Post-Katrina, Mardi Gras Revels

Quirky houses boast top material, solar panels

(NEWSER) - Officials bungled rebuilding New Orleans' Ninth Ward after Katrina, but the devastated district is sprouting colorful, quirky, elevated homes boasting top-notch materials and solar panels thanks to a massive effort spearheaded by Brad Pitt. The actor is highlighted in Spike Lee's new two-part HBO documentary If God is Willing and Da Creek Don't Rise. "I've had a love for this place for a long time," Pitt explains in the film. "Like many, we couldn't believe the ineptitude of the recovery effort." More»

Mary Landrieu's brother, Mitch, succeeds term-limited Ray Nagin

(AP) - Frustrated by term-limited Mayor Ray Nagin's leadership of New Orleans since Hurricane Katrina, voters elected Louisiana Lt. Gov. Mitch Landrieu to succeed him last night, turning to a political scion to speed up the city's recovery. Landrieu, 49, became the majority-black city's first white mayor since 1978, the year his father, Moon, left the office. The mayor-elect, a moderate Democrat, won in a landslide over a field of 10 opponents in a campaign that competed with Mardi Gras and the Saints' appearance in the Super Bowl. More»

(NEWSER) - Louisiana is still finding coffins displaced by Hurricane Katrina three years on, the Wall Street Journal reports. Katrina and Rita moved 1,500 bodies from their resting places in the state's swampy south, where floating coffins during floods have long been part of local folklore. Hundreds remain unidentified, and they are still turning up in woods and water. More»

Citizens arm themselves against crime wave

(NEWSER) - Violent crime is storming post-Katrina New Orleans with almost the force of the 2005 hurricane, Time reports. The city has America's highest murder rate, and weapons sales are skyrocketing as citizens take to arming themselves. "They're not gun aficionados," a gun shop owner says of the recent surge in business. "They're just doing it because they feel they have to." More»

David Warren gets 25 years, Gregory McRae 17 in death of Henry Glover

(AP) - Calling the crimes inexcusable and barbaric, a judge sentenced two former New Orleans police officers to prison today for their roles in the shooting death of an unarmed man whose body was later set on fire in the chaotic aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. The judge gave David Warren 25 years for shooting 31-year-old Henry Glover and Gregory McRae 17 years for burning Glover's body afterward. More»