in dozens of ceremonies this weekend, katrina survivors remember katrina's dead and their own true grit. katrina was the near death of a major city. americans elsewhere watched spellbound and outraged. the desperation... >> and they will not give us nothing. >> they're shooting you for water. >> reporter: ...the martial law... >> hey! >> reporter: ...the air-sea rescues. for days, thousands of people scared and scarred were cut off from hope itself. ( cheers and applause ) joyce is the face of this city's never-say-die spirit. on katrina's anniversary weekend, she finally got her house back, rebuilt by volunteers. >> this is my hallway. ah, a tub! a bathtub. >> reporter: she's earned a good, long soak. for almost five years, this was home: a fema trailer on her front lawn. >> and i'm forever grateful that i can get back in my house today. >> this is my friends forever. >> reporter: that gratitude and resilience also mark this march through the city's lower ninth ward. but three-fourths of the homes here were never rebuilt. 100,000 people who fled the city have never come back, and almos

about katrina. you had this guy call from mississippi probably have an iq of a 2-year he had these right wingers telling the government to get out my way. they go on and on. thank you for letting me have my talk. >> there has been that point of many saying get government out of my life accept when that's a difficult thing for them to wrestle with i'm sure. host: it has had an incredible siek log cal boost. we had an incredible amount of tourism. all hotels were full during superbowl weekend. huge saints fans and thrilled that they are here. caller: i'm one of your right wing idiots. host: thank you for being loyal, we pressure point of view and everyone else. caller: i have to give you a compliment. i have watched you since 1988. about 30 20 years i'd say about. you haven't aged a day. you must live a very clean life. i'm serious about this. allison, i have the pin that most of the people in the ninth ward were renters. after katrina, they moved to texas. a lot of them to arkansas. they got reestabl

new orleans five years after katrina. we'll look at those working so hard here at things like education and health care. >>> and you may know him as brad pitt, but around here in the lower ninth ward he's known as the guy making new homes available for families. the guy making new homes available for families. "nightly news" begins now. captions paid for by nbc-universal television >>> good evening. this is it. we are back in the lower ninth ward tonight, the one iconic post katrina new orleans neighborhood people have heard about all over the world. the old neighborhood was all still here in place five years ago tonight. that's because katrina was still offshore in the gulf, bearing down, but still at least two days out. the flood wall behind us is new. when the old one failed, this neighborhood got blown to pieces, washed away. it became, as we said, an icon for the damage and the suffering. we'll see how the lower ninth ward is faring in just a moment. we want to begin tonight instead with the economy. we got more evid

that bp was president obama's katrina. and it's also getting baked in that the administration was slow off the mark. is that unfair? >> it's just not accurate. if you take a look at our response, the only thing in common we had with the katrina response was thad allen who came in and helped to organize rescue efforts and he did so under katrina. he did so for us. but if you look, we had immediately, thousands of vessels, tens of thousands of people who are here. and what we're seeing now is we've got a lot more work to do. but the fact is because of the sturdiness and swiftness of the response, there's a lot less oil hitting these shores and beaches than anybody would have anticipated, given the volume ha was coming out of the bp oil well. >> let's talk about another topic that's part of the firment here. and everywhere. and that's the economy. "the new york times" said this weekend, president obama has another new plan on the economy. now would be a good time to find out about it. do you have anything new on the economy w

if we had another hurricane katrina, it would be over top. >> reporter: after hurricane katrina, congress authorized the army corps of engineers to redesign and rebuild the levee system to be able to withstand another 100-year storm, the rough equivalent of a category three hurricane. >> all things are possible, given the mission and the financial backing to do it. >> reporter: that $14 billion hurricane and storm damage risk reduction system is on track to be completed by next june. no one would blame new orleanians for not trusting the levees or the government or anything about tomorrow. it may be why they live for today. of course hurricane katrina didn't just hit new orleans. it hit the entire gulf coast. among other places, it clobbered mississippi to the east of us here. then rita came along a month later. there, like here, things are better in some ways, not as good as others. we all made many trips there to cover the damage. our own ron mott spent a lot of time in mississippi following the storm and in the year since, he is with us from there tonight in a community that became spe

