What is this?

Rising from Ruin is an on-going MSNBC.com special report chronicling two coastal Mississippi towns, Bay St. Louis and Waveland, as they rebuild after Hurricane Katrina.

Map of Southeaster United States

This project is evolving. Our daily dispatches coverage has been retired. Click here to see what happened in the area between mid October and January 1, 2006.

Background on the towns and this project is available under the about tab above.

Click here for bios of the reporters and media producers who have worked on the series.

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Gulf Coast homeowners: Don't Call Henry

Of the dozens of building contractors punished by the state of Mississippi for preying on victims of Hurricane Katrina, one stands out from the crowd of mostly small-time, fly-by-night operators: Call Henry, a Florida-based firm with hundreds of employees that each year earns tens of millions of dollars from contracts with the Department of Defense, NASA and the Environmental Protection Agency.

The company boasts on its Web site about its rosy prospects for new federal business. But at the same time, it has closed up shop in the hurricane zone and is ignoring customers there who say that their homes are falling apart after Call Henry repaired or rebuilt them. The state Attorney General's Office is considering launching a criminal investigation against the firm. And the company is appealing a $10,000 fine that the Mississippi State Board of Contractors levied after finding that Call Henry exhibited “gross negligence or misconduct” in its contracting business.

“They shafted people right and left,” said a sobbing Mary Bobbitt of Waveland, Miss., who hired Call Henry to fix her three-bedroom, one-bath ranch-style home after it was inundated by Katrina’s deadly flood tide. “They came in from Florida thinking they could make a whole bunch of money and then they left. They just left us.”

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Gulf Coast homeowners: Don't Call Henry

Of the dozens of building contractors punished by the state of Mississippi for preying on victims of Hurricane Katrina, one stands out from the crowd of mostly small-time, fly-by-night operators: Call Henry, a Florida-based firm with hundreds of employees that...

Author: Mike Stuckey, MSNBC.com

33

Wave from Bush is reward enough for big fan

Donna Armstrong of Diamondhead may be President Bush's biggest fan in Hancock County, Miss. On Wednesday, she waited for more than an hour in blazing heat for a glimpse of the president's motorcade.

Author: Mike Stuckey, MSNBC.com

20

Upbeat ceremony marks two-year anniversary

In a ceremony marking the second anniversary of Hurricane Katrina, elected officials in Hancock County, Miss., praise the area’s emergency workers, volunteers and the “strong, resilient, self-reliant, caring people” of Mississippi.

Author: Mike Stuckey, MSNBC.com

9

Recovery leaves thousands in the dust

While many who were dealt blows by Hurricane Katrina are recovered, thousands of hurricane refugees are still living in FEMA trailers without the resources to regain the small shreds of independence they enjoyed before the storm. MSNBC.com's Mike Stuckey has their story.

Author: Mike Stuckey, MSNBC.com

230

At home in the house that Katrina built

At the end of a one-lane road just northwest of Waveland, Miss., stands a house that Katrina built, a literal gift of the hurricane's flood tide. MSNBC.com's Mike Stuckey reports.

Author: Mike Stuckey, MSNBC.com

20

Bringing back the bees

Leave it to an artist to come up with one of the most creative contributions to Hurricane Katrina rebuilding efforts. MSNBC.com's Mike Stuckey has the story.

Author: Mike Stuckey, MSNBC.com

9

Superstars in the Katrina volunteer trenches

Hundreds of thousands of volunteers have flocked to the Mississippi Gulf Coast, earning the undying gratitude of a community that was brought to its knees by Hurricane Katrina. MSNBC.com's Mike Stuckey profles one couple whose faith found a new outlet in the disaster zone.

Author: Mike Stuckey, MSNBC.com

122

Broadcaster struggles to stay on air

A Hurricane Katrina hero who runs a low-power FM station that broadcast search and rescue information during the storm says he’s running out of money to stay in business. MSNBC.com's Mike Stuckey has the story.

Author: Mike Stuckey, MSNBC.com

8

Sense of optimism takes seed

Two years after Hurricane Katrina decimated the coastal Mississippi communities of Bay St. Louis and Waveland, MSNBC.com's Mike Stuckey finds a new sense of optimism has taken seed.

Author: Mike Stuckey, MSNBC.com

99

Seeking swamp salvation

A brain condition added injury to devastation for Denny Holmberg. But new friends are trying to help him re-establish his swamp tour business. MSNBC.com's Mike Stuckey reports

Author: Mike Stuckey, MSNBC.com

15

Katrina dried up rental market

While billions of dollars in federal aid is being handed out to rebuild single-family homes in the Hurricane Katrina disaster zone, virtually no funds have been made available to replenish the supply of rental housing.

