. >> reporter: a lot of people in louisiana think the b.p. spill might provide a unique opportunity to focus washington's attention on coastal erosion and perhaps even provide a way to pay some of the enormous cost of restoring those lost wetlands. >> there is a clean water act fine that is going to be enormous because it's assessed per barrel spilled. if that clean water violation is linked to criminal negligence the amount paid per barrel goes up. so we should be seeing billions of dollars penalizing b.p. under their clean water act violations. >> reporter: viles wants to use the money to remove some of the levees in the lower mississippi basin, and allow the river to resume its historic role of providing silt and fresh water. >> we need a lot more money. we need a lot larger projects and we need to be doing it strategically and science based to ensure that we can turn this problem around and start building land instead of losing land. >> reporter: portier says it's way past time the rest of the country woke up to what is happening. >> peop

but true to louisiana corruption and all the rest of the corruption, louisiana gets no money from all of the oil offshore. there are the fragile wetlands that i am praying at least that could be something that our president could say, i will give you some wetlands. but the mississippi river goes like any other river. rivers do not naturally go west, north. that is what the engineers will have to figure out how to do. tavis: what do you make of the fact that the state of louisiana has been victimized by corruption. that is to say that the people have been victimized. you have places with corruption and then you have this same place that has the wonderful gift of music and culture and art to the world. how do you square that one place can be corrupt but it has given us something so beautiful and incorruptible through culture? >> if you look at other countries that have had major corruption, they have also given great music. i don't care which one you want to go to pick. if you go to africa, if you want to go to the dominican republic, it is like this country has always shied away from h

louisiana delegation. so i really want to thank mr. boustany for his work on this resolution. frankly, on all issues related to louisiana's recovery from this disaster, he's been a great leader on issues for his state and this is one more example of that. with that, madam speaker, i would reserve the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman reserves the balance of his time. the gentlewoman from texas is recognized. ms. johnson: i reserve the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlewoman reserves the balance of her time. the gentleman from florida is recognized. mr. diaz-balart: madam speaker, at this time i would like to recognize the gentleman from louisiana, the sponsor of this resolution and a leader on these issues, the gentleman from louisiana, mr. boustany. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from louisiana is recognized. mr. boustany: thank you, madam speaker. and i thank my friend and colleague from florida for his kind words and we share the same sentiments with

jay gray, nbc news, venice, louisiana. >>> well, freed american hiker sarah shourd spoke out yesterday in defense of her fiance and a friend, both still captive in iran, calling their arrest and detention a quote, huge misunderstanding. shourd's comments were carefully constructed and timed to coincide with iranian president mahmoud ahmadinejad's visit to new york to address the u.n. general assembly. nbc's brian moore has the story. >> reporter: sarah shourd is ck on american soil. no longer an iranian prisoner, but still living a nightmare. >> and i stand before you today only one-third free. >> reporter: iran is preparing to try her fiance shane bauer and their hiking companion josh fattal, 13 months afterthe three were arrested near the iran/iraq border. >> we committed no crime, and we are not spies. >> reporter: reading a prepared statement, shourd thanked the religious and political leaders in iran for her release. >> the only thing that enabled me to cross the gulf from prison to freedom alone was the knowledge that shane and josh wanted, with all their hearts, for my suffering

the louisiana oil spill coordinator's office, the louisiana state police, the louisiana wildlife and fisheries department, the louisiana department of environmental quality. the governor's office of homeland security and preparedness. we did encounter many challenges with this unprecedented response but -- >> excuse me, captain, but would you please summarize. >> i'd say congratulations, mr. reilly, in my opinion it worked pretty well with all of the bumps and grinds and uglies at times. the people who study it and know it, knew pretty much what they were doing. the robust system of contractors. i'm very thankful for them and for the special teams that were created by the ncp and the national response system, navy, the national strike force, epa. all in all, i would call it a good -- a good if somewhat at times ugly response. >> thank you, captain. mr. doug suttles? >> thank you, commissioner graham. good morning. my name is doug suttles. i'm the chief operating officer for bp's exploration and production business. i was also bp's incident commander in unified area command through th

