By host Tom Ashbrook:

The levees broke in New Orleans, but the damage of Hurricane Katrina swept a much larger swath than just the Queen City. From the Texas border of Louisiana, across the Mississippi delta, into Biloxi and Mobile and miles of towns and coastline in between, Katrina hit ten million Americans.

Many towns and people are still flat on their backs, reduced to Third World status or worse, said Biloxi’s Sun Herald last week, comparing the Gulf Coast’s apocalyptic destruction to Berlin or Tokyo’s after World War II.

Twenty-nine billion dollars for reconstruction was approved by Congress yesterday. But what’s the plan — for the poor, for the coastline, for life? Not clear.

Hear about searching for a vision of a rebuilt Gulf Coast.

Guests:

Eric Lipton, National Correspondent for the New York Times

Bill Hudnut, Senior Resident Fellow at the Urban Land Institute and Former Mayor of Indianapolis

Ricky Mathews, Publisher of the Sun-Herald and Member of the Governor’s Commission on Recovery, Rebuilding and Renewal

Richard Notter, Alderman for Long Beach, Mississippi.