Paul has Hornets buzzing
March 28, 2008
New Orleans point guard Chris Paul has a welcoming smile, boyish looks, and an engaging personality. He is currently starring in a commercial inviting tourists to come to New Orleans in the post-Hurricane Katrina era. At 6 feet, 175 pounds, he isn’t physically imposing to the average person, let alone an NBA player.
but looks can be deceiving in this fiery MVP candidate’s place.
“Off the floor he’s nice, mild, and polite,” said the Celtics’ P.J. Brown, who played with the Hornets during Paul’s rookie season. “But when he gets in between the lines, he’s a whole different person. He comes out there and tries to take your heart. People around the league recognize that now.
“He’s a winner.”
Paul is the leader of a Hornets team that owns the Western Conference’s best record at 49-21, and a five-game winning streak. Although he has some talented teammates in forward David West, center Tyson Chandler, sharpshooter Peja Stojakovic, and reserve swingman Bonzi Wells, the spotlight shines brightest on Paul. Read more
MARE UPDATE!
March 28, 2008
As reported earlier this week, free-agent kicker Olindo Mare is coming to Seattle for a visit with the Seahawks.
Mare, who was 10 of 17 on field goal attempts last season while kicking for the New Orleans Saints, just completed a visit with the Broncos and left Denver with a contract offer.
Seahawks president Tim Ruskell said this week that in an ideal world the club would sign a veteran, either draft or sign a rookie and have them compete during training camp for the job that opened when Josh Brown signed with the St. Louis Rams in free agency. Read more
LSU QB Perrilloux Off Suspension (AP)
March 28, 2008
BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) — LSU quarterback Ryan Perrilloux returned from a suspension, and hopes to be allowed soon to practice with the team.
LSU spokesman Michael Bonnette said Thursday that there is no timetable for Perrilloux, who finished last season as the expected heir apparent for the starting job, to return to the field.
“He’s no longer suspended, which means he has some privileges back, but one of the privileges he’s not been able to regain is the ability to practice with the team,” Bonnette said.
LSU coach Les Miles suspended Perrilloux indefinitely in February, shortly before spring practice began, for unspecified team violations.
Perrilloux’s former high school coach, who remains close to the quarterback and his family, has said Perrilloux missed a mandatory team meeting, then missed classes to attend his father’s funeral without notifying coaches.
It was the third suspension for Perrilloux, who was considered the favorite to succeed Matt Flynn as first-string quarterback after leading LSU to two victories as a starter — including the Southeastern Conference championship game — when Flynn, a senior, was injured during the 2007 season.
Perrilloux was among the most coveted high school quarterback prospects in the country when he joined the Tigers. He appeared to be fulfilling his promise in 2007, after redshirting in 2005 and playing sparingly as a third-stringer in 2006.
In May 2007 he was suspended from the team indefinitely after he was cited for trying to illegally get on a riverboat casino in Baton Rouge by using his older brother’s driver’s license. He was reinstated in August.
In October, the week before the Alabama game, he was barred from practice for his role in a nightclub brawl.
Obama offers plan for economic woes (AP)
March 27, 2008
NEW YORK - Democrat Barack Obama proposes relief for homeowners and an additional $30 billion stimulus package to address the nation’s economic woes.
The presidential candidate spoke not far from Wall Street, hard hit by the mortgage meltdown and credit problems. New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg, the almost candidate, introduced Obama but stopped short of an endorsement.
Bemoaning the nation’s economic woes, Obama dismisses Republican rival John McCain’s approach. Obama says McCain’s plan “amounts to little more than watching this crisis happen.”
The political debate comes as a new government report shows the economy nearly sputtered out at the end of the year and is probably faring even worse amid continuing housing, credit and financial crises.
St. Bernard seeking slogan, mascot (NOLA)
March 27, 2008
Six years after a contest brought St. Bernard Parish government a new flag and logo incorporating the Chalmette National Monument and blue, white and gold from the flag of the Canary Islands, the parish is searching for a slogan and mascot.
The parish seeks a slogan “that will describe St. Bernard’s heritage and uniqueness to visitors,” according to a recent news release. The mascot, meanwhile, will be used for parish recreational sports teams.
The contests are part of a parish beautification effort on Paris Road that will include 40 cypress trees and a sign bearing the new slogan, a parish news release said. In addition, the parish will seek to enlist businesses along the highway corridors to adopt sections of the medians to do more plantings.
 |
Entries for the slogan and mascot contests are due by March 31.
For the slogan contest, bring entries to Karen Turni Bazile in the parish president’s office, 8201 W. Judge Perez Drive, Chalmette, or e-mail her at kbazile@sbpg.net. For information, call (504) 278-4280. Entries can be faxed to (504) 278-4330.
For the mascot contest, send entries to Recreation Director Donnie Bourgeois in the Recreation Trailer K-10 at the parish government complex, 8201 W. Judge Perez Drive, Chalmette. They can also be e-mailed to the office manager at moneil@sbpg.net.
For more information, call (504) 278-4295. Entries can be faxed to (504) 278-4294.
Entries for both contests also can be mailed to the attention of Turni Bazile or Bourgeois at the St. Bernard Parish Government Complex, 8201 W. Judge Perez Drive, Chalmette, LA 70043.