for more on that, we go to kristin dahlgren, live in louisiana with more. ood morning. >> good morning to you, lynn. day 150 and that relief well that they started drilling shortly after this a started has finally intersected with the mccondo well some 2 1/2 miles below the floor of the gulf. admiral thad allen said that the two wells were connected and that the next step was to pump mud and cement down into that well to permanely seal it off. obviously, great news for people in this area, but really just one step in their recovery. oil ctinues to wash ashore. and this week, thousands of dead fish. take a look at these pictures. looks almost like a graph grave there. scientists say it was caused by lack of oxygen and it's not uncommon here, but people are asng that the oil disbursants didn't play into that. tony hayward defended 's safety record this week as he testified in britain. he said there's no need to rethink deep water drilling. meantime, here in louisiana, there's also a push to lift that moratorium on deep water drilling and get drillers back to

>> new orleans, louisiana. >> new orleans, louisiana the yeah, let's hear it for the 504. how do you prepare for this whole darn thing here? >> practice. >> ok. that will get you to broadway but here you are in union square. ladies and gentlemen, two-time winner, mr. leonard oates. >> this is what i do every day. [ringing bells] >> leonard oates, ladies and gentlemen, reigning two-time champion mr. leonard oates. that completes the entire competition, ladies and gentlemen. let's hear it for everybody you heard today. the votes from the judges will now be tallied. that means up guys actually have to go to work now. we're going to name the tom three winners in the amateur and professional categories. the first place winner of the professional competition will take home a beautiful cable car bell with -- made by gilberto at the frens of the cable car museum. every year this man makes a beautiful cable car bell for this competition the mr. gad oy is pretty shy, he won't talk about his work but the craftsmanship speaks for itself the every bell every year is individually made b

louisiana has 14,000. meanwhile pear harvest is under way. now there's plenty of fruit but it will not a record breaker. according to reports production is down 11% from last year. cold weather did not help and despite the challenge marketers are ever hopeful. >> last year we were looking at the largest crop ever in a challenging economy. and ask still we had a great season. pear prices held firm. and it was a great season last year despite the challenges we were entering the the season with. we are expecting nothing different had this year. we are expecting to have a nice year. 84% of the pear crop is grown in or o-and washington however china is the global leader in pear production. time for the national forecast from mike hoffman. >>> well the jet stream this week showing big changes over what we have seen. a huge ridge out west that will hold the coming week and a big trough to start the week. it is a big trough nonetheless. it's chilly up across the northern states. if it will cut off in the middle of the country of the southeastern port

in los angeles, there's a lake charles louisiana club, eamon row louisiana club, multiple texas clubs, new orleans clubs. i would have to find a way to get access to them. and begin interviewing them. that's where you would get a group of people. there's the greenville, mississippi club, brook haven mississippi club. and in new york there are churches where everybody is from south carolina. >> i'm going to read a couple of things. you spent about 11 years with the "new york times." 1984-1985. you teach at boston university. you live in atlanta. i commute back and forth. >> you graduated from howard here and taught at harvard some and north. why did you leave journalism? >> i don't consider myself as having left journalism? >> why did you leave newspaper writing? >> i wanted to write this book. i wanted to explore the reasons why these people left. i wanted to understand who they were, why they did what they did and capture them before it was too late? it began in 1915 and ended in 1970. they were talking about at least three generations. time was running out. i felt this real press of

. >>> in louisiana, navy against louisiana tech. second quarter, navy down by six and i rickie dobs. and dobbs'irst pass of the season and we're tied at 13. fourth quarter, navy up 30-23 and they are doing what they normally do, run the ball and run the ball effectively. vince murray up the gut and 17 yards for the score and navy beats louisiana tech, 37-23. >>> talking baseball, nationals taking on the red-h hot if phillies. a runner on and this is a good piece of hitting. it goes opposite to the field and hustling around the bases, relay throw and desmond ends up third can an rbi triple. they get a 1-0 lead. bottom of the third and ryan howard with a man aboard, see ya! his 30th home run and that sets a record with five straight seasons with 30 homers and 100 rbis. the phillies in front, 4-1. top of the eighth, nats down by three and they fall. the phillies won six straight and they continue to play good baseball and they are now three up and have a three-game lead over the braves who is the team i root for. >> good to know. >> no

