Search results for

New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin has declared that hundreds -- and perhaps thousands -- have died in New Orleans from Hurricane Katrina and the flooding that followed. Alex Chadwick talks with Phillip Davis about the dire prediction, the condition of the city's levees and conflicting reports of rising water levels in city.

The levees of New Orleans held fast against Hurricane Gustav but several more storms — including Hanna, Ike and Josephine — are now forming. Hurricane expert Ivor van Heerden discusses the levee reconstruction project and how New Orleans will fare during what is expected to be an active hurricane season.

New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin says he plans to reach out to every segment of the community after he was re-elected over the weekend. He defeated Lt. Gov. Mitch Landrieu in a run-off. Some voters have concerns about their city's future under Nagin, but others say they've already seen positive changes.

There are 24 candidates for mayor of New Orleans, led by incumbent Mayor Ray Nagin, Lt. Gov. Mitch Landrieu and Ron Forman, head of the Audubon Institute, which runs the city's zoo and aquarium. University of New Orleans professor Susan Howell sets the scene.

It takes a lot more than snow to keep Alaskan bikers indoors, especially now that they have fat bikes. Think mountain bike on steroids, with tires wider than most people's arms.

Barack Obama was always going to have a place in history as the first African-American president. That's no small feat given the nation's peculiar past. But achieving what other Democratic presidents couldn't fueled deep divisions within the country and set the table for a second term with daunting challenges.

Jim Hewes has been bartending at the historic Willard Hotel's Round Robin Bar for 27 years. The bar is just a stone's throw from the White House, and Hewes mixes up presidential history with his cocktails. For the inauguration, he has come up with a drink list inspired by the 44 presidents.

Modern society has become adversarial in its relationship to nature, Yale scholar Stephen Kellert argues, having greatly undervalued the natural world beyond its narrow utilty. In his new book Birthright: People and Nature in the Modern World, he tells stories of the environment's effect on us, and ours on it.

For years, British environmental activist Mark Lynas vandalized genetically modified food crops. Then, he had a change of heart. He went in front of the world to reverse his position, telling the anti-GMO lobby to "get out of the way and let the rest of us get on with feeding the world sustainably."

George Saunders has long been praised in literary circles for his short stories that deftly combine the absurd with the mundane. But now the author has caught mainstream attention with his newest collection, Tenth of December.