Signs of life return to New Orleans

Drive through New Orleans today and you may wonder which isthe real city: The deserted lots and crippled traffic lights or the mailmen — like Wayne Treaudo — delivering letters in the Ninth Ward to a new generation of "early settlers."

It's just one example of a city being reassembled in pieces. A school here, a new Home Depot there. A year after Katrina, construction supplies are selling so well that New Orleans' sales tax revenue is stronger than expected.

New phone service means Gene Taglialavore can open his butcher shop after a year of cleanup he did practically by himself.

"You just go ahead and get working," Taglialavore, owner of Tag's Meat Market, says. "And you work 'til you can't go no more."

It's a sharp contrast from last summer, when choppers swarmed above us. Pets we encountered were dazed, and airboats rescued residents on Napoleon Avenue.

Today, that upscale neighborhood doesn't seem to have lost any of its charm. We've seen neighbors walking dogs, flags on porches, the airboats replaced by a steady stream of cars.

But if you didn't own your house, there's a good chance you can't affordto move back. Fewer homes mean skyrocketing rents.

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Long stretches of New Orleans are uninhabited, and uninhabitable — the population now thin enough that the white and yellow pages are one book, which is distributed by workers like Maria Williams, who is 85.

For Subscribers

FOR SUBSCRIBERSAbdul El-Sayed tries to woo MAHA voters as Democrats seek inroads with RFK’s supporters

FOR SUBSCRIBERSKratom-like substances are popping up in a typically benign supplement

FOR SUBSCRIBERSGOP super PAC increases its spending for Sen. Jon Husted in tough Ohio race

FOR SUBSCRIBERSRecords reveal tumultuous marriage between slain New York Times executive and wife

FOR SUBSCRIBERSFrom clean energy warrior to ‘wall of shame,’ James Talarico reverses on a fossil fuel money pledge

FOR SUBSCRIBERSCongressional staff planned official trip with luxury stops in Italy and France weeks before election

FOR SUBSCRIBERSA harrowing ordeal aboard an Israel-bound plane

FOR SUBSCRIBERSOpenAI CEO Sam Altman to skip congressional hearing on rogue AI agents

FOR SUBSCRIBERSKey DOJ lawyers departed Trump ‘grand conspiracy’ probe amid pressure to produce, source says

FOR SUBSCRIBERSTrump’s new AI chatbot often links to a site launched under Clinton 26 years ago

FOR SUBSCRIBERSAt MAHA summit, industry CEOs the movement once vilified take the stage

FOR SUBSCRIBERSThis Paralympian has two goals: Win medals and give away $500,000 to her teammates

FOR SUBSCRIBERSCornell rape allegation spotlights stringent New York state laws that have long drawn criticism

FOR SUBSCRIBERSThe debate over AI’s future rages on both coasts

FOR SUBSCRIBERSDecades-old march dispute reignites in Northern Ireland, threatening political crisis

"I think I'm still in a nightmare," Williams says. "I just wish somebody would pinch me hard!"

In Mississippi, which took a direct hit from Katrina, the poor may be gaining traction. Those who lost their jobs, like teacher Dee Barnett in Biloxi, are learning skills still in demand, like working in the local casino.

"Gambling has really brought us through so far," Barnett says.

Tonight, there are a million questions about the future, the levees. But this much is certain: The region's recovery still rides on individuals taking risks, working for something — some placethat's bigger than themselves.