An overwhelming number of federal contracts related to the BP oil disaster have gone to companies outside of the area most affected by the environmental and economic catastrophe, according to data from government agencies.

About $6.5 million in federal contracting…

City Council President Arnie Fielkow plans to introduce an ordinance this week that would require council approval for all loans from the Urban Development Action Grant fund, increasing public oversight of a development subsidy most recently awarded to Zulu organization…

Click here to read the city’s request for applications, which resulted in Mayor Ray Nagin presenting Zulu with a giant check for $800,000 on Lundi Gras.

The tenant skipped out before the end of the month. New Orleans landlord Donald Vallee wasn’t too surprised. He’d seen it before — and in post-Katrina, recession-era New Orleans, he’d seen it quite frequently. This time around, the tenant left…