Long Strange Trip: 10 New Orleans Posts From 2010

From BP Oil Spill coverage on the banks of the Mississippi River where oil did not spill, to the 5 year anniversary of the post Hurricane Katrina levee failure, I've often heard from commenters tired of seeing New Orleans in the news.

Aside from the Saints winning the Superbowl, trust me this is not how we wanted to be in the news. The city is in the news again this week for better and worse. There's a tourism resurgence with Travel and Leisure naming the city the top New Year's Eve destination in the country. And there's heartbreak with 8 young people dying this week in a building that caught fire as they were trying to stay warm. Four have been identified, the rest of the names will be unreleased until their families are found.

Throwing my hat into the ring for the ubiquitous list article, it's not hard to find 10 stories I covered from New Orleans that stuck with me in 2010 either because they went viral or because they're simply still wedged into my head. Many of them have followups if you care to dig in the vault.

I wouldn't call them top 10, I'd just call them my 10 because everyone has his or her own list. And yes, I'm linking to my own articles; there's a recession on and this also counts as a resume. Lately the stories reporter friends and myself are banking are for the one year BP Oil Spill anniversary, another disaster anniversary milestone for when people are ready to read about it again.

So from our home in New Orleans to yours, here's wishing health and happiness in 2011. And here we go:

NFL's Cease and Desist for Who Dat Phrase

Saints Won the Superbowl and I'm Moving Home

Landrieu Continues New Orleans Family's Mayoral Dynasty

Treme - Of Voodoo and Volunteers

EXCLUSIVE: BP Gulf of Mexico Oil Spill Response Plans, What They Knew and When They Knew It

Treme: I Am Trying to Break Your Heart

Dear BP: Nobody Puts Peter Fonda in the Corner (Updated with NOLA Rally Photos)

While Media Is Sandbagged, Is Sand Dumped Over Oil on Grand Isle? (PHOTOS)

No Gulf Seafood? Sign at Taste of Chicago in Bad Taste

Begin Again: Notes on a 5 Year New Orleans Evacuation

 

Follow Karen Dalton-Beninato on Twitter: www.twitter.com/kbeninato

Comments

[poliguy70130]

08:06 PM on 01/04/2011

I think the indictments and convictions related to the Henry Glover and Danzinger bridge murder cases should definitely be on the list. If for no other reason than to thank Eric Holder's office for finally bringing these people to justice.

[Karen Dalton-Beninato]

12:40 AM on 01/05/2011

Agreed with the importance of Danzinger and Glover convictions, and I wish I had been the one to cover them. At the time NewOrleans.com was using WGNO reporters for court coverage. Although Holder has his work cut out for him, it's a great start.

[maxfax]

11:37 AM on 01/02/2011

Unfortunately, the British Petroleum story is far from over.  Ask a fisherman, oysterman, crabber, Plaquemines, St. Bernard, New Orleans East person/family/company associated with seafood. 

[Sandy Rosenthal]

12:00 PM on 01/01/2011

Hey Karen, thanks for resisting fast, easy "Katrina shorthand." Thanks for saying the horrific flooding 5 years ago was caused by "post Hurricane Katrina levee failure." Thanks for not giving Katrina all the credit.

Saying "Katrina flooded New Orleans" is fast, easy and wrong. It's like saying "traffic" broke the I-35 bridge in Minneapolis. Both Katrina and the traffic exposed structural flaws. Both revealed blatant civil engineering mistakes.

Hopefully in the year 2011, more journalists and reporters will resist fast, easy "Katrina shorthand."

[Karen Dalton-Beninato]

05:19 PM on 01/03/2011

Hi Sandy, thanks for your efforts to raise awareness of the fact that the flood was as much a man made disaster as the BP Oil Spill. Keep the faith.

[CrescentCityRay]

04:53 PM on 12/31/2010

Saints won the Super Bowl. Really, that news would deserve to be on your list even if it only read the Saints were in the Super Bowl, but the unimaginable happened. We actually won. Pinch me. To me, it was much more than just top ten. For New Orleans, it was the news of the decade. It might seem like a superficial thing. If it is, then it's the best superficial thing to happen here ever. Go Saints. Woo hoo! We have a shot at a two dat.

[Karen Dalton-Beninato]

06:28 PM on 12/31/2010

Amen Ray -- Two Dat, Three Dat and all the Dats.

[CrescentCityRay]

06:05 PM on 01/01/2011

I was just looking at the Gambit 30 year birthday/anniversary issue and they were bragging about some of the biggest stories covered those thirty years and most were bad news and nothing to be proud about. That is just the way it is.

OTOH, the biggest positive news we've ever had was the Super Bowl victory as best I recollect.

One more thing. I also want to thank you for not blaming mother nature or New Orleanians for our flood destruction.

But, I'm biased Karen. I am a lifelong Saints fan.

[maxfax]

11:34 AM on 01/02/2011

news of the decade

 
No, it was news of the century.  Who dat!