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Headline	Author	Published	Section
Yazoo Keeper EPA puts kibosh on wetland-destructive Army Corps project		02 Sep 2008	News
Posted at 1:14 PM on 02 Sep 2008 The U.S. EPA has vetoed a giant, expensive plan to build the world's largest water pump in the Mississippi River delta. The so-called Yazoo Pump flood-control project would have sucked 6 million gallons of water a minute from 67,000 acres of wetlands along the Yazoo River. The scheme, proposed by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and first authorized by Congress in 1941, would have cost $220 m ...
Topics: Army Corps of Engineers, habitat protection, Mississippi River, news, placemaking, progress, US EPA, water conflicts, wetlands (all these topics)

Rolling On As Corps series ends, big questions remain about the future of the Mississippi	Emily Gertz	21 Mar 2008	Grist Feature
There are 8 million stories in the Mississippi Basin, and this week we've told only a few. As lead editor of this Army Corps series, I've been immersed for the last few months in all things Mississippi River. Coming out the other side, I have a few answers, yes, but even more questions to explore. Below is my personal working list of issues that -- while perhaps less acknowledged ...
Topics: Army Corps of Engineers, Mississippi River, placemaking, politics, special series, wetlands (all these topics)

Biloxi Clues A post-Katrina homebuilding project gives hope for weathering severe storms	Emily Gertz	20 Mar 2008	Grist Feature
When Hurricane Katrina made landfall in Mississippi on August 29, 2005, the storm's 125-mile-an-hour winds and 25-foot wall of seawater ground homes, boats, and businesses into matchsticks across the state's three coastal counties: Jackson, Hancock, and Harrison. The cities of Waveland and Bay St. Louis, roughly 20 miles east of the Mississippi-Louisiana state line, were practical ...
Topics: Army Corps of Engineers, green building, Mississippi, Mississippi River, placemaking, severe weather, special series, urban planning (all these topics)

A Widening Gulf? Army Corps climate efforts in New Orleans may not be enough	Mike Tidwell	20 Mar 2008	Grist Feature
No one wants to see this again -- but can post-Katrina protection efforts keep the Big Easy safe? Photo: NOAA Here's the good news: The Army Corps of Engineers is "racing" to complete a comprehensive levee system for metropolitan New Orleans by 2011 that actually takes into account global warming, at least in terms of sea-level rise. Here's the bad news: the levee system under devel ...
Topics: Army Corps of Engineers, climate, climate change adaptation, Louisiana, Mississippi River, placemaking, severe weather, special series (all these topics)

Tempting Fate Fifteen years after the Great Flood of 1993, floodplain development is booming	Emily Gertz	19 Mar 2008	Grist Feature
Once it was a cornfield; now it's a Wal-Mart, a Taco Bell, a Target. Here along a stretch of Missouri's Highway 40, in the Chesterfield Valley area just west of downtown St. Louis, what's said to be the largest strip mall in the country sits on about 46 acres of Mississippi River bottomlands. Less than 20 years ago, the land was open space. Press Play to watch with narration, o ...
Topics: Army Corps of Engineers, Mississippi River, placemaking, severe weather, special series, urban planning (all these topics)

Cry Me a River Journalist Michael Grunwald on the hubris of the Army Corps	Michael Grunwald	18 Mar 2008	Grist Feature
Dam, that's a pretty lock: the sun sets behind the Corps navigation structure at Alton, Ill. Photo: Mark Hirsch Imagine the Pentagon had been caught red-handed concocting its justification before launching the invasion of Iraq in 2003. Imagine that after the scandal died down, the Pentagon admitted Saddam didn't really have WMDs -- but proposed an even larger invasion, because there was a r ...
Topics: Army Corps of Engineers, Mississippi River, placemaking, shenanigans, special series, water conflicts (all these topics)

Engineering Change A brief history of the creation and growth of the Army Corps	Jennifer Cutraro	17 Mar 2008	Grist Feature
Today, it's almost impossible to say "Army Corps of Engineers" without also saying "Hurricane Katrina" and "levee failure," or "Yazoo Pump" and "boondoggle." But the corps' original mandate made no mention of hurricane and flood protection, or even of the Mississippi River. An Army Corps survey crew in 1916. Photo: history.nasa.gov In 1 ...
Topics: Army Corps of Engineers, Mississippi River, placemaking, special series, water conflicts (all these topics)

The Corps of the Matter A special series on the Army Corps and the Mississippi River		17 Mar 2008	Grist Feature
It's spring, and for most of us that means tackling a few home improvement projects: cleaning the gutters, say, or replacing storm windows with screens. Remaking the Mississippi An interactive look at a few current Army Corps river projects The Mississippi Valley Division of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is responsible for maintaining the Mississippi as a useful and navigable waterway. But some o ...
Topics: Army Corps of Engineers, Mississippi River, placemaking, special series, water conflicts (all these topics)

