Three-star general hailed as “John Wayne dude” by former N.O. mayor Ray Nagin The annual Rising Tide conference has been ramped up to a whole new level: the keynote speaker will be Lt. Gen. Russel L. Honoré, the no-nonsense “Category 5 General” who took command of Joint Task Force Katrina that coordinated military relief efforts […]
NOLA, Gulf Coast
Rising Tide 8 is Sept. 14 in New Orleans: Register Now!
* Keynote Speaker is Gambit’s Deborah Cotton Deborah Cotton, a Gambit reporter and activist who was injured in the notorious Mother’s Day shooting on May 12, will be the keynote speaker for the 8th annual Rising Tide conference on Saturday, Sept. 14, at Xavier...
In Memoriam: Greg Peters, ‘Suspect Device’ Artist and Blogger, Father, Friend
September 24, 1962–August 2, 2013 “My message is kind of an emperor’s new clothes thing: I’m making fun of them, but I’m also trying to remind people that you have a choice. And if you don’t get involved in it, then it’s going to continue, and they’ll continue to put...
Louisiana Flood Protection Agency Sues Big Oil to Repair Wetlands
Historic case is compared to 1990s litigation against Big Tobacco About 100 oil and gas companies must pay to repair the Louisiana wetlands damaged by a century of oil exploration and extraction, according to a lawsuit filed July 24 in civil district court in Orleans...
Gambit’s Cotton among 19 Injured in Mother’s Day Shooting
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NEBl5luhRWs * Shot in a Mother’s Day second-line parade in Seventh Ward One of nineteen people injured by gunfire from three shooters in a Mother’s Day parade on Sunday was Gambit correspondent Deborah Cotton. Also injured were at least two small children. Three other people suffered more serious wounds, though no fatalities have been reported […]
Happy 295th Birthday, New Orleans!
* Bonne fête à La Nouvelle-Orléans! Un joyeux anniversaire! Now entering its 296th year, the city of New Orleans was founded by Jean-Baptiste Le Moyne, Sieur de Bienville, on May 7, 1718. The map above shows the city as it appeared about 1721, when the settlement of La Nouvelle-Orléans, on the high ground along the edge of […]
‘Elysian Fields’ Weekend in New Orleans April 5–7
* After long workin’ in the fertile fields of Elysium, a fruitful harvest. The novel ELYSIAN FIELDS, published this month by Mid-City Books, will be officially launched in the city that gave it birth with a party at Mimi’s in the Marigny on Friday, April 5, from 6:00...
Workin’ in the Fertile Fields of Elysium
* Dear Readers of Levees Not War: We want to apologize to those of you who have checked in lately and wondered about the infrequency of new posts—and to those who may have had trouble accessing the site. The technical, server problems have been remedied. And, on a...
Rising Tide 7 Is Sat. Sept. 22 at Xavier > Register Now!
Everyone within walking, flying, or hiking distance of the Croissant City is urged to sign up now for the seventh annual Rising Tide conference on the future of New Orleans. This year’s keynote speakers—why have...
Hurricane Isaac and Tampa’s Blizzard of Lies
What Would Romney-Ryan Mean for FEMA and Infrastructure? [ cross-posted at DailyKos ] * “One of the themes of the Tampa convention will be the failure of government, and the prosperity that will result if it is cut to ribbons. But in a different corner of the...
Isaac Aims at Mouth of Mississippi, Greater New Orleans
* On exactly the seven-year anniversary of Hurricane Katrina (Aug. 29), Tropical Storm Isaac is heading toward the mouth of the Mississippi River, likely to make landfall as a Category 1 hurricane, and possibly as a Category 2, with wind speeds up to about 100 m.p.h....
Do They Know It’s Mardi Gras?
* Outside of New Orleans and southern Louisiana and Mobile, Alabama, Mardi Gras generally comes as news—if it comes at all—to people in the rest of the United States when they see footage on network and cable news. Oh, it must be Mardi Gras again. Look at all those...
Tom Piazza on Writing for HBO’s “Treme”
“New Orleans has a mythology, a personality, a soul, that is large, and that has touched people around the world. It has its own music (many of its own musics), its own cuisine, its own way of talking, its own architecture, its own smell, its own look and feel. . . ....
Conservatives, Please Help Conserve Louisiana’s Coast
“What is a conservative after all but one who conserves, one who is committed to protecting and holding close the things by which we live?” —Ronald Reagan, 1984 “Louisiana’s voters must find, nominate and elect conservatives (aka, Republicans) who understand there’s...
Dedra Johnson of ‘The G Bitch Spot’ Wins Rising Tide’s Ashley Award
Each year at the Rising Tide conference on the future of New Orleans the coveted Ashley Award, named in honor of the legendary, larger-than-life Ashley Morris,* is presented to a blogger who has made outstanding contributions to writing about post-Katrina New Orleans....
Live-Blogging from Rising Tide 6
A conference on the future of New Orleans Xavier University, New Orleans Tune in to webcast here. Rising Tide 6 main web site here, and RT6 blog here. Photos here, here, and here. * Usually we worry that Rising Tide might be disrupted by a hurricane—after all, it’s...
Rising Tide 6 Is August 27, So Register Today
A Conference on the Future of New Orleans After a week of economy-strangling legislation in Congress, Wall Street plunges, and a downgrade of the nation’s credit rating, maybe you’re ready for some positive news? The Best Thing Happening—we’ll be there and we can...
Disaster Capitalism Will Solve U.S. Budget Deficit?
Ask New Orleans and Wisconsin
David in our Berkeley bureau, whose last dispatch was about global warming and extreme weather (May 24), observes that the G.O.P. hard-liners insisting on reducing the deficit only by cutting Medicare and privatizing other “common good” safety net programs are simply...
To Save New Orleans and Baton Rouge, Morganza Spillway Is Opened; Only 2nd Opening Since 1954
“The President of the Mississippi River Commission Maj. Gen. Michael J. Walsh has directed the New Orleans District Commander Col. Ed Fleming to be prepared to operate the Morganza Floodway within 24 hours. The operation will include the deliberate and slow opening of...
New Orleans Is Most Likely Safe from River Flooding
* There’s a certain trepidation in writing that headline, but . . . Despite over $2 billion in damages, possibly to reach $4 billion from the Mississippi River Flood of 2011, including dramatic flooding upriver around Cairo, Memphis, and Vicksburg—and despite scary...