New Orleans

PASADENA, Calif. -- The last time I saw Larry Hagman was at his Malibu beach house, and he was just about to pass out drunk.He was at the height of his fame as J.R. Ewing on "Dallas," and he was sitting there with a big white Stetson on his head and a drink in his hand, staring out at the Pacific Ocean as a band played Bob Wills' "Faded Love.""Another ------ day in ------ paradise," Hagman said to me.When I turned to answer, he was out cold. A woman wearing a flag-of-Texas bikini bottom assured me that Hagman was OK and asked me to help her make him comfortable by putting some pillows under him on the couch.

What should come first, reducing the flow of nitrogen into the Chesapeake Bay from the Blue Plains sewage treatment plant or expanding the Poplar Island dredge spoil site in the Baltimore Harbor? Or how about restoring the C&O Canal at Cumberland or building offshore breakwaters to stop Smith Island from washing away? And where do these projects rank in priority against repairing levees in New Orleans or restoring the Florida Everglades? No one can say exactly, and that's why President Bush was correct to veto the $23 billion water projects bill - with $300 million for Maryland included - that in one sense is wildly extravagant and in another is just a list of empty promises.

RALEIGH, N.C. -- Once again, John Edwards' money is getting in the way of his message. His Democratic presidential campaign spent yesterday responding to a front-page Wall Street Journal report showing that a company Edwards worked for and has invested $16 million in, Fortress Investment Group, owns mortgage companies that have moved to foreclose on homeowners in hurricane-ravaged New Orleans. The newspaper identified 34 homes in foreclosure suits. Edwards, who made a fortune as a trial lawyer, worked for Fortress from late 2005 through 2006.

The murders were occurring almost daily, but when the surge of violence claimed the lives of two innocents - a young mother and a high school band director - people rose up to say, "Enough!" From ministers to moving men to high-schoolers, they gathered by the hundreds until they marched on City Hall, 3,000 strong, to protest city officials' lack of urgency. This wasn't Baltimore; it was New Orleans. And while the emotion on display in the Big Easy recently wasn't unlike the anguish felt in Baltimore when an off-duty police officer was gunned down, the collective response was markedly different.

The Democratic presidential candidates are fluent in the language of politics and policy, which means they can expound at length on what the government can do for you. It also means they have great difficulty saying the word "no." When they assembled in New Orleans this week to note the second anniversary of Hurricane Katrina, they were in an affirmative mood. Yes, they told locals, your problems are the fault of President Bush's disgraceful inaction, and yes, we should spend whatever it takes to restore the city to what it used to be. But there are worse policies than inaction.

NEW ORLEANS -- The empty streets and abandoned houses prompt a gnawing question, nearly 17 months after Hurricane Katrina: Is this what New Orleans has become - a city half its former size? The city's leaders reassure residents that better days and more people are in the future. Their destiny will not merely be to reside in a smaller city with a few good restaurants and curious local customs, the residents are told. But economists and demographers wonder whether New Orleans will top out at about half its former population of 444,000, which was already in a steep decline from its peak of 627,525 in the 1960 Census.

NEW ORLEANS -- Six inches. After two years and more than a billion dollars spent by the Army Corps of Engineers to rebuild New Orleans' hurricane protection system, that is how much the water level is likely to be reduced if a big 1-in-100 flood hits Leah Pratcher's house in the Gentilly neighborhood. Looking over the maps that showed other possible water levels around the city, Pratcher - who had 4 feet of water in her house after Hurricane Katrina - grew furious. By comparison, the wealthier neighborhood to the west, Lakeview, had its flooding risk reduced by nearly 5 1/2 feet.

Editor's note: An obituary published in yesterday's editions of The Sun for Ronald Edward Nodine and Charlotte R. Nodine incorrectly stated his name. Also, an incorrect year was given for Mrs. Nodine's graduation from Parkville High School, and the name of a surviving sister was inadvertently omitted. A corrected version is published in today's obituary section. The Sun regrets the errors and omissions. Ronald Edward Nodine and Charlotte R. Nodine, who owned construction companies in Baltimore and New Orleans, were killed Sept.

Members of the Commission on Presidential Debates continue to come up with preposterous excuses - some of them contradictory - as to why they snubbed New Orleans as a debate site. They claim that the city hasn't recovered from Hurricane Katrina, that the Convention Center wasn't high-tech enough, that the debate would burden taxpayers with the expense of police protection. But co-chair Frank J. Fahrenkopf Jr. could point to no specific criterion the city would be unable to meet. He said the commission's decision is not "an attack" on New Orleans' "ability to handle an event."

That day two years ago when Hurricane Katrina advanced on the Gulf Coast with deadly fury marked the beginning of the end of many Americans' faith in the Bush administration to protect them. Weather alerts went largely unheeded by the White House and emergency agencies. Warnings that were passed on to those in harm's way were delivered with no sense of the limitations on people too poor to escape. New Orleans, sitting in a land basin between two bodies of water, never had been provided the protection it needed.

