NOPD Graduation
The New Orleans Police Department is proud to welcome the New Orleans Police Recruit Class 162 into its ranks after Tuesday’s graduation ceremony. With an additional 51 new officers, the department has met its year end goal of 1,500 police officers. The ceremony recognized the top ranking recruits with awards in scholastic achievement, shooting, tactical driving, physical fitness, report writing, and power report writing. Congratulations Recruit Class 162!

NEW ORLEANS – It’s taken 3 1/2 years and $20 million, but by the end of the week, the Orleans Parish Prison will again house inmates.
Katrina flooded the entire first floor, including the major electrical and mechanical equipment.
The new refurbished jail can hold more than 800 beds. There's a new state of the art surveillance system and locking system installed.
Sheriff Marlin Gusman said it’s not just about getting a fresh coat of paint and new beds, but providing a better overall jail system for the community.
“We can use this as a staging area for a lot of people that are going to court,” Gusman said. “So it cuts down on our transportation, it increases our security, it's better for the public, so we don't have to move inmates back and forth. We'll still have to do some movement, but not as much.”
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http://www.wwltv.com

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development announced this week that final rent payments for many families displaced by Hurricanes Katrina and Rita will end with this month’s payment.
As a result, the Harris County Housing Authority — which has been overseeing much of the program for HUD — can now better focus its efforts on assisting victims of Hurricane Ike.
“When thousands of victims of Hurricane Katrina first fled to Harris County in 2005, we called them ‘evacuees,’” said Harris County Judge Ed Emmett. “Now, three and a half years later, most have gone home. But those who have chosen to stay, we now call neighbors, and it’s time that they be fully integrated as neighbors and not as victims any longer. I congratulate the Harris County Housing Authority for the efficiency with which they administered much of the federal assistance Katrina victims received.

“I now call on our housing officials to concentrate their considerable skills on assisting our other neighbors, whose homes and lives were damaged last year by Hurricane Ike.”

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http://www.hcnonline.com

NEW ORLEANS — A report says it could cost $170 million to reopen a hospital closed since Hurricane Katrina.
Methodist Hospital had 300 beds in August 2005. The plan prepared for the nonprofit Methodist Health System Foundation by PricewaterhouseCoopers consulting firm calls for reopening it with 80 beds.
The city’s health director, Kevin Stephens, says the hospital is needed because it takes at least 30 minutes to get from eastern New Orleans to the nearest hospital.
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http://www.2theadvocate.com

Tuesday February 10, 11:48 am ET
By Frederic J. Frommer, Associated Press Writer

Congressman questions why $1B in Katrina recovery money has gone unspent in Mississippi
WASHINGTON (AP) -- A key congressman is questioning why Mississippi has failed to spend more than $1 billion in federal public assistance funds to help it recover from the devastation of Hurricane Katrina.
Rep. Bernie Thompson, a Mississippi Democrat who chairs the House Homeland Security Committee, said that the state has spent just $1.6 billion of the $2.9 billion public assistance funds provided by the federal government. Thompson cited information provided to his committee by the Federal Emergency Management Agency.
"This is extremely troubling given the obvious need for recovery assistance along the Mississippi Gulf Coast," he wrote in a letter to Nancy Ward, FEMA's acting administrator.
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By Rick Jervis, USA TODAY
WAVELAND, Miss. — Thousands of cottages housing hurricane victims on the Mississippi Gulf Coast will be vacated next month, even though many of their occupants aren't ready to move and may have no place to go if forced out.
The U.S. Federal Emergency Management Agency distributed the one-, two- and three-bedroom structures to temporarily house displaced victims of Hurricane Katrina in 2005. There are still 2,300 occupied cottages in Mississippi, said Mike Womack, director of the Mississippi Emergency Management Agency. Many of the cottages sit on residents' lots while they rebuild wrecked homes, he said.
According to agreements between the state agency and cities, the cottages will need to be emptied by the end of January and removed by March, Womack said.
Housing advocates, residents and some local officials worry that forcing out residents, many of whom are trying to rebuild their homes, will aggravate an already dire housing situation.
"If these (cottages) are gone, there's just not going to be enough affordable housing," said Tim Kellar, county administrator of Hancock County, which includes Waveland. "We don't have an alternate plan if that happens."

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http://www.usatoda y.com