By April M. Havens - The Mississippi Press, August 31, 2010

(Mississippi Press/April Havens) U.S. Rep. Gene Taylor speaks during the grand opening of the $4.5 million Jackson County Health Department. The new building, on Vega Street in Pascagoula, was paid for mostly by federal grants after Hurricane Katrina ruined the old building on Hospital Street.

PASCAGOULA, Miss. -- Mothers will go there for their children's life-saving vaccines. Young, amorous couples will use it for pre-martial blood testing.

The new Jackson County Health Department will "tie the county together" and play a role in many of residents' milestones, Supervisor Melton Harris Jr. said Thursday, as leaders celebrated the $4.5 million building's grand opening.

Congressman Gene Taylor

BILOXI — On Aug. 29, 2005, Biloxi Mayor A.J. Holloway stepped out onto the second floor balcony of City Hall and saw parts of his city wash by on Hurricane Katrina’s storm surge.  Five years later and a block away, he and other officials remembered those who didn’t survive Katrina during a memorial service at the Biloxi Town Green on Sunday.

The past several days the Coast focused on progress and milestones since the storm, said Holloway. On Sunday, the actual anniversary of the storm, he said it was time to reflect on the 168 friends and neighbors in South Mississippi who died during the storm. Each name was read by high school students, and several were family members who died together. Their names were etched into the Katrina Monument built on the Town Green by the crew of the “Extreme Makeover Home Edition” TV show.

“This monument stands as a quiet reminder of the lost, the found and the moment that changed us forever,” Holloway said.

“Like these trees we still bear the scars of Katrina and we probably always will,” [Rep. Taylor] said. “But we’re coming back better than ever.”

By Leigh Coleman - Special to the Sun Herald, August 28, 2010

LEIGH COLEMAN/SPECIAL TO THE SUN HERALD U.S. Rep. Gene Taylor and Mississippi Lt. Gov. Phil Bryant lunch on seafood gumbo during their pilgrimage along the path of Katrina.

BAY ST. LOUIS — A group of former and current members of Congress, religious leaders, scholars and other friends of The Faith & Politics Institute passed through coastal Mississippi on a pilgrimage across the path of Katrina.

Rep. Gene Taylor, D-Miss., shared some untold stories about Katrina with Mississippi Lt. Gov. Phil Bryant, Sen. Roger Wicker, R-Miss., Rep. John Lewis, D-Ga., and other leaders.

“When Katrina hit we truly expected to see that our home had the roof blown off and some windows out,” Taylor said. “But we were wrong. It was gone. The entire neighborhood was gone.

“I think what got to me most though was when I heard that we lost a National Guardsman the night of the storm. He had just returned from Iraq.”

BAY ST. LOUIS, MS (WLOX) - On Friday, Congressman Gene Taylor announced a big economic boost for Hancock Medical Center. The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services has awarded a $495,000 grant to Hancock Medical Center.

At Taylor's request, the funding for this project was included in the 2010 Human Health and Services appropriations bill. The $495,000 grant will help with construction and medical equipment costs for the hospital that was severely damaged by Hurricane Katrina.

"Millions of homeowners and business owners are required by their mortgages or lenders to buy windstorm coverage, but private insurance companies are not required to sell it to them," Taylor said in the letter. "Since Hurricane Katrina, insurance companies have abandoned coastal communities, creating an urgent insurance crisis along the Gulf Coast and Atlantic Coast."

Taylor has cited statistics from the Hancock County chamber that show rates that have increased exponentially for small businesses -- up to several hundred percent in some cases. Jackson County leaders said the situation is similar here and across the coast.

By Steve Phillips - WLOX-TV 13, August 27, 2010

Rep. Gene Taylor

BAY ST. LOUIS, MS (WLOX) - Five years after Katrina, the lack of affordable insurance remains the biggest problem slowing our recovery.

Participants in an economic conference in Hancock County heard that message Friday from an insurance executive and from Congressman Gene Taylor, who's made the fight for affordable insurance a priority issue.

Congressman Taylor is passionate about the issue because he speaks from experience.  Katrina destroyed his home in Bay St. Louis. His insurance company claimed it was water, not wind, and the congressman was forced to file suit to recover damages.

He's pushed hard for a national "all perils" insurance program, to no avail, and is still fighting to add wind coverage to the national flood insurance program.

"By and large, the only thing you can say about the insurance industry after the storm is, they screwed everybody equally," Congressman Taylor told the group, "And I do mean that."

Gulfport, Miss.—Today, Congressman Gene Taylor (D-Miss.) announced that at his request Secretary of the Navy Ray Mabus has agreed to send Sean Stackley, Assistant Secretary of the Navy for Research, Development, and Acquisition, to Mississippi to discuss ongoing shipbuilding contract negotiations between the Navy and Northrop Grumman.

"Congress has authorized and appropriated full funding for two ships that will be built at Ingalls, DDG 113 and LPD 26, but those contracts have not yet been signed," Taylor said. "We also have approved advance procurement funding for engineering design and materiel procurement for three more ships, LPD 27, LHA 7, and DDG 114. Our nation and the Navy need these ships as soon as possible. I welcome the opportunity to work with the Navy and Northrop Grumman to speed up the negotiations to get these contracts signed."

Taylor is the Chairman of the Seapower and Expeditionary Forces Subcommittee of the House Armed Services Committee.

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Gulfport, Miss.—Congressman Gene Taylor (D-Miss.) today announced that the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services has awarded a $495,000 grant to the Hancock Medical Center. At Rep. Taylor’s request, the funding for this project was included in the 2010 HHS appropriations bill. The $495,000 grant will help with construction and medical equipment costs for the hospital.

“Hancock Medical Center had a lot of damage from Katrina,” Rep. Taylor said. “I remember calling from the hospital after the storm to request medical supplies to replace those that were ruined. The Navy quickly sent helicopters of supplies from the Bataan in the Gulf. The hospital has worked hard to restore services to the community. This grant is an important step in the recovery for the hospital and the residents of Hancock County.”

"As a supporter of SB 1070, I am firmly against the Federal government suing Arizona. Along with 76 of my colleagues in the House of Representatives, I have signed the amicus curiae, or friend of the court brief, supporting Arizona in the lawsuit. The brief states in part that Congress has passed various bills which recognize and support state and local governments' cooperation in enforcing immigration laws with the Federal government.

I wholeheartedly support the efforts of the State of Arizona to assist the federal government in enforcing our immigration laws. Arizona Governor Jan Brewer signed the bill into law on April 23 and the act is scheduled to go into effect 90 days after the end of the legislative session on July 28, 2010. As you know, the act makes it an Arizona state misdemeanor for an alien to be in the state without registration documents required by federal law." -- Rep. Gene Taylor

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