Sunday, November 25, 2007

SunHerald.com : Gautier Elementary: Back from the storm

A win!

SunHerald.com : Gautier Elementary: Back from the storm:
"When schools reopen after the Thanksgiving holiday, second- through fifth-graders at Gautier Elementary School will return to a building they have not attended for two years. For kindergarten and first-grade students, this will be the first time they will have classes at the school"

Washington Post on Biloxi's recovery

Biloxi's Recovery Shows Divide - washingtonpost.com:

"...in the wrecked and darkened working-class neighborhoods just blocks from the waterfront glitter, those lights cast their colorful glare over an apocalyptic vision of empty lots and scattered trailers that is as forlorn as anywhere in Katrina's strike zone. 'At night, you can see the casino lights up in the sky,' Shirley Salik, 72, a former housekeeper at one of the casinos, said this month while standing outside her FEMA camper with her two dogs. 'But that's another world.' More than two years after the storm, the highly touted recovery of the Mississippi coast remains a starkly divided phenomenon."

Biloxi is the hardest place to understand of anywhere I have ever been. On one hand I know the casinos halp economy, but it makes me sick to see the recovery in some areas while only a little distance away, it is awful. While this picture is really old now, it sums up my thoughts better than anything. It is the Imperial Palace in E. Biloxi.

Wednesday, November 14, 2007

As China's mega dam rises, so do strains and fear - Yahoo! News

As China's mega dam rises, so do strains and fear - Yahoo! News:
"While authorities have vowed to contain geological aftershocks from the dam, poor farmers worry about being swallowed up by landslides. The resulting tensions threaten to rekindle the bitter clashes that long dogged the project. 'Sometimes the ground rumbles and shakes, dogs bark, babies cry. It frightens us too,' said Xiang's neighbor, Su Gongxiang, showing his front door that will no longer shut."

Sunday, November 11, 2007

The Associated Press: FEMA to Workers: Stay Out of Trailers

The Associated Press: FEMA to Workers: Stay Out of Trailers:
"The Federal Emergency Management Agency is barring employees from entering thousands of stored travel trailers over concerns about hazardous fumes, while more than 48,000 other trailers continue to be used by hurricane victims in Louisiana and Mississippi. FEMA is advising employees not to enter any of the roughly 70,000 trailers in storage areas across the country, but the directive does not apply to other trailers still in use, agency spokeswoman Mary Margaret Walker said Thursday. 'It's common knowledge that formaldehyde emission levels rise when they are closed in the heat and humidity without any ventilation,' Walker said. Sen. Mary Landrieu, D-La., accused FEMA of using a double standard, and said it 'defies logic' that occupied trailers are safer than those in storage. 'I don't really buy that argument,' she said in an interview. 'It makes no sense, in that most of these (occupied) trailers are closed up and locked during the day"

Disaster Gets Its Own Phone Number ... Some Places

Disaster Gets Its Own Phone Number ... Some Places: "
San Diego's 2-1-1 system had to take on 1,200 volunteers to handle the calls that came in that week.' Now national social-services groups, including the United Way, are turning the heat up on a national campaign to make the service universal throughout the United States. They're supporting legislation before Congress that would create a single federal-funding source and uniform requirements for service, bringing an end to the current patchwork approach."

SunHerald.com : 'We're not going to let our angels suffer' Donations flow in

SunHerald.com : 'We're not going to let our angels suffer' Donations flow in:
"Mark and Traci Jones couldn't believe someone would slice open the dining tent at Urban Life Mission on Howard Avenue and steal another television, but that's what happened Thursday. By Friday morning, however, they were overwhelmed by the generosity of the people on the Coast. 'We've had four people come in so far and drop off three DVD (players),'"

Thursday, November 08, 2007

Providing housing for Greensburg volunteers | KSN.com - News, Weather, Sports - NBC - Wichita - Great Bend - Garden City - McCook - Kansas | Local News

Update on Greensburg:  WOrk is still being done. 

Providing housing for Greensburg volunteers | KSN.com - News, Weather, Sports - NBC - Wichita - Great Bend - Garden City - McCook - Kansas | Local News

"Just days after the tornado, the church became a collection and distribution site for clothes and personal belongings."It's just something we had to do," Sneed said. "It's just the way we are."While the need for clothes has passed, the church has changed roles and converted its basement into sleeping quarters for volunteers.More than a dozen volunteers are helping rebuild a house that was destroyed by the storm. Those volunteers are temporarily calling the church 'home.'"It's amazing," Ron Hoover, volunteer, said. "They turned over their whole church really."

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Saturday, November 03, 2007

Study ties time shift, pedestrian deaths - Yahoo! News

Study ties time shift, pedestrian deaths - Yahoo! News
"After clocks are turned back this weekend, pedestrians walking during the evening rush hour are nearly three times more likely to be struck and killed by cars than before the time change, two scientists calculate. Ending daylight saving time translates into about 37 more U.S. pedestrian deaths around 6 p.m. in November compared to October, the researchers report."

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Friday, November 02, 2007

Bridge is open!

Bridge:
"Here are photographs from the daylong dedication cermeonies surrounding the Biloxi Bay Bridge, held at the base of the bridge on Point Cadet in Biloxi, as well as images from the ribbon-tying ceremony conducted at the center of the bridge. Also included are early morning pre-ceremony photos of the bridge and Point Cadet Marina."