during katrina, this superdome was a symbol of despair. now rebuilt, it shows how far this city has come. summertime and the living is easier in new orleans. the saints are n.f.l. champions. their superdome is an icon of the city's rebirth. that was unthinkable back in 2005. new orleans was drowning. 24,000 katrina refugees wandered into the superdome and were trapped inside horror. >> it was an absolute cesspool. just a living hell. >> reporter: doug thornton, the superdome's general manager, recalls the building itself was left for dead. how damaged was this roof in the end? >> 70% of the roof membrane was blown off. >> reporter: rebuilding would cost $250 million. naysayers included thornton's own wife denice. >> spend millions of dollars to rebuild a stadium when most of the people are homeless. it didn't make sense. >> reporter: but it did to city and state leaders. to jump start downtown business and inspire others to rebuild. 13 months after katrina, the superdome had a new roof, new field, new life. a huge success. >> it was like e

>>> coming up, five years after hurricane katrina, one church's journey from destruction to new life. >> the church is here and the church now has a hope and a future. >>> and when interfaith marri e marriages end in separation or divorce, what happens to the children's religious upbringings? >> the parents need to make the decisions about the religious upbringing, otherwise is child is caught in the middle. >>> lily endowment, dedicated to its founders interest in religion, community development and education. additional funding by mutual of america, designed and cuss tommized individual and group retirement products, that's why we're your retirement company.com. also by the henry luce foundation and the corporation for public broadcasting. >>> welcome, i'm fred de sam lazaro, sitting in for bob abernethy. thanks for joining us. >>> a federal judge this week dealt a setback to president obama's policy on embryonic stem cell research. the judge said that the current policy violates a law prohibiting federal money for research in which human embryos are destroyed. several conservative

like katrina that actually hits new orleans. a storm that comes west of the city and certainly if it was a little slower would overtop many of the levy systems . >> brown: john barry, what's an example of the structural changes that you see that would make things better in the next storm? >> well, the real focus there would be not so much raising the levees more, although that would be part of it. but it would be rebuilding the coast, the louisiana's lost 2,300 square miles of land, most of in the the last 50 years, because of all sorts of man-made interventions. now, that's more than the state of delaware. if you put delaware between new orleans and the ocean, we wouldn't needny levees at all. so what we really need to do is rebuild the coast which has eroded for the benefit of the shipping industry, which means interstate and international commerce and the oil industry which is dredge canals through the marsh primarily. and even, you know, the land here was all built by the deposit of sediment in the mississippi river. and the

with katrina, we made a lot of mistakes. >> reporter: wheel hurricane katrina left its mark on new orleans, the people of the city will tell you they're defined by something else, resilience, and after five years, the sights and sounds of the city reborn or everywhere. >> in new orleans, samantha hays. >> carolyn: here in san francisco, a new orleans native screened her documentary about the aftermath of hurricane katrina. in the movie, the film maker returns to new orleans to document the impact the disaster had on her family. >> basically, the whole gamut of what has been happening in new orleans through the eyes of my family, and i guess what i would like to take from it is that human beings have been affected by this. not just buildings. >> carolyn: it included appearances by al sharpton and then-senator president barack b. >>> after a relatively cool weekend, we are due for some changes. leigh glaser will let us know when to expect the forecast. >> mike: giants and a's on the winning slate, and the raiders have injury issues for a couple of key south of laredo, there's a place... gott

