Monday, August 28, 2006

Southbound Causeway span is closed

St. Tammany bureau

The southbound span of the Lake Pontchartrain Causeway is closed due to a injury-accident involving a garbage truck and another vehicle.

A Causeway Police dispatcher said the truck has turned over on its side and rescue vehicles are en route to transport the injured.

The accident occurred about four miles from Mandeville. The dispatcher said the southbound bridge is expected to be closed “for some time.”

NAACP opposes public housing demolition

By Leslie Williams
Staff writer
The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People and two other organizations on Monday called for a prohibition on razing public housing units in New Orleans. All existing public housing resources in the city should be “repaired and reopened,” according to a report issued by the NAACP, the Kirwan Institute for the study of Race and Ethnicity and The Opportunity Agenda.
NAACP President Bruce Gordon said he’s not opposed to long-term plans to demolish public housing complexes and rebuild them as mixed-income communities, but the short-term strategy in the city should not include demolishing habitable public housing.
Displaced New Orleans residents desperately need such housing, he said, and it should be repaired and open within six months.
Current plans for public housing in New Orleans call for demolishing four large New Orleans public housing complexes and rebuilding them as mixed-income communities and that has not changed, said Adonis Expose, a Housing Authority of New Orleans spokesman.
As a result of damage by Hurricane Katrina, St. Bernard, Lafitte, C.J. Peete and B.W. Cooper public housing complexes have been slated for demolition.

Hoaxsters dupe crowd with bogus HUD announcement

Two members of the Yes Men, a group of environmental and corporate ethics activists, duped business executives and some news organizations earlier today when they posed as top HUD officials and announced the agency planned to renovate several housing developments now slated for demolition.
One of the men said they set up the hoax after receiving an e-mail solicitation from Equity International -- the group staging the conference -- in search of conference speakers. They responded by saying HUD secretary Alfonso Jackson would like to speak, after which Jackson was placed in the conference lineup after Gov. Kathleen Blanco and Mayor Ray Nagin.
The two men, one of whom posed as a HUD "deputy special assistant" Rene Oswin and the other as Oswin’s press secretary, showed up at the Pontchartrain Center in Kenner this morning and told organizers that Jackson couldn’t make the event, and that they would speak in his place, one said.
Then the man posing as Oswin gave a 15-minute speech saying that HUD was reversing its policy and would reopen all public housing in the city. While the speech was under way, the group e-mailed a bogus press release to major news outlets with the same announcement.
After the speech, the audience of several hundred people applauded, and the conference organizer thanked Oswin for his comments. A group of news reporters huddled around the fake HUD officials asking questions about the apparent policy reversal. Some news organizations sent out breaking news alerts to the major development before learning it was a fake.
Shortly after the speech concluded, another member of the Yes Men, standing outside the Lafitte housing development, said she had called numerous contractors and told them to gather at Lafitte at 1 p.m. to learn about millions in contracting opportunities that would spring from the policy reversal. She refused to give her name. The Lafitte complex is one of four slated for demolition.

Energy Partners is subject of takeover offer

12:56 p.m., Monday

Woodside Petroleum Ltd., an Australian oil and gas company, has made an unsolicited offer to buy Energy Partners Ltd. of New Orleans for $933 million.

A condition of the proposed merger is that Energy Partners shareholders abandon EPL's planned takeover of Stone Energy Corp. of Lafayette.

Energy Partners, in a written statement Monday, said it will review the unsolicited proposal and advised its stockholders to take no action.

Teachers sought for New Orleans schools

New Orleans schools are seeking teachers.

The Louisiana Recovery Authority has announced it is teaming with the Louisiana Department of Education and the non-profit organization New Schools for New Orleans to recruit certified and qualified teachers to K-12 schools in New Orleans for the 2006- 2007 school year.

Especially needed are certified high school math, science, foreign language and special education teachers, the LRA said in a news release. Nearly 200 teachers are needed to accommodate students enrolling in state-run RSD schools, most of which will welcome students on Sept. 7. Charter schools in New Orleans are also working to bring on an additional 60 teachers.


The Department of Education's Recovery School District is accepting teacher applications online at www.teachlouisiana.net. Over the next two weeks, the RSD will also provide opportunities for teachers to take skills tests, a preliminary assessment for employment. Beginning Monday, August 28 through Friday September 8, teachers can go to Joseph S. Clark High School, which is located at 1301 N Derbigny Street in New Orleans. Tests are given once daily, beginning at 8:30 am. Additionally, the Recovery School District will have personnel representatives present each day to pass out and pick up employment packets to expedite the hiring process.

New Schools for New Orleans is also interviewing teacher applicants for charter school positions. Teachers interested in applying to teach in New Orleans charter schools can apply online at www.teachnola.org. Teachers that have no preference for which type of school they would like to teach in are encouraged to apply to both Web sites.

Man injured in Algiers shooting

West Bank bureau
An Algiers man was shot several times outside his home Monday morning, but the injuries were not life-threatening, New Orleans Police said.
The incident was reported in the 1200 block of Teche Street about 9:15 a.m. The man was hospitalized for treatment of his injuries. Police are not releasing his name.
“It appeared to have been someone he knew,” said Sgt. Carlton L. Lewis, NOPD information officer.
The incident started off as an argument, Lewis said. Witnesses reported seeing the perpetrator shouting, “this is not a game” at the victim.
People tried to get the perpetrator to get into his car and leave, but the man fought them off and began firing, Lewis said. 