Newsitem List

Michael Brown takes the fall: Federal official with the power to mobilize a massive federal response to Hurricane Katrina was Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff, not former FEMA chief Brown....

On September 13, the Common Ground collective in Algiers, New Orleans began the day with a meeting to discuss everything from staying healthy to the difference between martial law and a state of emergency. A medic at the wellness center said that the best way to maintain to the health of the community is be sure that everyone washes their hands often and to not share plates and utensils....

Hey Everyone, This is Michael K writing from Algiers in New Orleans. We have had a tremendous outpouring of support, in terms of materials and spirit, from from folks in the immediate community, the local region, and nation-wide. The main concern now is for medical personal who can prescribe meds. Under the Louisiana state of emergency, all MDs who have active medical licenses in their home state have instant prescribing privileges here in Louisiana--simply bring copies of your license a...

The newspaper that proclaims as its motto “All the news that’s fit to print” was forced to make a damning admission on Sunday. In answer to a reader’s query, the public editor of the New York Times was compelled to acknowledge that over the past decade the newspaper had done little to inform its readers about the desperate poverty and social inequality prevailing in New Orleans. Both were exposed conspicuously and tragically in the wake of Hurricane Katrina....

On September 12, Vinny, Blank and I arrived in New Orleans. We are staying in the Algiers neighborhood. Community members and volunteers from coast to coast and Europe, are providing people in New Orleans with food, medical aid and health supplies....

Jefferson Parish, Louisiana - On the afternoon of Thursday, September 8th, Vermont National Guard troops brought food and water, by truck, into a number of poor and working class communities in Jefferson Parish, just across the river from New Orleans. Throughout the day twelve Guardsmen distributed an estimated 900 meals to hurricane survivors....

Last night ECR spoke with Natasha, who is in Louisiana along with members of the Bay Area Radical Health Collective (including physicians, EMTs, body workers) to provide supplies, health services and support. You can tune in to ECR's news show monday evenings 7-8pm on Pirate Cat Radio 87.9 FM or click the "Radio" link up top to listen online.........

The water in the lower Ninth Ward is thickening into a glassy, fetid slick as the gasoline, oil, solvents and sewage from thousands of submerged vehicles and homes leaches out. Some rescue crews can stay out on their boats for only an hour before getting light-headed. The water's blue-black sheen casts back an almost mocking mirror image of the horrible devastation and incongruously beautiful blue sky above....

One of the central mysteries emerging in the Hurricane Katrina disaster is why concrete floodwalls in three canals breached during the storm, causing much of the catastrophic flooding, while earthen hurricane levees surrounding the city remained intact....

On Saturday September 10th, the Bay area Radical Health Collective organized a caravan of 3 vehicles and 10 volunteers to travel to Louisiana. Shortly before they left town Bay Area Political Review was able to interview of of the organizers of the caravan, about their volunteer efforts, and what they expect to find when they arrive in Louisiana....