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Making his first visit to Louisiana since becoming the nation's 44th chief executive, President Barack Obama told a spirited crowd at the University of New Orleans on Thursday that he will help build a stronger Gulf Coast than the one Hurricane Katrina and broken levees wrecked four years ago. "I promise you this -- whether it's me coming down here or my Cabinet or other members of my administration -- we will not forget about New Orleans," Obama said. "We are going to keep on working. . . . Together, we will rebuild this region, and we will build it...

WASHINGTON – President Barack Obama, who accused former President George W. Bush of leading a government "that sits on its hands while a major American city drowns," is hearing directly from New Orleans residents who have struggled to rebuild their city since the 2005 hurricane season. Obama arrives in New Orleans Thursday on his first presidential trip to the hurricane-ravaged Gulf Coast. About 1,600 people were killed in Louisiana and Mississippi by Hurricane Katrina, which caused $40 billion in damages and displaced 1 million people from their homes.

A Florida contractor hired by the Housing Authority of New Orleans to oversee its finances embezzled more than $900,000 during the past three years, according to charges filed Monday by the U.S. attorney's office. Separate public records show that during the same time period the fiscal manager, Elias Castellanos, 43, bought a $1.6 million mansion in Davie, Fla., just north of Miami, and five late-model cars -- including a Lamborghini Gallardo worth more than $200,000, a Ferrari F430, a Porsche 911 and two Mercedes-Benzes. Federal prosecutors charged Castellanos with one count of embezzlement Monday through a bill of information, indicating...

New Orleans is once again the nation's murder capital after briefly losing the title. Fresh FBI statistics show that with 64 killings per 100,000 people in 2008, New Orleans had the highest per capita murder rate in the nation, well ahead of second-place St. Louis, which had 47 murders per 100,000 people.

A 24-year-old man was arrested in connection with Saturday's execution-style triple murder in Terrytown, the Jefferson Parish Sheriff's Office announced.Dayshawn Young, of 916 East Monterey Court, Apartment D, in Terrytown, was arrested after investigators identified Young as one of the two suspects believed to be involved in the killing, said Col. John Fortunato, JPSO spokesman. He was booked on three counts of first degree murder and one count of attempted first degree murder. The identity of the second suspect in the shooting remains unknown to investigators, Fortunato said. Four Overstreet, 6, Domonique Sterling, 19, and Sterling's 23-month-old son, Robert Claiborne...

<p>TERRYTOWN, La. - Gunmen in dark clothes kicked down an apartment door in a troubled New Orleans-area neighborhood and opened fire, killing two children and a woman, authorities said.</p> <p>A third child was in critical condition after the shooting around 4 a.m., and investigators were searching for suspects, said Jefferson Parish Sheriff's spokesman Col. John Fortunato.</p>

Throughout the week, police detectives and on-edge residents were looking for a man impersonating a police officer who burglarized and threatened residents in three home invasions, forcing some of them to strip. On Friday morning, New Orleans police announced they had found their man, and it turns out he wasn't an impostor. Rather, he is a rogue rookie cop who used his badge while off-duty to victimize Hispanic men and women in the Mid-City area, authorities said.Darrius Clipps, 36, a patrolman of almost one year, appeared for work as scheduled Thursday evening, showing up at roll call for his night...

WASHINGTON (AP) — FEMA is investigating allegations of cronyism and other misconduct at its hurricane recovery office in New Orleans.

NEW ORLEANS – Six people, including a one-year-old boy, were injured on the parade route in a shooting on Fat Tuesday, according to spokesman EMS spokesman Jeb Tate.

Actually, that would be Chocolate City II. Spike Lee is heading to "Chocolate City" for the Inauguration of the post-racial president:

Black survivors of Hurricane Katrina said Tuesday that racism contributed to the slow disaster response, at times likening themselves in emotional congressional testimony to victims of genocide and the Holocaust. The comparison is inappropriate, according to Rep. Jeff Miller, R-Fla. “Not a single person was marched into a gas chamber and killed,” Miller told the survivors. “They died from abject neglect,” retorted community activist Leah Hodges. “We left body bags behind... The people of New Orleans were stranded in a flood and were allowed to die.” Angry evacuees described being trapped in temporary shelters where one New Orleans resident said...