of the eastern district of louisiana will now come to order. with the adopt of senate resolution 458, this committee s appointed to perform the duties and exercise the powers ovided for in rule 11 of the rules of procedure and practice in the senate while sitting in impeachment trials. rule 11 requires this committee to receive evidenc and to take testimony on the four articles of impeachment which were presented to the senate by the house of representatives. following extensive pretrial proceedings, we are here today to begin receiving evidence. at the conclusion of these evidentiary proceedings, the committee shall, as mandated by rule 11 and by senate resolution 458, report to the full senate in writing a certified copy of the transcript of the proceedings and testimony had and given before this committee. and in addition, a statement of facts that are uncontested and a summary the evidence that the parties have introduced on contested issues of fact. these proceedings may be viewed live in be each senate office on television or on the commi

so the o'reilly family has been in louisiana for centuries. in cuba, nobody remembers him but it was the street of calle oreilly, famous until the 50's for its banks and bookstores. it was one of the favorite streets of (inaudible) secretary of the spanish count of fernandino, my grandfather, another irish man feeling at home in havana. there, at the busy corner of calle street and oreilly was a cafe bakery owned by a catelan. it was described by many foreigners, in particular british and irish who lived in havana at the time, as one of the best order and most elegant cafes in the world. its large door led to a main floor with a fantastic stone floor. i saw it in the 50's, i was very little but i still was there in the 50's, and have a fountain that all that water really produce a refreshing sound that drown the patrons' loud conversations. but what made dominica famous, according to some foreigners and historians, was its ice cream of countless flavors and its famous fruit ices: guava and other flavors were served according to an irish travel

for more on that, we go to kristin dahlgren, live in for us in louisiana with more. kristin, good morning. >> good morning to you, lynn. day 150 and word that that relief well that they started drilling shortly after this all started has finally intersected with the 2 1/2 miles below the floor of the gulf. admiral thad allen said that the two wells were connected and that the next step was to pump mud and cement down into that well to permanently seal it off. one step in the recovery. oil continues to wash ashore. and take a look at these pictures. so many dead fish. almost looks like a gravel road. scientists say it was caused by lack of oxygen and it's not uncommon here, but people are asking that the oil dispersants didn't play into that. meantime, bp's outgoing ceo tony hayward inflamed so many temperses defended bp's record testifying in britain saying there is no need to rethink deepwater drilling. meantime, here in louisiana, a push to start up the deepparty drilling to get the oil workers back to work. >> kristen dahlgren in venice, louisiana, thank you. >>>

. >> our correspondent has been speaking to louisiana still struggling to cope with the aftermath of that spill. he described reaction to the bp report. >> there simply has not been much of a reaction at all here in louisiana. most people here are still trying to get on with their daily lives. any amount of blame at the moment does not help the immediate problems people are facing. in speaking to shrimp fishermen over the past few days. they had no idea this report is coming out. they were working for bp in the clean-up operation. that has stopped any money has dried up, and they're trying to go back to the only thing they know how to do, and that is to catch shrimp, oysters, and crab. the problem with that is nobody in the united states wants to eat the produce they are catching. there is a perception here, and that is the real battle, that all the see it coming from the gulf of mexico is tainted with oil. the report and he was the plan does not help people get back to work and ultimately earn money and. >> from louisiana for as there. there is lots more on our website -- bbc.com/ne

