Dear Brian: While I applaud the rebuilding efforts of many residents of New Orleans, I seriously question whether it is appropriate to rebuild. Before extensive rebuilding of homes is started, I think a study must be done as to the environmental viability of the area for residential purposes. I can only wonder if this isn't a potential "Love Canal" situation. My concerns stem not only from the initial dispersion of the flood waters but from the long-standing environmental problems caused by the oil companies (past, present and future). Future generations may be saved from illnesses caused by this industry by relocation of their homes.

Thank you Brian, and NBC, for your continued coverage of this tragedy. Every American ought to be paying close attention to this continuing story for each of us are only one small step away from being in the same horrendous position as a result of some unforeseen crisis. Surely we cannot be so naive as to believe a tragedy of similar magnitude could not happen elsewhere in the US. I am paying close attention to the government's response for many innocent lives hang in the balance. At the moment I am not feeling confident in it's ability to assist and/or manage this situation. We all have a stake in Katrina. Your position on the reporting of this story is the correct one. Keep up the good work.

Mr Williams, It is very disheartening to hear the comments about people that are tired of hearing about Katrina. They must obviously must have a roof over their head that they call home, a job to go to, money to spend, clothes on their back, a family pet or two, know where their loved ones are, their children attend school, have plenty of food to eat, and have a nice warm bed to sleep in without obviously a care in the world (or America I should say). We are talking about millions.... again, I said millions, of Americans that don't have the basic human essentials of food, clothing and shelter.... They need ALL our help for as long as it takes and if mentioning it on a daily basis produces results, then so be it. This doesn't need to be like 9-11, where it's too depressing to see everyday and now we've forgotten. We don't need to forget and we all need to pitch in where we can until they don't need our help anymore. This is not a one time deal. This changed many, many lives.... forever.

Mr. Williams: Thank you and NBC for keeping post hurricane news on your nightly reports. We hear sad stories of miners losing their lives (count 14 people), property losses due to wildfires, etc. The losses due to these hurricanes are unprecidented in US history. While some may 'tire' of the coverage, I invite them to visit the catastrophic devastation in person and ask how they would feel were it THEIR major American city that was decimated by a natural disaster. You cannot imagine how many American families were affected by this. Please continue the excellent job and DO NOT let people forget. Thanks so much.

Brian,
I'd like to know why the people of New Orleans hasn't gotten that money that was donated to them.
I feel for those people, I do. But,,,I have gone threw a house fire, divorce,and lost everything. Did anyone answer my cries for help. NO !!! I had to make sure I was insured. That's all I got !!!
The company I worked for is moving to Mexico after 28 years senoirity. Before my unemployment runs out I'd better make sure I have training and a job or I'll loose my home !!!
Most of those people didn't have jobs in the first place and wouldn't take responability for themselves then. Now we're suppose to support them !!!
Alot of the people are in other states. Tell them to get jobs and get there own lives together.

P. Miller

Mr. Williams: In your broadcast this evening (1/25) you mentioned the comments your are receiving regarding the continuous coverage of the devastation of Katrina. I commend you on your efforts to address those who feel the coverage has exceeded its' airtime. How unfortunate that people feel we should move on and coverage should cease. Our country has suffered great loss with the effects of Katrina. The impact is far reaching and testament to how unprepared we are for such tragedy. Our society is becoming more dispensable by the moment, materially and now emotionally.

So please keep raising our level of awareness and help us keep the faith in an ever growing cynical world.

Too much re New Orleans. An unnatural city, below sea level. Why do the American people continue to pay to support this idiotic situation? NO in 2008 should be much smaller than it was one year ago. LET IT GO. The world survived losing Santoriny. If NO shrinks it will not be the end of the world!

