Friday, April 18, 2014

Stephanie Grace: Bill eliminates levee boards' independence ~New Orleans Advocate

Children's Hospital holds news conference to address public concerns over fatal "mistakes made" ~John Simmerman

Chain stores, rising rents may make Magazine Street the victim of its success ~The Lens

Gulf Oil Disaster’s Impacts to Wildlife and Habitat Still Unaddressed Four Years Later
http://www.mississippiriverdelta.org/blog/2014/04/17/gulf-oil-disasters-impacts-to-wildlife-and-habitat-still-unaddressed-four-years-later/
~Four years after the Gulf oil disaster began, killing 11 men and spewing 4.1 million barrels of oil into the Gulf of Mexico, leading national and local conservation organizations working on Mississippi River Delta and Gulf Coast restoration released the following statement:
“Four years after the worst oil spill in U.S. history, Gulf recovery remains elusive. We must hope for a measure of justice for communities, wildlife and habitats. However, the urgent need for restoration is still unfulfilled."

“Reports from the field and laboratory continue to raise the alarm. New scientific studies show how the oil disaster’s impacts are permeating the food chain – from small microorganisms like zooplankton to large mammals like sperm whales and dolphins. Louisiana wetlands suffocated by BP’s oil have eroded more quickly than those the oil spared. Areas that once provided valuable mangrove habitat for thousands of nesting birds and other animals have shrunk or disappeared. Islands that were thriving rookeries for birds and wildlife are now gray and lifeless. The stark truth of visible damage in areas like Barataria Bay, Louisiana, speaks for itself. This week, BP declared active clean up complete in Louisiana, but volumes of BP oil continue to surface, from miles of oiled coastline to a monster-sized 40,000-pound tar mat.

“While BP denies clear science, the facts present the truth: the Gulf is still hurting, and BP’s to blame. Four years after the largest oil spill in U.S. history, the oil giant has yet to pay a penny of its Clean Water Act fines for polluting the Gulf.


Four years after the Gulf oil disaster began, killing 11 men and spewing 4.1 million barrels of oil into the Gulf of Mexico, leading national and local conservation organizations working on Mississippi River Delta and Gulf Coast restoration – Environmental Defense Fund, National Audubon Society, National Wildlife Federation, Coalition to Restore Coastal Louisiana and Lake Pontchartrain Basin Foundation – released the following statement:
“Four years after the worst oil spill in U.S. history, Gulf recovery remains elusive. We must hope for a measure of justice for communities, wildlife and habitats. However, the urgent need for restoration is still unfulfilled.
- See more at: http://www.mississippiriverdelta.org/blog/2014/04/17/gulf-oil-disasters-impacts-to-wildlife-and-habitat-still-unaddressed-four-years-later/#sthash.Aciosrxp.dpuf
Four years after the Gulf oil disaster began, killing 11 men and spewing 4.1 million barrels of oil into the Gulf of Mexico, leading national and local conservation organizations working on Mississippi River Delta and Gulf Coast restoration – Environmental Defense Fund, National Audubon Society, National Wildlife Federation, Coalition to Restore Coastal Louisiana and Lake Pontchartrain Basin Foundation – released the following statement:
“Four years after the worst oil spill in U.S. history, Gulf recovery remains elusive. We must hope for a measure of justice for communities, wildlife and habitats. However, the urgent need for restoration is still unfulfilled.
- See more at: http://www.mississippiriverdelta.org/blog/2014/04/17/gulf-oil-disasters-impacts-to-wildlife-and-habitat-still-unaddressed-four-years-later/#sthash.Aciosrxp.dpuf
Four years after the Gulf oil disaster began, killing 11 men and spewing 4.1 million barrels of oil into the Gulf of Mexico, leading national and local conservation organizations working on Mississippi River Delta and Gulf Coast restoration – Environmental Defense Fund, National Audubon Society, National Wildlife Federation, Coalition to Restore Coastal Louisiana and Lake Pontchartrain Basin Foundation – released the following statement:
“Four years after the worst oil spill in U.S. history, Gulf recovery remains elusive. We must hope for a measure of justice for communities, wildlife and habitats. However, the urgent need for restoration is still unfulfilled.
- See more at: http://www.mississippiriverdelta.org/blog/2014/04/17/gulf-oil-disasters-impacts-to-wildlife-and-habitat-still-unaddressed-four-years-later/#sthash.Aciosrxp.dpuf
The Green Minute: Myths Of Recycling, Part One ~Chrystal White, WWNO

