Latest Mississippi River Delta news: Feb. 1, 2016

How long will Lake Pontchartrain stay dirty?
By Todd Masson, The Times-Picayune. Jan. 28, 2016.
“The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers expects to complete the task of closing the bays in the Bonnet Carre Spillway next week, but that won’t immediately alter the hydrological makeup of Lake Pontchartrain…” (read more)

Did spillway opening push speckled trout out of Lake Pontchartrain?
By Todd Masson, The Times-Picayune. Jan. 28, 2016.
“Salinity isn’t terribly important to speckled trout this time of year, but clarity is, and for the past couple of weeks, much of Lake Pontchartrain has been about as clear as advanced-placement calculus…” (read more)

New Orleans Is Done Fighting Water
By Julian Spector, City Lab. Jan. 29, 2016.
“Unlike some other flood-prone, below-sea-level cities, New Orleans keeps its water hidden. Whereas Amsterdam and Venice channel the seas through a dense network of canals dispersed throughout the city, New Orleans long ago resorted to fortifying its borders against the lakes, river, and swamps that surround it—pumping out whatever water got through. That was one reason why Hurricane Katrina hit the levees with such ferocity: the pent-up floodwaters got funneled down the man-made canals until they crashed against man-made barriers…” (read more)

Louisiana pays more than $19K for destroyed wetlands
By The Associated Press. Jan. 28, 2016.
“Louisiana has had to pay nearly $20,000 to compensate for the fact that New Orleans’ City Park illegally cleared more than an acre of wetlands for a new golf course last year…” (read more)

Terrebonne Parish Council approves new parish administrators
By Sean Ellis, The Daily Comet. Jan. 27, 2016.
“The Terrebonne Parish Council unanimously approved all of Parish President Gordon Dove’s appointments of parish administrators and the parish’s attorney and assistant attorneys at its meeting tonight…” (read more)

Lt. Governor Billy Nungesser promotes tourism to stimulate state economy
By Liz Koh, KPLC-TV. Jan. 28, 2016.
“While State Treasurer John Kennedy discussed the state’s struggling oil industry at the Golden Nugget on Thursday, over at L’Auberge, newly-elected Lt. Governor Billy Nungesser proposed a solution to stimulate the state’s economy…” (read more)