Getting the green light: Mayor Kip Holden will host a ribbon-cutting ceremony for the Comite Drive project at 10 a.m. Thursday in front of Rite Aid in the Brookwood Village Shopping Center, 12308 Plank Road. The ceremony marks the 22nd completed roadway construction project for the Green Light Plan. With a total construction cost of $11.8 million, the completed Comite Drive project widens the previous two-lane open ditch roadway and provides a two-lane, curb-and-gutter roadway with a continuous center turn lane from Plank Road to the Comite River. The project includes sidewalks on both sides of the Comite Drive, a widened six-foot shoulder for enhanced bicycle access along the roadway, and the installation of a new public sanitary sewer system to address current and future capacity needs for the area.
Getting the green: Louisiana is receiving another $390 million in federal hazard mitigation money to raise homes and make other improvements to protect against future hurricanes. The money comes from the Federal Emergency Management Agency. U.S. Sen. Mary Landrieu says Louisiana had been shortchanged in the hazard mitigation program after hurricanes Katrina and Rita. She says the state has received about $1.4 billion in hazard mitigation money for the 2005 storms, before the latest add-on funding. Gov. Bobby Jindal says the money will be divided among parishes based on their level of damage, and local leaders will decide on spending plans. The dollars can be used for home elevation, installation of storm shutters and hurricane-proof windows, levee and drainage repairs, and other storm-related projects.
One-two punch: BP has lost two big rulings in its fight to shield itself from potentially having to pay billions of dollars more in damages related to the worst offshore oil spill in U.S. history. A federal judge ruled today that BP is not entitled to coverage under insurance policies totaling $750 million held by Transocean, owner of the Deepwater Horizon rig that BP was leasing at the time of the April 2010 Gulf of Mexico disaster. The same judge ruled Monday that Alabama and Louisiana can pursue punitive damages against BP and other companies. A civil trial addressing hundreds of spill lawsuits is scheduled for February to assign shares of fault to the companies involved and determine whether Transocean can limit what it pays those making claims under maritime law.