Leggo my Yazoo EPA set to kibosh Mississippi Delta boondoggle	Emily Gertz	06 Feb 2008	Gristmill
Successive presidential administrations -- including the current one -- have tried to rein in the Army Corps of Engineers and its projects, which are mostly known for their tangy combination of high cost, arguable utility, and disregard for the environment. Tried -- and largely failed, thanks to the level-10 force fields erected by congresscritters who covet the flood of Corps project dollars into their districts. So it's startling and welcome news that apparently, ...
Topics: Army Corps of Engineers, habitat loss, Mississippi River, placemaking, US EPA, wetlands (all these topics)

Count Your Blessing The depth of the Mississippi River's influence, in numbers		20 Dec 2007	Grist Feature
Fifty-eight semi-truck trailer loads traveling over 9 feet of water. Photo: Sarah van Schagen 10 -- states that border the Mississippi River 31 -- states drained by the Mississippi River watershed 1 2 -- Canadian provinces drained by the Mississippi River watershed 1 50 -- cities that rely on the river for their water supply 1 40 -- percentage of U.S. that's part of the Mississippi River basin 1 2,300 -- l ...
Topics: Mississippi River, placemaking (all these topics)

Balkin' in Memphis The riverfront in Memphis needs help -- but what kind?	Katharine Wroth	20 Dec 2007	Grist Feature
May God bless Memphis, the noblest city on the face of the earth. -- Mark Twain To visit Memphis, Tenn., is to visit a place that is slowly waking from a decades-long stupor. The things that define this city in the popular imagination -- the glamorous life of Elvis Presley, the shocking assassination of Martin Luther King Jr. -- happened decades ago. Some of the young professionals the city ...
Topics: Mississippi River, placemaking, Tennessee, urban planning (all these topics)

Gateway to Heaven St. Louisans turn a working river into a river that works for them	Sarah van Schagen	20 Dec 2007	Grist Feature
"The fifth night we passed St. Louis, and it was like the whole world lit up." -- Mark Twain, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn As the sun rises over the city of St. Louis, an arch-shaped shadow moves eastward over the city's bustling downtown and toward the Mississippi River, where it will leave its invisible mark until early evening. The 630-foot steel structur ...
Topics: Mississippi River, placemaking, urban planning (all these topics)

Dubuque's Not Bluffing An Iowa river town develops a real relationship with the Mississippi	Sarah van Schagen	20 Dec 2007	Grist Feature
"The care of rivers is not a question of rivers, but of the human heart." -- Tanaka Shozo Arriving in Dubuque, Iowa, is a bit disorienting. After passing acres and acres of the heartland's flat soybean and cornfields, you suddenly come upon a small city (pop. 60,000) with a surprising landscape. Gazing east to west, you see the muddy Mississippi meandering sou ...
Topics: Iowa, Mississippi River, placemaking, urban planning (all these topics)

Mississippi Keen Three river cities reimagine their waterfronts, and themselves	Katharine Wroth	20 Dec 2007	Grist Feature
It was dark when we first crossed the Mississippi, and we caught only a glimpse of its swirling mass beneath us. The next day was gray and windy, and the dark mass had turned into a steely, uninviting barrier. The day after that was cloudless and blue -- and the suddenly friendly river was too. Sarah van Schagen and I had only just begun our weeklong reporting trip, but already we'd ...
Topics: grassroots activism, Mississippi River, placemaking, politics, special series, urban planning (all these topics)

Banking On Change Up and down the Mississippi, communities are reinventing their riverfronts	Sarah van Schagen, Katharine Wroth	20 Dec 2007	Grist Feature
By Sarah van Schagen and Katharine Wroth 20 Dec 2007 Gone are the days when the Mississippi River was just a shipping route and flood risk that happened to run through a city's back yard. Increasingly, the legendary waterway is becoming recognized as a prized attraction, worthy of front-yard status. Here's how a few communities are drawing attention to a natural feature they once shunned. View Larger Map ...
Topics: Mississippi River, placemaking, urban planning (all these topics)

Along the Mississippi: A flood of coverage A recap of our week on the river	Sarah van Schagen	29 Oct 2007	Gristmill
Huckleberry Wroth and I survived our travels down the Mississippi last week, and we've now returned to our respective coasts to reflect on everything we learned. I must say, visiting three cities in seven days is no lazy float down the river -- we covered a lot of ground. Here's a recap:In Dubuque, we: Chatted with the charming mayor, Roy D. Buol. Lunched with city leaders at a conference led by the American Institute of Architects' Sustainable Design Assessmen ...
Topics: Iowa, Mississippi River, Missouri, placemaking, Tennessee (all these topics)

Along the Mississippi: The end of the road On politics, ponyshoes, and PBR	Katharine Wroth	28 Oct 2007	Gristmill
All good things must come to an end, and the Gristissippi Road Trip is one of them. Sarah and I wrapped up our enlightening week of interviews and explorations with a visit to Beale Street (fried pie, yum!) and a beer with a Gristmill fan. As we recuperate from the trip in our respective cities, collecting our thoughts and notes for the more in-depth features to follow, I thought I'd throw down a few of the things I learned along the way. Seven, in fact, one for each ...
Topics: Iowa, Mississippi River, Missouri, placemaking, Tennessee (all these topics)