As we thankfully near the end of the Nagin administration, everything seems to be falling apart at City Hall. Therefore, it is interesting that there are sources reporting this morning that Ray Nagin is being considered for the position of Secretary of Housing and Urban Development in the new Obama administration. According to one leading Democrat, Nagin is on the short list for the job because of “his experience leading New Orleans during the post-Katrina period.” While there has been significant rebuilding in New Orleans including a major revitalization of the public housing developments in the past three year, there...

Police departments in cities across the country are beefing up their ranks for Election Day, preparing for possible civil unrest and riots after the historic presidential contest. Public safety officials said in interviews with The Hill that the election, which will end with either the nation’s first black president or its first female vice president, demanded a stronger police presence. Some worry that if Barack Obama loses and there is suspicion of foul play in the election, violence could ensue in cities with large black populations. Others based the need for enhanced patrols on past riots in urban areas (following...

NEW ORLEANS, Louisiana (CNN) -- New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin ordered a mandatory evacuation of the city beginning 8 a.m. Sunday morning but urged residents to consider escaping "the mother of all storms" before then. New Orleans residents leave Friday via Interstate 10 westbound ahead of Hurricane Gustav. 1 of 3 more photos » "You need to be scared," Nagin said. "You need to be concerned and you need to get your butts moving out of New Orleans right now. This is the storm of the century."

The Mayor has been jailed do to violating the terms of his bond. He went to Windsor without permission and the Judge Giles had him sent to jail

Census Bureau says New Orleans is the fastest-growing large city in the nation, recovering from being wiped out by Hurricane Katrina. NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- After being pummeled by Hurricane Katrina in 2005, New Orleans is showing signs of recovery - ranking as the fastest-growing large city in the nation, according to a government report released Thursday. The Census Bureau said New Orleans' population rose 13.8%, to 239,124, in the year ended July 1, 2007. That was a faster growth rate than any other city with a population of 100,000 or more.

New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin refutes the findings of the latest UNO Quality of Life Study that show his approval rating has declined from 40 percent to 31 percent. "I think UNO needs a little more money in its budget. The sample size was pretty small, as well as, the margin of error was at 10 percent in Orleans Parish, which is unusual for somebody trying to assess the approval rating of a political leader. Nobody does that," said Nagin in an exclusive interview with Rush Radio 99.5 WRNO. According to the UNO poll, 49 percent of black respondents approve...

Laura slaps down an idiot racist on the factor. This is a direct link to the video but they have a commercial at the beginning. Link

SILVER SPRING, Maryland (Reuters) - Director Spike Lee, whose movies often cast a sharp eye on U.S. racial politics, predicted a presidential victory for black Democrat Barack Obama that would mark a "new day" for the United States. "It's going to be before Obama, 'B.B.,' and after Obama -- 'A.B.' -- and some folks need to get used to this," Lee said. "And I'm going to be at the inauguration -- getting my hotel reservation now." Lee said that like Katrina in 2005, the levee breaches now flooding the Upper Midwest were a sign of misplaced priorities by the national...

Still bitter from his spanking at the hands of Clint Eastwood (background here), conspiracy nut and race-monger Spike Lee is clinging to Barack Obama for revenge. He told a film festival crowd this week that he has gathered 1,000 hours of footage of his Obamessiah on the campaign trail and will produce a documentary about the candidate. The dour director instantly cheered up. Via SilverDocs, Lee gloats: Discussing his Hurricane Katrina epic When the Levees Broke, Lee referenced the current flooding in the midwest and said, “The infrastructure of this country is crumbling, and money’s going elsewhere.” He paused, then...

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. Nagin did not vote in the October primary, or in two citywide elections in March and May, according to Secretary of State Jay Dardenne's office. Turnout in the Oct. 20 primary -- when Nagin could have had a say in electing key officials he would work with, including the governor,...

NEW ORLEANS—District Attorney Eddie Jordan disclosed plans to resign Tuesday amid a $3.7 million discrimination verdict against his office and a rising murder rate since Hurricane Katrina. Jordan's spokesman, Dalton Savwoir, said the district attorney told his staff he would resign on Wednesday. Jordan lost the discrimination lawsuit against dozens of his former employees in 2005. The white former employees said they were fired by Jordan, who is black, because of their race. Jordan has consistently lost the appeals in that case and earlier this week, a federal judge refused to delay payment of the judgment. That opened the door...