Author: Mike Stuckey, MSNBC.com

331

Insurance a business-breaker

John Brennan and Daye Moynan have had enough. After struggling for 20 months to rebuild their business and their lives in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, the owners of a chic Old Town art mall are selling out and leaving the state. MSNBC.com's Mike Stuckey has the story.

Author: Mike Stuckey, MSNBC.com

200

Of oaks and unspoken angst

If the trees could talk, they would tell us everything. MSNBC.com's Mike Stuckey updates the situation in Bay St. Louis and Waveland, Miss., 20 months after Hurricane Katrina devastated the towns.

Author: Mike Stuckey, MSNBC.com

209

The scars of Katrina

VIDEO: Bay High School freshmen Jonathan Daniels, Leann Cassibry and Will Chisholm talk about their thoughts and experiences 20 months after Hurricane Katrina. Click to watch. (David Friedman / msnbc.com) Rebuilding a house. Moving out of town. Fighting with the...

Author: David Friedman, MSNBC.com

20

Memories or hope?

MSNBC.com media producer David Friedman examines artifacts at the sites of what, until Hurricane Katrina, were homes in Bay St. Louis and Waveland, Miss.

Author: David Friedman, MSNBC.com

71

Gambling going like gangbusters

While the Mississippi Gulf Coast struggles to rebuild roads, bridges, utility lines and homes, the gambling industry has made it all look easy. MSNBC.com's Mike Stuckey has the story.

Author: Mike Stuckey, MSNBC.com

4

Bridge bash to be a humdinger

How do you celebrate a bridge? The residents of Hancock County Miss., have plenty of ideas as the new span over Bay of St. Louis.

Author: Mike Stuckey, MSNBC.com

9

More trouble for Paradise?

A key player in the most ambitious post-Katrina development in Mississippi is back in court and his employer is at risk for contempt proceedings in the wake of an MSNBC.com exposé.

Author: Mike Stuckey, MSNBC.com

30

Staying the course in Waveland

In Tuesday’s only real referendum on how government has handled Hurricane Katrina recovery along the Gulf Coast, Democrats in Waveland, Miss., voted to stay the course with their folksy mayor of the past eight years.

Author: Mike Stuckey, MSNBC.com

34

Katrina recovery overshadows election

In coastal Mississippi, the midterm election isn't generating much interest. In a region that is still focused on digging out physically and emotionally from the costliest hurricane in U.S. history, there’s only room for one issue and her name is Katrina.

Author: Mike Stuckey, MSNBC.com

152

Waveland mayor in tight re-election battle

Waveland, Miss., Mayor Tommy Longo is fighting to keep his job in Tuesday's election, trying to to avoid becoming the first mayor in the Hurricane Katrina zone swept out of office in the wake of the storm.

Author: Mike Stuckey, MSNBC.com

5

In the same boat with voters

Rep. Gene Taylor has a greater appreciation of Hurricane Katrina's destructive force than almost all of his colleagues. a 17-year member of the U.S. House of Representatives. The storm demolished the Bay St. Louis, Miss., Democrat’s Cedar Point home of 28 years right along with those of his neighbors, MSNBC.com's Mike Stuckey writes.

Author: Mike Stuckey, MSNBC.com

27

Technology tangles post-storm election

When it comes to voting, new electronic machines are giving elections officials in Hancock County, Miss., a harder time than nature did, MSNBC.com's Mike Stuckey writes.

Author: Mike Stuckey, MSNBC.com

8

Corps plans to allow wetlands filling

Federal wetlands regulators have dropped a bombshell on environmentalists with a little-publicized proposal to relax restrictions on filling in certain wetlands along the entire Mississippi Gulf Coast to speed recovery from Hurricane Katrina. “It’s unethical, illegal, immoral, unsustainable and they’re...

Author: Andrew Locke, MSNBC.com

11

Justice, post-Katrina style

Justice is a very personal experience in Hancock County these days, with criminal defendants sitting elbow to elbow with prosecutors and close enough to the jury to hear each gasp or whisper of disbelief.

Author: Mike Brunker, MSNBC.com

29

And the band played on

The Katrina anniversary parade through the devastated center of Waveland, Miss., complete with baton twirlers and marching band, seemed strange, but one band member assured us that "It's part of everyday life."