about katrina. you had this guy call from mississippi probably have an iq of a 2-year he had these right wingers telling the government to get out my way. they go on and on. thank you for letting me have my talk. >> there has been that point of many saying get government out of my life accept when that's a difficult thing for them to wrestle with i'm sure. host: it has had an incredible siek log cal boost. we had an incredible amount of tourism. all hotels were fl during superbowl weekend. huge saints fans and thrille that they are here caller: i'm one of your right wing idiots. host: thank you for being loyal, we pressure point of view and everyone else. caller: i have to give you a compliment. i have watched you since 1988. about 30 20 years i'd say about. you haven't aged a day. you must live a very clean life. i'm serious about this. allison, i have the pin that most of the people in the ninth ward were this is my opinion. i think the churches and volunteers haveot gotten enough creditor wt they

one house did not a flood during katrina. they found a natural way on higher ground to deal with it. we learned host: what is happening as far as the neighborhood's where the of levies are being rebuilt? guest: it depends where you go. there is one active area where they put everything back the way it was. if you go out too late to you, there has been a tremendous boom in the building. people are elevating their homes. it is a mixed bag as you go out to some of the other areas like saint bernard and the ninth board. --ward. there are areas of new orleans that are still vibrant. this will be reported by the brookings institute and the kaiser institute. there are a lot of differences. i was reading comment the other day by a man who bought house on the 17th straight canal. he did that because he felt confident in what was being put in the ground now compared to before. that is a measure of the choices people are making. host: are democrats line, go ahead caller: i would like to say first that i am from new orleans. i have been

was katrina and we made a lot of mistakes. >> hurricane katrina left its mark on your list. love the city say they are divided by something else resilience. after five years, the sights and city of the office reborn are everywhere. in norland science and math that pays kron4 news. >> many of people that evacuated have not returned home. the metro of that area's as a hundred 40,000 fewer residents since katrina. area it would talk to them about what they have not come back. >> our house was completely under water and we're on the roof on the building next door. it was horrendous. we were lucky in as much as we did have to go down to the superdome and we do not go to the convention center. so we did not have that horror. but what we went through was as horrible as anything i've ever experienced. >> it was a long hard road that what diane evans owner grandson from new orleans. as terrible as their experience was. evacuating their neighbor city they do one go back. but the cab because there's a lot of housing. five years later and is still the number-one housing in america for a

katrina fatigue is a symptom almost. it is something i think we perhaps do not want to think about because it exposes a united states we do not want to be in. we think of ourselves as a kennedy nation, a nation that sees our problems and addresses them. this flies in the face of that. politicians think that their own constituents do not even really care about it. that is not helpful. however one can make noise as an ordinary citizen. >> one element of that story that i want to make sure is hard -- is heard is that the people of america have done a lot to help us. our gratefulness for that can never properly be expressed. we have had 1 million volunteers, and gunmen, help us dig out, put their arms around a -- volunteers, come in, help us dig out, but their arms around us, fed and clothed us. amidst all of the-that happened, there was an enormous amount of good -- amidst all the bad that happened, there was an enormous amount of good that happened. people of every religious and ethnic group put their shoulder into it. som

and post-katrina, here you are with, what, 60% charter schools. the teacher's union says, oh, that's great, except they've tossed the teachers union out of all of those places, and you can't educate kids on charter schools alone. >> let me say this. i know senator landrieu had a lot to do with this particular movement. the fact of the matter is, whether they're charter schools or public schools, in the city of new orleans we have the most innovative change that's going on in public education anywhere in america. in the last three years alone, our student scores have gone up in every category, and it is, in fact, an amazing story. the other day the president announced, and senator landrieu made a change to get this to happen, they've physically rebuilt every school in the city of new orleans. now, i wouldn't have said it the way the secretary said it. some say it was a great opportunity. i think it comes out wrong. i think it gave us the responsibility of building back something that never should have gotten to where it was before. it's a huge resp

we have graduated 520 pharmacist's cents katrina. -- since katrina. like somebody is coming to a gold mine in saying, whoa, i have been looking for pharmacists. tavis: how is it that xavier has become the greatest producer of pharmacists of all colors? how was it your number-one at producing pharmacists in the country? >> we are the no. 1 producer of african-americans to go to medical school, period, and that was true even before katrina. 30 years ago, we read about minorities not going to medical school, and a group of faculty member said, hey, we have been doing this all our lives, but we can increase this. we started summer programs and brought high-school kids in, and they did what that sign said. we talked students how to think analytically. we talk the math, chemistry, biology, and it worked like a charm -- we taught them math, chemistry, biology, and it worked like a charm. tavis: i have always been amazed and a city where there is such abject poverty, since this jewel called xavier that produces so many pharmacists and since so many african-am

