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Title: Gambit | News & Views
Link: http://bestofneworleans.com
Description: <meta name="verify-v1" content="F4ui5qH2N/F8F4+vzSlIGjV4rDiYgbE2WSzkzRxCaZI=" />The best source for New Orleans news, politics, entertainment, music, dining and shopping provided by the Gambit newspaper..

Valentine's Day Gift Guide | Unique and unusual Valentine's Day gifts they'll love
[image-5 [image-10] [image-11] [image-12] [image-13] [image-14] [image-15] [image-16] [image-17] [image-18] For more Valentine Gift ideas-click here.... By Kyla Boutte.

History of the Rex Bulletin
In the mid-1870s, newspaper coverage of the Carnival season began to augment descriptions of the pageants with small, black-and-white engravings of the float designs. The evolution of these printed images magically paralleled the increasing grandeur of their subjects, and in 1882, the first "broadsi...

Bouquets & Brickbats | They get what they deserve
Natasha Cox, a student at Belle Chasse High School and the New Orleans Center for Creative Arts, has been given a Silver Award by YoungArts, the core program of the National Foundation for Advancement in the Arts. Cox, who participates in NOCCA's creative writing program, also has been no...

Mardi Gras Week 2: Schedules & Previews | Rex Duke™, the world's first and foremost parade critic, savors the final week of Carnival
The Saints actually will go marching in this Carnival. Among the many kings and queens riding through our streets on this final week of parades will be many New Orleans Saints, including Bacchus XLII Quarterback Drew Brees, coach Sean Payton in the Orpheus procession and many Saints wives riding wit... By Rex Duke.

Bill Cassidy: Earmark Transparency
  Last year, freshman Rep. Bill Cassidy, R-Baton Rouge, was like a political Quixote tilting at fiscal windmills, trying to strengthen earmark rules in the House. Pork-barrel spending doesn't require lawmakers to attach their names to budget inserts, but Cassidy pushed a bill last May to c...

Quotes of the Week [2/9/10]
  "I think the best thing that happened to the education system in New Orleans was Hurricane Katrina. That education system was a disaster, and it took Hurricane Katrina to wake up the community to say 'we have to do better.'" — U.S. Education Secretary Arne Duncan, in an interview...

Credit Card Crunch
  The national economy has given birth to an onslaught of streamlining commissions and penny-pinching ideas in Louisiana government. As the 2010 legislative session draws closer, lawmakers will begin requesting more information on how much is being spent, and where. Here's a start: The sta...

Jim Letten Tapped for AG's Advisory Committee
  U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder has made three new appointments to a special committee that effectively reports directly to him, and U.S. Attorney Jim Letten is on the list. Letten will join another dozen U.S. attorneys from around the country on the Attorney General's Advisory Committ...

Concealed Weapons Bill
  From the lawmaker who brought us the highly controversial and unsuccessful legislation to allow concealed handguns on college campuses comes a considerably less jarring bill that could help Louisiana shore up its reciprocity agreements with other states and maybe even land a few new ones...

Mayor's Race Endorsements
  Mitch Landrieu may have gotten the lion's share of media endorsements in the 2010 mayoral race, but the bigger story may lie with New Orleans' three African-American owned publications, each of which supported a white candidate for mayor. Whether it's a reflection of changing times or of...

Last-ditch Mayoral Controversy
  At the final televised mayoral primary debate Feb. 4 on WWL-TV, all six candidates had the chance to take their last shots at their opponents. Frontrunner Mitch Landrieu was the big target, but John Georges, Troy Henry and Rob Couhig all came in for some drive-by criticism from other can...

Books 2 Prisoners | A volunteer program connects prisoners with reading materials
It's freezing inside this small room in a Mid-City warehouse, and Lorie has her 7 month-old son Dom bundled in a cocoon of blankets inside of his stroller. Lorie, who asked that her last name not be used, has braved the cold on this last day in January to get something for her boyfriend, w... By David Winkler-Schmit.

So Long, Hippo
Back in 1985, when then-Mayor Dutch Morial was trying to change the City Charter so that he could run for "Just 3" terms as mayor, I introduced visiting NBC correspondent Ken Bode to one of Morial's confidants, a rotund political operative named Maurice "Hippo" Katz.   "So tell me, Hippo,... By Clancy DuBos.

This Magic Moment
As we write these words, we don't know if the New Orleans Saints will be getting fitted for their Super Bowl rings this week or if Drew Brees and company will have been defeated by the most worthy of opponents, Peyton Manning and the Indianapolis Colts. What we do know is that there will be a parade...

Where is the oldest synagogue in New Orleans? | New Orleans Know-It-All
Hey Blake, Because of the Civil War, the synagogue at 709 Jackson Ave. was not built until 1867, even though members of the congregation had started collecting bricks before the war. I believe the building is the oldest synagogue still standing. Which building do you think is older? Another Reade...