Outnumber Hunger concert helps local food banks

Folk rocker Todd Snider adjusts to degenerative arthritis ~Alex Rawls

Saturday, April 12, 2014

Dear Editilla, help Louisiana stop Senate Bill 553!

The vote Monday on the Senate floor will set the tone for the rest of the session! It's absolutely critical that we stop Senator Adley's bill SB 553.

SB 553 will halt the SLFPAE lawsuit if passed through process and not ruled unconstitutional in court.

We need your strong grass roots effort between now and Monday evening!

Please pick up the phone and call these four State Senators and ask the staffer to leave a message.

Sen Dale Erdey (225) 686-2881 
Sen David Heitmeir (504) 361-6356
Sen A.J. Crowe (985) 643-3600
Sen Conrad Appel (504) 838-5550
Tell the staffer this: I would like to leave a message for the Senator urging him to vote against SB 553 because it will dismantle the good government that citizens voted for after the levees broke.

It is critical that you make your phone call by 3 PM Monday April 14.

Want to do more? Please send a letter to your state senator urging him or her to vote against SB 553.


http://go.levees.org/SB-553

SB 553–filed by a northern senator–would restrict the ability of the new Flood Authority to hire qualified attorneys without the Governor's approval. Most importantly, it would undermine the Flood Authority's existing lawsuit already filed against Big Oil.

Thank you for your support of Levees.org.

With your help, we're winning.

Sandy Rosenthal
Founder, Levees.org
9th Ward Festival! Today, 11:00 am to 8:00 pm, 4219 Urquhart St.

Atlanta firefighter killed in New Orleans bike wreck ~Alexis Stevens, ajc.com

Fest season floods market with illegal short-term rentals ~Scott Satchfield, WVUE

Survey: New Orleanians like cops better ~John Simerman, New Orleans Advocate

Home & Garden Events calender for today 

We Won't Bow Down, Mardi Gras Indian Doc Explores Untold Stories Over 8 Years ~M.D. Dupuy, NOLA DEFENDER 

https://twitter.com/djsoulsister/status/455015286647693313
*

Wednesday, April 9, 2014

Report: 'Oil is not gone; impacts to wildlife ongoing’ ~Amy Wold, The Advocate
~Dying dolphins, bluefin tuna embryos with heart defects and hundreds of dead sea turtles washing ashore are proof the BP oil spill is still hurting and killing wildlife four years after the disaster in the Gulf of Mexico, the National Wildlife Federation claims in a new report.
The report, “Four Years into the Gulf Oil Disaster: Still Waiting for Restoration,” includes a compilation of research so far about impacts of the oil disaster on 14 species around the Gulf of Mexico.

Prospect of oil/fracking well worries St. Tammany officials ~Faimon A. Roberts III
~The type of well Helis proposes would use hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, as a means of extracting the oil from the ground. In fracking, chemicals, water and sand are pumped into the ground to create fissures in the rock through which the oil or gas can be extracted. The process has been controversial as residents in some states have complained about effects on drinking water and other environmental impacts.
In this case, the well would puncture not just the top of the aquifer from which St. Tammany pulls its drinking water, but also the bottom, a fact that bothers Parish Councilman Jake Groby, in whose district the proposed drilling site lies.