Dear Mr. Williams,
As a current resident of greater New Orleans and an employee at Tulane University School of Medicine, I thank you and NBC for your compassionate coverage of our city's and country's greatest natural disaster. I was sincerely saddened to hear this evening that some viewers would rather forget our tragedies. We in New Orleans won't have that luxury for some time. The coverage you provide, in addition to the stellar news service provided by WDSU Channel 6, is an integral part of our recovery. I'm personally reminded of a gentleman who perished in the flood, the veterinarians who rescued more than 100s of animals for 45 days straight post-Katrina, and the dozens of families who have no homes to return to and now, due to recent cutbacks at Tulane, have no jobs either. We'd like to say "Enough" but must focus, as you have, on our rebuilding. I believe the city of New Orleans is taking its first breaths since the devastation and your reports strengthen and support our communities by sharing a true American concern for our welfare - a level of caring we can't get "Enough" of and will never forget.
With Sincere Appreciation,
Ivy Tanvishut

How could someone call this a "past tragedy" HELLO! The houses and businesses are not going to rebuild themselves,and guess what if you owned a home you still have to pay your mortgage or file bankruptcy (if the gov. will accept that) and by the way, insurance companies sure are not there for them. I hope there's no natural disaster where you live!

all i can i say is thanks to nbc and u brian williams for you are the only one who has being for us in this mess,no other information as come to us since we drove that 36hr drive fron new orleans to a small town in kanas.i feel that being up in the lower planes info has being short and well,nonedisant ,we have moved on got jobs got a home for my family,in some ways its being a bleesing,ya we lost our home but not our lives,so thanks once again.

Mr. Williams,
Please continue to bring the nation news and updates regarding the entire region affected by Katrina. Please continue to remind the American people of the current reality of Katrina's aftermath. Please continue to investigate and report on the good people in the Gulf coast in dire need of our help. Thank you for your compassionate, responsible and consistent insight and reports.

There are many, many problems not being addressed and as a native New Orleanian this have become a very stressful time and no immediate solutions come to mind...We NEED HELP FROM the GOVERNMENT, ie:President BUSH
As a self-reliant grandmother, I would ordinarily say, "Take care of yourself." HOwever, those levees were criminally neglected. Their inability to withstand the flood a KNOWN fact by all but our deliberately obtuse president. The funds were used instead to 'fund the war'. See the Richard Burton film of '1984' and you'll see the eventual state of our national infrastructure after a few more years of perpetual war for a fantasy peace.....generated by this corrupt administration.
I now know how easily a people can become barbaric Nazis, and still go to church every 'sunday'. The heartless comments of some of your posters indicate to me just how corrupt many of our sheeple are. Without a free press to tell us the truth, and without an educational system to teach us how to think analytically, we are on the way out. New Orleans is a symbol of the future with NYC and D.C., our Sodom and Gomorrah. (And I'm an agnostic, who believes that Jesus taught us the immutable Laws of Nature. No. 1: "As ye would that men should do to you, do ye also unto them." New Orleans is one result of ignoring Jesus' words.
We sew the wind and will most assuredly reap the whirlwind. Until we wake up, we have many more 9/11s in our future and the continued loss of our personal liberties.

Brian,
Could someone please tell me where all the hundreds of thousands of dollars that was donated by the people, not the government, has gone to? Seems like a lot of these people in New Orleans and elsewhere could use it. I don't recall hearing anything about it. Keep up the good work, the reporting on this ongoing tragedy is essential. Thank you.

R. Fritch

Mr. Williams, thank you for your report from my city last night. You were reporting from a nearby neighborhood. We were watching your broadcast, as we do every night. We realized that you were close by and we almost went out to try and find you! We wanted to thank you for your reports on our beloved NOLA. We wanted to thank for not letting the nation forget about us. I can not express my gratitude to you enough for keeping NOLA in the public eye. Progress is very slow here. Hurricane season is fast approaching. I am 5th generation New Orleanian and I am not rare in that regard. We love our city like our own mother. Many of us will not ever leave to live elsewhere. This city is a way of life for us. And, we want her to heal. Please help us let the world know that we still need so much help. We are in critical condition & I wonder how many understand our plight. Do people understand the flood devestation goes out for almost 30 miles? I think that most people think it's one or two neighborhoods. The storm wrecked the entire Greater New Orleans area! Please keep up the great work. Please keep drilling in that nation's brain that this was HUGE and we are in dire need.

The church I attend has purchased trailers to hold 24 volunteers at a time, with a shower trailer and a mobile kitchen. We decided we needed to help our friends in the south. Our "average" church proceeded to ask the congregation for funds to purchase these vehicles. These wonderful people proceeded to give over $140,000 (this is over and above our regular giving) and our first "mission" trip to Biloxi, MS begins in February. We have them scheduled throughout 2006. We all need to help.

