Levee District property studied
~Ed Anderson

Entergy improves transmission into the New Orleans area
~Rebecca Mowbray

A new storm-shelter source?
~Seattle Times
~Trying to make the best of a bad situation, federal officials might use foreclosed homes as temporary housing for hurricane evacuees in Florida as soon as this summer.

GPS On Gulf Of Mexico Drilling Units~Maitri's VatulBlog


Levees.org Launches New Website!

Louisiana Governor Jindal:
The Falling Child Star
~Jeff Crouere, BBuzz

Don't be lulled by recovery talk
~The Daily Advertiser

Good intentions, the road to hell, and the pro se plaintiff in insurance claim litigation ~slabbed

Donelon bemoans shortage of 'name brand' insurers
~Deon Roberts

Being There~Toulouse Street,
Odd Bits of Life in New Orleans

Firm moves data tape backup to managed backup and recovery
~Linda Tucci

Film explores Katrina pet ownership disputes; one man’s reunion with pet years after the storm~Michael Kunzelman

The Bonnaroo Music and Arts Festival will donate $240,000 to a variety of New Orleans non-profit groups.

Kalamazoo gets soaked with Bonerama~Mark Wedel

Queen of the Blues Koko Taylor Passes last call fo'da Night Train

Mercredi

James Gill: LSU trying hard to save city from itself
~Pearls before swine is putting it mildly. The sparkling intellects of LSU offer New Orleans a lifeline, but the populace is too stupid and backward to be roused from its torpor.

Time is running out to get the rabble in line. So says LSU Pres. John Lombardi, who nevertheless remains determined to save New Orleans from itself. Lombardi is just the man for the job, being, as he is fond of pointing out, from the efficient north.
He has "never met a place like this," where people speak in a "code" he neither understands nor wishes to understand.
He doesn't know from "krewe." The city does not contain...
"as many sensible people" as he had hoped.

Lesson from Katrina: Who's in charge? Who should be?
~Rockefeller Institute
~An Institute report issued June 2 recommends the federal government response to disasters should be changed to allow the president to appoint quickly a special Officer-in-Charge — with pre-approved discretionary funding — to oversee and coordinate government efforts following a major catastrophic event.

Average hurricane season foreseen by CSU and NOAA
~Jeff Masters

Slow-Walking Disaster Response Four Years Later~Harry Shearer

Hurricane victims still in trailers get options~Becky Bohrer

~In this May 29th photo, a FEMA trailer sits in the front yard of a home in the Lakeview neighborhood of New Orleans. After repeated extensions, meant to give people more time to rebuild their storm-damaged homes or to find other more permanent places to stay, FEMA now appears ready to enforce its May 1 deadline. In notices to residents, the agency said it would seek Department of Justice help to repossess units that 2005 hurricane victims remain in after this weekend.
AP Photo/Bill Haber

Corps’ proposed pump station too expensive to maintain?
~Dennis Woltering

Police chief calls New Orleans #1 murder rank misleading
~Brendan McCarthy

New Orleans cops urged to lawyer up

News from the Louisiana Class Action Front: Prominent Lawyer arrested and charged in drug conspiracy case ~slabbed

New Orleans Cold Storage river front facility opposed by local property owners~Break Bulk

Expensive carbon capture, less than clean coal~Karl Burkart
~Some are heralding a new day for "clean coal," a day that finally promises the ongoing survival of a 19th century energy system through the cunning of a 21st century technology.
But in light of the recent news that Obama-appointed Lisa Jackson (arguably the most pro-environment EPA head we have had in a decade) approved 42 permits to permanently obliterate several dozen mountain tops in Appalachia, burying miles of rivers and streams in the process, the glory of carbon capture quickly wanes.

New Orleans restaurants struggle to stay afloat
~Sean Callebs

New Orleans' Prytania at 3D

Bonnaroo To Donate To New Orleans Non-Profit Groups

Review: Iggy Pop - Preliminaires
~Richard Marcus

Mardi

Lower 9th Ward rally focuses on lost wetlands ~Molly Reid

Houma Rally puts focus on coastal erosion ~Nikki Buskey

Land clearing to proceed on the 17th Street Canal's Metairie side
~Sheila Grissett

To the unknown Lakeview survivor: I will not give up
~Sandy Rosenthal, Levees.org

Floodgate resolution passes
~John McMillan
~The East Ascension Drainage Board on Monday passed a resolution asking Iberville Parish to close the floodgate on Alligator Bayou to maintain the water level at 4 feet.

