| Good Morning, Louisiana transitioned from search and rescue into recovery mode as last week progressed. Dealing with getting power restored, making drinking water safe, and shortening long lines for gasoline continues to be theme for this week. Most startling was the deaths of elderly nursing home residents who were evacuated and forced to live in filth while calling out, in vain, for help during Hurricane Ida and its aftermath. The Louisiana Department of Health shut down seven nursing homes owned by Baton Rouge businessman Bob Dean. Gov. John Bel Edwards ordered health authorities to launch an investigation. President Joe Biden came to Louisiana and walked the streets of LaPlace talking with residents stripping their homes of rotting insulation and sheetrock walls along with soaked furnishings. He then visited other hard-hit communities in south Jefferson and Lafourche parishes. The president promised the United States wouldn’t forget and would open the doors to federal assistance. Hurricane Ida left about 1.1 million southeast Louisiana residents in the dark when high winds damaged and destroyed the equipment, towers, poles, and lines that transmit and distribute electricity across a 170-mile-wide path. Officials and storm survivors buffeted Biden with requests to harden the electric grid to lessen the prolonged outages after storms, which seem to be increasing in number and severity. Biden has $1.1 trillion legislation to upgrade roads, bridges, and the power system. The measure has passed the U.S. Senate but is opposed by most Republican members of the U.S. House. The storm also knocked out production, for a week or so, at eight refineries and the lack of power only allowed a few stations to sell gasoline. Things are getting better in Baton Rouge and New Orleans, but lines are still long in other parts of southeast Louisiana. As always, check throughout the day for the latest Louisiana political news at theadvocate.com/politics or NOLA.com/politics and on Twitter at @MarkBallardCNB, @tegbridges, @samkarlin, @blakepater, @WillSentell. Here are a dozen articles, commentaries and editorials that will catch you up for the week to come. One last item: Thank you to our subscribers. Your support means a great deal to us. If you're not yet a subscriber, we’ve got a special offer you can check out here. – Mark Ballard | 