Tagged: hurricane katrina

An Army Corps of Engineers report has found debris buried in a levee built after Hurricane Katrina.

The levee protects the densely populated suburban West Bank neighborhoods across the Mississippi River from the main portion of the city.

The report says the levee meets the corps' design specifications and is not in danger of failure because of any unsuitable debris. But the report advises the corps to consider shoring up one portion of the levee built atop a "buried debris field."

A former New Orleans pastor has been sentenced to 10 years in prison for stealing nearly $1 million in disaster loan payments meant to rebuild a church after Hurricane Katrina.

Toris Young pleaded guilty in January to theft of government funds and mail fraud. The sentence handed down Thursday by U.S. District Judge Carl Barbier was roughly twice that recommended in federal sentencing guidelines.

Young also must pay $963,900 in restitution to the Small Business Administration.

Two former New Orleans police officers have asked a federal appeals court to throw out their convictions on charges stemming from the fatal shooting of a man whose burned body turned up in Hurricane Katrina's aftermath.

A three-judge panel from the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals also on Wednesday heard the Justice Department's appeal of a judge's decision to order a new trial for a third officer, Travis McCabe.

McCabe was convicted of writing a false report on Henry Glover's 2005 shooting.

The panel didn't indicate when it would rule.

The state is set to begin reconstruction work on Monday on several New Orleans streets in areas damaged by Hurricane Katrina in 2005.

All are in the city's 9th Ward.

Barrier Construction Co. is the contractor for the $2.4 million project, which involves segments of Forstall, Tupelo and Alvar streets.

The state Department of Transportation and Development said the work will include resurfacing, repairing curbs and installing handicap-compliant ramps. Completion is expected by October.

A Mississippi man has been found mentally competent to stand trial in August on charges he shot at three men in what prosecutors call a racially motivated attack in New Orleans following Hurricane Katrina. Roland Bourgeois Jr., who is white, is accused of wounding at least one of the three black men he fired at with a shotgun. 

The Orleans Parish School Board's attorney says the board should appeal a ruling that thousands of New Orleans teachers and other school workers were wrongfully fired after Hurricane Katrina shut down the city and scattered its people in 2005.

William Aaron said Thursday he will recommend that the board take state Civil District Judge Ethel Simms Julien's decision to the state 4th Circuit Court of Appeal.