NY senators to Army: Stop the presses!~John Kekis

U.S. Designates Upper Mississippi River Floodplains a Wetland of International Importance

Governor Jindal Pressures LSU
~Save Charity Hospital.com

Cao hears about fights over FEMA aid for public buildings
~David Hammer

Coal Mining Industry Pressures Corps and Congress to issue more Permits for Strip-Mining

Rock 'n Bowl murals move to their new home ~Keith Spera

Strippers and Be-Boppers in Postwar New Orleans Jazz
~Charles Suhor

Lundi

The Dutch strive to make their country 'climate proof'
Jean-Marie MacBerry, NYTimes
~"People here trust their government and don't realize they live below sea level," concurred Sandy Rosenthal, executive director of Louisiana-based Levees.org. "They laughed at us when we asked what would happen if the levees break. They say they are not going to break." More than half of the Netherlands is below sea level. "People are not worried, but they are not completely aware of the situation; they forget they live below sea level," confirmed Arnoud Molenaar, a program manager at the Rotterdam Climate Initiative.

The Netherlands, Louisiana,
New Orleans And The U.S.:
The Color Of Water
~Stephen Sabludowsky

Landrieu says hurricane relief arbitration panel coming within weeks~Bill Barrow

La. officials: We're ready for hurricane season
~Becky Bohrer

Vessels Could Cause Threat To Canal Flood Walls

Jus'sayin...no matter how things change...


Cajun Culture Becomes Focus in Summer Fun of Louisiana
~Carol Forsloff

And if you thought insurance companies only shafted people in the flood zone….~slabbed

Adam Nossiter shines ass just One More Time

La. oil port is not just for foreign crude anymore~Jen Degregorio

List of Environmental and Engineering Consultants
Note: The Corps of Engineers makes no recommendation for, guarantees competence or experience of, or accepts responsibility for work performed by any firm on this list. The Corps of Engineers has made no attempt to verify the technical competence or the quality of the work product of any party listed and suggest that prospective clients ask for credentials before contracting for professional services.

Panama Canal expansion is chugging along~Chris Kaul

Levee Cycling Adventure ~Laureen Lentz

The Time My Brother Ate a Bird-Rabbit, and Other Vignettes from New Orleans
~Daddy Likey

One Book One New Orleans chooses Sara Roahen's
"Gumbo Tales"~Susan Larson

Burlesque business teases new bottom line~Emilie Bahr
Editilla T'n'T~Ministry Of Burlesque

James Luther Dickinson:
Dinosaurs Run In Circles

Lil Dee Featured on Gangstasparty.com

The Susan Cowsill Band, performs at the Saxon Pub and KUT, June 12

Dimanche

New Orleans region's levee system is making strides, walkin' yes indeed and talkin' about you and me...~Sheila Grissett
~Says Corps'OPP (C.O.P.P.?), everything is Quiche Capiche, snotta probla, nobody worry... BUT, Do Run Run Run when da'storm come come come, ya'heah?

Ready or Not, signs of Gustav linger as new hurricane season begins~Amy Wold

Experts say urgent action needed to save Terrebonne, Lafourche
~Nikki Buskey
The clouds are lit by the setting sun behind a dead tree near Pointe-aux-Chenes Saturday evening. The tree fell victim to encroaching salt water from the Gulf of Mexico, the result of coastal erosion. Photo: Matt Stamey

Tenacity over tears
~Wendy Wilson Billiot

Obama Walks a Fine Line Over Mining

Final Katrina Direct Death Toll At 1,723?~Robert Lindsay

Louis Armstrong Airport is important escape route from storms~Mary Sparacello

N.O. Hardcourt Bike Polo

Thirty-nine years and 6,000 columns after he started,
Angus Lind holsters his golden quill and rides away

Book News: Several new releases spotlight Louisiana authors

The Bingo! Show, Tom McDermott and Leroy Jones for free~Keith Spera

Fats Domino makes rare appearance at La. concert