WLOX-TV - The News for South Mississippi: Awarding Of Bids To Rebuild Biloxi-Ocean Springs Bridge Pending

WLOX-TV - The News for South Mississippi: Awarding Of Bids To Rebuild Biloxi-Ocean Springs Bridge Pending: "Countless tours of the hurricane devastated Gulf Coast have ended here, at the base of what was the Biloxi Ocean Springs Bridge.

'Seeing pictures is one thing but to be live looking at just the volume of it and the extent of it,' says Don Raths of Chicago, Illinois. 'It just seems more real.'

As a structural engineer Raths has a unique perspective on the extent of damage done to this vital artery turned tourist attraction.

'It was enlightening to see what the surge did to the precast concrete structures,' says Raths. 'You can see it moved the bridge deck literally 15 feet to the north and picked it up then it collapsed off the piers on one end.'

But very soon work will finally begin to remove the rubble and erect a new bridge."

The Sun Herald | 06/03/2006 | Money coming in from all over for Pascagoula

The Sun Herald | 06/03/2006 | Money coming in from all over for Pascagoula: "To help Pascagoula's recreation department recover, cities have sent various financial contributions, with the most recent donation of $13,150 from Salisbury, N.C., for the purchase of recreation equipment lost in the storm.

Residents of Salisbury were among the first to arrive in Pascagoula to help it recover in the days after the storm.

Pascagoula officials said residents of Salisbury held fundraising events to raise money they later donated to the Flagship City."

Longfellow House Sold

Sale of historic Longfellow House nearly complete

Sale of historic Longfellow House nearly complete: "For decades Longfellow House has been used for weddings, receptions and other social functions.

The last time it was used as a private residence was by former Mayor Frank Canty, who bought the home in 1938, said Liz Ford, chairwoman of the Pascagoula Historic Preservation Commission.

Around 1940, Canty sold it to Robert Ingalls, founder of Ingalls Shipbuilding. Ingalls used the Longfellow as a place for visiting dignitaries and other guests and eventually added the restaurant, bar, hotel and swimming pool, said Ford, who enjoyed many summers during her youth there.

'It was a really important part of so many of our summer lives back then,' she said.

The Longfellow is the only beachfront antebellum structure standing from Mobile to New Orleans after Katrina, Ford added."

WLOX-TV - The News for South Mississippi: Four Dead In Military Helicopter Crash In Georgia

WLOX-TV - The News for South Mississippi: Four Dead In Military Helicopter Crash In Georgia: "A military helicopter clipped a rural Georgia television station tower and crashed Thursday morning, killing four soldiers on a training mission, officials said."

WLOX-TV - The News for South Mississippi: Our Daily Bread Needs Help Delivering Meals

WLOX-TV - The News for South Mississippi: Our Daily Bread Needs Help Delivering Meals: "Feeding the needy. That's the mission of Our Daily Bread in Pascagoula. But workers say since Katrina it has been tough finding ways to deliver food in parts of Jackson County.

Flood waters destroyed one of their only vehicles, forcing the organization to cut Gautier and Vancleave off the delivery route. Now the group is looking for a new set of wheels to help feed the hungry."

WLOX-TV - The News for South Mississippi: Mississippi Armed Forces Museum To Honor Iraq Veterans In The 155th

WLOX-TV - The News for South Mississippi: Mississippi Armed Forces Museum To Honor Iraq Veterans In The 155th: "Camp Shelby opened in 1917, and tens of thousands of soldiers have trained on its 136,000-acres, including the 155th, which spent most of 2005 in Iraq. The brigade was made up of 3,500 - an era in which 100,000 soldiers trained at Camp Shelby.

The brigade _ with members from Pennsylvania, California, Washington, Texas, Puerto Rico, Virginia, Missouri, New Jersey, South Carolina, Vermont, Utah, and Arkansas - was attached to the II Marine Expeditionary Force."

Thousands come to Beach Park for Sounds By The Sea

Thousands come to Beach Park for Sounds By The Sea: "The choirs sang patriotic favorites like 'The Star Spangled Banner' and 'Stars and Stripes Forever' to give people a taste of Americana, but for many it was a chance to visit Beach Park for the first time since Hurricane Katrina made landfall on Aug. 29, 2005."

The Sun Herald | 05/27/2006 | Baby boom

The Sun Herald | 05/27/2006 | Baby boom: "Although many people accept the birth of a child as the gift it is no matter what the circumstances, people may also choose to have a child in defiance of the losses they have suffered, experts say.

'Perhaps people are taking stock of their lives. They have a sense time is precious,' said Cohen. 'Having a child is a life-affirming act in the face of a lot of destruction.'"

The Sun Herald | 05/26/2006 | Coming back strong

The Sun Herald | 05/26/2006 | Coming back strong: "She cited a speech by Gov. Haley Barbour, who said a survey shows 96 percent of Mississippians who had left are coming back."

WLOX-TV - The News for South Mississippi: Higgins Boat Salvaged From Hurricane Debris

WLOX-TV - The News for South Mississippi: Higgins Boat Salvaged From Hurricane Debris: "They are the military landing craft made famous by the D-Day beach invasion of World War Two. That's why 'Higgins Boats' hold a special place in our military's history.

