Watch PBS Tonight!

The Democratic presidential candidates will be debating again tonight on PBS at 9. Katrina recovery will be one of the topics, so be sure to tune in! I'll post the transcript of their answers here, and video if I can find it, soon afterwards.

The Republicans have a similar debate coming up. Not sure if recovery will be a topic, but I'll let you know when I find out.

Hurricane Katrina Blogs

I’ve done a little bit of poking around recently, and came across some great Katrina recovery blogs. This means it’s time for a major overhaul of my blogrolls (the link lists on the right). Some of these blogs I read, some I’m too busy to follow, but they’re all important local NOLA perspectives and appear to be well written, so I recommend you check out as many as you can. Pick three or four to check in on from time to time, and you’ll find yourself pretty well informed about Louisiana politics and continuing recovery issues. In another few months, I might find my own blog trending more towards highlighting the best of these than anything else (but not yet). I’ll overhaul my Episcopal, Dartmouth, and Inland Northwest blogrolls soon, too.

If you know of other good regularly updated Katrina websites, please let me know and I’ll check them out. The blogs are in alphabetical order because I’m not familiar enough with all of them to accurately rank them. My apologies to bloggers who find themselves lower on the list – being “Wayward” myself, I feel your pain.

Local News

The New Orleans Times Picayune
New Orleans' daily newspaper, which won a Pulitzer Prize for its coverage of Hurricane Katrina.

The Gambit Weekly
Every city needs an alternative weekly. The Gambit is NOLA's.

The Biloxi Sun Herald
Bilxoi's daily newspaper, which won a Pulitzer Prize for its coverage of Hurricane Katrina.


New Orleans Blogs

Ashley Morris: the blog
The blog of a New Orleans college professor and parent of three.

The Bishop’s Blog
The Episcopal Bishop of Louisiana, the Rt. Rev. Charles Jenkins, blogs here from time to time.

Blagueur
Described as, “Some stray thoughts from Louisiana on hurricane reconstruction, moral, physical and political.” I found it when he linked to my Katrina analysis of the 2008 presidential candidates.

Carnival of Hurricane Relief
Has tracked hurricane relief blogs and news articles since the storm.

Daily Kingfish
Covers recovery news and Louisiana politics. Left-leaning, but very insightful. You can set up an account and maintain a "diary" here, like on MyDD and Daily Kos. It represents Louisiana on MyDD's list of progressive state blogs.

da po’ blog
Another local blog with many recent good, insightful posts about New Orleans crime. Do check this one out.

Fix the Pumps
A blog focusing on the pumps and the Army Corps of Engineers.

FoodMusicJustice
As the name implies, this covers New Orleans food, music, and recovery. Lots of YouTube videos.

Gentilly Girl
Described as, “The thoughts and dreams of a New Orleans Native exiled from her home by Hurricane Katrina. It is also my place to defend the rebuilding of Gentilly, the best part of the city.” She's angry, and her writing reflects it.

Gentilly Project
A Dartmouth project, led by the Tuck School of Business’ Prof. Quintus Jett, aimed at helping the Gentilly neighborhood of New Orleans recover. Go Big Green.

Healthcare for Peace
A young recovery volunteer from the Inland Northwest blogs about Katrina news. Sound familiar?

Humid Beings
Tracks the New Orleans blogs for you.

Levees Not War
Liberal-leaning NOLA news site.

Levees.org
Pushing for a 9/11-style commission on the past and future of the Louisiana levees.

Metroblogging New Orleans
A collection of NOLA bloggers reflecting on all sorts of local topics. Recent posts include Katrina recovery, the weather, and Bill Jefferson’s indictment.

NOLA Blogger
NOLA resident on local politics and recovery news.

Moldy City
NOLA resident on local politics and recovery news.

The New Yorker’s New Orleans Journal
At a time when most national news outlets have decided to ignore recovery issues, the New Yorker magazine has a regular blog devoted to New Orleans. Yay.

People Get Ready
“Make (leaky) levees, not war.” NOLA resident on local politics and recovery news.

Thanks, Katrina
A woman blogs from Slidell, LA.

The Third Battle of New Orleans
Recovery stuff, lots of pictures and lots of posters.

Volunteer Opportunities
This is my post from a couple weeks back, listing Gulf Coast opportunities. Please, your help is still needed! Even if you can’t make it down yourself, you can still link to this post on your own blog or webpage and encourage your friends!

Yat Pundit
A progressive take in Louisiana. Was the MyDD link for Louisiana before Daily Kingfish.

Your Right Hand Thief
“Laughing hard truths in New Orleans.” NOLA resident on local politics and recovery news.

Coming Tuesday

I will update my blogrolls soon, hopefully Tuesday, so look for a post with lots of great New Orleans related links then!

(I'm on a brief two week summer vacation and Internet access is spotty, but I'll try to get a Chris Dodd post up soon, too.)

BREAKING NEWS - JEFFERSON INDICTED

New Orleans' Congressman, Democrat Bill Jefferson, was finally indicted by a Grand Jury today. You'll forgive me for feeling smug. While in New Orleans in the fall, I volunteered for Karen Carter, his Democratic opponent in the 2006 election. He won, she lost, and lots of voters said, "Well if they were going to indict him, they would have done it by now! Clearly he didn't do anything wrong!" FBI probes do not work overnight, that should have been obvious.