this weekend is the anniversary of hurricane katrina. we're there with stories of resilience and rebirth and the music that's helped keep the region going. >>> and it was that long ago. it's still so vivid in all of our minds here, throughout the country. katrina crashing ashore. the weekend vigils and memorials are under way. and a visit from president obama, as the people of the gulf coast remember the fury of the storm we'd all like to forget. our bob woodruff is in new orleans, with a look at what is happening there five long years later. ron, just want to take this time to welcome you to this side of the anchor desk. >> i'm here every weekend. but see what it's like on this side today. >>> also in the news, a really rough week for the economy, topped off on friday, with a grim report that's growing at a much slower pace than we thought. do the fed and the white house have any weapons in their arsenal to help revive the economic recovery? we'll have a look. >>> and we have more on the 33 miners trapped thousands of feet underground i

. >>> five years ago today hurricane katrina ripped through new orleans. we'll relive the devastation through the eyes of i member of a bay area rescue team. >>> plus the latest on eye wildfire burning in yuba county. have firefighters made progress. >>> a 100-year-old theater about to be shuttered gets a reprieve. we have the details. the 10:00 news continues in 90 seconds. . >>> five years ago today, hurricane katrina roared ashore, causing widespread devastation along the gulf coast. more than 1800 lives were lost and communicates were left in ruins. new orleans suffered the biggest blow and today president obama joined residents and vowed to tcp/ip to lepthe struggling region reboil. trace gallagher reports. >> reporter: president obama and first lady michelle visit newly constructed homes were others were toppled by hurricane katrina. five years after the deadly storm they sit with maud smith in her living room. she had to be rescued with a boat in the flood. earlier, promises from president to a jubilant crowd at xavier university. >> my administrati

five years after katrina one woman helping build. a ew cbs news poll find more than one in three americans now believe the economy is in permanent decline. i'm erica hill. also tonight, those tainted eg eggs. the recall expands as more cases of salmonella are reported, and now investigators think they actually know how the eggs were contaminated. they survived a mine collapse in chile, but just how cow do you keep 33 men from going crazy in the months it will take to rescue them. and five years after katrina, new hope is springing up one tree at a time. from cbs news world headquarters in new york, this is the "cbs evening news" with katie couric. >> good evening. katie it off tonight. we begin with an attitude check on the american public. just 68 days before the critical midterm elections. a cbs news poll is just out, and it finds fewer than half, just 48%, approve of the job president obama is doing. that is, though, a four-point improvement over last month. on the top issue this election year, there has been a sharp increase in t

his favorite uncle died in katrina. he decided to stay behind and ride out the storm and didn't make it. the rest of his family members have all decided to return home. he is the only one here still with his young children. right now he works as a youth counselor and says he calls this his home. reporting live in oakland, christie smith, nbc bay area news. >> i bet he could give a lot of motivational speeches to the youth he counsels. thank you very much. >> thank you. >>> new this morning, hundreds of thousands of pakistanis are fleeing the country as flooding gets worse there. the united nations says as many as a million people were displaced when a levee broke flooding new areas. the pakistani taliban has hinted it may attack foreign aid worker there's to help. a spokesman for the taliban says american and other western aide workers are not really there to help, but rather they have other motives, though he did not specify what those motives were. >>> palestinian muslims are being turned away from jerusalem where tho

