A hot mess of a Friday

Here's what's up this morning:

* Bribery charge in connection with Corps of Engineers levee rebuilding project. Why'd it have to be a Houstonian? As the bumper stickers say, "Thanks Houston" [PRNewswire]

* Dan Frazier has done an excellent job hammering out some of our questions and concerns regarding the new flood maps. [MetroBlogging New Orleans]



* A witty panelist at Politics with a Punch on Wednesday night described New Orleans as being like the "Lindsey Lohan" of cities. One drunk big hot mess. Here's a good bit on Lohan's legal drama. [EOnline]



* I hate to tap Hollywood twice for your AM briefing, but this is all I've got so far. The Smoking Gun reports that Nicole Richie spent 82 minutes in jail yesterday and all she got was this lousy mug shot. [The Smoking Gun]