Debbie Elliott

Spoken Dish Asks Southerners: What Is Your Food Identity?

Debbie Elliott — Mon, 17 Jun 2013 15:45:00 +0000

Does cast-iron skillet cornbread, hot and crispy from the oven, transport you back to your grandma's kitchen? Do you cook with certain ingredients as a link to your roots in the South? If so, "A Spoken Dish" wants to hear your story.

The Southern Foodways Alliance is teaming up with Whole Foods Market and Georgia Organics in this video storytelling project as a way to celebrate and document food memories and rituals of the American South.

The goal is "to document the palate of a changing South," says A Spoken Dish producer Kate Medley.

Fifty Years After Medgar Evers' Killing, The Scars Remain

Debbie Elliott — Wed, 05 Jun 2013 10:11:00 +0000

For Myrlie Evers-Williams, the widow of slain NAACP leader Medgar Evers, the memories of 1963 are still raw.

Her family lived in terror behind the locked doors of their Jackson, Miss., home — a modest, three-bedroom, ranch-style house in one of the first new subdivisions built for African-Americans in Mississippi's segregated capital city.

Gulf Coast States Get Creative With BP Oil Spill Money

Debbie Elliott — Tue, 28 May 2013 22:38:00 +0000

Gulf Coast states are lining up to spend $1 billion from BP on coastal restoration. The money is part of BP's legal responsibility to restore the Gulf of Mexico's natural resources in the aftermath of the worst oil disaster in U.S. history.

But the nature of some of the state projects, including boat ramps and a beachfront hotel, is raising questions about just what counts as coastal restoration.

Earlier this month, Alabama's Gov. Robert Bentley stood on a sugar white state park beach to announce plans for an $85 million lodge and conference center.

Shell Digs Deep To Tap Into Lucrative Oil, Gas Reserves

Debbie Elliott — Thu, 09 May 2013 09:43:00 +0000

Transcript

STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:

One reason the world is not yet running out of oil and gas is that energy companies keep finding ways to extract those resources from more and more difficult places, including far under the ocean. Royal Dutch Shell announced plans, yesterday, for the world's deepest offshore floating oil and gas facility.

NPR's Debbie Elliott reports.

DEBBIE ELLIOTT, BYLINE: Shell calls its ultra-deepwater project a milestone.

A Grieving Brother Finds Solace In His Sister's 'Small Town'

Debbie Elliott — Mon, 29 Apr 2013 07:28:00 +0000

When he was a teenager, journalist Rod Dreher couldn't wait to escape Louisiana. Now he has found his way home again in grief — after his sister's death from lung cancer. It was "in light" of that tragedy, Dreher says, that he discovered the value of community. It's the subject of his new book, The Little Way of Ruthie Leming: A Southern Girl, a Small Town, and the Secret of a Good Life.

Dreher's new home is on a historic block in St. Francisville, La., population 1,700. The houses have welcoming, wide front porches.

Massive Sinkhole In Louisiana Baffles Officials

Debbie Elliott — Wed, 20 Mar 2013 20:58:00 +0000

Louisiana officials are grappling with a giant sinkhole that's threatening a neighborhood. A salt mine collapsed last year, creating a series of problems regulators say they've never seen before, including tremors and oil and gas leaks and a sinkhole that now covers 9 acres.

Residents have been evacuated for more than seven months now and are losing patience.

Ernie Boudreaux lives in a trailer on Jambalaya Street in Bayou Corne, La. Strange things have been happening to his home, he says.

"It cracks. You can hear it.

Mardi Gras Merriment Beyond Bourbon Street Festivities

Debbie Elliott — Tue, 12 Feb 2013 17:53:00 +0000

It's Fat Tuesday, the final day of indulgence before the fasting and penance of Lent begins.

Drought Causes Ripple Effect Along Mighty Mississippi River

Debbie Elliott — Wed, 30 Jan 2013 00:43:00 +0000

The persistent drought is raising questions about how the Mississippi River is managed — both upstream and down.

While cargo traffic upriver has gotten lots of attention, the drought is creating a different set of problems downriver at the mouth of the Mississippi, where saltwater has encroached.

An old-fashioned staff river gauge behind the New Orleans district office of the U.S.

Myrlie Evers-Williams To Deliver Inaugural Invocation

Debbie Elliott — Mon, 21 Jan 2013 08:41:00 +0000

Transcript

RENEE MONTAGNE, HOST:

And the widow of a murdered Mississippi civil rights leader will help open the inaugural ceremony today. President Obama selected activist Myrlie Evers-Williams to deliver the invocation.

Cigarette Makers Frustrated As Product Approvals Stall

Debbie Elliott — Fri, 11 Jan 2013 22:34:00 +0000

It's been only a few years since Congress granted the federal government the power to approve how tobacco products are made and sold in the U.S.

The Food and Drug Administration's new Center for Tobacco Products, established under a 2009 law that gives the agency jurisdiction over tobacco, must review all new cigarettes or smokeless tobacco, as well as any changes to existing brands.

But the agency has yet to clear any products under the new system, and some cigarette makers are frustrated by the backlog of applications.

The FDA typically evaluates new drugs and other products with a "sa