If it’s a bit difficult getting your brain around how large the BP oil spill is, try this application out for size. Using Google Earth and maps from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Paul Rademacher, an engineering manager for Google, has devised a website where you can have the shape of the spill projected […]
Author Archives: The Editors
Posted inEnvironment
If you're reading this, you already missed BP job training
BP was holding a training session, similar to this one last week in Boothville, in eastern New Orleans Tuesday specifically for Vietnamese fishers. Today, the City of New Orleans announced a special oil spill job training session put on by BP in eastern New Orleans that will be held, well, today. On Friday, BP representative […]
Posted inEnvironment
BP oil cleanup jobs not the stimulus Vietnamese hoped for
An audience member asks a question Friday as the Rev. Vien Nguyen looks on in the background. The Rev. Vien Nguyen, pastor of the Mary Queen of Vietnam church, waited patiently through hours of talk from BP, Coast Guard, state and federal representatives, and questions from his congregation before finally raising his own question: “Of […]
Posted inEnvironment
Oil's effects on wetlands could be dire
As the oil from BP’s Deepwater Horizon accident seeps into Louisiana’s 48,000 acres of wetlands, it’s officially beginning to endanger the habitat and nesting areas of many species of fish, invertebrates and birds. If the problem worsens, it will create insufferable burdens for area fishers and the markets and restaurants they serve. Not to mention, […]
Posted inCriminal Justice
Ronal Serpas is Landrieu’s choice; big changes are coming to the NOPD
A few hours ago, Mayor Mitch Landrieu announced that former NOPD Deputy Superintendent and current Nashville police chief Ronal Serpas will lead the NOPD. Landrieu was enthusiastic and effusive in his praise of Serpas, whom he said presented “clear and away the best resume that many people in the country have seen.” “This is the […]
Posted inCriminal Justice
With Landrieu's invitation, federal intervention in NOPD is now a certainty
Mayor Mitch Landrieu earlier today announced in unequivocal terms that he wants the Justice Department to be actively involved in the reformation of the tormented New Orleans Police Department. Landrieu, standing beside more than a dozen community leaders, said at a news conference that he wants the Justice Department to come in and do an […]
Posted inCriminal Justice
Coalition wants intervention from feds in NOPD; Landrieu position is still unclear
Earlier today, more than two dozen organizations signed onto a letter addressed to Assistant Attorney General Thomas Perez, the head of the Department of Justice’s Civil Rights Division. The letter calls on the Department of Justice to intervene in local police departments guilty of civil rights abuse, to sue the NOPD and to obtain a […]
Posted inEnvironment
Bill Ayers seen pouring barrels of oil into the Gulf of Mexico!
A legitimate debate needs to be had over whether the federal government was fully engaged in the Gulf Coast oil disaster from the moment they should have been. Did the Department of Homeland Security have plans for a catastrophic oil spill in the Gulf, or were they unprepared for what should have been a foreseeable […]
Posted inEnvironment
BP still handing out contracts struck down by federal court
Despite a Sunday federal-court decision to the contrary, BP representatives today were telling would-be cleanup mariners that they had to absolve the oil giant of any liability if they wanted to get the lucrative work. The contracts handed out at the John A. Alario Center on the West Bank of Jefferson Parish included language that […]
Posted inEnvironment
National discussion on spill needs to focus on coast
Something bothers me about the national discussion about the Gulf Coast oil disaster. It’s not that people are discussing the political implications of the event or even referring to political “opportunities” that may arise from the crisis. What kills me is that the “opportunity” being discussed involves a possible change in how the country will […]