Grand Jury Subpoenas Recordings Of Shepherd

Could this be one of the developments that Letten alluded to when Mose Jefferson was indicted?

A grand jury seated in the U.S. District Court's Eastern District of Louisiana in New Orleans subpoenaed WWL on Wednesday for recordings of Shepherd, a Democrat, from last fall. Chris Slaughter, WWL's news director, said the document called for two months of footage, during the period when Shepherd's name surfaced in a detention hearing for unlicensed bond broker Gwen Moyo.

Let's hope they are not just grasping at straws.

New Orleans Bouncer Acquitted In Student's Death

A Louisiana jury has acquitted a New Orleans bouncer in the New Year's Eve 2004 death of a Georgia college student during a melee outside a Bourbon Street club.

Arthur Irons, 43, of Slidell, the first of four bouncers to go to trial, was found not guilty in the asphyxiation death of 26-year-old Levon Jones, a Georgia Southern University student who was in New Orleans for a flag football tournament. Two friends were barred from Razzoo Bar & Patio for not meeting the dress code.

Witnesses that Jones ended up pinned face down on the sidewalk, held by the four bouncers, and that he resisted being handcuffed by police. The coroner ruled Jones' death a homicide.

One bouncer testified that Jones started the melee by sucker punching Irons in the face. Irons took the stand this morning, and the Times-Picayune provided live coverage.

Is FEMA Better Prepared For Disasters?

According to a recent news report, the nation's disaster response agency has made good progress improving its planning, logistics and communications capabilities since its weak performance in Hurricane Katrina, the Department of Homeland Security's inspector general reported today.

The analysis gave FEMA solid grades in seven of nine measures of readiness while raising concerns about coordinating federal resources and the agency's ability to provide housing for displaced disaster victims.

The report pointed to ongoing problems with ensuring FEMA employees have adequate training. And FEMA is nine months late in developing a comprehensive housing strategy ordered by Congress as part of major post-Katrina legislation in 2006.

Toxic Trailers

Why does it take so long to do the right thing?

Accused of taking months to correct a misleading report about the possible health risks of formaldehyde in FEMA trailers, a government agency announced Tuesday a five-year study of Gulf Coast children to determine the long-term effects of exposure to the gas.

Where "New Orleans" Stands Today

This New York Times excerpt gives us a glance into the progress made in New Orleans since Hurricane Katrina:

Many of the hardest-hit neighborhoods remain stuck where they have been for months, with a few houses on a block occupied and the rest in varying stages of abandonment or repair. In Broadmoor, one block might appear carefully restored by residents, while another will seem derelict. Vacant grassy lots newly pepper the city, ambiguous signs of progress: blighted houses recently sat on them, but construction has often not followed demolition.

And they wonder why people are so frustrated.

Move Back To New Orleans Or Else

To Displaced Residents Of New Orleans:

Make it back by April 1, 2010, if you want to be counted as a resident in the population numbers that determine congressional seats, federal allocations and other issues for the next decade. Those who arrive on April 2, 2010, or later will be counted as a resident of Atlanta, Houston or wherever they landed after Hurricanes Katrina and Rita forced hundreds of thousands from their homes in Louisiana.

It's time to pack up and head home!!!

Another "Road Home" Disaster Story

These people have lost their minds. First, they get a raise as a reward for their incompetence. Now they want people who have suffered so much to return money.

The private contractor under investigation for the compensation it received to run the Road Home grant program for Katrina victims says that, in the rush to deliver aid to homeowners in need, some people got too much. Now it wants to hire a separate company to collect millions in grant overpayments.

Why don't they give back the raises they received for their incompetence?