One such boat that almost became hurricane debris is headed for a military museum instead.

'We move disabled equipment. Transport it back in for repair. This just happens to be a World War Two boat,' said commander Mark Prine, as he directed his troops.

National guard troops prepare to salvage a Higgins Boat. Hurricane Katrina deposited the landing craft near a canal off North Street."

WLOX-TV - The News for South Mississippi: PA Elected Officials Cross State And Party Lines After Katrina

WLOX-TV - The News for South Mississippi: PA Elected Officials Cross State And Party Lines After Katrina: "Bill Keller and Tom Tigue are used to working together on the ' house floor' but it's usually the floor of the Pennsylvania House of Representatives and not the inside a Biloxi home damaged in Hurricane Katrina.

Rep. Tom Tigue said 'Government can do so much and after that it takes people. It takes a lot of people. Looking around here I mean there's groups from all over. That's the only way this is going to done.'"

WLOX-TV - The News for South Mississippi: Home

WLOX-TV - The News for South Mississippi: Home: "
Breaking News
Shots Fired At Capitol Office Building
Police sealed off the Capitol on Friday after receiving reports of gunfire in a House office building across the street. Capitol police are investigating ``the sound of gunfire in the garage level of the Rayburn House Office Building,'' said an announcement on the internal Capitol voice alarm system. The Senate was in session at the time, but the House was not."

The Sun Herald | 05/25/2006 | Former judge to deliver third shipment for the public good

The Sun Herald | 05/25/2006 | Former judge to deliver third shipment for the public good: "GULFPORT - A retired California judge who has spearheaded efforts to provide equipment and furnishings for courts and other public agencies on the Mississippi Gulf Coast was to be back today with a truckload of donated office furniture and computers."

Is Greed Replacing Good Will on the Post-Katrina Coast?

Is Greed Replacing Good Will on the Post-Katrina Coast?: "
Editor's Note: We received the following from a GCN reader:

Post Katrina Rifts
To the editor of GCN

An opinion of Eric Cox 5-16-06

I read your recent article on the situation with Mayor McDonald in the Pass and have recently seen rent prices in several neighborhoods I travel through in Biloxi. Tie this in with the reports on coast rebuilding and it is clear that the unity that existed in the aftermath of Katrina – one can only conclude that generosity and kindness – has become diversity glided with the dreams of quick riches."

The Sun Herald | 05/24/2006 | Elevations raised 4 feet

The Sun Herald | 05/24/2006 | Elevations raised 4 feet: "Once FEMA completes a review process that involves public comment, its recommended elevations will go from preliminary to final. When elevations are finalized, FEMA representatives have told the Biloxi council and other local government bodies that they must adopt the elevations or be dropped from the National Flood Insurance Program."

Chron.com | Life on the Gulf Coast on hold after hurricanes

Chron.com | Life on the Gulf Coast on hold after hurricanes: "PASCAGOULA, MISS. - Hurricanes derive their enormous power by harnessing the destructive forces of wind and water, and it matters not which weapon they use to obliterate a person's home.

More often than not, a combination of the two does the dirty work. And yet thousands of victims of Hurricane Katrina, more than six months after the storm, live in a state of limbo because billions of dollars in insurance claims ride on splitting that sin"

Chron.com | Gulf Coast still recovering (w/photo gallery)

Chron.com | Gulf Coast still recovering (w/photo gallery): "Not long after Hurricane Katrina, the Biloxi Sun Herald issued an emotional appeal to a nation seemingly preoccupied with New Orleans. Katrina — and later Rita — left hundreds of other communities in ruins, communities that now feel their plight has been forgotten. They, too, lost homes, friends and families.

Do not forsake us, the newspaper pleaded. Come down to the Mississippi Gulf Coast, because only when you have 'driven mile after numbing mile and viewed the complete nothingness where cities and homes and businesses once stood, only then will you begin to understand what has happened here.'"

WLOX-TV - The News for South Mississippi: The Island View Hotel Implosion

WLOX-TV - The News for South Mississippi: The Island View Hotel Implosion: "The Grand Casino Biloxi said goodbye to the Island View Hotel Sunday Morning.

Cherry Demolition out of Houston, Texas worked for three weeks to prepare what took seconds to take down. The implosion took place about 6:40 am Sunday.

400 pounds of dynamite were strategically placed in the pilings to make this implosion go off without a hitch."

AP Wire | 05/20/2006 | Traveling U.S. 90 reveals destruction, hard times left by Katrina

AP Wire | 05/20/2006 | Traveling U.S. 90 reveals destruction, hard times left by Katrina: "BILOXI, Miss. - Out-of-towners are easy to spot on U.S 90.

Their brake lights flicker as other cars and trucks blow by. Some lean out windows and snap photos. Others jerk the wheel without warning, pulling over to stare.

Generations of travelers have gazed at the eclectic sights along U.S. 90, from the high-rises in New Orleans to the marshlands of rural southeast Louisiana to the beachfront pastiche of antebellum homes and casinos on Mississippi's coast.

That was before Hurricane Katrina. Today, the highway spans the length of an enormous disaster that struck more than eight months ago but, from the look of much of it, could have hit yesterday."