ha aprendido a ver a katrina de otra forma y como allá hasta tuvo que volver a establecer un record médico >>> si no fuera por katrina, ella se hubiera muerto, así que, bendita sea, salvó la vida de mi mamá >>> es la directora de la cámara de comercio de new orleans al igual que ella, decidieron no abandonar esta hermosa ciudad en new orleans, univisión >>> volvemos en un momento más, con lo que sucede en chile, ♪ [ m ú s n todas las gangas -- bueno -- casi... porque no sabe que puede ahorrar si prepara y declara sus impuestos electrónicamente. todos pueden usar e-file gratuitamente. vaya a www.freefile.irs.gov para obtener programas gratuitos y ver otras opciones de free file. en cuanto a sara, ya se enterará. vamos ahora en chile, donde están abierto un ducto, para extraer a los 33 mineros. incluso la ayuda de los mineros atrapados >>> la máquina que debería iniciar la acción del rescate, debió comenzar su trabjo sin el martillo, que llegó retrasado de alemania >>> de 6 a 12 pulgadas, se hace esta perforación, después de eso, esta máquina, una especie de rodil

it was rough. >> narrator: hurricane katrina had hit the new orleans police department hard. >> katrina hit on august 29, sometime mid-day on august 30, we lost complete communications. >> narrator: warren riley was second in command of the nopd at the time of the storm. >> we were unprepared. the city was covered by water. we had no power, no lights. our radio system went down, our backup system failed. and we lost complete command and control of the police department. >> we were dealing with a police force that was completely inundated with lack of resources. and it was clear that we were having some civil societal breakdown. >> tension mixed with temptation on tuesday as those trapped in a city of rising water took survival into their own hands. >> narrator: quickly news reports were saturated with a lasting image of katrina-- the looter. >> looting in new orleans. shots have been fired. >> downtown new orleans became a looter's free-for-all. >> they represent a frightening breakdown of law and order. >> narrator: but early media reports were exaggerated. >> there was chaos on canal

>>> this morning on "early today," remembering katrina. the gulf coast marks the anniversary of the storm that shook the nation five years ago. >>> free at last. jimmy carter comes to the rescue of an american detd in north korea. >>> under the sea. spectacular new images of underwater creatures off the spectacular new images of underwater creatures off the coast of indonesia. captions paid for by nbc-universal television >>> hello and good morning. welcome to our viewers across the nation, including the pacific time zone. i'm lynn berry and today we begin with five years later. hurricane katrina moved into the gulf of mexico five years ago this week before growing into one of the most devastating hurricanes in u.s. history. nbc's jay gray is in new orleans where the city that was hardest hit is still struggling to recover. jay, good morning. >> reporter: good morning, lynn. a testimony to the violent power of the storm, the definitetation that still lingers here. katrina almost as strong as the unbreakable spirit of the survivors here. th

. >>> five years after katrina. a city of pain, survival, persistence and hope for recovery early this saturday persistence and hope for recovery early this saturday morning, august 28th, 2010. captioning funded by cbs >>> hi, everyone, welcome to the early show. i'm chris wragge. >> good morning. i'm erica hill. >> of course we will go to washington for a little preview of today's big glenn beck rally. and paris hilton busted for cocaine in las vegas. a report on that as well. >> first we head to new orleans where dave price is standing by. of course it's the five-year anniversary of hurricane katrina. dave, good morning. >> good morning to both of you. it's hard to believe it has been five years. there's a clear line of demarkation here, not only in the landscape of new orleans and the gulf coast but in the lives of the people who live here. there is life before katrina and life after. we'll look back and we'll examine where we are now and it's all coming up in the next two hours or so. in the meantime, chris, bac

and katrina five years later. the storm hit with might and force cutting a 100-mile path of destruction across the gulf coast. in her wake, the levees broke devastating new orleans. with pride and determination, this city is fighting back, but there's still a long way to go. "today," friday, august 27, 2010. captions paid for by nbc-universal television >>> and good morning, everyone. welcome to "today" on a friday morning. a special edition of our show, a split edition, from new orleans and new york. i'm matt lauer in the lower ninth ward here in new orleans. al roker, by the way, has also made his way to the crescent city. we'll join him over in the french quarter in just a little while. >>> and i'm ann curry in new york, matt. as we mark the fifth anniversary of hurricane katrina, there is trouble looming in the atlantic as you just mentioned, matt. hurricane danielle became a major category 4 storm overnight. while it's not expected to make landfall in the u.s., there are two other systems including earl to ke

