Four years after levees broke less than a mile from Dillard University’s campus, submerging it under six feet of water and causing nearly $350 million in damages, university officials said they are still trying to put all the pieces back together.

For the third consecutive year, New Orleans public schools have shown significant improvement in state exams, narrowing what is still a considerable gap in student achievement between the city and state. But despite the schools’ progress, a spirited debate continues over how to best run the city’s schools.

As the city continues to rebuild itself, the question of how New Orleans will be revitalized remains.

City Park in New Orleans is one of five finalists for the national Redwood Creek Wines Greater Outdoors Project, a $50,000 grant for the preservation and redevelopment of wildlife and landscapes. The park hopes to use the funds to repair damage caused by Hurricane Katrina.

National Voluntary Agencies Active in Disaster, a coalition of nonprofit organizations that collaborates to respond to disasters, honored Church World Service earlier this week with its 2009 Innovative Program of the Year Award for the New Orleans project.

The redevelopment of the medical district in New Orleans is expected to create more than 10,000 jobs. But a local shortage of doctors, scientists and researchers since Hurricane Katrina has officials looking as far as Atlanta for help.