Author: Bob Sullivan, MSNBC.com

63

On anniversary, a new home

Evelyn Wells didn't have time to attend Katrina anniversary services Tuesday. She was busy hammering the last few nails into her brand new Habitat for Humanity home.

Author: Bob Sullivan, MSNBC.com

37

For victims, the bell tolls

The congregation of Christ Episcopal Church rang the church bell 58 times on the anniversary of Hurricane Katrina -- one for each local victim of the storm -- then three more for the Holy Trinity.

Author: Bob Sullivan, MSNBC.com

18

A year later, volunteers shine

If there is a positive to be found amid the devastation inflicted on Bay St. Louis, Waveland and Hancock County by Hurricane Katrina’s storm surge it can be found in another type of torrent – the vast river of volunteers that in one year has helped lift these shattered Mississippi coastal communities from the depths of despair.

Author: Mike Brunker, MSNBC.com

59

The tax man cometh

Bright and early at 8 a.m. Monday morning, on the eve of Hurricane Katrina's anniversary, the taxman cameth. He arrived in the form of an auction in which residents in Mississippi’s Hancock County who hadn't paid their property taxes found their land up for sale the highest bidder.

Author: Bob Sullivan, MSNBC.com

51

'Beautiful' debris

You've heard of making lemonade from lemons. But making art from rubble? To see that, you have to go to the Gulf Coast. MSNBC.com's Bob Sullivan reports.

Author: Bob Sullivan, MSNBC.com

12

See the progress for yourself

A year after Hurricane Katrina made a serious attempt to erase the towns of Bay St. Louis and Waveland, Miss., much has been accomplished. Look at these images to see the progress for yourself, as well as how much remains...

Author: Jamescheng, MSNBC.com

79

Schools study subtraction

School is back in session and Superintendent Kim Stasny is getting a workout on subtraction and negative integers courtesy of Hurricane Katrina, which left the Bay St. Louis-Waveland School District’s finances in a shambles.

Author: Mike Brunker, MSNBC.com

11

Big dreams born in a trailer

In some mysterious way, Hurricane Katrina served as a wake-up call for Dane St. Pe, unleashing a creative force in the 37-year-old former Marine that he had no idea even existed.

Author: Mike Brunker, MSNBC.com

4

FEMA U-turn on trailer tests

FEMA reverses course and orders tests on formaldehyde levels in travel trailers housing hurricane victims along the Gulf Coast.

Author: Mike Brunker, MSNBC.com

228

Touching up the talons

A manicure may seem frivolous in, but a bit of frivolity goes a long way when you do without life’s little comforts as long as people have in these Gulf Coast towns pulverized by Hurricane Katrina.

Author: Kari Huus, MSNBC.com

62

Pawning goodies, buying tools

Best Pawn in Bay St. Louis reopened late last year with new overstock items, but now the store is seeing customers pawn luxury items that they bought with FEMA money and are now forced to part with.

Author: Kari Huus, MSNBC.com

78

Hail the building inspector

Meet Bill Carrigee. He's aggravating, infuriating, loud and intimidating, and he’s arguably the most powerful person in Bay St. Louis.

Author: Kari Huus, MSNBC.com

90

Dueling over dead pines

A battle is raging over the removal of the dead pine trees that once helped shield the Mississippi Gulf Coast from the wind, with residents fearing they could become missiles in the next powerful storm.

Author: Kari Huus, MSNBC.com

125

Housing's halting recovery

Up and down the economic ladder, there is an acute housing shortage in hurricane-battered Hancock County, Miss.

Author: Kari Huus, MSNBC.com

38

Race for the building bonanza

Mega building chains Lowe's and Home Depot are both opening stores in Waveland, Miss., an area where home improvement has a very different meaning.

Author: Kari Huus, MSNBC.com

41

FEMA trailers 'toxic tin cans'?

FEMA trailers have been a godsend to tens of thousands of hurricane surivivors, but an environmental group charges that they are "toxic tin cans" that threaten the health of their occupants.

Author: Mike Brunker, MSNBC.com

364

Volunteers catalog misery

AmeriCorps volunteers are helping local governments and aid groups in the Hurricane Katrina zone, including conducting a needs survey in Hancock County.

Author: Kari Huus, MSNBC.com

34

No shortage of derelict homes

It apparently will fall to local governments to clean up hundreds of properties abandoned by their owners in the wake of Hurricane Katrina.

