Saturday, April 6, 2013

Even Bobby Jindal's own paid consultants criticize his "Jeep" neo-juvenile tax idea
 
~At right, Governorcist Bobby "Jeep" Jindal explains to Earnstwhile and Young, the pricey consulting firm hired by his administration for economic analysis of his tax plan, why it doesn't matter that sales taxes on services bought by businesses are bad ideas because companies pass those costs to customers or shrink economic activity in a state where such taxes are levied: "Jeep hungry. Eat! Fun!"


Judge rejects BP's attempt to 'reinterpret' multi-billion-dollar settlement ~David Hammer

Nation’s rivers in poor health ~Nikki Buskey

New Orleans skate culture hits campus ~The Loyola Maroon

The Mother of all Festival Lists 

#NOLA Attn FQ Residents & business employees: Vieux Carré FQ Festival Vehicle Access Pass info

Thursday, April 4, 2013

Two AmeriCorps teams pulled from New Orleans following member’s death ~Uptown Messenger
President of LSU Faculty Senate speaks to Levees.org on expenses relating to Ivor van Heerden lawsuit~“The $457,000 that LSU has expended on legal costs for the Ivor van Heerden case brings the total cost of this shameful episode, including the $453,000 settlement, to at least one million dollars. What else could the expenditure of that sum have done? It could easily have paid Dr. Van Heerden’s salary until his retirement, an action that would have put LSU’s support for free inquiry and free speech beyond question. Alternatively, that sum would cover the cost of a ½% goodwill salary increment for the entire LSU faculty, a faculty which has received no raise for five years. One million dollars would cover more than one-quarter of the midyear budget cut that LSU received last year. It would have subsidized long subscriptions to up to five major library databases or fitted out the laboratories for two beginning scientists."
 
Capitalism funds natural disasters? ~Salon
Explosive gas found under house slabs near Texas Brine Sinkhole

Louisiana science advocate Zack Kopplin will be a guest on Real Time with Bill Maher tomorrow

Audit: $700 million in Katrina, Rita aid may have been misspent

Inspired by Federal Flood of N.O. 8/29/05, North Dakota enables citizens unmolested access to firearms

Disaster communications: covering the ‘last mile’ ~Jacobo Quintanilla

Trinity Artist Series

Krewe of Alla says without more riders, they'll be forced to move to Uptown route

Freret Street Festival this weekend!

Treasures form the Point this weekend!

Wednesday, April 3, 2013

LSU spent nearly $1 million on legal fight over firing of coastal researcher Ivor van Heerden ~Mark Schleifstein~Louisiana State University spent close to $1 million to wage its battle against former research geologist Ivor van Heerden over his claims that senior university officials destroyed his career after he criticized the Army Corps of Engineers for its role in the failure of levees during Hurricane Katrina, according to new documents released Tuesday by  Levees.org activist group. Van Heerden, who also served as assistant director of the LSU Hurricane Center, chaired a panel of scientists and engineers sponsored by the state Department of Transportation and Development in the immediate aftermath of Katrina to conduct a forensic investigation of the failures in the levee system, including the reasons for the 35-foot slide and collapse of a levee and floodwall along the 17th Street Canal and several failures of floodwalls along the east side of the Industrial Canal

Levees.org founder Sandy Rosenthal said the group decided to look into the cost of the legal battle involving LSU because it was concerned about the university’s actions involving what turned out to be an accurate research effort. “It meshes with the goals of our organization, which is educating the public about why New Orleans flooded, and the behavior of higher-ups at LSU looked to us to be the opposite of what we were trying to do,” she said. “We were trying to get the truth out about the cause of the flooding, and the higher-ups at LSU seemed to be suppressing the truth.”
3 years later, BP Oil Spill effects still unfolding

Contracting Academy completes four-week course for Corps of Engineers in New Orleans

Alternatives to Jindal’s tax reform begin surfacing ~Louisiana Weekly

Video casts uncertainty on sheriff's future

New Orleans Saints, Pelicans Owner Tom Benson Steps Down From League Committees

Houma Navigation Canal floodgate to be ready for hurricane season



~Hat Tweet~@swalshee vanity plate

Mark LaFlaur: Elysian Fields reading April 7th at Garden District Book Shop