Levee officials say the Federal Emergency Management Agency has certified non-federal levees in New Orleans East, a step that should help spur economic development in a part of the city lagging in its comeback from Hurricane Katrina. FEMA officials certified two levee segments that fall inside the larger flood protection system built by the Army Corps of Engineers for New Orleans East. The agency was reviewing whether the levees would handle flooding that might happen inside

Dozens of people worked out on long lines of treadmills, elliptical machines and weight machines in Planet Fitness on Crowder Boulevard in eastern New Orleans on Monday (April 13) as another crowd gathered by the front door. Local leaders and developers were welcoming with pomp the 30,000-square-foot recently renovated and opened Crowder Retail Center. In an area of the city still lagging behind in recovering from the floodwaters of Hurricane Katrina, even a decade later, the