Levee board lawyers offer to reduce fee to oil, gas defendants to settle lawsuit ~David Hammer, WWLTV
"The only conclusion by a trial judge in the state of Louisiana in the last 10 years, that I am aware of, that a lawsuit was frivolous was in LOGA's suit challenging the contract. It is nonsense for Senator Adley to use that line over and over that there's something illegal or untoward about those contracts." ~Gladstone Jones, lead attorney for the Southeast Louisiana Flood Protection Authority-East


Newcomb Blvd. fence to come down after commission vote ~Robert Morris, Uptown Messenger

Minister Chance said Republican Vince "Tongue" McAllister’s District Office manager leaked the video

Legislators stall negotiations stall on issue of giving them to relatives ~WDSU

The 38 Essential New Orleans Restaurants ~Gwendolyn Knapp, Eater

Crescent City Homebrewer's Flea Market and Pig Roast ~Beer Buddha
http://www.thebeerbuddha.com/2014/04/crescent-city-homebrewers-flea-market.html

French Quarter Feast ~NOLA DEFENDER

Tuesday, April 8, 2014

Residents settle for $48 million in one Texas Brine Sinkhole lawsuit ~David J. Mitchell, The Advocate
Battle Brewing In Holy Cross Over Proposed Riverfront Highrise Condos ~Karen Gadois, The Lens via WWNO
~“When it became clear to them that they were not going to be getting community support , they needed to create something that would allow them to manufacture the illusion of community support,” Lower 9 resident Sarah DeBacher said.
The illusion of community support included a website created by the developer called “Revive Lower 9”. At first glance, it seems to be a general interest site dedicated to the revival of the neighborhood.  But it’s actually part of the developer’s PR campaign devised to generate support for the condos.
Oddly, a news article promoting the project appeared in a student newspaper in Massachussetts and was later retracted because of a conflict of interest. It turns out, the author of the article works for the PR company [Velocity Agency] that Angela O’Byrne, president of Perez APC, hired to run the PR campaign. Petitions in support of the project included properties with falsified information.
https://www.facebook.com/lower9vc
~Special thanks to Lower 9 Vision Coalition for this fine poster!

Holy Cross "residents" say PR campaign is ginning up support for riverfront development ~Karen Gadbois, The Lens

****This comes up before the City Council on Thursday.
Please urge council members to VOTE NO, AGAINST RIVERFRONT CONDO TOWERS  IN HOLY CROSS!

Jackie Clarkson President
Jacquelyn Brechtel Clarkson
City Hall, Room 2W50
1300 Perdido Street
New Orleans, LA 70112
Phone: (504) 658-1070
Fax: (504) 658-1077
jbclarkson@nola.gov
Stacy Head Vice President
Stacy Head
City Hall, Room 2W40
1300 Perdido Street
New Orleans, LA 70112
Phone: (504) 658-1060
Fax: (504) 658-1068
shead@nola.gov
Susan Guidry Susan G. Guidry
City Hall, Room 2W80
1300 Perdido Street
New Orleans, LA 70112
Phone: (504) 658-1010
Fax: (504) 658-1016
sgguidry@nola.gov
LaToya Cantrell LaToya Cantrell
City Hall, Room 2W10
1300 Perdido Street
New Orleans, LA 70112
Phone: (504) 658-1020
Fax: (504) 658-1025
lcantrell@nola.gov
Kristin Palmer Kristin Gisleson Palmer
City Hall, Room 2W70
1300 Perdido Street
New Orleans, LA 70112
Phone: (504) 658-1030
Fax: (504) 658-1037
kgpalmer@nola.gov
Cynthia Hedge-Morrell
James Gray
James Austin Gray II
City Hall, Room 2W60
1300 Perdido Street
New Orleans, LA 70112
Phone: (504) 658-1050
Fax: (504) 658-1058
jagray@nola.gov


Monday, April 7, 2014

Sen. Mary Landrieu treading oil and water in debate over levee board lawsuit ~Melinda Deslatte, AP via Shreveport Times

Damning Photos Reveal Wetlands Loss Due To Oil and Gas Pipelines ~Jonathan Henderson, Gulf Restoration Network
Oil, gas lawsuit asking industry to fix pipeline damage to Louisiana coast as promised: John Barry~There's a lot of misinformation that has been spread about the lawsuit the Southeast Louisiana Flood Protection Authority-East filed against 97 oil, gas and pipeline companies to make them restore the part of the coast they damaged. Here's the truth: Far from being radical, the lawsuit represents the most conservative values in America. It asks the industry to do what parents are supposed to teach their kids: Keep your word, obey the law and take responsibility for your actions.
The industry has done none of those things.