Author: Kari Huus, MSNBC.com

26

'The Donald' joins casino fray

Like hungry alligators, gambling enterprises are rapidly crawling ashore all along the Mississippi coast. Hancock County is no exception, with two casinos due to open by year’s end and a new project that pairs a state gaming company with Donald Trump.

Author: Mike Brunker, MSNBC.com

60

Developers linked to old stock fraud

Two brothers involved in the Paradise Bay project in Hancock County -- the biggest post-Katrina development on the Mississippi Gulf Coast -- were key figures in an Internet stock scam that federal authorities say bilked investors out of more than $12 million, MSNBC.com has learned.

Author: Andrew Locke, MSNBC.com

19

Watch out for 'flying teeth'

To the delight of no one, Mississippi’s most feared residents – its voracious flying and biting bugs – are recovering quite nicely from Hurricane Katrina.

Author: Mike Brunker, MSNBC.com

113

Thieves sting good Samaritan

Rings of thieves increasingly are taking advantage of the industrious chaos in the hurricane zone and making off with anything that isn’t guarded, locked up or nailed down, including heavy equipment and more easily stolen items like power tools, lawnmowers and golf carts.

Author: Mike Brunker, MSNBC.com

249

Racing to span the bay

A contractor is racing to rebuild the economically vital Highway 90 bridge across St. Louis Bay by November 2007.

Author: Mike Brunker, MSNBC.com

36

FEMA says vet can keep trailer

Finally, there's some good news for Larry Lake. The Navy veteran who is battling cancer no longer has to worry that FEMA will repossess the trailer it provided him with after Hurricane Katrina.

Author: Mike Brunker, MSNBC.com

38

A volunteer housing shortage

The closure of the Morrell Foundation's iCare Village due to the advent of hurricane season has created a serious shortage of housing for volunteers visiting Hancock County, Miss., to help with the Hurricane Katrina cleanup.

Author: Bob Sullivan, MSNBC.com

76

The show must go on

Take a video tour of the devastated Bay St. Louis Little Theatre and discover the tragic yet inspirational reasons that the show must go on.

Author: Bob Sullivan, MSNBC.com

13

What evacuation plan?

Officials in Gulf Coast towns like Bay St. Louis and Waveland, Miss., are losing sleep over a nightmare scenario as this year's hurricane season arrives. MSNBC.com's Bob Sullivan reports.

Author: Bob Sullivan, MSNBC.com

150

Not just any graduation

It could have been any graduation ceremony in any American town. It was a perfect, breezy spring evening, so breezy that students at times had to cling to their caps, which glinted with bronze tones thanks to a perfect sunset....

Author: Bob Sullivan, MSNBC.com

102

The dangers that lurk beneath

Water experts and county officials say the water is safe off the beaches of Mississippi's Hancock County, but they still say swimmers should keep out, even though there are no signs of the danger lurking beneath the waves.

Author: Mike Stuckey, MSNBC.com

77

Housing boom on the horizon

What so far has been spotty progress in replacing the thousands of dwellings wiped out across Mississippi's Hancock County by Hurricane Katrina appears poised to morph into the biggest residential construction boom the county has ever seen. MSNBC.com's Mike Stuckey has the story.

Author: Mike Stuckey, MSNBC.com

65

Dreams of homes coming true

Kimberly Martin, a teacher from Bay St. Louis, and her family will be among the first to move into a local Habitat for Humanity house under a program created to respond to the homelessness caused by last year’s hurricanes.

Author: Mike Stuckey, MSNBC.com

43

Psychological fallout hard to predict

Just as weather forecasters have difficulty saying where a storm will land and how much damage it will do, therapists say the long-term mental-health effects of Hurricane Katrina also are hard to predict, even eight months after it hit.

Author: Mike Stuckey, MSNBC.com

60

'My religion, more or less'

Even as he deals with the many difficulties that Hurricane Katrina propelled into his life, restaurateur Tony Trapani still finds time for what he describes as "my religion more or less" -- catching fish. MSNBC.com's Jim Seida joins him for a few relaxing hours off the Mississippi coast.

Author: Jim Seida, MSNBC.com

60

Lights, camera, controversy!

A drama is afoot over Bay St. Louis' dilapidated link to Hollywood and its best-known landmark to the outside world. The fate of the building featured in the 1966 filme "This Property is Condemned" could be a preview of the fate of other historic properties in Katrina’s wake. MSNBC.com's Mike Stuckey has the story.

