Latin American workers brought a federal lawsuit today against one of New Orleans’ wealthiest hotel owners, who lured them through false promises and charged them thousands of dollars in fees to fill jobs held by New Orleanians prior to Hurricane Katrina.

Eighty-two guest workers allege that Decatur Hotels, LLC and its president, F. Patrick Quinn III, violated the Fair Labor Standards Act when the company failed to reimburse them for the exorbitant fees paid to aggressive labor recruiters working as agents of the hotel chain.

Related Article: Workers File Lawsuit Against Hotel Chain in New Orleans

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In the bloated, utopian visions emerging from the neighborhood planning process, it's not about whose participating. It's about who isn't. Two opposing planning groups, two opposing visions? Not on your life. It seems "opposing" City Council endorsed/Lambert Advisory, LLC and the Concordia/Rockefeller funded, Louisiana Recovery Authority (LRA) sanctioned visions actually offer the same gourmet fare: unrealistic, utopian project proposals and proposed zoning restrictions designed to keep the working poor from returning to the city. Proposed bike paths galore, along with community centers, new parks, levees near Lincoln Beach, revitalized Lincoln Beach, improved libraries, lush landscaping, family entertainment districts, a "Disney-like water park for New Orleans East" and a "pedestrian-friendly town center for upscale shopping"(Times Picayune,8/12/06), suggested "multi-use community NEXUS centers constructed in every neighborhood to replace old stand alone school buildings" (from the Concordia website) are among the few, optimistic/utopian proposals.

To make sure they don't become victims a second time, Hurricane Katrina and Rita victims need to file lawsuits against their insurance companies on or before Aug. 28th (Katrina) and Sept. 23rd (Rita) if they don't now have a check in their hands. Insurance companies appear to be employing various delay tactics to get past the one year deadline to file lawsuits for unresolved property claims. Part 1 profiles the insurance woes experienced by Mid City resident Michael Homan and his wife Therese Fitzpatrick. 13:25, 14.8 mb, 64 kbps.

The New Orleans area is in a unique position to improve the local criminal justice system. With this in mind, we do not need to rebuild our local criminal justice structure; we need to completely reinvent it.

This is just too good a story not to share. Obviously, the corporate media here has not been interested in telling this tale, as it could give people ...ideas. This story, from Narco News, shares the inspiring story of women who took matters into their own hands when their government oppressed them and the corporate media refused to tell the tale. Banging on pots and pans, they took over Channel 9, ousted the staff, occupied the station themselves, and began broadcasting, for the first time, the TRUTH.

Oaxaca's State TV Station Under Popular Control