Oil and gas interests have no better friend in Baton Rouge than the combative Sen. Adley ~Tyler Bridges, The Lens

Court ruling may lead to higher taxes for salt caverns ~David J. Mitchell, The Advocate

Steep Flood Insurance Rate Hikes has Roots in Corps’ Levee Mistakes ~Levees.org

New Orleans Musicians’ Clinic hosts series of hearing-loss prevention events to keep the city listening ~Jessica Taylor, Uptown Messenger

Groups Working To Connect 9th Ward Split By Industrial Canal ~Eileen Flemming, WWNO

Celebrate Earth Day 2014 at Louis Armstrong Park on Sat, April 19th, 10 am to 7:30 pm!

Friday, April 4, 2014

Champ Bailey agrees to 2-year deal with Saints, source says ~Ramon Antonio Vargas, New Orleans Advocate

Champ Bailey: 'I’m going to try to be a part of something special' ~Saints
Size Matters: rally today to address Butt Eye riverfront condo towers development
Size Matters: rally to address riverfront condo towers development tomorrow 6pm 1001 Charbonnett St
*Click pic for directions 
~Angela Hill talks about the best way to develop the Lower 9th Ward with members of the Holy Cross Neighborhood Association: Sarah Debacher, Calvin Alexander, and Wanda Baily

Petition to support development consistent with existing zoning and historic character of the Holy Cross ~Lower 9 Vision Coalition
~Perez APC, a firm with limited experience in developing properties, is attempting to change the zoning of the riverfront property and greenspace that was formerly the site of the Holy Cross School  in the Lower Ninth Ward.  Their end goal:  a height waiver that would allow two seventy-five foot towers and additional clusters of construction that would dwarf the surrounding historic neighborhood, reduce the greenspace and increase the traffic down one way, residential streets. We urge the city of New Orleans to support development that is consistent with the current residential zoning of this site and in keeping with the historic character of the surrounding community. 

St. Bernard resident nominated for seat on flood protection authority ~Jeff Adelson, New Orleans Advocate

Adley to the rescue pt. 2 ~Jeff Bridges, via The IND

Green Army pays Robideaux visit ~Patrick Flanagan

Pledge And Double Your Impact In The Coastal Challenge! ~WWNO

Amtrak officials push for funding change during metro area tour ~Sara Pagones

Forbes ranks New Orleans No. 1 'Brainpower City' ~WDSU

Bobbly Jindal's health plan shows he wants to be POTUS in worst way—apparently the same way he has been LA. governor ~Louisiana Voice

The King of New Orleans: How the Junkyard Dog Became Professional Wrestling’s First Black Superhero ~Arrand Rodgers, Heavy Feather Reivew

Spring Garden Show At City Park!

International Blues Express traces blues from Mali to New Orleans ~Chrris Bieri, Anchorage Daily News

The first ever Fools of April Music on Festival will rock Loyola Sunday, April 6 ~Diana Mirfiq, The Marroon

Read more here: http://www.adn.com/2014/04/03/3408713/international-blues-express-trraces.html#storylink=cpy

Wednesday, April 2, 2014

Coastal restoration financing is uncertain, but Louisiana has "ideas" to find $50 billion ~Bob Marshall, The Lens

Dear Editilla,

http://levees.org/
The major studies–including the Army Corps of Engineers' own study–found that fault for the levee breaks during Katrina lies squarely with the Corps.

But few disagreed in 2006 that it was time for a new form of levee board that's better suited for New Orleans. And new legislation created an expert regional Levee Authority.