Author: Mike Stuckey, MSNBC.com

32

FEMA, cancer gang up on vet

Larry Lake, a 71-year-old Navy veteran and Hurricane Katrina survivor who beat cancer once and is attempting to do so again, takes what life deals him and makes the best of it. Yessir, aye-aye. But he’s having a little trouble these days with some news from the Federal Emergency Management Agency: FEMA workers will be coming soon to tow away the 30-foot travel trailer where he has lived since November.

Author: Mike Stuckey, MSNBC.com

241

Housing market slowly stirs

Hurricane Katrina continues to reverberate in the Gulf Coast real estate market, where some communities are seeing mini-booms while sales have slowed to a crawl in others.

Author: Marty Wolk, MSNBC.com

36

A home amid devastation

Jeff and Rose Watts are urban pioneers of the post-Katrina era -- the first residents to rebuild and move back into a new home south of the railroad tracks in Waveland, MSNBC.com's Marty Wolk reports.

Author: Marty Wolk, MSNBC.com

33

Trying to remember 'normal'

Pete and Betty Benvenutti are getting close to moving into a cozy one-bedroom house that is replacing the century-old home they lost to Hurricane Katrina. MSNBC.com's Marty Wolk reports.

Author: Marty Wolk, MSNBC.com

24

Wind vs. water, revisited

Thousands of Gulf Coast residents are suing insurance carriers after having their Hurricane Katrina claims denied. MSNBC.com's Martin Wolk talks to the

Author: Marty Wolk, MSNBC.com

320

A tree of hope

In front of Bay St. Louis resident Woody Santa Cruz's ruined home, a centuries-old live oak tree stands like a sentinel of the past. MSNBC.com's David Friedman shares his story.

Author: David Friedman, MSNBC.com

24

If you teach a man to build ...

Hurricane Katrina victims are learning construction skills so that they can rebuild their homes -- and their lives -- MSNBC.com's Martin Wolk reports.

Author: Marty Wolk, MSNBC.com

16

All cooped up and nowhere to go

Shirley Corr has hopes of returning to the Waveland, Miss., home that her late husband built, but she worries that her community will never recover. MSNBC.com's Kari Huus reports.

Author: Kari Huus, MSNBC.com

34

Historic ruins await their fate

Marcella Archibeque is spitting mad that she can't obliterate her own bit of Gulf Coast history; she wants her historic shotgun cottage scraped off the face of the earth and sent to the big trash heap where other architectural victims...

Author: Brock N. Meeks, MSNBC.com

107

Loan program leaves lives in limbo

Six months after back-to-back-to-back hurricanes lashed the Gulf Coast and southern Florida, the Small Business Administration is running into criticism over its disaster loan program, MSNBC.com's Brock Meeks reports.

Author: Brock N. Meeks, MSNBC.com

277

Towns show staying power

A new study that estimates that Bay St. Louis and Waveland currently have 76 percent of their pre-Katrina populations is good news for those trying to fuel the recovery process. MSNBC.com's Brock N. Meeks has the story.

Author: Brock N. Meeks, MSNBC.com

92

Mardi Gras with an asterisk

Despite Hurricane Katrina's best efforts, the Bay St. Louis-Waveland Mardi Gras parade took place as scheduled. MSNBC.com's Brock N. Meeks was there.

Author: Brock N. Meeks, MSNBC.com

90

Farmers' market a choice commodity

Residents of Waveland have choice when it comes to purchasing food again thanks the the resurrection of a farmer's market.

Author: Brock N. Meeks, MSNBC.com

14

Mass' appeal aids healing

St. Rose de Lima church in Bay St. Louis, renowned for its unique Gospel-style Sunday Mass, has been a godsend for the storm-battered community.

Author: Andrew Locke, MSNBC.com

18

Da train, boss! Da train!

Trains are again rolling along the Mississippi Gulf Coast following rapid-fire repairs by CSX railroad workers and contractors on 40 miles of tracks damaged by Hurricane Katrina.

Author: Mike Brunker, MSNBC.com

53

Changing the face of crime

Hurricane Katrina disrupted crime patterns throughout the Gulf Coast in ways that law enforcement agencies and criminologists are still trying to understand.

Author: Mike Brunker, MSNBC.com

163

Bright spot in animal tragedy?

Most of the animals in the Waveland Animal Shelter died when Hurricane Katrina swamped the facility, but the tragedy has spurred efforts to build a new state-of-the-art facility in Hancock County.

