Articles by Becky Bohrer

State Audit Raises Questions About Louisiana Road Home Data

Errors in the loading of tax data resulted in a need to re-examine the eligibility of more than 12,500 Road Home applicants, according to a state legislative auditor’s report that also raised other questions about the reliability of data – …

Waiver Granted for Mobile Homes in Louisiana’s Cameron Parish

The Federal Emergency Management Agency has announced it would allow mobile homes for hurricane victims in areas that new maps indicate are at risk of future flooding in Cameron Parish. But the occupants must be out of the units by …

US Credit Crisis Threatens New Orleans’ Recovery

A prolonged recession and a tight credit market would cripple New Orleans’ still-fragile recovery from Hurricane Katrina, delaying or eliminating road work, new construction and repairs to homes and businesses that have stood empty since 2005. The city’s infrastructure plans …

GAO: Flood Program Lacks Funds to Face Future

The National Flood Insurance Program owes the federal Treasury more than $17 billion from hurricane-related losses and has been unable to set aside enough money to meet catastrophic losses that could arise in the future, congressional investigators said in a …

GAO: Flood Program Lacks Funds to Face Future

The National Flood Insurance Program owes the federal Treasury more than $17 billion from hurricane-related losses and has been unable to set aside enough money to meet catastrophic losses that could arise in the future, congressional investigators said in a …

Louisiana’s Katrina-Hit Areas Among Fastest-Growing Counties

New Orleans and nearby St. Bernard Parish, areas that suffered huge population losses after Hurricane Katrina struck in 2005, are regaining residents so fast that they topped the U.S. Census Bureau’s list of fastest-growing counties last year. Even so, some …

Gulf Coast Recovery Chief Steps Down

The federal official in charge of rebuilding the Gulf Coast after the 2005 hurricanes said he has submitted his resignation because he wants to return to Texas to get back into banking. Donald Powell, former chairman of the Federal Deposit …

New Orleans Mayor: No Room at the Inn for Displaced FEMA Trailer Residents

A plan to move people living in trailers to apartments and hotels because of concerns about formaldehyde fumes will not work and will lead to a “second great displacement” of New Orleans residents, the city’s mayor said. There simply isn’t …

Feds Extend Katrina-Affected Demolition Deadline for New Orleans

The Federal Emergency Management Agency has extended by six months the deadline under which it would pay for the demolition of hurricane-damaged buildings deemed immediate health and safety threats in the New Orleans region. New Orleans, whose process of making …

Bush Proposal Maintains La. Must Share Cost for Levee Work

Pres. George W. Bush has recommended nearly $5.8 billion in federal money for levee work in the New Orleans area, but the state would have to contribute about $1.5 billion – a request some Louisiana leaders consider too steep for …