Last July, this new Authority made history by filing lawsuit against 97 oil, gas and pipeline companies demanding that they fix the damage they did to our valuable coastal wetlands.

But now Senate Bill 553 could stop the Big Oil Lawsuit in its tracks!

The bill–filed by a north Louisiana senator–would restrict the ability the new Flood Authority to hire qualified attorneys without the Governor's approval.

Most importantly, it would undermine the Flood Authority's existing lawsuit already filed against Louisiana Big Oil.

We think SB 553’s proposed changes have one goal: to protect the Oil and Gas Industry.

SB 553 is an attack on Louisiana citizens.

Click here and send a letter to your state legislators urging them to VOTE AGAINST SB 553.

http://go.levees.org/SB-553

It is critical that you send your letter by 5 p.m. Friday April 4th.

Want to do more?

Call the two Senators below who are "swing" voters on SB 533 and who are members of the Senate Committee on Transportation. Your call by 3 p.m. tomorrow could make a difference!

Sen David Heitmeir (504) 361-6356
Sen Gary Smith (985) 764-9122


But, it is critical that you make your phone call by 3 p.m. Thurs April 3.

Thank you for your support of Levees.org.
With your help, we're winning.

Sandy Rosenthal
Founder, Levees.org

Drilling on the Mississippi Sound? ~Troy Gilbert, GulfLatitudes.com

In the Lower Ninth Ward, a Fight Over Height ~Sarah Goodyear, The Atlantic
IG report cites billing errors, grossly inflated office rental price in sheriff Marlin Gusman's monitoring program ~Dan Lawton, New Orleans Advocate 
~Also~More reports surface of violence at Sheriff Marlin Gusman's prison ~Justin Mustian
~Also~Sheriff’s Office overcharged city for ankle monitoring program, IG report says ~Della Hasselle, The Lens

Public health clinics fight to avert looming funding crisis ~Lee Isaacson, WVUE

Another Hall of Famer could fit with Saints ~Mike Triplett, ESPN

Baton Rouge-New Orleans passenger trains don't have to be fast to be competitive, study says ~Angela Cotey, Progressive Railroading

New Orleans company one of at least two competing on satellite plane tracking ~Janet McConnauhey, AP

Read more here: http://www.kentucky.com/2014/04/02/3175162/la-company-developing-aircraft.html#storylink=cpy

Duke Ellington, Louie Armstrong's Secret 9 Highlight When Jazz and Baseball Were in Perfect Harmony ~John Edward Hasse, Smithsonian

It's French Quarter Fest Wednesday At WWNO!

Saturday, March 29, 2014

Tuesday, March 18, 2014

Let The Freak Show Begin ~Adrastos, First Draft ~I really didn't think that 4 term former Louisiana Governor Edwin Edwards (hereinafter EWE or just plain Edwin) would run for Congress. I even predicted a non-candidacy on social media. In the immortal words of Graham Parker "I thought I was right, I was wrong."
After EWE's announcement there was a lot of back and forth on NOLA twitter between the moralists who were outraged and horrified and those of us who view politics as entertainment with higher than average stakes. The moralists are concerned that EWE's candidacy will "hurt the state's image." Give me a fucking break, we have a creationism law, a Governor who performed an exorcism whilst in college and take a rapper with a silly name, Little Boosie, seriously.

Graves Grabs Architect of Duck-Fueled Upset ~Jeremy Alford. LaPolitics

Environmental activists allege coal terminal polluting river in lawsuit ~WWLTV
Edwin Edwards running for Congress ~Mike Hasten, Daily Advertiser

St. Joseph’s Altar has deep ties for Uptown family ~Stephanie Bruno, New Orleans Advocate

Corps awards $8 million levee contract in Plaquemines Parish ~AP, via The Republic

For New Orleans' new maker movement, a Mini Maker Faire ~Jed Lipinski

Odd Words: Best of the Tennessee Williams Fest

Preview: BUKU Music + Art Project ~Alex Woodward, Gambit