Author: Dan Strieff, MSNBC.com

330

A beacon of hope in Waveland

Jeff and Rose Watts are the first residents south of the railroad tracks to obtain a permit to rebuild their home in Waveland. Thanks to a group of German Baptists in Ohio, they hope to be in their new home by the end of February.

Author: Mike Brunker, MSNBC.com

78

Dust flies over Katrina's debris

Amid the still-huge piles of debris left behind by Hurricane Katrina, a fierce conflict is raging over the pace of the cleanup and the way it is being run.

Author: Mike Brunker, MSNBC.com

97

Katrina still plundering local coffers

BAY ST. LOUIS, Miss. – Five months after Katrina ravaged the Gulf Coast, the hurricane continues to plunder the coffers of local governments. “The county’s fiscal health is very fragile right now,” said Hancock County Administrator Tim Kellar. “I don’t...

Author: Mike Stuckey, MSNBC.com

17

Slide show: Painful progress

See images taken by MSNBC.com's photographers from mid-October through January in Bay St. Louis and Waveland.

Author: Andrew Locke, MSNBC.com

44

A time of change for Rising from Ruin

As the rebuilding of Bay St. Louis and Waveland progresses day by day, the time has come to step back to get a broader perspective of what’s happening in the Hurricane Katrina-ravaged towns on which we have focused since the storm.

Author: Mike Brunker, MSNBC.com

92

Fishermen face post-Katrina irony

The irony of what is happening in the post-Katrina fishing industry along the Gulf Coast is as twisted as the steel in the ruins of the marina here.

Author: Mike Stuckey, MSNBC.com

128

Life signs improve for free clinic

The prognosis for the only medical clinic still offering free treatment to locals whose world was rocked by Hurricane Katrina brightened considerably Tuesday after Mayor Eddie Favre stepped into an increasingly acrimonious dispute between doctors who say it is undercutting their business and community leaders who maintain it is necessary to meet the health care needs of many storm-battered residents.

Author: Dan Strieff, MSNBC.com

55

Solitary figure in the cemetery

For J.E. Loiacano, a former high school and Mississippi State football coach who has owned the Gardens of Memory Cemetery in Waveland for two decades, cutting off stray branches in whatever the weather throws at him is strictly routine.

Author: Dan Strieff, MSNBC.com

65

A (mostly) quiet New Year’s Eve

Hoping for a smoother 2006, the devastated Gulf Coast towns of Bay St. Louis and Waveland quietly welcomed in the New Year.

Author: Dan Strieff, MSNBC.com

21

Trying to beat the bulldozer

The Heritage Conservation Network is in a race against time on the Gulf Coast.

Author: Dan Strieff, MSNBC.com

28

A ‘great bump’ of historic proportions

"It’s another of our great bumps," is how Charles Gray, director of the Hancock County Historical Society, describes Hurricane Katrina’s horrific impact on Bay St. Louis, Waveland and the surrounding Mississippi Gulf Coast.

Author: Dan Strieff, MSNBC.com

34

Fireworks! Get yer fireworks here!

If you feel the urge to buy Artillery Shells, Warhawk Missiles, B-29 Bombers or even an 8-Shot Hurricane at 3 a.m., you need look no further than “Crazy Carl’s” fireworks stand off Highway 90.

Author: Dan Strieff, MSNBC.com

54

Saving photos -- and memories

Despite the brave comments of some Katrina survivors that material possessions can be replaced, some of them cannot.

Author: Mike Stuckey, MSNBC.com

31

Swinging and sliding ahead

Among the many signs that this town will return to better times in the wake of Hurricane Katrina is a shiny new playground in the heart of downtown.

Author: Mike Stuckey, MSNBC.com

30

A bright, clear Christmas on the gulf

Christmas came clear and sunny across this hurricane zone, a glorious Gulf Coast day for Katrina’s survivors to draw together in their houses of worship and around their dinner tables to count their blessings.

Author: Mike Stuckey, MSNBC.com

11

Twinkling trailers amid the debris

With Christmas nigh, Hancock County is taking a breather.

Author: Mike Stuckey, MSNBC.com

33

Season’s greetings from a hurricane zone

"I’ve never written one of these holiday letters before so it’s a bit hard to begin. And awkward, seeing as how I have some confessions that I didn’t think I’d make while still working as a journalist."