Brian,

I completely agree with Mike's response, the continued reporting from this area is critical to the rebuilding process. The coverage not only offers much needed information to those who still need assistance or direction, but to those who might be in a position provide that assistance. This is absolutely NOT a "past tragedy" as Larry's uninformed remarks imply.

I am grateful for the focus, as are my friends in Mississippi.

Thanks so much!!

Mr. Williams,
After reporting Monday that President Bush told his audience in Kansas that he had not seen "Brokeback Mountain" you spent about 15 seconds plugging the movie. Is this objective reporting? You are certainly entitled to your views but I don't believe that "Nightly" is the place to air them. Thanks for listening.

Mr. Williams: I was happy to see that your news is keeping up the articles on the aftermath of Katrina. I was especially glad to hear some updates on the coastal area of Mississippi which does seem to get lost in the reporting. I would like to see a piece done on the volunteer groups working in the area to help put things back together. The Waveland/Shoreline area would be a good place to Start.
Keep up the good work. http://www.wavelandbaptistdisasterresponse.org/index.html

Thank you so much for keeping us visible to the nation. It was also wonderful to hear some good news for a change. The volunteer organizations are the ones that are actually helping the area. I long for the day that we can see actual building happen and not just gutting and debris removal. That will have to wait until FEMA releases its new flood elevation map. It may take several more months. More governmental paralysis! Welcome to limbo land.

Mr. Willams,after your program, the local news showed 911 response was 20 minutes long. Music is lovely but will not save me...... The city is not coming back. There are many, many problems not being addressed and as a native New Orleanian this have become a very stressful time and no immediate solutions come to mind...We NEED HELP FROM the GOVERNMENT, ie:President BUSH
Music will help the end but I would like to hear the sound of $$ before the end.
Martha Neilson

As a comment to Brian Williams' story today. Why not report the reason Mississippi is getting a lot of money in Federal aid and why it has received so many FEMA trailers?

Our lawmakers "took on" Washington and got the Katrina Relief Bill attached to the Iraq funding bill in December. The Federal government was only going to budget $17 Billion and none of that was earmarked for residents. Businesses were to receive the aid. Now with the $29 Katrina bill that our lawmakers, Republicans and Democrats working together, residents of BOTH STATES who did not have flood insurance will get grants to help rebuild in areas that were not designated flood zones. Why not report how hard working, effective lawmakers, amazing volunteers and determined citizens working together are getting the recovery underway instead of continuing the "Poor New Orleans" story?? Oh, and the FEMA trailers are here because our residents are HERE, living in tents, while helping with the recovery efforts.

I am amazed that folks would consider the Katrina disaster a "past tragey" (see Larry Decker's post). A past tragedy is the Columbus Day storm, the Great Alaskan earthquake, the Chicago fire. But to call the disastrous effects of hurricane Katrina a "past tragedy" is disingenious and downright false. Over a million people are still directly affected by the aftermath. The tragedy is ongoing and not likely to end very soon. The victims of Katrina in the Gulf states as well as the rest of America need the ongoing attention of the media. We need to stay focused on taking care of our own. To do otherwise would be the real tragedy.

In regards to Mr. Decker's comment about the devastion of New Orleans and the Gulf Coast a past tragedy:

It is not a past tragedy. It is an on-going tragedy. Almost six months after Hurricane Katrina and the people down there are still not getting the help, the assistance and the aide they need.

If Nightly News doesn't keep on the "front page" so to speak, then we as a society will find it convenient to think that someone else is taking care of the problems.

The reality is the problems and the obstacles are not being taken care. We should, as citizens, be outraged that more has not been done and that more is not being done.

Thank you Brian Williams and the Nightly crew for reminding as often as you can that not only is this happening but it is happening here in our own country.

I'm a reader of your blog, and a fan of your news program. This evening (Monday) I kept waiting for something "personal" from you, Brian, and didn't see it. Did you enjoy the music? Was it a "good day" in New Orleans? A smile, a nod of the head. I know you felt the message coming from those men; please feel free to show it on the show, as you sometimes do in your blog. It makes you a "real person", and someone I can relate to. Someone I like.

I am a musician and We are presently hoping to build some new homes in New Orleans, please visit our webpage to learn about our company .
http://home.bellsouth.net/p/pwp-hkfinancialconsultants
Thank You Brain for your continual reporting on this story .
Jim H.