this is, of course, the fifth anniversary of katrina, hurricane katrina, and in new orleans there will be memorials, music, even a presidential speech, and as he was five years ago, bob woodruff is there. good morning, bob. >> reporter: good morning, ron. the president will be arriving here just in a few hours early this afternoon. you can see it is just raining now. it's been raining really nonstop throughout this weekend. so people have been having a lot of events not only on the streets outside but inside because what the people really want to say is good-bye to katrina. ♪ as the saints go marching in >> reporter: in st. bernard's parish just outside the city residents gathered to say good-bye to hurricane katrina and good riddance to the grief left behind. >> i've put it to bed, you know, and i'm ready to move on. >> reporter: nearly everyone here felt the sting of katrina, so they staged a mock funeral to help this community finally let go. >> i must say that today was the first time when the casket was closed that there was an applause. >> reporter: sharon williams in new orlea

and i was there after katrina. they were the life preserver for the whole city and for anybody associated with new orleans. they were just the lifeline, man, and the fact that they won the super bowl is just -- they didn't have to do that. they just had to show up and play for us, but the fact that they won it really was special. it was a real bonus. >> larry: did you know, harry, there are many people that had doubts that new orleans could recover. there was some who even thought whether it should be rebuilt. how did you feel about that when you heard that? >> i didn't pay much mind to it, larry. you know, when you walk door to door and you go to neighborhoods, it's just too vibrant of a city, it's too intricate and complex of a city, the history here is too vast and too deep to even consider things like that. i'm sure that there are reasonable people that had some reasonable projections about the future of new orleans, but none of those could include not trying to rebuild the city and make it better than it was b

. >>> five years ago today hurricane katrina ripped through new orleans. we'll relive the devastation through the eyes of i member of a bay area rescue team. >>> plus the latest on eye wildfire burning in yuba county. have firefighters [ female announcer swiffer sweeper is 2 in 1. it sweeps and it mops. your old broom just can't compare. [ funny voice hey, broom! wanna sweep and mop like swiffer sweeper? then try the mop club for brooms! designed to look natural, even when wet. ♪ [ female announcer sorry, broom, but swiffer sweeper's electrostatic dry cloths attract and lock more dirt than a broom. and the dirt dissolving wet cloths clean better than a mop, or your money back. ♪ she blinded me with science . >>> five years ago today, hurricane katrina roared ashore, causing widespread devastation along the gulf coast. more than 1800 lives were lost and communicates were left in ruins. new orleans suffered the biggest blow and today president obama joined residents and vowed to tcp/ip to lepthe struggling region reboil. trace gallagher reports. >> repor

the data shows new orleans is less poor now after katrina. and you hear people talk about, well, the city's better, it's newer, it's more vibrant, and somewhere h in there i hear code words. do you hear code words is this. >> i hear code -- i've been hearihea hearing code word since katrina. why rebuild in new orleans. certain people shouldn't come back. i've said this very consistently. i think race and class are definitely in play here in  katrina. if this had happened in orange county, california, south beach, florida, i think there would have been a different response. as an american, i'm not proud to say that. but i think it was real. >> former mayor ray nagin, our conversation. julia reed is a contributing editor for news week magazine. julia, good morning. good to see you. >> hi, there. >> what's going through your mind five years later? you were just settling into a house, cause back at the beginning of the recovery when folks were just starting to trickle in. what goes through your mind now? >> oh, goodness. kay back just a few day