It's sad that some of our Congressmen are corrupt. It's sad that it was finally a member of my party that got in trouble (although he's still not one of our leaders like DeLay or Libby, and the score is still at least 7-1). It's sad that New Orleans may lose a lot of seniority in Congress at a time when it needs it real bad. But it's a good thing that bad guys get caught and that corruption leads to jail.
(photo credit)

From the AP:
Jury indicts Jefferson in bribery probe
By LARA JAKES JORDAN, Associated Press Writer
18 minutes ago

WASHINGTON - Rep. William Jefferson (news, bio, voting record), D-La., was indicted Monday on federal charges of racketeering, soliciting bribes and money-laundering in a long-running bribery investigation into business deals he tried to broker in Africa.


The indictment handed up in federal court in Alexandria., Va., Monday is 94 pages long and lists 16 alleged violations of federal law that could keep Jefferson in prison for up to 235 years, according to a Justice Department official who has seen the document.

Among the charges listed in the indictment, said the official, are racketeering, soliciting bribes, wire fraud, money-laundering, obstruction of justice, conspiracy and violations of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to discuss the case.

Jefferson is accused of soliciting bribes for himself and his family, and also for bribing a Nigerian official.

Links

NOLA resident and Daily Kos member Doctorj2u, who I quoted last week, has provided the following links. Please check them out.

"Nathan,
Thank you for all of your help. I received a reply from Senator Landrieu's office telling me that the video of the hearing is on the internet. Here is the link. Ms. Uddo's testimony occurs between 1:13 and 1:18. If you have the technically ability (I don't), maybe that segment could be posted. You need the (free) Real Media player to download this. Thank you again for caring. America, we need your help.
doctorj2u"

"Nathan,
Mark at Wetbankguide was able to post the audio to You Tube. Here is the link.
Also NPR had a radio segment about the lack of recovery in Pass Christian. Here is the link. Just click "Listen" under "Katrina Still Bad For Business in Pass Christian"
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=10486252
doctorj2u"

On a personal note, my college rector, Father Henry, is leaving us, and I sure will miss him. I also attended a beautiful wedding last night.

I Hate Finals!!!

H/T Episcopalooza.

Looking for a summer trip?

It is June now, and the few friends I have left still in high school graduated last night. This can only mean summer is upon us - what are your plans? Is there room for a relaxing work trip to the Gulf Coast?

I've posted this before, but given the arrival of summer, I feel I should post it again. (There's also the fact that this is finals week and I don't have time to write anything new.) Here is a list of volunteer organizations in the Gulf Coast that need your help. To understand why the need is so desperate, please read this post, and peruse these. Think about it - you can help your needy brothers and sisters during the day, hit the Mississippi beach in the evening, and check out the French Quarter at night! What more could you want out of a summer trip?

Detailed information for contacting the Episcopal Diocese of Louisiana's Office of Disaster Response is at the bottom of the post. Since I worked with the Diocese for three months, I have more information on it than on other volunteer organizations, though all come highly recommended. If you have your own blog, please provide a link to this post - it's the only way the Gulf Coast region can ever recover. I can't count the times I was told, "Thank God you're here! If it wasn't for you church people and faith-based groups, nothing would ever get done!" (This applies to secular non-profites, too!)

Specific Volunteer Jobs at Volunteermatch.org

Evangelical Free Church of America

Presbyterian Disaster Assistance

United Church of Christ Volunteer Opportunities

Hands on New Orleans
Hands on Gulf Coast
(Much of the Dartmouth volunteering is done through the Hands On network.)

Common Ground Collective
For more information - My Blog Post on Common Ground

ACORN

Habitat for Humanity

Americorps

Click here for information on specific volunteer opportunities with the Episcopal Diocese of Louisana. Opportunities include rebuilding houses (no special skills needed!), helping with the mobile respite care unit (basically a distribution center, which I helped run for several months), community activities at specific churches, helping with various soup kitchen or meals-on-wheels type programs, and traveling with the St. Anna's Mobile Medical Mission (a free RV clinic). The Diocese will provide you with the tools and housing you and your crew need, though you must come up with your own transportation and food. The current volunteer coordinators are Susan Foto (sfoto@edola.org) and Darlene Davillier (ddavillier@edola.org). Contact them to set up your trip after you've read through the ODR's website. The new Beacon of Hope center at St. Paul's Episcopal Church in the Lakeview neighborhood also has its own volunteer operation.

If you're intersted in a long-term internship, Foto and Davillier might still be the people to contact, but you might also try Katie Mears, who runs the gutting/rebuilding program, at kmears@edola.org. It can't hurt to include all three in the "to" field. Interns lead rebuilding crews, live in a house uptown, and recieve a small stipend. At then-19, I was the youngest; most are 22-25. Trust me, being underage crimps your social life with such a group.

(All photos I took myself, except for the second one, of the tent and RV. That's courtesy Bob Gustafson.)