Debbie Elliott

Massive Sinkhole In Louisiana Baffles Officials

Debbie Elliott — Wed, 20 Mar 2013 20:58:00 +0000

Louisiana officials are grappling with a giant sinkhole that's threatening a neighborhood. A salt mine collapsed last year, creating a series of problems regulators say they've never seen before, including tremors and oil and gas leaks and a sinkhole that now covers 9 acres.

Residents have been evacuated for more than seven months now and are losing patience.

Ernie Boudreaux lives in a trailer on Jambalaya Street in Bayou Corne, La. Strange things have been happening to his home, he says.

"It cracks. You can hear it.

Alabama Divided As Court Prepares To Hear Voting Rights Challenge

Debbie Elliott — Mon, 25 Feb 2013 22:01:00 +0000

This week, the U.S. Supreme Court takes up a challenge to the 1965 Voting Rights Act.

Mardi Gras Merriment Beyond Bourbon Street Festivities

Debbie Elliott — Tue, 12 Feb 2013 17:53:00 +0000

It's Fat Tuesday, the final day of indulgence before the fasting and penance of Lent begins.

Drought Causes Ripple Effect Along Mighty Mississippi River

Debbie Elliott — Wed, 30 Jan 2013 00:43:00 +0000

The persistent drought is raising questions about how the Mississippi River is managed — both upstream and down.

While cargo traffic upriver has gotten lots of attention, the drought is creating a different set of problems downriver at the mouth of the Mississippi, where saltwater has encroached.

An old-fashioned staff river gauge behind the New Orleans district office of the U.S.

Cigarette Makers Frustrated As Product Approvals Stall

Debbie Elliott — Fri, 11 Jan 2013 22:31:00 +0000

It's been only a few years since Congress granted the federal government the power to approve how tobacco products are made and sold in the U.S.

The Food and Drug Administration's new Center for Tobacco Products, established under a 2009 law that gives the agency jurisdiction over tobacco, must review all new cigarettes or smokeless tobacco, as well as any changes to existing brands.

But the agency has yet to clear any products under the new system, and some cigarette makers are frustrated by the backlog of applications.

The FDA typically evaluates new drugs and other products with a "sa

Federal-State Tug Of War: Drawing The Lines In Immigration Overhaul

Debbie Elliott — Mon, 17 Dec 2012 22:13:00 +0000

Inside a modest storefront in Loxley, Ala., 18-year-old Maria Lola Melisio points out the Mexican spices and other products for sale in her mother's market.

"There are the leaves where you make your tamales — you roll them up in that," she says.

Melisio has long dark curls and is wearing a houndstooth scarf in support of the Alabama Crimson Tide. When she was 7 years old, she entered the U.S. illegally from Mexico with her mother, and still has a scar on her back from crawling under the border fence.

Contract Ban, Civil Litigation Add To BP's Woes

Debbie Elliott — Thu, 29 Nov 2012 12:33:00 +0000

Transcript

DAVID GREENE, HOST:

It's MORNING EDITION, from NPR News. I'm David Greene.

RENEE MONTAGNE, HOST:

And I'm Renee Montagne.

The multinational oil firm BP is being taken to account for the massive 2010 spill in the Gulf of Mexico. Yesterday, the Obama administration banned BP from any new contacts with the federal government, citing, quote, "a lack of business integrity" related to the spill - that after BP admitted criminal wrongdoing in its recent settlement with the U.S. Justice Department.

But that's not the end of it for BP.

BP Settlement Of Little Comfort To Some, A 'Down Payment' To Others

Debbie Elliott — Thu, 15 Nov 2012 19:22:00 +0000

There's mixed reaction this afternoon to the news that BP has agreed to a deal with federal authorities to pay $4.5 billion in criminal and civil penalties related to the 2010 Gulf Oil spill.

Massachusetts Rep. Ed Markey, the top Democrat on the House Natural Resources Committee, calls the fines and penalties appropriate.

Ala. Racist Language Measure Draws Unexpected Foes

Debbie Elliott — Fri, 02 Nov 2012 09:04:00 +0000

State-mandated segregation is a thing of the past in Alabama, but the state's antiquated 1901 constitution paints a different picture.

The 'Ten Commandments Judge' Wants His Seat Back

Debbie Elliott — Sat, 27 Oct 2012 10:18:00 +0000

Republican Roy Moore, Alabama's controversial "Ten Commandments Judge," is back on the ballot this year, running for chief justice of the Alabama Supreme Court — despite being removed from that office nearly a decade ago.

In a state as red as they come, he is facing last-minute Democratic challenger Bob Vance, who is reaching out to moderate Republicans turned off by Moore's politics.

Moore has been on the front lines of the culture wars since the 1990s, when, as an Alabama circuit judge, he displayed a small wooden plaque of the Ten Commandments in his Gadsden courtroom.