Hurricane Briefs for Sept. 7, 2012

Dead whale found on Fourchon beach

NEW ORLEANS (AP) — The Louisiana governor’s top coastal adviser says a dead whale has been reported washed ashore on Fourchon beach.

Garrett Graves said Friday the state was sending workers to examine the whale, which washed up southwest of New Orleans.

The size and species of the whale was not yet known. Graves said the whale was found in an area where tar balls and mats of weathered oil have been washing ashore from waters churned by Hurricane Isaac, resulting in the closure of a small portion of coastal waters to commercial fishing.

He said tissue samples were to be taken from the whale to determine whether there was any connection to the oil.

$3.6M grant to La. Workforce Commission will fund cleanup hiring

(AP) — The U.S. Department of Labor has awarded a $3.6 million grant to the Louisiana Workforce Commission that will fund temporary jobs for cleanup efforts following Hurricane Isaac.

The grant, announced Thursday, will affect hiring in Ascension, Assumption, East Feliciana, Iberville, Jefferson, Lafourche, Livingston, Orleans, Plaquemines, Point Coupee, St. Bernard, St. Charles, St. Helena, St. James, St. John the Baptist, St. Tammany, Tangipahoa, Terrebonne, Washington, West Baton Rouge and, West Feliciana parishes.

State officials earlier this week requested $3.4 million, which they said would pay salaries for about 450 people.

City of New Orleans train returning to N.O. Monday

NEW ORLEANS (AP) — Amtrak says the City of New Orleans passenger train will pull into its namesake city on Monday — the first time since Aug. 27, when service was suspended because of Hurricane Isaac.

It says daily service from Chicago will start and end in Memphis through Sunday. trains will start and end in New Orleans on Monday, when service on the route in Mississippi also will resume.

Passengers who already had bought tickets for the suspended trains can get a refund or a voucher for future travel.

Amtrak’s other routes to and from New Orleans are back in service. Those are the Sunset Limited, between New Orleans and Los Angeles, and the Crescent, between New Orleans and New York.

Tolls to resume on Crescent City Connection

NEW ORLEANS (AP) — State transportation officials say they will resume collecting tolls at the Crescent City Connection bridge in New Orleans.

Tolls will go into effect at 10 a.m. Saturday.

The Department of Transportation and Development had suspended the tolls to ease evacuation caused by Hurricane Isaac

Meanwhile, tolls at the La. 1 Expressway are still suspended. DOTD will notify the traveling public when tolling operations resume there.

State closes last medical shelter after Isaac

(AP) — The state’s last medical special needs shelter, opened before Hurricane Isaac, has been closed.

State officials say the shelter at the Ernest N. Morial Convention Center in New Orleans closed Wednesday, after the shelter’s final patient was discharged.

During the height of Isaac, Louisiana operated five special needs shelters at LSU in Baton Rouge and Southeastern Louisiana University in Hammond, in Alexandria and Bossier and at the Morial Convention Center.

Officials say the special needs shelters provided care to more than 400 residents with complex medical needs that didn’t require hospitalization but made them ineligible for a general shelter.