Tagged: recovery

A state advisory panel has voted against an effort led by the grassroots group Levees.org to mark two spots where levees breached during Hurricane Katrina. However, the drive continues, despite the opposition.

New Orleans Mayor Mitch Landrieu has signed off on a deal that he says will reopen the Saenger Theatre within two years. Plans to reopen the Canal Street landmark seem to have cleared hurdles that have delayed the project.

Mayor Landrieu assembled members in his office of the public-private partnership that he says is putting the Saenger Theatre project back in action.

Tens of thousands of Gulf Coast residents may be getting relief from debt they thought they owed the federal government. The Federal Emergency Management Agency is sorting through rules Congress recently approved.

FEMA sent out 83,000 letters this year to victims of Hurricane Katrina and other 2005 storms. They were told they may have gotten too much federal money. FEMA says it may have made the wrong calculations, but the law requires it try to recoup the funds it paid by mistake.

Thousands of homeowners in southern states will be reviewing a proposed settlement with the major manufacturer involved in defective Chinese drywall litigation. The deal would pay for repairs and possibly medical expenses if the product made people sick.

The deal involves 4,500 property owners and Knauf Plasterboard. The company will pay for repairs and medical losses. Drywall imported from China from 2004 to 2007 eased demand from the housing boom and hurricane repairs.

The Interior Department is reviewing more than $700 million dollars in bids to drill in the western Gulf of Mexico. Interior Secretary Ken Salazar announced the major bids in the first sale since the BP oil spill last year, and then visited a business still reeling from the spill.