First of three parts NEW ORLEANS | Using his hands, Adam Graff pushed the “floodwater” away from the frantic woman’s face. It calmed her momentarily, but she could still see the brown agitated water, she could feel it rising again, back over her waist, up to her neck, and she cried for help. Mr. Graff, a mental health technician, gently lifted her chin and assured her that she was in an airtight police van, and he was taking her to a place where the water couldn’t reach her: the mental ward at University Hospital. In her mind, she was drowning …

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I drive alongside the grassy slope of the Mississippi River levee and turn east at Magazine Street, traveling past Audubon Zoo toward downtown. It’s a narrow, bumpy street shaded by giant oaks, their roots upending great chunks of sidewalk. But nobody seems to mind. This is New Orleans. ¶ I’m on a quest to find the best snowball in a city filled with stands. Don’t mistake a snowball for a snow cone. The former is soft like powder snow, the latter crunchy like hard pack. Fluffy snowballs are served with a straw and a spoon and brim with vividly flavored syrups with names such as wedding cake, hurricane and nectar. Each stand has dozens to choose from. Another difference: With a snow cone, you can suck the flavor right out of the mouthful of ice. Not so with a snowball. The flavor and snow become one indivisible creation. ¶ The first thing you do when handed your snowball is scoop out a spoonful or bite off the peaked top. Hang out at any stand and watch the next 20 people who receive their cup or carton, and 19 of them will, before getting two steps away, have the first bite in their mouth

Just as Doctor John croons in his tribute to the Crescent City, it’s “sweet home, New Orleans” for lifelong resident Robert L. Green Sr. This weekend, he slept on a bed in his own home in the Lower 9th Ward for the first time in the four years since Hurricane Katrina flattened his neighborhood and killed both his mother and infant granddaughter. “I will put a sign up that says, ‘There’s no place like home,’ because it’s true,” Mr. Green told The Washington Times during a recent visit to Washington. He has previously appeared on the newspaper’s front page for …

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The Roosevelt Hotel has finally reopened in downtown New Orleans four years after Hurricane Katrina. Thanks to a $145 million renovation, it’s making an opulent return to its heyday, when the likes of Long, a parade of Hollywood stars and the country’s movers and shakers held court there.

The massive lobby, with its ornate trim, glittering Italian crystal chandeliers and mosaic floors, looks much as it did when Louisiana’s Kingfish, Gov. . . .

OPINION/ANALYSIS: As we approach the four-year anniversary of Hurricane Katrina, it is tempting to assume New Orleans has recovered. The bars and restaurants of the French Quarter are bustling, riverboats filled with tourists float down the Mississippi River, and population levels are creeping closer to pre-storm levels. That’s only half the story. If you drive into the Lower Ninth Ward, for example, signs of Katrina’s lasting impact slap you in the face. Once heralded for its exceptionally high homeownership rate and spirit of independence, this predominantly black historic community now has occupation rates of less than 25 percent. When more …

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Historic New Orleans hotel reclaims past, boosts city’s future 4 years post-Katrina

The Charlotte Bobcats are finalizing a trade that would send Emeka Okafor to the New Orleans Hornets for Tyson Chandler, two people familiar…

Spend a little, spend a lot, or spend somewhere in between.

To get the feel for a place, it is wise to do what the Aborigines call a walkabout. When you first arrive at a new destination, take to the streets. . . .