In a press conference today, New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin said six houses had collapsed - five within one hour, and that 28 others are in danger of collapsing today, presumably as a result of Hurricane Gustav. He urged hurricane survivors returning home to avoid any buildings that appear dangerous.

Hurricane Katrina began a blight assault on the city, and many homes and other buildings - as many as 400 - have been slated for demolition, with many others already demolished as a result.

The homes that fell down today were all unoccupied, and there were no injuries reported.

Many Louisiana Hurricane Gustav evacuees who ventured north this week to escape the wrath of whatever was coming were out of luck and in harm’s way, thanks to practices of hotel chains that, for whatever reasons, are putting them out on the street. They are finding their cash money is no good.

Whether for lack of preparation or lack of planning, many evacuees seeking shelter from the storm are running into a familiar echo among hoteliers in north Louisiana, particularly the Alexandria area, where stores were closing and gas was in short supply. Those who were smart enough to anticipate where the safest part of the state would be may have made hotel reservations when the storm was still around Haiti or Cuba.

Now that it’s here, those who evacuated as late as Friday or Saturday and tried to get a room ran into the old “no room at the inn” - “no vacancy” - signs.

Then, to add to the hurt, Alexandria’s convention center, used as a Red Cross shelter after Hurricane Katrina, was set up only for special needs evacuees. And the Rapides Coliseum, a blighted, old, circa 1960’s drafty, leaky, stadium dump of a Red Cross shelter, had “no new registrations” signs posted as early as the Saturday before Gustav made landfall in Louisiana.

It was only housing evacuees bussed in from several places around the state. Also, local shelters (schools, etc.) were only accepting local residents, said one evacuee who was turned down.

That left Monroe and Shreveport as the only two closest other cities with Red Cross shelters for evacuees, according to the state’s emergency info operators.

At hotels like Super 8, Ramada Inn, and others in Alexandria, those who got rooms were being told they had to leave “due to reservations”.

Now, who would get on highways and evacuate AFTER a hurricane heads their way? And the hotels wouldn’t accept money from guests already in rooms, so guests could not pay in advance for one day or one week and were forced to checkout. Most, if not all evacuees, had no relatives or friends in the area.

A call to FEMA got the response of “Louisiana hasn’t been declared a disaster yet”, so FEMA wouldn’t help. Also, FEMA was giving the city of New Orleans’ 311 info number or the state’s 211 or the Red Cross as the only further assistance, even for those outside the city of New Orleans.

In his latest news conference at 12:15 p.m. today, Mayor Ray Nagin said the city’s registration system for Hurricane Gustav evacuees crashed, Amtrak took 1600 people on its inaugural evacuee trip, and tourists were ordered to leave the city. He also said a mandatory evacuation order may come either at 8:00 a.m. or at 8:00 p.m. on tomorrow.

The City of New Orleans is trying to put it’s best foot forward, in safety’s best interest, by initiating “assisted evacuation” measures that should have been in place and should have took place as Hurricane Katrina took aim at the city.

Thousands of Katrina survivors are boarding buses at pickup points around the city for transport to the Union Passenger Terminal and to board buses bound for specific places like Shreveport, Monroe, or Alexandria, LA., or Memphis Tennessee.

The city had a system in place to register everybody boarding the buses (I guess too many people got by without being registered) so he said the system’s been suspended at the boarding points, but they’ll be registered on arrival wherever they end up.

He also said an Amtrak train carrying 1600 had been sent to Memphis, and said it’s “time for us to shut the tourists activity down” to give the city’s services free to serve citizens.

Hurricane Gustav is closing in on the Gulf, and fears are that it will slam into Louisiana as a monstrous Category 4 hurricane.

Take the bus, go by car, but boating is not advised, as Katrina survivors on the Gulf Coast start leaving home for parts unknown. Here we go again. Paying the cost to live in America’s most unique city or the beautiful Gulf Coast.