Louisiana Crawfish Festival
March 25, 2008
Mar 27-30
Crawfish dishes, live music, rides, family fun.
Entertainment Schedule:
Thurs. 3/27 6 pm -10 pm “Redline”
Fri. 3/28 5 pm - 7 pm “Gashouse Gorillas” 8 pm - 11pm “Topcats”
Sat. 3/29 Noon - 3 pm “Amanda Shaw” 4 pm - 7 pm “Irene Sage” 8 pm - 11 pm “Bag of Donuts”
Sun. 3/30 Noon - 2 pm “Bruce Daigrepont” 3 pm - 6 pm “Paul Varisco & the Milestones” 7 pm - 10 pm “Buck Town All-Stars”
St. Bernard Civic Auditorium Complex
Chalmette
504-271-0537
St. Bernard rebound tops census
March 25, 2008
In an aftershock from Hurricane Katrina’s demographic shakeup, the nation’s fastest-growing community is not some sun-drenched or leafy suburb marked by a red-hot housing market and new subdivisions that sprout up seemingly overnight.
Instead, the honor goes to storm-ravaged St. Bernard Parish, where blocks of homes remain gutted in some areas and the real estate market is so depressed that two-thirds of home sales are to the Road Home program.
And the competition isn’t even close.
St. Bernard’s population exploded 42.9 percent last year, easily the biggest increase for any U.S. parish or county, according to data released today by the U.S. Census Bureau.
Hurricane-scarred Orleans Parish was second with a 13.8 percent population increase, edging out Pinal County in Arizona, a Phoenix suburb that grew by 11.5 percent.
“We always knew St. Bernard was the No. 1 place to live. Now the whole country knows it,” quipped Catherine Serpas, who lives in rural eastern St. Bernard.
Of course, this all comes a year after St. Bernard and New Orleans topped a national list of communities with the largest population losses in the wake of Katrina’s devastation.
Even with the sizable gains of the past year, St. Bernard’s population is less than half its pre-Katrina benchmark of about 65,000, while New Orleans has regained about two-thirds of its pre-storm population of 450,000.
A bit misleading
“It’s certainly encouraging that people are returning,” said Greg Rigamer, a demographer with GCR & Associates who has closely tracked the area’s population growth since Katrina. “But to call these the fastest-growing parishes in the country is like someone who owned Bear Stearns stock when it went from $100 to $1 overnight and then got excited when it rose to $2 the next day because their investment just doubled.”
Salt-N-Pepa’ in St. Bernard for rebuilding project
March 25, 2008
Reality television has provided a second act for many a pop star, but kudos to Cheryl James and Sandy Denton for attempting to inject a little reality into their VH1 series.
Monday night at 9, “The Salt-N-Pepa Show” comes to St. Bernard Parish for a glimpse of recovery down-and-dirty.
The episode was shot during Carnival. James and Denton rolled with Orpheus, but not before pitching in on the rebuilding of Kimberly Jones’ flood-ruined home.
During the shoot, James (Salt) and Denton (Pepa) paused from their insulation-and-Sheetrock work to chat about what they’d seen of the city so far.
Nearby, their camera crew and a team of youthful recovery volunteers ate lunch off of the hoods of cars and pickups.
The state of the city is “surprising,” James said, “because it’s America. In other situations we can get it rebuilt. I know it could’ve been done faster, so it just makes you confused about why it still looks this way.” Read more
Chalmette could be part of Venezuela deal
March 24, 2008
Chief Executive Rex Tillerson said on Wednesday that Venezuela could offer up its share of their jointly run Chalmette refinery in Louisiana as part of a settlement of a dispute over an oil project the country nationalized last year. “We think the right thing for us to do is to sit down and work out a mutually agreeable settlement for the assets that have been exproporiated,” Tillerson said in a wide ranging briefing with reporters after the company’s annual meeting with analysts in New York.
“Absent any conversation around that, we’re left with no choice but to pursue the international legal remedies that are available to us under Venezuelan foreign investment law and were available to us under our contract with (state oil firm) PDVSA,” he said.
In the dispute over the assets, Exxon has won court orders freezing up to $12 billion of Venezuelan assets, heating up the quarrel.
PDVSA and Exxon both own half of the Chalmette refinery in Louisiana, which can process about 193,000 barrels of crude oil daily.
Tillerson also commented on the recent surge in oil prices, which hit a record of more than $104 a barrel on Wednesday after OPEC decide to maintain current output levels.
“It’s pretty crazy, isn’t it? … There’s been a disconnection in the price (of oil) from the fundamentals,” he said. The disconnect has been driven by the weak dollar, geopolitical uncertainty and market speculation, he said.
Irish, Italian and Islenos Parade 2008
March 24, 2008
-
Recent Posts
- Colston agrees to 3-year extension with Saints
- 322 Bonnie Dr
- Colston agrees to 3-year extension with Saints
- Hearing delayed for Hornets reserve Butler
- LSU football coach Les Miles talks about leadership - and Alabama
- Colston agrees to 3-year extension with Saints
- Bush Signs Bill That Names N.Y. Highway After Tim Russert
- Football Takes Part in Day 1 of SEC’s ‘Kickoff 2008′
- Boat Collision Closes Mississippi River
- Lobbyist Reportedly Offered to Trade Donations for Access
Advertisement
