New Orleans La

Two men pleaded guilty to charges that resulted from a federal investigation of New Orleans government corruption during Mayor Marc Morial's administration. Former city property management director Kerry DeCay and restaurant owner Stan "Pampy" Barre, a Morial confidant, each could get up to 20 years in prison for conspiracy, mail fraud and obstruction of justice. The charges stemmed from a $65-million energy management contract awarded to Johnson Controls Inc. in 2002.

The often-contentious relationship between historic preservationists and private homeowners has flared up here in recent weeks, as activists determined to save the city's distinct architecture face off against Hurricane Katrina victims who can't afford to repair architecturally significant homes -- and need a place to live.

To some, the four sprawling three-story brick complexes may not look like real estate worth fighting over. But with inhabitable housing of any kind at a premium here, the fate of New Orleans' four largest public housing complexes -- St. Bernard, C.J. Peete, B.W. Cooper and Lafitte -- is at the center of another battle in the city's turbulent efforts to reshape its future. The U.S.

Mayor C. Ray Nagin is way beyond caring whether President Bush mentioned New Orleans in his State of the Union address Tuesday night. "We're 18 months into this thing. I'm tired of complaining and bellyaching," Nagin said Wednesday when asked about the speech at a news conference. The city continues its struggle to recover from Hurricane Katrina, which pummeled New Orleans in August 2005, and some observers thought the absence of Katrina recovery from Bush's speech was telling.

Rod Stewart, Norah Jones, Ludacris, ZZ Top, Bonnie Raitt and Brad Paisley will join New Orleans favorites such as Irma Thomas, Dr. John and Allen Toussaint as headliners for this year's New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival. The festival, spanning two weekends in April and May, will feature hundreds of the city's most beloved musicians and a host of national headliners at the New Orleans Fair Grounds.

Mayor C. Ray Nagin, seeking to reassure his city, provided an update Friday on steps officials were taking to combat a surge in violent crime -- including increasing the use of surveillance cameras, placing more police on foot patrols and setting up a blitz of random traffic checkpoints. But many residents, frightened and angered by the crime wave that has left at least 14 dead since Jan. 1, said they were reserving judgment on the initiatives until they produced concrete results.

Sen. Barack Obama criticized the Bush administration Monday for the slow pace of Hurricane Katrina recovery efforts, saying reconstruction no longer seemed to be a White House priority. "There is not a sense of urgency in this administration to get this done," said Obama (D-Ill.), who is weighing a run for president. "You get a sense that will has been lacking in the last several months."

The Orleans Parish district attorney's office announced Thursday it would not seek the death penalty for four police officers charged with murder in a shooting on a city bridge after Hurricane Katrina. Dist. Atty. Eddie Jordan still plans to try Sgts. Kenneth Bowen and Robert Gisevius, Officer Anthony Villavaso and former Officer Robert Faulcon on first-degree murder charges, and they could spend the rest of their lives in prison if found guilty in the shooting deaths of two men.

A federal judge in New Orleans ruled that residents of areas heavily flooded when Hurricane Katrina's floodwaters were funneled down a New Orleans navigation channel can sue the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. U.S. District Judge Stanwood Duval rejected the corps' argument that U.S. law protects federal agencies from lawsuits when flood control projects fail.

Blair Boutte, the co-owner of AAAA Bail Bonds, said he used to feel comfortable putting up thousands of dollars to get accused criminals out of jail because he always knew how to find them. In this highly parochial city, all it typically took was a stroll through their old neighborhood -- and a trip to Momma's house. "We were bonding these guys out because Momma had been living in the Lower 9th Ward or Lakeview or Gentilly for 25 years," Boutte said.