Reforming the New Orleans Police Department is a lot like rebuilding a home after Katrina, said Mary Howell, 60, a civil rights attorney in New Orleans for over 30 years.

For nearly five years, New Orleans residents have had to travel as far as Baton Rouge for medical care, since Hurricane Katrina closed so many of the city’s health care centers. But on Wednesday, a new medical facility was dedicated on South Carrollton Street.

In a move he said was aimed at making the New Orleans Police Department more transparent, Police Chief Ronal Serpas convened the first department-wide crime statistics meeting on Thursday that was open to the public.

Louisiana must continue to emphasize the safety and quality of seafood in its marketing initiatives in the wake of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the Gulf, New Orleans Mayor Mitch Landrieu said at a town hall meeting Tuesday.

The Department of Justice announced an investigation that is intended to lead to an overhaul of the New Orleans Police Department, which has been plagued by allegations of corruption, brutality and murder.