Author: Mike Stuckey, MSNBC.com

40

Here comes Santa ... in a U-Haul

Santa’s elves eschewed the big guy’s sleigh and showed up in a U-Haul truck Thursday to hand out toys, clothing and Christmas trees to dozens of Katrina victims in this devastated community.

Author: Mike Stuckey, MSNBC.com

41

No sparkling entrance for new year

To the long list of things that will be missing this holiday season in this storm-struck town, add one more: fireworks.

Author: Mike Stuckey, MSNBC.com

16

Some hope for homeowners

Hancock County homeowners who may benefit from a massive federal bailout now before the Senate are optimistic about what they’ve heard so far but reluctant to get their hopes too high.

Author: Mike Stuckey, MSNBC.com

46

A timeline for reconnecting

After months of hearing little more than squabbling among public officials about the future of the Highway 90 bridge over the Bay of St. Louis, Hancock County residents on Monday heard something new about their lifeline to points east: Jan. 10.

Author: Mike Stuckey, MSNBC.com

16

Prison labor held hostage by lack of plan

For more than a week, 50 to 75 Mississippi prison inmates have been out along a stretch of Interstate 10 connecting Hancock and Harrison counties, picking up debris left behind by Hurricane Katrina.

Author: Brock N. Meeks, MSNBC.com

43

Fast food bidding war

It’s literally a sign of the times: A huge banner outside the Burger King in Diamondhead, a community northeast of Bay St. Louis, advertising yearly bonuses of up to $6,000 for workers.

Author: Miguel Llanos, MSNBC.com

249

'Katrina ... can't take Christmas'

Lance Rihner of Bay St. Louis explains insisted on decorating his house this year, despite the devastation that surrounds it.

Author: Miguel Llanos, MSNBC.com

82

A bit of Broadway by the Bay

The Big Apple has come to Bay St. Louis in the form of 20 professional actors and singers intent on spreading holiday cheer throughout a community stripped clean of nearly all forms of entertainment.

Author: Brock N. Meeks, MSNBC.com

20

Guerrilla Relief

Christmas won't slip through the cracks for the children of Waveland and Bay St. Louis this year if Margaret Raker, founder of GERT Ministries, has anything to say about it.

Author: Brock N. Meeks, MSNBC.com

31

Neither rain, nor sleet, nor hurricanes

About a mile from the destruction of Katrina, postal worker Micki Clifton rode out the storm on the roof of her house with her husband, her 16-year-old daughter and her 72-year-old mother.

Author: Jim Seida, MSNBC.com

52

Making tracks

While homeowners await insurance settlements and building permits before they can start their reconstruction, the largest construction project in Bay St. Louis is moving ahead at full steam.

Author: Jim Seida, MSNBC.com

51

APB for stolen flamingos

The top beauty enforcement officer in this once idyllic beach town is driving around in a foul mood. You see, someone’s stealing pink flamingos.

Author: Miguel Llanos, MSNBC.com

52

Libraries leveled

Half of the Hancock County Library System was taken out by Katrina. The Pearlington branch was gutted and is still being used as a shelter for about a dozen people.

Author: Miguel Llanos, MSNBC.com

13

Food court rolls in

The First Baptist Church Myrick in Laurel, Miss., doesn’t have a huge congregation, just 125, but that didn’t stop Pastor Jackie Spell and three members from packing up a mobile kitchen trailer and showing up just in time for lunch one sunny day at the relief camp on the property that had been the Lakeshore Baptist Church.

Author: Miguel Llanos, MSNBC.com

7

Fallen trees become building blocks

Why give a man pre-cut lumber when you can teach him to cut it himself? That’s partly the philosophy behind the donation of a portable sawmill by a California church to a Baptist congregation in Lakeshore, Miss., a Hancock County town just west of Waveland.

Author: Miguel Llanos, MSNBC.com

39

Aid from artists to artists

Katrina took away Brian Nettles’ livelihood, but he was about to get it back after two New Mexico artists rolled into town with a U-haul trailer.

Author: Miguel Llanos, MSNBC.com

5

Waiting for FEMA funds

Mayor Tommy Longo says it was like “walking on eggshells.” That was the feeling he had when FEMA wanted local governments to file requests every 30 days for funds to pay staff overtime. He and others lobbied for six months, and finally got three.

Author: Miguel Llanos, MSNBC.com

23

A pre-fab future?

The drawings were impressive and the architects intelligent, so it came as a bit of a shock to Waveland and Bay St. Louis residents when the Governors Commission on rebuilding Mississippi’s Gulf Coast suggested they look at a certain type of housing to start with: pre-fab.

