Liz McCartney, St. Bernard Project co-founder wins 2008 CNN Hero of the Year award and pledges $100K prize to rebuild more homes.Over one million people voted in CNN's 2008 Heroes of the Year 6-week long on-line competition that catapulted St. Bernard Project's co-founder Liz McCartney to overnight notoriety. She was honored along with 9 other heroes at a star-studded Thanksgiving Day global broadcast at the Kodak Theater in Hollywood as CNN's 2008 Hero of the Year.
Post a comment | View comments (0)Newly sworn in Orleans Parish District Attorney Leon Cannizzaro is now officially on the clock and is beginning his effort repair the damaged office he has assumed.
Cannizzaro warned his employees that there will be hard work and heavy lifting in the months to come. He stressed that all DA office personnel should be above reproach and adhere strictly to the law. To underscore his point, he required his entire staff to submit to a drug test on his first day in office. The results are expected today.
Is this a good first step in restoring your confidence in the DA's office?
Coverage of the budgetary disputes between New Orleans City Council, Sanitation Director Veronica White, and Mayor Nagin.
Tempers flare over city sanitation budget scrutiny
• New Orleans City Councilwoman Stacy Head accuses sanitation director of lying about garbage contract
November 12, 2008
• Nagin sends scathing e-mail, Stacy Head responds
November 13, 2008
• Your thoughts: Is Nagin shoving his foot in his mouth?
Fingers are wagging again in a recent New Orleans City Council meeting as Councilwoman Stacy Head accused Sanitation Director Veronica White of lying about the city's garbage contract. After the heated exchange, Mayor Nagin sent a "scathing e-mail" to the Council president accusing Head of verbal abuse and race-baiting.
St. Tammany Parish Sheriff Jack Strain, center, is flanked by Washington Parish Sheriffs Deputy Brian Davidson, St. Tammany deputy Sgt. george Cox, Lt. Tom Anderson of the Washington Parish Sheriff's Office, and Lt. Joe Picone of the St. Tammany Parish Sheriff's Office. Officials presented items belonging to eight KKK members who are connected to the murder of an Oklahoma woman in Sun, La.Evil, cowards, backwater bigots - those are only a few of the adjectives NOLA.com readers used to describe the eight people arrested Monday in connection to the murder of an Oklahoma woman in Sun, La.
While news of a murder usually draws plenty of reader feedback, this story jumps off the Web site because it involves an apparent Ku Klux Klan group out of Bogalusa. As of 2 p.m. Nov. 14, comments on the story have reached 575.
Vote for Liz as 2008 CNN Hero of the Year at www.cnn.com/heroSt Bernard Project's Liz McCartney has been chosen as a finalist for 2008 CNN Hero of the Year. If selected as the Hero of the Year, McCartney will donate her $100,000 prize to the Project enabling 8 more families to move home. Please vote for Liz and follow these easy tips to spread the word to your family members, friends and co-workers.
| Liz McCartney: CNN 2008 Hero of the Year finalist helps St. Bernard |
Goth/biker/vampire enclave ushers in Halloween 2008So wrong.
The front doors of Our Lady of Good Counsel are locked and lonely.Dawn Curran walked the perimeter of Our Lady of Good Counsel church Tuesday afternoon looking for a way in.
Curran, a 3-year member of the Catholic, Uptown church on Louisiana Avenue, had a look of dread on her face when she found every door locked.
There was little movement around the church, aside from a television news truck parked across the street and a cameraman setting up equipment for a 5 p.m. stand-up.
Audio interviews and copies of letters in which Stan "Pampy" Barre openly confesses to and apologizes for criminal wrongdoing. In his own words, Barre describes the wheeling and dealing that landed him in jail
Caution: These excerpts contain explicit language
 |
 |
 |
Coverage of the controversy over NOPD Sgt. Bobby Guidry's suspension for wearing the wrong color shirt.
July 09, 2008
• NOPD officer punished for wearing the wrong uniform
• Riley says officer who wore wrong uniform shirt was appropriately punished
July 11, 2008
• Shirt controversy may be ironed out
July 23, 2008
• Superintendent Riley promises swift action
July 24, 2008
• Riley fires two New Orleans cops accused of misconduct, announces verdict of Guidry case
October 9, 2008
• NOPD officer's blue shirt tale is still flapping
Archived coverage of New Orleans' crime camera program and the controversies over the installation, cost, maintenance and operation of the crime cameras.
