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 — 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

CULTURAL COMEBACK
Mayor C. Ray Nagin, joined by members of the New Orleans City Council and local arts organizations, today officially announced the line-up of programs and entertainers that will highlight the re-opening of the Mahalia Jackson Theater for the Performing Arts. Opening events will begin on Thursday, January 8, with a special program featuring New Orleans performers. The week-long celebration will include top singers, dancers and musicians, including, among others, violinist Itzhak Perlman, Gospel singer Yolanda Adams and tenor Placido Domingo. The re-opening of the theater marks a major accomplishment in the rebuilding of city infrastructure. Along with public safety facilities, Mayor Nagin prioritized the complete refurbishment of the Mahalia Jackson Theater immediately after Hurricane Katrina and the flooding that followed.

Gravel alleys restored
The Department of Public Works repairs 14 unpaved gravel alleys in Lakeview that were damaged by flooding and as a result of the removal of storm related debris. Unpaved gravel alleys in the Lakeview neighborhood, which is bounded by I-610/south, east on Orleans Avenue, on the north side of Robert E. Lee Boulevard and on the west side of Pontchartrain Boulevard, are being rehabilitated as part of this project. A total of 88,976 linear feet (approximately 17 miles) of nine feet wide gravel alleys will be reshaped to drain properly. Soft or weak areas will be removed and replaced. The project, funded by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), has an estimated construction cost of just under $400,000 and is estimated to be completed in six months.

AFTER 3 1/2 YEARS, LAST TRAILER PARK CLOSES
By ANITA LEE - calee@sunherald.com
Here’s a Katrina-recovery milestone of note: All 46 trailer and mobile home parks FEMA built in the three Coast counties have closed,
FEMA spokesman Eugene Brezany said the last resident moved out of the last group site, on County Farm Road in Harrison County, the week before Christmas.
“I think it was on track,” Brezany said. “We have been moving in this direction for a long time. We have accomplished it a few weeks before our announced objective, which was the end of December. But after three years, what’s a couple of weeks?”
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http://www.sunherald.co m

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

By Al Kamen
Tuesday, November 25, 2008; Page A13
The Federal Emergency Management Agency, a tragicomic disaster since Hurricane Katrina in August 2005 -- and even before that -- looks to be getting a facelift under the Obama administration, sources tell us.
First off, the likely plan is to break off the agency from the Department of Homeland Security, a move that by itself would help restore the pride that folks at FEMA felt when it was an independent agency.
Second, there's increasing talk that former director James Lee Witt, who took over the then-troubled agency at the start of the Clinton administration and left it eight years later with a much-enhanced reputation, is coming back from retirement to run FEMA for six months to a year, to whip it into shape.
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http://www.washingtonpo st.com