and post-katrina. before this storm, this was a cultural center. filled with all that you could see, all that you could taste, all that you could hear. but in the days, months and years after the storm, there was a question whether all of that would survive. >> reporter: new orleans has always been defined by its music and its food. but it will also forever be identified with the legacy of katrina. and its long struggle back from near destruction. >> it's hard not to think about that storm every day. >> reporter: jeremy davenport has been playing jazz here for more than two decades. after the hurricane, he left with nothing. >> it was a nightmare. i left with a pair of underwear and a t-shirt and toothbrush. my life as i knew it disappeared. as soon as those levees broke. >> reporter: but he did return to utter devastation. >> i remember -- i remember that feeling of lawlessness. i mean, you could drive 100 miles an hour down the road because there was no one here. >> reporter: new orleans had been dea

folks who survived katrina are proud now. they have weathered the test of a lifetime. >> this is all over. >> smith: still to come, author kitty kelley tells all. >> you have to examine the most intimate parts of someone's life. ♪ just a small town girl >> couric: but up next, they're playing our song. ,,,,,,, ♪ sweet caroline >> it's sunday morning on cbs and here again is harry smith. >> smith: among the most talkd- about nominees at tonight's emmy awards the tv show glee all about a high school chorus. it's nominated for 19 emmys. why the fuss? mo rocca now sings the praises of singing. >> reporter: how is this? trumpet playing high school sophomore. this star varsity football player. this german club enthusiast. and this 4-h member and wrestler connected. they're all members of central ohio's high school show choir. ♪ we're a special kind of choir known as show choir ♪ >> reporter: show choirs are nothing new, but with the popularity of singing competitions and a hit tv show about a glee club, they're riding a pop

katrina fatigue is a symptom almost. it is something i think we perhaps do not want to think about because it exposes a united states we do not want to be in. we think of ourselves as a kennedy nation, a nation that sees our problems and addresses them. this flies in the face of that. politicians think that their own constituents do not even really care about it. that is not helpful. however one can make noise as an ordinary citizen. >> one element of that story that i want to make sure is hard -- is heard is that the people of america have done a lot to help us. our gratefulness for that can never properly be expressed. we have had 1 million volunteers, and gunmen, help us dig out, put their arms around a -- volunteers, come in, help us dig out, but their arms around us, feand clothed us. amidst all of the-that happened, there was an enormous amount of good -- amidst all the bad that happened, there was an enormous amount of good that happened. people of every relious and ethnic group put their shoulder into it. some pe

also tonight, katrina five years later. new orleans rebuilds homes and storm barriers while some officials rerebuild their reputations. bucked eye battlefield. what the contest in one district in one state means for the midterm elections. and fast times in laguna beach. the latest crazy in california is speed boarding. >> just try to take corners as fast as we can. captioning sponsored by cbs this is the "cbs evening news" with jeff glor. >> glor: good evening. we begin tonight with two rallies in washington, and while neither was billed as political they mark two sides of a deep political divide. at the lincoln memorial, tens of thousands gathered to hear tea party favorites glenn beck and sarah palin. across town, civil rights lead leaders led by the reverend al sharpton held their own gathering. wrapping up the events tonight, nancy cordes in washington. nancy, good evening. >> reporter: jeff, good evening. according to a tally commissioned by cbs news, roughly 87,000 people gathered here at this event today, thronging b

three years after katrina? >> with his backpack on his back. >> in the end there was no safe refuge, not even the superdome. [ shouting ] >> we need help, sir. we really need help. >> some wondered if new orleans itself was dying. ♪ >> it didn't, and today signs of recovery abound. but leave it to that little boy from the convention center, now 14, to tell you how he sees it. >> i just wish that things would kind of be back to normal, and new orleans is not back to normal. you know, a lot of people may think that it is, but it's not. >> brian williams is in new orleans this morning where he is hosting "meet the press" on this fifth anniversary of katrina. good morning to you. >> good morning, lester. >> you know, i think back, brian, to the day before, you and i and a team of producers and technicians stepped off a plane in baton rouge. we split off in different directions. you were heading to the superdome. i don't think any of us quite comprehended what was about to happen. >> boy, have i thought about that