November 18, 2008
• Broken New Orleans crime camera sits idle steps from murder scene
November 12, 2008
• Mayor Ray Nagin asks for $1.6 million to maintain embattled crime camera program
October 09, 2008
• City Council committee to question Nagin administration about overpayments for crime cameras
September 26, 2008
• City's crime camera contract exposed
August 21, 2008
• Police want to catch man caught on tape disabling crime camera
August 16, 2008
• City's review of NOAH contractors' work is full of holes
July 31, 2008
• 200 crime cameras operating in city, Nagin says
July 30, 2008
• Jones stepping down as NO tech officer
June 25, 2008
• Councilwoman: Crime camera contract 'fishy'
• Camera installer has no La. license
May 17, 2008
• City tech chief close to college degree
May 14, 2008
• New Orleans council meets to consider subpoenas, investigation
May 13, 2008
• Council threatening to subpoena records from Nagin
May 7, 2008
• Council blasts tech chief
• Promised cameras were not hooked up
May 6, 2008
• Council incensed over Nagin's crime camera efforts
March 26, 2007
• Crime-fighting cameras are the wrong focus, some say
March 14, 2007
• Bids for cameras are delayed again
March 3, 2007
• Program to place crime cameras around city stalls amid questions whether contract was steered to political insider
• Nagin's 1,000 cameras never materialized
January 20, 2007
• Crime camera bid pending
Articles and other media concerning the murder of Betsy McDaniel and its aftermath.
May 26, 2008:
• Owner of popular restaurant beaten in Marrero home
May 27, 2008:
• Beaten diner owner on life support
May 29, 2008:
• Reward upped to $10,000 in restaurant owner's murder
• Community grieves loss of 'Miss Betsy'
May 30, 2008:
• Crimestoppers offers $20,000 for tips in McDaniel murder
May 31, 2008:
• Betsy's Pancake House won't be the same without Betsy
June 2, 2008:
• Betsy's Pancake House to re-open
• Betsy's family sends gratitude to supporters
June 3, 2008:
• Betsy's Pancake House re-opens
Sept 4, 2008:
• Family keeps light shining for 'Miss Betsy'
Sept 25, 2008:
• Algiers man booked with murder of Betsy's Pancake House owner
Articles and other media concerning the statements of State Representative LaBruzzo, R-Metarie, concerning government sterilization of those who pay too little in taxes.
Sept. 23, 2008:
• LaBruzzo considering plan to pay poor women $1,000 to have tubes tied
Sept. 24, 2008:
• LaBruzzo sterilization idea at odds with welfare numbers
• Archbishop calls sterilizing the poor 'blatantly anti-life'
Sept. 27, 2008:
• LaBruzzo no stranger to controversy, criticism
With New Orleans temporarily closed to residents earlier this week, a long weekend in the Twin Cities turned into a week. It presented an opportunity to attend the Republican National Convention in St. Paul as a guest of a Louisiana delegate.
The historic speech by the first female Republican candidate for vice president was definitely a draw for me. So Wednesday night I went to the Xcel Center to experience my first convention. Borrowing from my colleague Meredith Barnhill's "virgin" series, here is my blog as a political convention first-timer.
Hillcrest Street just outside of Abita Springs on La. 435 remains flooded.
First stop, Talisheek.I had intended to finally shower and grab a real breakfast for the first time in three days, but the fates had something else in mind. The first thing I saw, still in my sleeping shorts and t-shirt on the way to the communal scrub tank, was an Army convoy ready to leave on a search and rescue mission. I ran back into my office/room dropped my toothbrush and grabbed my camera. I knew I would at least get a little something on video about their mission from a commanding officer. Jokingly, one of the reserve sheriffs shouted from the back of one of the trucks, "hey you wanna come" in that same double dare way my brother would taunt me as a kid. That was enough challenge/invitation for me, so with an ear-to-ear grin, I handed him my camera and climbed up the back of the 5-ton open air truck praying that my center of gravity would not win out in front of well . . . (truth be told) all those men.
| Hurricane Gustav: Post storm search and rescue with Army and sheriffs |
| Surveying the damage: A look at Gustav's toll on Metro New Orleans |
View from Lafitte and Jefferson streets in Old Mandeville, around the corner from my house.More news from home has me almost in tears -- of gratitude. I have been out all morning, looking for people to rescue with sheriffs and Army first responders. On my cell phone when I got back to my room/office was a message from my husband.
I have been riding around with U.S. Army and St. Tammany Parish Sheriff's deputies all morning. One thing is for sure: Water is rising on the west side of the parish and even if rivers are receding in and around Slidell, there are still a lot of problem areas -- namely, Liberty Bayou, Lake Catherine and the Rigolets. The largest concentration of calls this morning on emergency frequencies, however, centered around the rising rivers in Covington and Madisonville -- mostly in the Three Rivers region. A few calls came in regarding Old Mandeville where flooding and storm surge have begun to recede -- but not quick enough for local residents.
This video is of a recon mission immediately following Hurricane Gustav.
| Survey of Slidell storm damage |
No re-entry before Wednesday? Tell us what you think. E-mail your thoughts to tp.feedback@yahoo.com. Include your name and phone number where we can call you Tuesday.
You can also comment publicly in the space below. Share your thoughts with our online community.
After you have the luxury of posting thoughts every three to four hours, its hard to know where to start a 24 hour recap.
So when last we spoke, Gustav was throttling the immediate area with hurricane (or at least near-hurricane) force winds, and I had just ventured out to shake his hand.
