New Twin Spans

The new I10 Twin Spans, which connect the northshore with the southshore, partially reopened on July 9th.

Beginning on Thursday, cars traveling east will get on the new eastbound span entrance ramp on the south shore. From there, they will be directed to cross over to the new westbound span, cross the lake and then cross over again to a second new eastbound ramp on the Northshore and then back onto I-10 east. In a week, after traffic signs and ramps have been re-configured, Slidell-to-New Orleans traffic will use the old eastbound span until the new Twin Span is totally finished.

As soon as the old eastbound span has changed to westbound, crews will begin to dismantle the old westbound span permanently. The old eastbound lane will also be dismantled after the new Twin Span is completed in 2011. St. Tammany Parish has already signed agreements to use part of the old eastbound span as a fishing pier.



Taking down the old westbound span will be a relief to motorists. Parts of it have been cobbled together for the past four years with special sections that tend to shake and move.

To those who use the bridges every day, this milestone has been a long time coming.

VIDEO: New I-10 bridge over Lake Pontchatrain opens to eastbound traffic

I hope I don't grow up to be like this old lady

She beat a fawn to death with a shovel.

Saturday Scene

Taken from the top of the East bound Twin Span

Kudos to Karen Gadbois

New Orleans blogger Karen Gadbois has been selected as one of the "Top Ten Female Achievers" by New Orleans magazine.

Congratulations to Karen for this well deserved honor!

Our Esteemed Legislature

This is probably the stupidest thing to be allowed during a Legislative session.
The State wanted to honor 'Hurricane Chris' for all of his recent success by giving him the floor of the state House of Representatives for a few minutes. Hurricane Chris is the godson of Shreveport Representative Barbara Norton.

Representative Austin Badon said when Chris Dooley, Jr., known by the stage name "Hurricane Chris," performed his song "Halle Berry (She's Fine)" Wednesday, he really couldn't understand what he was singing. But when Badon came across the song while scanning the radio dial later that day, what he heard made him angry.

"The words they were using in the song were just extremely derogatory, they were foul," Badon told WWL First News. "They were curse words, using the 'N' word. It was just a derogatory song."

The lyrics can be found at this site.

Here is the video, entitled "loony looziana legislature reaches a new low". I find it embarassing. Don't know who allowed this, but they should be shot.

Here's a link to an editorial citing Representative Norton's ignorant decision to allow this.

Yelling Pitchman Dead

Tampa police say Billy Mays, the television pitchman known for his boisterous hawking of products such as Orange Glo and OxiClean, has died. He was 50.



The New York Times has more here

Screwing the Victims

Good Ole Boy Mississippi Governor Haley Barbour is misusing Katrina Recovery funds meant for housing to rebuild the port of Gulfport. Or, as he puts it, he's "redirecting" the funds meant to provide permanent housing for those who lost their homes to the storm .




Mississippi civil rights and housing groups sued the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development yesterday to stop the distribution of nearly $600 million in Hurricane Katrina relief aid to expand the Port of Gulfport, as sought by Gov. Haley Barbour (R).

Filed in federal court in the District, the lawsuit alleges that the money is part of $5.5 billion approved by Congress for Mississippi after the August 2005 storm — emergency relief that was supposed to pay largely for affordable housing. But HUD granted waivers allowing the state to use 21 percent of the money for low-income housing, instead of 50 percent as required for Katrina aid channeled through the Community Development Block Grant program, plaintiffs charged.

In a January letter to Barbour, then-HUD Secretary Alphonso R. Jackson wrote that he shared concerns that the port expansion “does indeed divert emergency federal funding from other more pressing recovery needs, most notably affordable housing.”

Congress, however, “allows me little discretion,” Jackson wrote. He approved the funding shift before resigning in April.

Barbour’s office released a statement saying the port project is part of the state’s recovery program that was vetted by Congress. “It’s always been in the plan,” Barbour said. “Restoration of the Port of Gulfport is critical to recovery of the Gulf Coast from the worst natural disaster in American history.”

Found at New Orleans News Ladder.

RIP Michael Jackson

They're dropping like flies



I admired Jackson's music before he got weird. May he rest in peace.

RIP Farrah Fawcett

Farrah Fawcett succumbs to cancer at 62.

Scuzzbucket of the week

This week's scuzzbucket is nominated on two charges: perversion and spamming.




A Slidell man known as one of the most prolific spammers in the country is accused of raping one teenage girl and handcuffing and molesting another, authorities said Wednesday.

Police arrested Ronald Scelson, 36, after seizing computers, servers, marijuana and drug paraphernalia during a raid on his home and office Tuesday afternoon, Slidell Police spokesman Capt. Kevin Foltz said.

In May, the mother of a 14-year-old girl told Slidell Police that Scelson, who was considered a friend of the family, had molested her daughter during Mardi Gras week, Foltz said.

The teenager told authorities she was at Scelson's business address, at 1831 Third St., when she saw sexually explicit material and open chat rooms on several monitors, Foltz said. Scelson started "playing around" with her, eventually handcuffing and fondling her, he said.

A 2003 Times-Picayune profile on Scelson said he was once one of the 10 most prolific spammers in North America or Europe and quoted him bragging about sending out hundreds of millions of e-mails a day. At the time, Scelson claimed he distinguished himself from other spammers because he did not hide the identity of his company and did not market pornographic sites or "get rich quick schemes."


ewwwww

The Heat

It's not even noon and it's 96 degrees outside. This is the second straight week that the heat has been incredibly unbearable. I feel sorry for anyone who has to work out in this stuff. Here are a few links that describe this heat

Spoke the Cat

Mark Folse describes his lunchtime walk from his job to the riverfront

Aaron, over at Iced Coffee and a Bagel

Roads are buckling all over