katrina fatigue is a symptom almost. it is something i think we perhaps do not want to think about because it exposes a united states we do not want to be in. we think of ourselves as a kennedy nation, a nation that sees our problems and addresses them. this flies in the face of that. politicians think that their own constituents do not even really care about it. that is not helpful. however one can make noise as an ordinary citizen. >> one element of that story that i want to make sure is hard -- is heard is that the people of america have done a lot to help us. our gratefulness for that can never properly be expressed. we have had 1 million volunteers, and gunmen, help us dig out, put their arms around a -- volunteers, come in, help us dig out, but their arms around us, fed and clothed us. amidst all of the-that happened, there was an enormous amount of good -- amidst all the bad that happened, there was an enormous amount of good that happened. people of every religious and ethnic group put their shoulder into it. som

three days earlier a weaker katrina slammed into southern florida causing 11 deaths. but what awaited the people of louisiana and mississippi and city of new orleans was much worse. the man who took the fall for the federal government's poor response former fema president returned to new orleans this week. and in the city's hardest-hit neighborhood, he spoke to me about how it all went so wrong. i think a lot of people would say, you've got a lot of nerve coming back to new orleans, and especially here in the ninth ward. to which you say? >> you know what? this is a significant portion of these people's lives, what happened to them, a significant portion of my life, too. i will always be a part of what happened here. i want to know what's going on and i want to comment about what's going on, or frankly, based on this, what's not going on. >> reporter: if you had to put your finger on one thing that you failed at, that somebody else failed at, that led to the horror show in this neighborhood, what would it be? >> the failure of, i think, both the federal government con

five years after hurricane katrina full streets in the lower ninth ward most devastated by katrina stand silent home still abandoned but others like this one are coming back they're going to miss one how they got another house you know for me it's one of the new and despite all the empty homes new orleans streets are filled with those who don't have one i started being homeless and it was three years ago. inside this mission to be. yet another kind of new orleans song is being sung. by some of the nine hundred thousand people in the city who are homeless we heard about the good train and all the other stuff that was long and my would guarantee jobs for it easy you know there'd be work to be available but there wasn't loretta smith is one of the many who came to new orleans after katrina looking for work but instead ended up on the streets is once you get to that point you have no idea how you come out of. people like her added to the city's overwhelming number of residents who ended up homeless in the aftermath. of the storm carol self lost everything in katrina she left the city tempora

is still affected by katrina five years later. my aunt is still building or home she's still in the trailer my sisters are still living in a home will grow up the we are static scattered it still dealing day to day with everything. there are so many positive things that came out of the storm as well. it's good to look at both sides. >> you explain some of the physical devastation to the emotional devastation has turned as well >> help families to start to realize if you didn't know already how much you love each other what you will do for each other. that was true for my family we had to pull together we had some times where there receive 11-15 people in our homes. so it goes to the strength of the human spirit. >> this is your first film as a filmmaker in you chose a personal topic. was it difficult to take yourself back and have your family dredge up these memories. >> seemed like the most natural choice i was going to jump into being a filmmaker and when this happened in made sense i wanted to do something that was cathartic wa

he left office this year and now gives speeches about his katrina experience. former louisiana governor kathleen blanko is writing her memoirs. army general russell honore, who is credited with restoring order to new orleans, is now retired and he wants the country to remember the lessons of katrina. and michael brown, he will always be connected with that one quote. >> brownie, you're doing a heck of a job. >> reporter: he resigned as head of fema two weeks after katrina. these days he hosts a radio program in denver. just some of the folks we got to know going back five years ago tonight. for now, that's our broadcast for this monday night. thank you for being here with us. i'm brian williams reporting tonight from new orleans. with a big thank you for the warmth and kindness the folks here have shown us and a lot of admiration for their fight. we'll look for you tomorrow night back home in new york. we'll look for you tomorrow night back home in new york. good night. -- captions by vitac -- www.vitac.com >>> jaws? in pacifica? witnesses watched a shark 20 fe