Whatever the case, most of us love where we live, and don’t really want to live anywhere else. And we pay the price, in losses from hurricanes - utterly destructive forces of nature that threaten all coasts of this country, that are called cyclones when on the west coast.

Other kinds disasters, like wildfires, tidal waves, or landslides, can strike anywhere, and you can’t always predict them, as with hurricanes, so at least we have warning systems in place, to give us time to think.

And thinking ahead is a key to avoiding a disaster. We’ve got to think of what we’ll do in case of a hurricane BEFORE it hits. So - don’t even THINK about hunkering down and going without power or water for at least a few days. The one thing you don’t need to think about is whether or not to evacuate when advised to do so.

With law enforcement in place to prevent looting in New Orleans and surrounding areas, the shameful stuff we saw after Hurricane Katrina won’t be seen this time. Besides, anyone found outside in these areas will be arrested, reportedly to be taken straight to the infamous Angola State Prison for booking. And Hurricane Gustav looks like it’s gonna be such a threat that it’s not worth taking a chance for anybody except first responders to stay behind…don’t even THINK about it!

New Orleans has cancelled a Katrina third anniversary jazz funeral procession down Canal Street this morning and the candlelight vigil scheduled tonight, but there’s still going to be a burial ceremony at the new Katrina Memorial at the old Charity Hospital cemetery on Canal Blvd., starting at 8:40 a.m. and bell-ringing from 9:38 a.m. to 9:40 a.m. to signify the levee breaks.

As the City of New Orleans, State of Louisiana, State of Mississippi, and the rest of the Gulf Coast - still already ravaged by Hurricane Katrina three years ago - prepares to defy yet another tempest of the sea called Gustav, FEMA has issued no public media statements regarding the impending threat.

Is this just a repeat performance or a deliberate, calculated step in introducing the Gulf Coast to the new “FEMA of 2008?”

I checked out the old Craiglist Katrina board, and I am pissed off. It seems some peeps still think ALL of us Katrina people got these big checks for $5000 or 2000 or whatever. Not true! And that’s jus ONE of the stupid things people think about us. Seems like we are outkasts in some places. Not ALL Katrina survivers are moochers and thugs!

A Syracuse, New York man, who two years ago reportedly left home as a healthy young man returned home after three months with second and third degree sunburn, and later began suffering seizures.

According to a CBS-WTVH (Syracuse) news report, 20 year-old Robert Dings is an invalid in a nursing home who can’t talk, walk, and has to be tube-fed. His family is facing years of medical billls and believe he got some kind of toxic disease while working as a volunteer in New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina. watch the video on wtvh.com

His family asks anyone who might know someone who got sick while volunteering in New Orleans, or anyone who can help, to contact them. They can be reached through the tv station at (315) 477-4633.

Meanwhile, in New Orleans, Tulane University professor Henry Glindmeyer is leading a 5-year study of a phenomenon called Katrina Cough that was initially linked to residual damage caused by Hurricane Katrina, the ensuing floods and weeks of standing water.

They will determine if there are breathing and lung problems over the long-term from post-hurricane conditions such as flooding, stagnant water, dust and mold. Each volunteer will answer a questionnaire, undergo a non-invasive annual breathing test and wear a monitor for five or six hours to detect workplace exposure to dust, bacteria and mold.

A New Orleans Times-Picayune news report said that an earlier study based on emergency room visits found the degree of patient problems with respiratory ailments were generally no worse than for the overall U.S. population. To contact the researchers, e-mail Katr...@tulane.edu or call 504-988-3846.

WHEW!…..I’ve missed you! And I’m missing you….RIGHT NOW!

The last two months have been rough for this website. It all started when somebody with too much time on their hands - more than I have, anyway - sat down and wrote what’s called malicious code into the internet, looking for vulnerabilities in websites to send false search results, disrupt connections, and lower other peoples’ internet rankings.

