If the program isn’t extended ahead of a government shutdown, officials say it could spell disaster for residents, business owners and the real estate market.

Some Alabo Wharf neighbors see the project as a way to revitalize the Lower Ninth Ward, while others view it as a health and safety hazard.

On this week’s episode, we visit the Lower 9th Ward in New Orleans. Twenty years after Hurricane Katrina, the neighborhood still carries the scars of the storm — from empty lots to relentless heat.

Officials are collecting samples from various locations and analyzing them for heavy metals – such as arsenic, chromium, barium and lead – and petroleum-related hydrocarbons.

The Calcasieu-Sabine Basin will get $122 million from the 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil spill settlement for drainage improvements geared to help marsh plants grow and halt erosion.

Hurricane Katrina devastated Mississippi, destroying thousands of homes and businesses. Gulfport, in the heart of the state's Gulf Coast, is home to a group of historic Black communities that found themselves at the center of it all.

The Mississippi River Cities and Towns Initiative, a cooperative of more than 100 river communities between Minnesota and Louisiana, held its annual meeting this week in Minnesota’s Twin Cities. In response to FEMA’s uncertain future, the MRCTI, in partnership with Convoy of Hope, announced a new program to deliver assistance to its members within 72 hours of a disaster event.

Woodside Energy’s $17.5 billion production and export facility, best known as “Louisiana LNG,” represents the largest foreign direct investment in state history.

Dozens of metrics are used to determine drought and that can make it complicated to measure and track. But it’s a bit easier now thanks to the new government dashboard, which tracks drought across the Mississippi River Basin.

Today, we bring you three stories exploring what it really takes to be ready for the next big storm. But at their core, these stories are about something deeper: the determination to keep living here on the Gulf Coast, and about the choices we’re making that will decide whether that’s possible.