New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin (D) has decided against running for governor of Louisiana. Notorious for his inaction during the days leading up to Hurricane Katrina’s devastation of his city, Nagin was advised that his slogan “not everyone who could’ve died did” was not the confidence inspiring catchphrase he thought it was.

Baton Rouge, La. (AP) -- Keeping speculation alive until the very end, New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin opted not to join the Louisiana governor's race Thursday — a decision that became clear only when the qualifying deadline passed. Many in Nagin's city were surprised he was even considering a run, with more than 2 1/2 years left in his second term, a painfully slow hurricane recovery effort in the city and a gubernatorial candidate — U.S. Rep. Bobby Jindal — who has held a commanding lead in polls. Thirteen candidates qualified for the Oct. 20 ballot, most notably the Republican...

Aide to New Orleans mayor describes chaos after storm in new book — NEW ORLEANS — After Hurricane Katrina inundated his city with floodwaters, leaving in its wake a wave of human suffering and lawlessness, Mayor C. Ray Nagin surveyed what already was being called the nation’s worst natural disaster from the window of a sweltering hotel suite he’d commandeered. “Are you OK?” his press secretary, Sally Forman, asked. “This was God’s plan for me, Sally,” Nagin said. “What was?” she asked. “To rebuild New Orleans.” That exchange is one of the many insights into the man and the chaos...

New Orleans (AP) -- The vice president of the City Council, once thought to be a likely candidate for mayor in 2010, pleaded guilty Monday to a federal bribery charge. Oliver Thomas entered the plea before U.S. District Judge Sarah Vance, and prosecutors were to discuss details of the case later Monday. Bond for Thomas was set at $25,000.

Hershey Co., the nation's largest candy-maker, said yesterday that its profit tumbled 96 percent in the second quarter as it spent heavily to begin transforming its production lines and revive flat sales. The company also slashed its earnings estimate for 2007, sending its stock price down almost 3 percent. Separately, it announced that it would make a major entry into the fast-growing market for premium chocolate with Starbucks Coffee Co.-branded chocolates. Hershey said it earned $3.6 million, or a penny a share, for the three months ended July 1. That compares with a profit of $97.9 million, or 41 cents...

NEW ORLEANS: Ben Maygarden is only half-joking when he wonders whether he should wear a bulletproof vest to City Hall, where he works for one of the city's seven tax assessors. New Orleans is wrapping up a mandatory, citywide reassessment of property values for the first time since Hurricane Katrina damaged or destroyed thousands of homes and businesses. The reassessment could lead to big property tax increases for some homeowners at a time when many already are being hit with soaring insurance premiums in Katrina's aftermath. "People are going to be upset," said Maygarden, chief deputy to Assessor Nancy Marshall....

New Orleans (AP) -- Mayor Ray Nagin, in his first State of the City address since Hurricane Katrina, said Wednesday that New Orleans is a city on the mend, despite broken promises from the state and federal governments. "New Orleans is coming back, whether you like it or not," Nagin said to applause from the crowd of city workers and community members gathered at the National World War II Museum. "And you might as well deal with it." Nagin called on President Bush and Gov. Kathleen Blanco to do more to help speed the city's recovery from the August 2005...

I've been hearing rumors for a couple of weeks now that New Orleans Mayor C. Ray Nagin is considering running for Governor. I finally found a news outlet that confirms this rumor, thanks to freelance journalist Jason Berry, who appeared on Informed Sources last night to predict that Nagin will run for Governor. Hat tip to Library Chronicles. As an aside, is this Jason Berry the author of Amazing Grace, an account of Charles Evers' run for Governor in Mississippi back in 1972? But back to the issue at hand - Ray Nagin running for Governor of Louisiana. This makes...

Hillary Rodham Clinton said Saturday rebuilding New Orleans is an "American obligation" the Bush administration has not met since Hurricane Katrina struck. "If talk, bureaucracy and promises were enough, we would've rebuilt New Orleans three times over by now," the Democratic president candidate told graduates at Dillard University, the historically black school devastated by the storm in August 2005. "What you do need is action, action supported by our federal government but driven right here in New Orleans and in the surrounding parishes by people who understand the reality on the ground, action that leads to real, measurable improvements, not...

a few questions: Is anyone on FR a resident of New Orleans, live nearby, work in New Orleans or commute there often? Is there a New Orleans ping list? Who on FR lives in Louisiana in general and is there a Louisiana ping list?