we're in louisiana. navy against louisiana tech. second quarter, navy down by six. ricky dobbs drops back to pass. ay what? to pass. yeah. up to john howell, a 25-yard score. dobbs' first td pass of the season. navy misses the extra point so we're tied at 13-13. the midshipmen run the ball. murray up the t, 17 yards for the touchdown. navy beats louisiana tech, 37-23. talking baseball, nationals taking on the red-hot phillies lastight up in philadelphia. top of the first, no score. ian desmond at the plate with a runner on first and this is a good piece of hitting. young kid goes opposite field. danny espinoza hustling around the bases. here comes the relay. he scores and desmond ends up with an rbi triple and the 1-0 lead. looking good. nats down 2-1. jordan zimmerman facing howard with aman aboard and howard, see you later. his 30th home n of the year sets a franchise record with five straight seasons with at least 30 homers and 100 rbis. phillies in front, 4-1. top eight, nats down by three. willie harris the chance to be a hero. ryan madsen, uh-uh. the phillies

our own anne thompson in the gulf tonight with us from venice, louisiana. anne, good evening. >> reporter: good evening, brian. 102 miles off the coast, a frightening sense of dÉje vu. smoke once again rose from the gulf, this time from an oil platform owned by mariners energy. there were 13 workers on board at the time of the fire which was spotted about 9:19 central time this morning. those 19 workers got into safety gear and jumped into the water. they were picked up by a supply ship and then taken to another oil platform where they were transferred by helicopter to a louisiana hospital and we understand there were no serious injuries. now, this oil platform was not in production at the time of the fire and the coast guard says that earlier reports of a sheen emanating from that platform were erroneous. they see no signs of a sheen or a leak coming from that platform and that certainly is good news. the fire is out at this hour. no one is quite sure what caused it. to give you some sense of perspective, this platform produced 1,400 barrels of oil a day

it's not just morgan city or south louisiana concern. it's a united states concern. >> i could tell the beach wasn't as crowded. the restaurants weren't as crowded. >> reporter: morgan city mayor tim moth says the town is determined not let any of this put a damper on shat riferp and petroleum festival. >> there was that poll done earlier this year that said louisiana is the happiest state in the nation. and i think that is reflective of our community too. certainly things like the moratorium caused some concern but you get to kind of put some of that aside for a weekend like this and kind of just enjoy each other's company, enjoy the music. enjoy the food. >> moth and others in morgan city hope the attention the festival has attracted continues after the rides have stopped. as louisiana struggles to get back to normal, after the oil disaster >> lehrer: again, the major developments of the day: private sector hiring increased in august, but the economy still lost 54,000 jobs and unemployment rose to 9.6%; on "the newshour," christina rom

. >> before writing the book you want to louisiana and did a lot of research. what reception did you get there? what obstacles did you find? well -- it depends on which decade you are talking about. i did research, actually starting in from the time i was very small. and we went back every summer even though i was born here in berkeley, as a matter of fact we went back every summer to louisiana and i was always interested and did a lot of -- um -- both formal and informal research. starting in the 50's and the 60's. and i will tell you that when i first startd that research and a lot of the research i did in that time period was i was largely unaided by any official source. i would go to the courthouse and i would ask for records. they would not give them to me. it was just -- it was very clearly -- it was very clear they were not going to give them to me. >> what records were you asking for? >> i was looking for land records. i was looking for records of the fredues. the concept was there were black fredues and white fredues and there was not an acceptance of

. >>> in louisiana, new videotape was released of a hit and run driver whose offense was caught on walmart security camera. now, the driver approaches a crosswalk and mows down a 60-year-old woman who bravely pushes her daughter out of the way. seconds later the driver clips another shopper before driving away.

there's been another oil rig explosion off the coast of louisiana. we're hearing people are in the water. we have few details but we'll give you an update. >>> and the candidates for the senate go on attack. >>> and what effect foreclosures are having on your health. >> ...berber carpet. it was ahole bowl oftew. nooo. why? i could ha saved this one. i could have saved this e. ♪ cal >>> we are following breaking news of an explosion at an oil rig in the gulf of mexico at the coast -- off the coast of louisiana. according to the coast guard, 13 people were on board the rig. they have all been accounted for. twelve are in the water and one is injured. the site of the explosion is 80 miles mouth of ver -- south of vermilian bay and this is west of the site where the oil spill occurred. the coast guard says the rig is on fire. helicopters and ships are on their way to the site. and there's no word yet if any oil is leaking as a result of this morning's explosion. >>> time is 8:45. let's bring you up to date on some of the other top stories we're followi