Along the Mississippi: A uniter, not a divider Memphians hope river can bridge racial divide	Sarah van Schagen	27 Oct 2007	Gristmill
I mentioned in my last post that there are a lot of complicating factors involved in decisions about what to do with the riverfront in Memphis, Tenn. Yet another complex issue here, though, is the undeniable racial tension. Following the assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr., in 1968, Memphis went through a major decline, with many people leaving the downtown area and moving to the suburbs, and downtown businesses crumbling as a result. The current population o ...
Topics: Mississippi River, placemaking, Tennessee (all these topics)

Along the Mississippi: Labor day In which we get a glimpse of reality	Katharine Wroth	27 Oct 2007	Gristmill
'You girls want a chance at a free dinner cruise?'The question rang out from behind us, all twangy like, as we walked down the ramp toward shore after a 1.5-hour riverboat tour. The day was wet and cold, so the last thing I wanted to do was get back on that boat. But free stuff is free stuff, right? So I turned around. And there was Teddy.'You girls want a free dinner cruise?' he asked again. He stood there grinning, a sledgehammer casually slung over his shoulder. ' ...
Topics: Mississippi River, placemaking, Tennessee (all these topics)

Along the Mississippi: A developing story Memphis debates what to do with its riverfront	Sarah van Schagen	27 Oct 2007	Gristmill
After arriving in Memphis, Tenn., birthplace of rock 'n' roll, Katharine and I headed straight out to Mud Island for a Smashing Pumpkins concert. (Work related, I swear!) The concert was held at the Mud Island Amphitheater, an open-air venue on the long, narrow peninsula created to shelter a small harbor and keep a meandering tributary on course.While the Pumpkins performed, my attention was focused on the river flowing just behind them. Even in the cold wind and d ...
Topics: Mississippi River, placemaking, Tennessee (all these topics)

Along the Mississippi: Energy Not the coal and gas kind, though we've seen lots of that	Katharine Wroth	25 Oct 2007	Gristmill
I'm going to keep this short and sweet, because it's been a long day. We headed out of St. Louis in the mid-afternoon, but before we did, we spent some time with Laura Cohen, who heads up the Confluence Greenway Project -- an incredibly complex (we're talking Venn diagram here) conglomeration of agencies, nonprofits, and other stakeholders working to connect green spaces along the Mississippi and Missouri rivers. Along with her colleague Kathy Weilbacher, we traveled ...
Topics: placemaking, Mississippi River, Missouri (all these topics)

Along the Mississippi: One man's trash St. Louis' City Museum is a treasure	Sarah van Schagen	25 Oct 2007	Gristmill
I apologize if the image at left is a bit hard to make out, but if it looks like a bunch of junk to you, then you're seeing it clearly. This is the outdoor portion of the City Museum in downtown St. Louis. It's absolutely the most unique place I've ever seen, and it's completely made of "found objects." The City Museum was built using reclaimed materials like salvaged bridges, construction cranes, traffic signposts, old chimneys, and even two abandoned a ...
Topics: Mississippi River, Missouri, placemaking (all these topics)

Along the Mississippi: Tax thyself Guess what happens when communities cough up cash?	Katharine Wroth	24 Oct 2007	Gristmill
Earlier today, we met with three folks from the Great Rivers Greenway District in St. Louis. Their organization owes its very existence to a voter-approved one-tenth of one cent sales tax that generates $10 million each year. As a result, they've been able to complete about 100 miles of trails and greenways in a 1,216-square-mile area over the last few years, and have plans to create a network of 500 miles more. Not all of their financing comes from the sales tax, bu ...
Topics: Missouri, Mississippi River, Iowa, placemaking, education (all these topics)

Along the Mississippi: Same trip, different rivers Reflections on a changing river	Sarah van Schagen	24 Oct 2007	Gristmill
Having spent three days on the Mighty Mississip, I am beginning to see just how mighty it is. In Dubuque, we experienced a river that seemed to meander at a manageable pace. We saw a riverfront plaza with steps leading right into the water, and walked down the steps to reach out our hands to touch the water. It was idyllic and calming. The river here in St. Louis is an entirely different beast, meeting up with several major tributaries -- the Illinois, the Missou ...
Topics: Iowa, Mississippi River, placemaking, Missouri (all these topics)

Along the Mississippi: Ponyshoe edition $5 could be yours	Katharine Wroth	24 Oct 2007	Gristmill
It's morning in St Louis, and we're getting ready to talk with some of the movers and shakers in the world of riverfront greenways. While preparing, we ate at a greasy spoon where Jimmy Kimmel was on the teevee talking about his daily cross-country flights for this week's double-hosting duty. Yikes.On a side note, this meal was my third in a row involving white food products slathered in butter -- I've gotta be careful about that. But my health loss is your gain: I w ...
Topics: food, Mississippi River, Missouri, placemaking (all these topics)

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