Orleans residents are geting yelled at by U.S. census officials warning about their low response rate to the national count. Orleans Parish is one of 11 cities that Census Bureau singled out for low compliance. Twenty-four percent of Orleans Parish residents have returned census forms as of today. That’s well below the 46% national participation rate ipation rate. Census officials are troubled by the low participation. It’s concerning especially since special efforts have been taken to get an accurate post-Katrina count of residents. It’s important to all of us in this Area, census data helps fund new schools, hospitals and roads and affects how we are represented at all levels of government. Gotta fill it out and put it in the mail by Tomorrow night.

Let’s say it together so they can hear us in the State Capitol. “No New Taxes” as the state Legislature convenes its annual regular session. Over the next 13 weeks our lawmakers will tackle balancing the budget and discuss bills to toughen penalties on sex offenders, more restrictions on smoking and cell phone use, a statewide ban on saggy pants and a bill to name an official State Cookie, to name a few.
The session ends on June 21st.

Just two weeks into the new season of Dancing With The Stars and already there’s feuding on the set. A rehearsal spat between reality star Kate Gosselin and pro dance partner Tony Dovolani almost led to Tony quiting the show. Before the competition even began there were reports of Kate acting like a diva, and not getting along with dancers on the set. If you watched the John & Kate Plus 8 reality show, this should come as no surprise to you.

Don’t let the smile fool you.

Here’s the latest odds for winning Dancing With The Stars according to Bodog.com

Evan Lysacek , (Olympic gold medal skater) 9/4 (The Favorite)

Nicole Scherzinger, (Pussycat Doll) 3/1

Chad Ochocinco, (NFL football player) 3/1

Erin Andrews, (ESPN reporter) 4/1

Jake Pavelka, (The Bachelor) 12/1

Kate Gosselin, (Reality TV mon) 16/1

Aidan Turner, (All My Children) 18/1

Pamela Anderson, (Actress) 18/1

Shannen Doherty, (Actress) 20/1

Niecy Nash, (Reno 911) 35/1

Buzz aldrin, (Astronaut) 40/1

Is it just me or is this year of American Idol kind of Boooooring. After thousands auditioned, this is the best and the brightest young vocal talent this country has to offer. Oh boy. None of this years contestants have any personality and yes since it is a singing competition it’s not about being “a little pitchy” or having an “off night,” either It’s about the ability to sing — or more to the point, the lack of it. But the show must go on. Now let me give some love to a few that have talent, someone has to win this, after all. Siobhan Magnus and Crystal Bowersox have talent but matched up with contestants from other years would be having tougher competition.
Usually, by the time viewer votes have the final say, there’s a nice mix of good, great, bad and unbelievable. Sure, some contestants offer up surprises and improve with experience. Some take unexpected turns for the worse. But there’s almost always a few that really make the competition exciting from the start. And that’s where this current group is really lacking. Without Clarkson’s, Underwood’s, Allen’s or Lamberts — heck, without even a Hudson, Daughtry or an Aiken in the mix — there’s just no oomph, no thrill. The only interesting thing that’s happening is cuddling going on between Kara and Simon. (Seriously, what is up with that?!) It’s a struggle for Randy Jackson or Ellen DeGeneres to comment about someone putting on the best performance in the competition; mostly they talk about how good they LOOK. It all adds to the feeling that “American Idol” mania might be over. With Paula Abdul gone and Simon on his way out the door, “Idol” needs big talent now more than ever to keep viewers.

It’s Easter week, and we are already one quarter of the way through this year. I don’t know if it’s my imagination or not, but it seems like the older we get, the faster the years go by.

Anyway, here’s a little Easter humor for you.

Top 5 Things The Easter Bunny Doesn’t Like.

1. The phrase, “Tastes just like chicken”.

2. Constantly being chased by recovering greyhounds.

3. Being stopped on the street and asked, “You were in Alice In Wonderland, right”?

4. Strangers rubbing his feet for good luck.

5. Being told not to put all his eggs in one basket.

Don’t wash your car Saturday cause there is a chance of rain overnight. Why not wait untill Sunday and let somebody else do it. Drive to a FREE Car Wash Sunday from 10:00am-12:00pm at Rummel High School all to benefit a wonderfull little boy Dylan Tujague who has a rare illness. His family would apprecite any donation and thanks for caring.

Wow, Is that the same Kate from Kate plus 8? I know they put lots of makeup on, but to me it looks more than that. And yes Kate Gosselin has had a number of (lets say) cosmetic procedures in the past, but in order to get ready for this season of “DWTS,” she reportedly underwent another makeover, one that allegedly cost tens of thousands of dollars. According to a source the grand total: an estimated $35,000.  For what…here we go. New hair extensions, Botox, skin procedures on her cheeks;  eye work that included eyelash extensions and eyebrow shaping; and a new set of porcelain veneers. Cha Ching. That’s the stuff we know about. Maybe all that slowed her down as she did not score well on the first show. Let’s see how she does and looks Monday night.

Can you believe they award $2500 in cash and a trip for this? And who would want to judge a contest like this?

The most famous street race around here is approaching, and it’s an event for runners as well as walkers. By the way if you haven’t started a walking program yet, doctors say walking is the most important part of a healthy life. If you could manage to take 10,000 steps a day, and you’re most likely taking 5,000 steps already, you will lower your blood presure and significantly improve your overall health. And how about this — they also say if you take a brisk 30-minute walk several times a week, your memory will improve even as you get older.

Some people get a workout just by going to work. Here are six of the step-liveliest jobs, according to a study done by the American Council On Exercise:

Mail Carriers take 18,904 steps a day on the job.

Custodians take 12,991 steps a day on the job.

Restaurant servers take 10,087 steps a day on the job.

Nurses take 8,648 steps a day on the job.

Lawyers take 5,062 steps a day on the job.

Teachers take 4,726 steps a day on the job.

Are you ready, I am. Hard to believe it’s les than 30 days now. Some great Soft Rock artists are there and as always about 80 percent of the festival acts are homegrown, including Big Sam’s Funky Nation, Terence Blanchard, The Neville Brothers, Theresa Andersson and The Dixie Cups.  Really looking forward to Lionel Richie, Van Morrison, the old lead singer of Hootie & the Blowfish Darius Rucker, Simon & Garfunkel,  Anita Baker, Pearl Jam and B.B. King. I hear the new poster is cool too a  Tribute to mark the 100th birthday of jazz trumpeter, singer and songwriter Louis Prima, whose face graces this year’s festival’s poster. Listebn to WIN FREE tix soon.