A new study by a Tulane University professor says New Orleans? murder rate as the highest in the country. The report estimates the city?s 2006 murder rate at 96 per every 100,000 people. A key factor in New Orleans vault to the top of the ratings was the large decline in the city?s population following Hurricane Katrina. New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin called the study results ?bittersweet.? ?Everybody wants to be number one at something,? Nagin said. ?We?re not in the running for the high prestige titles like ?cleanest? or ?best educated.? In fact, we?re on the bottom of those...

Sex offenders, drug dealers and gang members are not welcome in New Orleans. That's the crux of a measure passed by the U.S. House of Representatives. The bill would prohibit people convicted of certain crimes from living in the soon-to-be re-opened housing projects in New Orleans, while at the same time giving others priority to return. The measure proposed by Congressman Bobby Jindal will make it easier for handicapped, elderly and working people to move back into New Orleans public housing, while locking out those with shady pasts. Some evacuees say it's a racist move by politicians they don't trust....

The slow pace of New Orleans' post-Katrina recovery is part of a plan to change the city's racial makeup, Mayor Ray Nagin told a national newspaper publishers' group last week. According to The Washington Post, Nagin made those remarks at a dinner meeting Thursday of the National Newspaper Publishers Association, a trade group for newspapers that target black readers. He told editors and publishers that the slow recovery is part of a plan to change the racial makeup, and hence the political leadership, of the city.

New Orleans Mayor C. Ray Nagin believes that that the slow recovery and rebuilding of New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina is part of a plan to disperse black voters geographically to make it more difficult for blacks to be elected to political office."Ladies and gentlemen, what happened in New Orleans could happen anywhere. They are studying this model of natural disasters, dispersing the community and changing the electoral process in that community," Nagin said in a speech to the National Newspaper Publishers Association, a trade group for newspapers serving the black community.The Washington Post reports that Nagin, who won reelection...

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. "Ladies and gentlemen, what happened in New Orleans could happen anywhere," Nagin said at a dinner sponsored by the National Newspaper Publishers Association, a trade group for newspapers that target black readers. "They are studying this model of natural disasters, dispersing the community and changing the electoral process in that community."...

NEW ORLEANS (Reuters) - New Orleans, the "Big Easy" city famous for its good times and relaxed attitude, has become the Big Uneasy in recent weeks as its murder count has soared and anger grown at local leaders unable to stop the violence. Annual Mardi Gras celebrations unfolded without incident this weekend, but fear of the rampant blood-spilling and its threat to the city's recovery from Hurricane Katrina are constant topics of conversation. The homicide total for a still-young 2007 climbed to 27 on Saturday with the dead of a man shot at a nightclub on Friday. He was one...

NEW ORLEANS -- Two shootings within seven hours killed two people and injured seven more, two of them critically, New Orleans police said. Three were shot in a car parked near the Industrial Canal in the Ninth Ward about 6:45 p.m. Thursday. About 1:30 a.m. Friday, a shooting in a Mid-City nightclub wounded six people, one critically. The survivor of the first shooting _ the car's driver _ told police that he knew and had given a ride to the man who shot them, Sgt. Joe Narcisse, a police spokesman, said Friday. "That let us know this was not just...

NEW ORLEANS, Louisiana (AP) -- Mayor Ray Nagin told a Senate committee Monday he doesn't see the will to fix his hurricane-battered city when compared with the billions spent on the war in Iraq. "I think it's more class than anything, but there's racial issues associated with it also," Nagin said. Nagin also asked for Congress to change the laws and regulations to speed up the flow of federal aid. "From my perspective, not having the resources at the local level is the absolute killer of this recovery," Nagin told the Senate's Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, which is...

New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin vowed to throw ‘everything we have’ toward solving murders and other violent crimes during an impassioned address Tuesday afternoon. Nagin said several initiatives would be put into place including ‘very aggressive’ drug and alcohol check points between 2 a.m. and 6 a.m. While stopping short of calling for a curfew, Nagin strongly advised residents to limit their activities during that time. Nagin also promised to: -expedite murder cases as quickly as possible -put criminal sheriff’s deputies on the streets to patrol with NOPD officers -to increase the number of crime cameras on the street by...