The Katrina Connection Network, which is actually three websites in one and quite a few computers in my little apartment, was affected by these “bugs”. Sometimes, you just couldn’t get to the blog. Then, KatrinaConnection.com came up in search results for certain products we wouldn’t dare sell. In fact, KatrinaConnection, a non-profit incorporated right here in Louisiana, has nothing for sale.

Well, I found the codes, added even more security, rebuilt the network databases, and added other features these past two months. I hope your cruise through the KC Network is smooth right now. Write now, on the blog, or by e-mail to edi...@katrinaconnection.com, with your ideas, suggestions, comments, or stories.

The Katrina Connection Network has almost a dozen security walls, bridges, and fences installed across the network to protect your security and mine. The internet will always have those who try, for no sane reason, to exploit or manipulate it - a “control the internet and control the world” mentality.

With close to 40,000 hits since starting out in February this year, the KC blog has attracted increasing interest and experienced many growing pains while bringing info and views affecting Hurricane Katrina and Rita survivors.

Thanks to people like you, this young website network is now ranking close to the top 1 million among the top 1 million websites in the world by Alexa, with a Google PageRank of 4 (out of ten) and climbing. That shows you’re interested. And I want to keep you coming back.

The goal is to make KatrinaConnection.com a premier internet destination for the thousands of surviovrs of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita - the storms that changed our lives forever.

And I’m missing all my friends and family, now living in other parts of Louisiana and in Tennessee, Mississippi, Pennsylvania, Texas, Virginia, California, Colorado, Arkansas, Alabama, Washington, New York, and especially my nephew in the Saudi Arabian desert (much love)!

So, right now, c’mon, everybody - all you Katrina survivors - WRITE NOW, on the latest Wordpress platform blog! Let me know where u at.

The New Orleans Ambassador of “musicnology” - Dr. John - is pissed off, and for good reason. One of the many reasons Katrina Connection was started was us being pissed off at internet hustlers for the same reason.

It seems ever since the storm that tore our lives apart, people have been conspiring to just make money off the disaster. A review of his latest album “City That Care Forgot” says Dr. John “directs his anger at the White House, the mayor and police force of New Orleans, insurance companies, crooked, thieving contractors/roofers and everyone else making money off the Katrina disaster”.

Yeah, you right! Play that funky music, Doc!

The folks at CNN who uncovered $85 million in unused Hurricane Katrina goods a few weeks ago have found yet another bone for Hurricane Katrina survivors to pick at.

The CNN investigation found that Mississippi, the state hardest-hit by Katrina’s wind and storm surge, was one of 16 states that had reportedly received surplus supplies meant for Katrina victims, but not followed through in distributing the goods to the intended recipients.

According to the news network, coffee makers, cleaning supplies, dishes, linens, clothes, and shoes all ended up with Mississippi state agencies, prisons, and schools.

Also, CNN reports, a spokesperson for a state agency that handled the surplus said, “There may be a need, but we were not notified that there was a great need for this particular property.” (GASP!)

Other media reports state that non-profit organizations must qualify through Mississippi’s Department of Finance to be allowed to buy the surplus supplies and for more info, to contact that department at (601) 939-2050.

A Katrina survivor is dogged by the possibility of up to a year in jail in Austin, Texas plus up to $4,000 in fines for love of her dog.

When Shalanda Augillard evacuated New Orleans for Hurricane Katrina in 2005, she left behind her beloved cocker spaniel, Jazz. The dog was rescued by an animal group, and adopted by an Austin
woman.

But a few months later, Augillard saw Jazz on an animal rescue internet site and tracked down the Texas woman, Tiffany Madura, which led to a legal fight that went all the way to the Texas 3rd Court of Appeals. That court, citing DNA evidence, overruled a 2007 lower court ruling that had awarded custody of the dog to Madura.

With lawyers for both women on hand, Jazz - now 11 years old - was handed over to Auguillard outside a Texas courthouse last week. But, deputies were waiting to arrest Augillard.

It seems that in the heat of a dispute at a December 2006 hearing, the Katrina survivor had grabbed Madura by the hair, and was wanted on an outstanding warrant for failure to appear in court on the resulting assault charge.