Arthur deRoaldes Remanjon, a wedding photographer who also documented Fells Point and New Orleans, died Wednesday when the motorcycle he was driving collided with a vehicle in the Tuscany-Canterbury section of North Baltimore. The Mayfield resident was 54. Born in Baltimore and raised in Roland Park, he attended Polytechnic Institute and graduated from Windsor Mountain School in Lenox, Mass., in 1974. His parents were Louisiana natives who moved to Baltimore many years ago but retained ties to their New Orleans families, whom they often visited.

Sutherland accused in New York scuffle New York City police were investigating claims Wednesday by a fashion designer who says actor Kiefer Sutherland head-butted him at a SoHo nightclub. Jack McCollough, of the Proenza Schouler fashion house, reported the incident happened around 2 a.m. Tuesday and says he was cut on his face. McCollough claimed Sutherland, star of Fox television's 24, attacked him after an argument at the club, according to a law enforcement official who spoke on the condition of anonymity because the investigation is continuing.

Anyone who has visited New Orleans' Garden District has experienced how a trolley line and a historic urban area can live together in harmony. Easy access to public transportation is a selling point to those who live in this part of New Orleans, not a sacrifice. Those who insist that Baltimore's proposed Red Line run entirely underground have an unrealistic view of the situation. If money were no object, the system would be a subway - and cost a king's ransom to build. People living in Canton should understand that insisting that light rail run underneath Boston Street is a position that can only kill the project.

After every three-pointer, every dunk and every block, LeBron James turned and glared at the Boston Celtics' bench. The message was clear: Not here. James made five three-pointers and scored 29 points before dancing in his seat, and the Cleveland Cavaliers routed the NBA champions, 107-76, on Sunday to move within one win of matching the 1985-86 Celtics for the best home record in league history. At 39-1, the Cavaliers can tie Boston's mark against the Philadelphia 76ers on Wednesday night.

JOHNNY DONNELS, 84 Chronicler of New Orleans Johnny Donnels, who won acclaim for his pictures of the people and places in New Orleans' French Quarter, has died. Cheron Brylski, a close friend, said Friday that Mr. Donnels fell outside his Desire Street home last week and broke his hip. He died Thursday. Mr. Donnels, who had a gallery near Jackson Square for more than 50 years, lived in the Quarter for most of his life and was Tennessee Williams' neighbor in the 1940s. His work, chronicled in a 1999 book, has been exhibited at the Kennedy Center, Harvard University, the Ford Times Collection of American Art, the National Academy of Design, the New Orleans Museum of Art and Historic New Orleans Collection.

Hargitay hospitalized for lung problem Actress Mariska Hargitay was hospitalized yesterday after complaining of chest pains, according to several Internet reports. The Law & Order: SVU star had suffered a collapsed lung in January. Her representative told Us Magazine's Web site, "Mariska Hargitay went to the hospital this morning after experiencing some discomfort relating to her earlier lung condition. She is undergoing routine tests and expects to be feeling better soon." Lil Wayne off the hook A judge in Atlanta has dismissed felony drug charges against rapper Lil Wayne.

Half of last Tuesday's Top 10 Places to Celebrate Mardi Gras were bars that had an event on that day. Here are the places on the list where you can still get Cajun- or creole-inspired food. They are, of course, in alphabetical order: 1 Acadiana in Washington. I rarely include D.C. restaurants in our discussions. But there were so few places on today's list that weren't just bars having an event in honor of Mardi Gras, I thought I would mention a restaurant that serves a serious, upscale version of New Orleans food.

Tuesday, New Orleans celebrates Mardi Gras - Fat Tuesday - with parades, costumes, floats, King cake, beads and more beads. The New Orleans Metropolitan Convention and Visitors Bureau expects most of the area's more than 30,000 hotel rooms to be filled for the festivities. Since Hurricane Katrina, the city has struggled to propel tourism back to where it was before the devastating storm. Much of tonight's Oscar-nominated movie The Curious Case of Benjamin Button was filmed in the area. Here are five things to do in the Big Easy: 1 Frolic in the French Quarter : Easily the most popular neighborhood in New Orleans, the Vieux Carre is blooming with historic and modern hot spots.

CONCHITA CINTRON, 86 One of world's first famous female matadors Conchita Cintron, who broke into the male-dominated sport of bullfighting at age 13 and became one of the world's first famous female matadors, died Tuesday of a heart attack in Lisbon, Portugal. Famous for her bullfighting skills on foot and on horseback, Ms. Cintron, known as "La Diosa Rubia," or "The Blond Goddess," reportedly killed more than 750 bulls during her career. She was seriously injured in 1949 in Guadalajara, Mexico, when a bull gored her in the thigh.

James' 3s rally Wizards to win; Cassell traded nba Antawn Jamison had 29 points and 11 rebounds, Mike James hit a pair of three-pointers in the final 70 seconds, and the host Washington Wizards beat the Minnesota Timberwolves, 111-103. Caron Butler added 17 points, six assists and five rebounds before limping off the court in the final minute, having banged his hip while falling to the court, clutching a rebound. James scored eight of his 15 in the fourth quarter to rally Washington (12-42)