NEW ORLEANS - With at least eight slayings in the city in the first week of the new year, officials are considering a curfew to help stem the violence, the police superintendent said Saturday. "It's something we're just sort of talking about, to see if that will make a difference," police Superintendent Warren Riley said. Mayor Ray Nagin, meanwhile, urged residents not to leave the city, still rebuilding after Hurricane Katrina, because of the recent killings. He said the slayings could be a tipping point that "galvanizes our community" to find solutions. Nagin and Riley both tried to reassure residents...

HOUSTON-- 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 evacuees from Hurricane Katrina. There were 379 homicides in Houston in 2006, according to the Houston Police Department. That's the most since 1994, when police reported 419 murders. There were 334 homicides in 2005. There were 202 homicides in Houston from January to June, a 28 percent increase over the 158 recorded over the same time period the previous year. Houston Mayor Bill White pointed to Hurricane Katrina evacuees from New Orleans as...

Congressman William Jefferson has been re-elected to Congress, according to WWL-TV election analyst Greg Rigamer. With two-thirds of the vote counted, Jefferson had a 6,000-vote lead over challenger Karen Carter. "I'm a little worried about what this is going to say to the nation," said City Councilwoman Cynthia Hedge-Morrell, a Carter supporter. Jefferson was forced into the runoff against a fellow Democrat when he failed to win 50 percent of the vote in a crowded open multiparty primary. His opponent, state Rep. Karen Carter, is seeking to become the first black woman from Louisiana elected to Congress. Jefferson, 59, has...

Jefferson Parish's murder rate continued to spiral upward Friday night, after authorities logged a third killing within 24 hours, pushing the bloodshed to its highest level since 1980. The tally stood at 62 homicides in unincorporated Jefferson Parish, with the West Bank accounting for 43. The previous high for unincorporated Jefferson Parish was 50 murders logged in all of 1990, said Col. John Fortunato of the Jefferson Parish Sheriff's Office. Friday night's violence, which brought Sheriff Harry Lee to the scene in Terrytown, came more than 24 hours after two men were cut down in a Harvey neighborhood Thursday night.

<p>The New Orleans police chief, reeling from the deaths of six people over the holiday weekend, said Monday that he would ask the governor to keep National Guard troops in the city past the end of the year, when their mission to help patrol hurricane-damaged neighborhoods was supposed to end.</p>

MEMPHIS, Tenn, 11/22 - A 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. "Take it up with God," an unrepentant Joshua Thompson told a TV reporter after it was learned that he and the woman he identified as his wife had flipped the home for $88,000. Church members said they feel their generosity was abused by scam artists. They...

Yesterday, it was announced that a grand total of 26 people have received their cash settlements from the Louisiana Recovery Authority. This is out of a total of 123,000 potential applicants. LRA leaders are touting the numbers as progress, which sure sounds like spin to me. In the meantime, thousands of poor victims make difficult decisions every day whether to stay in the state or leave. Unfortunately, due to the slow pace of the Road Home plan, thousands have opted to leave. Along with concerns about levees, political corruption, poor schools, the slow pace of relief by the LRA is...

September 5, 2006 at 6:31 am New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin, the man who apologized for his “chocolate city” comments and who exhibited a complete failure of leadership and competence during Hurricane Katrina, has now had to apologize for remarks made in reference to Ground Zero in New York. As we near the fifth anniversary of the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, Nagin, in his vast judgment, criticized New York for not yet fixing the “hole in the ground” — his reference to the site at which the World Trade Center once stood. As reported in the Washington Times,...

Nagin Attracts Media But Few InvestorsPromotional event mostly ignored NEW YORK -- New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin certainly attracted the notice of the press in the nation's media capital during his short stay in New York. It's hard to say, though, how many of the people he was really after -- big investors in the country's financial hub -- paid much attention to what New Orleans officials billed as the first stop on an as-yet uncharted "economic development tour." Few of the visitors to the two-day affair, held at Tribeca Cinemas in the trendy downtown neighborhood that used to be...