, monroe, louisiana. went to los angeles? >> he went to los angeles, yes. >> but -- i don't want to hear about him until you tell us your story about you and your parents in a car. give us that whole thing. sleeping in a car? >> what i ended up doing was, dr. foster told me the whole story about his migration, which, of course, as you say, we can get into a little bit later. and after hearing it, i realized that, in order for me to truly understand it, i needed to recreate it myself. and so, what i did was, i made arrangements to drive out there. i thought it'd be a wonderful way for me to be able to -- my parents were retired by then and always up for an adventure. and so, they decided that they would want to go with me. and so, we set out on a course to recreate his journey. the journey took him from monroe, louisiana. the he took a -- he went to houston, and then he veered into mexico, because he wanted to taste the tequila. that's a whole other story about him. and then, it was going to take him throu

there is the louisiana offshore oil platform. there is a refinery and storage system that is set up. are you confident now, particularly after the experience you just came through, that you have the resources and the organization and structure, both from the coast guard and the government and industry assets to deal with and it will spell or greater if it comes along? >> absolutely. we will take a look at this spill and how the equipment performed. i am being flooded by people with proposals for different types of technology that might respond to something like this in the future. we responded in an unprecedented way. we followed all types of coast guard forces down there, from people to some of our very person told ships. -- a very cumbersome style ships. -- to some of our versatile ships. >> what things have you discovered? >> the commission is taking a look at it. we have the marine casualty investigation going on. it is premature to say that anything is a weakness. we are pleased overall in the way we responded and we will ta

she joins us tonight from houma, louisiana. ann? >> reporter: good evening, lester. late tonight, the crew of the development driller 3 will perform a pressure test on the cement seal at the bottom of the macondo well. it wants to see if that seal can withstand 1150 pounds of pressure per square inch for about a half hour. if it does, then it's up to national incident commander thad allen to declare this well dead once and for all. before the final pressure test can be conducted, workers had to bring up the drill pipe. coming out in 125-foot sections from the relief well. this is john wright's 41st relief well, but this spill and its impact, he says, make it the most important of his career. >> the fact that it had done so much damage, we were able to help solve and fix something that so many people wanted and needed fixed as quickly as possible. >> reporter: almost five months ago, the macondo well exploded in fire, killing 11 men on the deepwater horizon rig and spewing nearly 5 million barrels of oil. bp amassed a small floating city at the site to contain an envi

if the 110 foot cutters, called the fast response cutters, are being built down in louisiana. we will probably build four to six per year for the next three years. we have reformed our acquisition programs. but we have built up capacity and now we have just chris in our third national security cover -- we have just christendom our third national security cutter. we're hopeful to build that portion of the fleet out. and then we will start working on our medium endurance cutters. that is probably what i view as my biggest challenge, as commandant is to recapitalize and powerfully. >> how long will the coast guard be in that area? dealing with the oil spill there. >> first, that is the eighth coast guard district. we live there. our people are part of the communities down there. they are affected just as much as the people of louisiana are affected because we make our business the water down there as well. we're not going to go away. we will remain until this is cleaned up. >> what role will you play? >> will be supervising the cleanup. its british petroleum has pledged to stay d

in gretna, louisiana when he was a federal judge. six. now, what the house did is they presented these lunches passionate and basically portrayed the total value of the lunches that went to judge porteous, it looks like he received a considerable amount of money in these lunches. however, as this display shows the house actually was dealing with a total of meals for large parties where judge porteous was just one of many lunch gatherers. they just charge the whole bunch against him. in reality, even if he was present at these lunches it would amount to less than $250 in five years that i would like to repeat that. $250 in five years. these meals included meals as low as $29. now, by the way, i said if porteous was at these lunches. the reason i say if is because the house included a couple of meals where there's no specific record of judge porteous being actually at the lunch. however, what their position has been, since someone had absolute vodka, and judge porteous is no to drink absolut vodka, must have been him. so they added those to