Madura’s attorney said his client spent thousands of dollars bringing the dog back to health, after what he said clearly showed former abuse, and the dog should be with his client.

In the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, many rescued pets had heart worms and were not neutered, which some rescuers, mostly suburbanites, thought was evidence of owner neglect. Original owners, who were mostly inner-city residents, and their supporters responded that the differing standards of care reflected a cultural divide.

Also, Louisiana law treats pets as property that must be returned when found. Unless a government agency removes an animal for abuse or neglect, an owner is entitled to keep it.

I am a Katrina survivor and I have been diplaced here in Cleveland,Oh.I here very little about the efforts about the road home program to get back to New Orleans and I feel as though I am being left out of all that is intitled to me. I have been here in Cleveland, Ohio for 2 and a half years now and the job situation absolutley sucks to the core. The best that I can do here as far as a job here is to work through a temp service and more times than usual I do good to get sent out 2 days a week if that often. At least in the Big Easy there is plenty of work even if I have stay in a boarding house until I could find a place there, but I would still have to maintain what I have here at the same time here. Im at my breaking point and we all got ripped off big time by our government in more ways than one. Something has to give becuse something sure aint right

Though KC is a non-partisan website, it’s time for an unusual stop into the voting arena. There is a need for rebuilding along the coasts of Mississippi, and an unusually special need along the coast of Lake Pontchartrain in Louisiana.

Twelve candidates from ten American states are competing to be brought back to light, and the winner will be fully restored to their former place in the sun.

In an innovative private-public venture, JELD-WEN, an Oregon-based national window and door manufacturer, picked a dozen finalists in a nationwide search to find and restore a century-old lighthouse that need fixin’.

Since 2005, the company has held an intiative to prove the reliability of its products — even in coastal climates — by helping to save historic lighthouses. Other restored lighthouses are in Wisconsin, Maryland, and Oregon.

After Hurricane Katrina devastated the Gulf Coast in 2005, the New Canal Lighthouse, built in 1890, was damaged beyond repair. Today it’s being brought back to life with what could be salvaged and is a symbol of hope to the rebuilding of New Orleans and surrounding areas.

To help save the lighthouse, Katrina survivors and anyone else can show support by voting for the New Canal Lighthouse at www.jeld-wen.com/lighthouse/index_vote.cfm until September 7.

The other candidates this year are Baltimore Harbor Lighthouse in Maryland, as well as lighthouses in North Carolina, New York, Michigan, Washington, Wisconsin, California, Rhode Island, and Ohio.

It was challenging to select 12 finalists,” said Lynne Butterworth (really-not the syrup lady!), lighthouse project manager . “We received more than 65 nominations, representing 49 of the nation’s most historic and renowned lighthouses from coast to coast. That’s why we need the public’s support to help us choose the winning lighthouse.”

$85 Million in Katrina supplies is only the beginning.

As federal funds are finally pouring into New Orleans, don’t you feel that, somehow -over time - we’ll see even more complaints of ineptness, incompetence, ignorance, and just plain BS that’s taken place since Hurricane Katrina, just as we’ve seen revelations of the same during and immediately after the storm and ensuing floodwaters that devastated Louisiana, Mississippi, and other areas.

In contrast, oversight and accountability is in demand as another American tragedy unfolds. Disaster survivors in Iowa, Missouri, and other parts may be only just beginning to feel it.

Along with the hurt, the sense of abandonment, fraility of life as you know it, despair, hopelessness, anger, depression, and instability that all come with life after a natural disaster in America.

Yet, how much worse off would we be if we had not even a hint of stability, no government able to even eventually offer proper and necessary help, no oversight and accountability, no compassion among each other, and no hope for help?

$85 Million in Katrina supplies could very possibly help more disaster victims now than were helped in 2005, simply because there may be less disaster victims that need it. But it’s still symbolic of many things - both bad and good - that make America the great country that it is.