Author: Miguel Llanos, MSNBC.com

54

Standing tall

She’s a survivor who didn’t turn and run -- not in 1969 when Camille roared through or in Katrina this year or during smaller storms that have raked this town since the 1950s.

Author: Miguel Llanos, MSNBC.com

70

Hurricane Tish helps rebuild

There’s Katrina, and then there’s Tish. Katrina’s force destroyed much of the Gulf Coast, but Tish Williams' energy is helping to rebuild it, or at least the part in her area of influence.

Author: Miguel Llanos, MSNBC.com

17

Vacation destination?

There’s a new term being heard around town: Voluntourism. The concept is to bring volunteers to Bay St. Louis and Waveland on their vacations, enabling them to donate their labor and at the same time restoring some semblance of tourism to the Gulf Coast.

Author: Miguel Llanos, MSNBC.com

15

Location of toy trove is strictly 'need to know'

At the request of our hosts, we can only describe where we are as an “undisclosed location” in Hancock County. That’s because organizers of a Christmas toy drive fear being swamped by locals if word gets out before they’re ready to bring parents in.

Author: Miguel Llanos, MSNBC.com

39

Shop owner makes a statement

Little red berries to decorate FEMA trailers could be the big seller this Christmas season at Just Duit Again, a gift store in Bay St. Louis that rose from Katrina’s rubble this week.

Author: Miguel Llanos, MSNBC.com

16

Sunbathing for a cause

Soaking in the rays, she’s a sunbathing beauty that provides some needed visual relief from the trailers, tents and trash along Beach Boulevard in Waveland. But she’s also got a real job: providing purified water used by a relief group and locals.

Author: Miguel Llanos, MSNBC.com

20

Reaching out ... for free

OK, so it's no phone booth, but this Bell South phone board on Highway 90 in Waveland has been providing free local and long distance calls.

Author: Miguel Llanos, MSNBC.com

12

Tapping a Captive Workforce

Plans are under way to employ prison labor to help speed the rebuilding process.

Author: Brock N. Meeks, MSNBC.com

81

Stormy memorial

Cynthia Mahner throws carnations into the Gulf of Mexico from the beach in Waveland on a stormy Saturday. She was the lone attendee of a memorial intended to give thanks for what remains and commemorate what was lost.

Author: John Brecher, MSNBC.com

31

Hippies wave goodbye

Despite rain, volunteers from the New Waveland Cafe paraded along Highway 90 in a rousing goodbye to the community on the cafe's last day of operation.

Author: John Brecher, MSNBC.com

83

Farewell to the freebies

The free food and goods being poured into this region so that its residents will have a lifeline that covers their basic day-to-day needs are going away. Some outlets could be gone in a month; three months at the outside.

Author: Brock N. Meeks, MSNBC.com

45

The shrinking list of the missing

And then there were 20. That's the official number of missing persons whose whereabouts are still unknown in this region of the Gulf Coast, according to Harrison County Coroner Gary Hargrove.

Author: Brock N. Meeks, MSNBC.com

36

Too much of a good thing?

No one's going hungry here on Thanksgiving Day. No less than five public feasts are being planned for Thursday's holiday in and around the towns of Bay St. Louis and Waveland.

Author: Brock N. Meeks, MSNBC.com

17

Liquor store owner gets $25,000 'win'

Michael Haggard's fighting an edict from Mississippi's Alcohol Beverage Control board telling him he must now destroy $15,000 worth of product that came into contact with the flood waters brought on by Hurricane Katrina.

Author: Brock N. Meeks, MSNBC.com

22

The cars of Katrina

Destroyed cars lie where Hurricane Katrina's 30-foot ocean surge left them, battered and scattered amid the wreckage of Waveland and Bay St. Louis. Many cars were mangled and all were ruined by the salt water dunking, which corrodes electrical and other components even after the vehicles dry completely.

Author: John Brecher, MSNBC.com

90

Hair relief

Debbie Morton joined six students from the Vanguard College of Cosmetology in Slidell, La., and two other professional hairstylists in giving free haircuts on Sunday afternoon. The crew performed 97 haircuts in four hours.

Author: John Brecher, MSNBC.com

48

The gator in the living room

We hear a lot of incredible hurricane survival stories every day in Bay St. Louis and Waveland, but when we heard the story of the alligator in the living room we had to check it out.

Author: Marty Wolk, MSNBC.com

407

Crystal and linen

The crystal glasses, chin