killing time between classes...

Seems to be an interesting news day in NOLA. Here's a smattering from the headlines...

• The president of Jefferson Parish said under oath in November that he didn't know who evacuated the parish's pump operators before Katrina hit. He also testified that he didn't know that the emergency plan called for their evacuation, and that he "didn't bother to ask his directors about their storm preparations." Apparently right after the storm, he said repeatedly that he had the operators' safety in mind when he told them to leave. The contradiction is obviously well-documented in the Times-Pic, and that'll probably cause him problems in the future. Residents of the parish are suing him for gross negligence.
• The New Orleans Police Department headquarters has moved out of their FEMA trailers and into an actual building. Hopefully this will help them crack down on the violence in the city.
• The city of New Orleans received a $1.14 million grant to go green. The money will aid in the reconstruction of city properties that were damaged or destroyed by the storms, and it will specifically be used to make those buildings more eco-friendly.
  
• The Army Corps of Engineers said that to raise the levees high enough to protect the city from a 100-year storm (the big one, with a 1-in-100 chance of hitting in any given year), it will need 20 Superdomes worth of dirt. The problem is where to take that dirt from. If you take it from the immediate area, it will create new, lower-lying levels than before. And it's expensive to haul in from elsewhere.