Ike Dials Down After Slamming Texas Shore

Staff / Truthdig Sep 14, 2008 By Saturday afternoon, Hurricane Ike had been downgraded to a tropical storm, but not before unleashing its full force on Galveston and Houston, Texas, along with coastal Louisiana. Both states were dealing with widespread power outages in Ike's wake, and the extent of the damage couldn't be fully assessed until flooding subsided and debris was cleared. Dig deeper ( 1 Min. Read )

Heckuva Job, Take Two

Staff / Truthdig Sep 4, 2008 How would the president rate the government's response to Hurricane Gustav? In a word: "Excellent." Eager to escape the shadow of Katrina, which has come to symbolize the incompetence of his administration, Hurricane George made landfall in Louisiana Wednesday for some hands-on disaster relief. Dig deeper ( 1 Min. Read )

New Orleans Spared by Faltering Storm

Staff / Truthdig Sep 2, 2008 As it turned out, New Orleans dodged the full brunt of Hurricane Gustav, which had substantially weakened by the time it reached the Louisiana shoreline on Monday, but Hurricane Hanna still looms as a potential threat to the nation's East Coast. Dig deeper ( 1 Min. Read )

Bush Will Skip Convention

Staff / Truthdig Sep 1, 2008 Hurricane Gustav has given the Republicans the excuse they needed to keep the unpopular president out of his party's big party. John McCain will be spared another awkward embrace while George W. Bush is off in Texas pestering survivors. Dig deeper ( 1 Min. Read )

New Orleans Mayor Orders Evacuation

Staff / Truthdig Aug 31, 2008 New Orleans residents began fleeing the city this weekend in preparation for Hurricane Gustav to hit the Louisiana coast just three years after Hurricane Katrina devastated the region. New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin underscored the severity of the situation, telling locals they had to evacuate starting at 8 a.m. Sunday but would be wise to start earlier. Dig deeper ( 1 Min. Read )

Obama’s Weather Balloon

E.J. Dionne Jr. / Truthdig May 9, 2008 The first important election result for the senator in May -- coming before his North Carolina victory -- was the outcome of a little-noticed U.S. House contest in Louisiana. Dig deeper ( 3 Min. Read )

Grammy Tops Off Obama’s Winning Weekend

Staff / Truthdig Feb 11, 2008 Maine caucus-goers and Grammy voters gave Barack Obama two more wins on Sunday, rounding out a weekend of victories in four states with the Grammy trophy for best spoken word album for his recording of "The Audacity of Hope: Thoughts on Reclaiming the American Dream." Here's the kicker: Obama beat out former Presidents Bill Clinton and Jimmy Carter for the Grammy. Dig deeper ( 1 Min. Read )

Momentum vs. Toughing It Out

Staff / Truthdig Feb 11, 2008 With a win in the Maine caucuses, Barack Obama has scored four lopsided victories in a row and the map favors him for weeks to come. Hillary Clinton, meanwhile, responded to her troubles by replacing her campaign manager. Clinton now has to hold back Obama's momentum long enough to win the big states weeks from now, a strategy that did not help Rudy Guiliani. Dig deeper ( 2 Min. Read )

Super Saturday for Obama

Staff / Truthdig Feb 10, 2008 Amid speculation that a long road might be in store for Democratic rivals Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton, the tide turned in Obama's favor Saturday with Nebraska and Washington state caucus victories and a big win in the Louisiana primary. Dig deeper ( 1 Min. Read )

Indian-American Could Beat the Odds in the South

Staff / Truthdig Oct 20, 2007 The voters of Louisiana are very close to electing as their governor Bobby Jindal, a conservative Republican congressman of Indian descent. While the chattering class is preoccupied with whether the nation is ready for a black or woman president, the conservative Republicans of Louisiana, many of whom once threw their support behind former klansman David Duke, seem to have moved on. Dig deeper ( 1 Min. Read )

MIA Nuke Case Sparks Security Concerns

Staff / Truthdig Sep 24, 2007 The disturbing security slip-up at North Dakota's Minot Air Force Base on Aug. 29, which resulted in the unintentional -- not to mention unsupervised and unauthorized -- transport of six nuclear warheads across the country to Louisiana, has touched off a major military inquiry and raised serious security concerns. Dig deeper ( 1 Min. Read )

United by Hate

Eugene Robinson / Truthdig Sep 21, 2007 How did thousands of African-Americans come to descend on the town of Jena, La., on Thursday for a march and rally that brought to mind the heady days of the civil rights movement? The answer says as much about what has changed over the past half-century as it says about what hasn't. Dig deeper ( 3 Min. Read )