>> greta, first of all, the attorney general of louisiana sends his regards. one of our lawyers couldn't have put it better. he said there's a lot at stake in this courtroom. the future of health care in this nation. unprecedented intrusion on the sovereignty of state and right of citizens. the question can average citizens or citizens below average income be forced, 0 cursed to buying health care penalized or taxed in an illegal manner. >> greta: the federal government has the ability to intervene if it is interstate commerce. so the question is, whether or not this statute is interstate commerce? a broad definition, lose. narrow definition of interstate commerce of what the government can do, you win. and the question that the judge was focusing on is whether or not requiring someone to buy insurance, this machine dated economic activity or not? >> greta, louisiana courtrooms i try not to guess at judges until they rule. at the end you heard him say on one count he's going to deny their motion to dismiss that means -- or he predicted he that means this suit

in venice, louisiana, kristen dahlgren, "news4 today." >>> it's 9:38. you've seen her dine out with some of the area's top hletes and coaches. now lindsay czarniak has lunch with a basketball star some place a bit more familiar to her, hermom's kitchen. >> some call it washington's best deli. now historic lo >>> you got pretty fxible plans this evening? check out some performs that will make your ham strings hurt. >> get it. >> the golden dragon acrobats will be performing at wolf trap this evening. the popular troupe of traditional chinese acrobats will be performing an array of stunts. the show starts at 7:00 p.m. >>> flexible plans, flexible acrobats. we've ot some grea writers. >>> loeb's deli has been part of the d.c. downtown landscape for 15 years. >> regulars will have to walk further to bite into a chopped liver sandwich. yesterday loeb's closeled its doors at its current location on 15th street because the building its in is ndergoing renovation. they will eopen at the corner of 17th and i. but it brings a close to an era that called home for

senator kristen kill louisiana brand, publicly praising her as hot. now some feminists are calling him sexist. you will hear from one of them after this break. then there is this. not a good day for spectators at a car race in brazil. we have now learned what caused this stadium to suddenly collapse. and president obama finding himself in an awkward position when he was confronted by some angry town hallers, many of them his supporters. we'll show you how the president responded to this, for example. >> i'm one of your middle class americans, and quite frankly i'm exhausted, i'm exhausted of defending you, defending your administration, defending the man of change that i voted for and deeply disappointed with where we are right now. doing t shipping. man, it would be a lot easier if we didn't have to weigh 'em all.

>> reporter: oh, they are most unhappy here in louisiana and along the gulf. claims are -- ken fineberg has overpromised and underdelivered on his invoice vow to get the m people fast. he realizes that and says he's working on that. talking to fishermethey're very frustrated, so frustrated they a bp did a better job with the claims process. and that's not high praise, i can tell you. >> thank you, anne thompson. >>> over six weeks now until the midterm elections, and both parties have the dden impact of tea party movement, inclu last week's victory in the delaware primary by christine o'donnell. mi is at the white house with more on the season of political upheaval. good evening. >> reporter: good evening, lester. with democrats facing big losses this fall p-esident obama has issue aid plea to the grassroots program to get involved in the fall campaign. this is a new controversy involving a republican candidate threatened to widen the rift within the gop. the first family today leaving the white house and walking to church on a quiet sunday morning. it was a b

eric barajas has the details from louisiana. >> reporter: concern over an oil well explosion, soon gave way to relief. all 13 workers onboard were accounted for. rescued while floating in the gulf. >> all 13 members aboard the oil platform have survived with no serious injuries. >> reporter: the explosion occurred thursday morning.roducn an oil production platform located in shallow waters in the gulf ignited. >> it is a production platform and not a drilling rig. >> reporter: coast guard officials say workers were able to shut down production before evacuating the facility. the owner of the platform, mariner energy, says it has seven wells that produce oil and natural gas. officials do not know what caused the explosion. >> when we asked the specific work they were doing, they weren't able to confirm for us what their responsibilities were. >> reporter: there were reports of a mile-long oil sheen spotted near the blast site. coast guard knocked down those reports. >> coast guard helicopters on-scene and helicopters on-scene have no visible reports of a sheen on the water. >> we obvious