Cronyism In New Orleans

You can loot from public contracts, in New Orleans, and still collect millions, from other public contracts, while serving time in prison.

All you have to do is appoint your wife as President of your ill gotten business ventures and collect the millions, from the public contracts, when you are released from prison. You gotta love New Orleans' way of punishing crooks.

Barack Obama Speaks To New Orleans' Crowd

Barack Obama, fresh off a strong Super Tuesday showing that left him in a dead heat with U.S. Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton of New York for the party's nomination, started his speech at Tulane University by highlighting signs of New Orleans' resiliency: the Endymion parade's return to Mid-City, the streetcar back on its traditional Uptown route, even the Super Bowl success of New Orleans native Eli Manning.

Obama, the only major presidential candidate scheduled to appear in Louisiana before Saturday, also told a crowd of about 3,500 supporters that it will take change in Washington for New Orleans to recover. He pledged that if elected, he would restructure FEMA and make sure there is enough money to protect the area from future storms.

Judge won't drop charges against Rep. William Jefferson

It seems that William "Dollar Bill" Jefferson will have to face the music after all since the judge won't drop the charges:

Facing 16 bribery-related charges stemming from business deals in West Africa, Jefferson sought to unravel the government's case by claiming that some of the testimony provided to the grand jury by six current or former staffers violated the U.S. Constitution.

Come on Jefferson: It is time you pay the piper.

Mardi Gras revelers party in New Orleans

Colorful parades rolled through New Orleans on Tuesday as thousands of revelers turned out to celebrate Mardi Gras in the city still scarred by Hurricane Katrina.

Drinking and dancing partiers jostled for sidewalk space to watch elaborately decorated floats as they passed near neighborhoods not fully recovered from the August 29, 2005, storm that flooded 80 percent of the city and killed more than 1,300 people.

The celebrants, many in costume, begged for beads -- or "throws" in New Orleans slang -- tossed from French Quarter balconies or by masked "krewe" members on floats.

Mardi Gras In The Big Easy

Today is Mardi Gras, in the Big Easy, so come on out and celebrate. You will experience nothing like this before:

Mardi Gras, or Fat Tuesday, is the often raucous end to the pre-Lenten Carnival season. Characterized by family-friendly parades uptown and in the suburbs — and by heavy drinking and lots of near-nudity in the French Quarter — the celebration is highlighted by 12 days of parades and parties.

New Orleans' Fat Tuesday events include Pete Fountain's Half-Fast Walking Club, which starts the day, followed by the Zulu and Rex parades and the meeting of the courts of Rex and Comus Tuesday night.

Party with the revelers and spend lots of money here.

Corruption In The Big Easy

It is very quiet on the home front. There are no new allegations being made about bribery, mail fraud, obstruction of justice, etc. It seems that those who have been caught up in the recent corruption scandals are quietly sitting back and making their deals, with the feds, in the hopes of obtaining lighter sentences.

We haven't heard anything new about former school board member Ellenese Brooks-Simms. Former New Orleans Mayor, Marc Morial's aunt, Lillian Smith Haydel, is still awaiting sentencing. We really don't expect too much to come out of her mouth concerning any other wrongdoing, but it makes you wonder: Why is it taking so long for her to be sentenced? I am also curious as to what other information Ellenese Brooks-Simms will provide. I hope she fully cooperates with the feds in order for the City of New Orleans to really clean house. We are tired of the reputation we now have and we all hope that one day things change.

New Orleans' Mayor Phases Out Program

The blight-fighting Good Neighbor initiative in New Orleans, launched a year after Hurricane Katrina flooding laid waste to many neighborhoods, showed promise in prompting cleanup work at thousands of moldering properties.

But Mayor Ray Nagin's administration in September quietly phased out the program -- without acting on 17,000 complaints submitted by residents at City Hall's urging, according to an official who oversees code enforcement.

The decision effectively halted enforcement of city laws that cover the condition of building exteriors. And it confirmed the suspicions of neighborhood activists struggling to get something done about nuisance properties.