This week’s cover story is our annual look at Project Censored:

Through a partnership of faculty, students, and the community, Project Censored conducts research on important national news stories that are underreported, ignored, misrepresented, or censored by the US corporate media. Each year, Project Censored publishes a ranking of the top 25 most censored nationally important news stories in the yearbook, Censored: Media Democracy in Action, which is released in September.

Also in this week’s edition:

• In Commentary, we offer our endorsements and recommendations in the 2nd District Congressional runoff and the contest for State Senate District 3….

• David Winkler-Schmit explores the phenomenon of publicly traded “carbon credit futures” — are they a possible source of funding for coastal restoration?

• The LSU/VA hospital complex in Mid-City seems to be a done deal. Clancy DuBos has a few cautionary thoughts….

• Jeremy Alford wonders what rough beasts are slouching toward Baton Rouge….

• Kara Nelson continues our monthlong holiday gift guide….

And for online lagniappe, check out:

Our friends at The Independent in Lafayette are gearing up for the murder trial of New Orleans sportscaster Vince Marinello, and have a dynamite cover story by Mary Tutwiler this week titled “The Unusual Suspect.”

And the new song and video by Susan Cowsill, “Crescent City Snow,” made its debut last night online at the New Orleans News Ladder. It’s a beautiful piece of work — check it out at the News Ladder.

In this week’s Gambit, in newsboxes on Sunday:

• I’ve got the cover story — the long, strange story of the classic New Orleans sitcom Frank’s Place, how it went from Emmy Awards to cancellation to absolute obscurity (no reruns, no DVD release, no nothin’)…and how executive producer and star Tim Reid found the master tapes discarded in a studio Dumpster. Will you ever be able to see it again…and if you missed it, will you ever be able to see it at all? Short answer: Tim is working on it. (I watched the whole thing start to finish, and, yes, it holds up. Does it ever.)….

• We’ve also got our occasional guide to drinking well, Swizzle. In this edition, Noah Bonaparte Pais interviews one of the city’s best barkeeps, Alan Walter of Iris, and Alison Fensterstock quizzes local musicians as to their favorite drinking songs. And there are guides to the best beers and wines for the holidays….

• In Commentary, we float a radical notion: Why not take the money from those nonworking crime cameras and reallocate the cash to new DA Leon Cannizzaro so he might actually be able to take some criminals off the street? It’s so crazy it just might work….

• D. Eric Bookhardt reviews Prospect.1 at NOMA, Dalt Wonk takes in the offerings at the New Orleans Fringe Fest, and Ian McNulty eats way too many oysters….

• and Greg Peters cracked me up with his latest installment of Suspect Device (hint: Stacy Head).

That’s about it. See you at the Po-Boy Fest:

It’s finally here. In response to your requests, we’ve completely redesigned Gambit Weekly’s Web site, and it’s going live today with a soft rollout as we tweak and de-bug things here and there. Some things you may notice:

- A new, very logical drop-down menu bar at the top of the site will take you where you want to go quickly, wherever you are on the site.

- Content from the Blog of New Orleans is now integrated on the front page of the Web site.

- Our improved listings section is fully searchable by a number of customizable fields…if you’re looking for Thai food on the Northshore or who’s playing Uptown on Dec. 17, you can find it with a few quick clicks, and get a Google Map to take with you.

- We’re making it easy for readers to follow us on Twitter, friend us on Facebook, or buddy up with us on MySpace.

- And we’ll be adding lots of multimedia — music, video, podcasts, and whatever else we come up with.

- Don’t forget: free stuff!

Have patience with us for a bit. This isn’t just a new shell around the old site — it’s brand-new, and we’re still tweaking it. Things may load slowly; content may be unavailable; links may be broken. We’re working on it.

Let us know what you like, and let us know what’s not working. Hope you enjoy it. Thanks!

- In our cover story, David Winkler-Schmit examines citizen groups who are keeping others abreast of crime in their neighborhoods by using email, Google Maps, and other high-tech neighborhood watch tools…

- Clancy DuBos composes another valentine to Ray Nagin’s unique brand of leadership in the wake of this week’s City Council/Sanitation Department blowout….

- Jeremy Alford watches Gov. Bobby Jindal eye the 2012 presidential race…and wonders why former Gov. Kathleen Blanco is suddenly sending out press releases praising Barack Obama’s selection of Rahm Emanuel as his chief of staff….

- Bryan Davis previews the annual Words & Music literary festival, and Alison Fensterstock scopes out next weekend’s concert by the Cool Kids…

- and our monthly home and fashion magazine, CUE, is out with a December edition featuring holiday clothes and gifts, Champagne accessories and some cool handmade local items, curated by Kara Nelson.

What about that cold front last night? It’s a beautiful day. Get off the computer. I am.

• Now that the hoopla has settled, we take a look at Barack Obama and Joe Biden’s campaign promises to rebuild the Gulf Coast, and make a suggestion or two of our own (8/29 Commission, please, Mr. President-Elect)….

• Clancy DuBos takes his annual look at Da Winnas and Da Loozas left in the dust of this year’s election cycle….

• Alex Woodward gets all green and sustainable, checking out the new BuildSmart initiative from the Alliance for Affordable Energy….

• Kara Nelson finds some cool (and affordable) holiday gifts to save you from the big-box stores and the consumer hell that is Black Friday….

• Bryan Davis and Will Coviello scope out some of the queerer offerings at this year’s Reel Identities Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual & Transgender Film Festival, which kicks off Nov. 14….

• …and Noah Bonaparte Pais takes us inside the weird, wonderful, fanciful, fringe-iful world of the New Orleans Fringe Festival, which begins on the 13th.

We’re festival-crazy in southeast Louisiana. See you at today’s Mirliton Festival at Markey Park in the Bywater.

Tomorrow night, Tuesday, Nov. 4, beginning at 6:30 p.m., Gambit Weekly will be liveblogging the election returns from the newsroom at WWL-TV, providing up-to-the-minute information about presidential, state and local races, along with Gambit political editor and WWL election analyst Clancy DuBos.

The station will begin its schedule of national cut-ins at 6:30, and at 8 p.m., when the polls close, WWL sister station WUPL will go live with reports and analysis of all the national, state, and local elections. We’ll be liveblogging along with them from the newsroom and the election set, and giving Gambit readers a picture of how Channel 4 puts it all together.

Oh, yes, and we’ll be taking your questions — serious and silly — and answering them on the blog as time permits. You can leave ‘em in the comments below. (We’ve already had our first query about Lee Zurik’s eyebrows, and he’s been a good sport about that in the past, but we’re hoping for some new material.)

So visit www.blogofneworleans.com on election night beginning at 6:30 p.m. for live online coverage of Election Night. Suggestions for drinking games are welcome.

Did you have enough Halloween? The best part of the weekend for me is that extra hour of spring-forward, fall-back sleep…reset your clocks tonight and check your smoke alarm batteries. Coming up in Sunday’s Gambit:

• It’s our annual “40 Under 40″ issue, honoring young and youngish New Orleanians who are contributing to the city in some amazing ways — volunteerism, community organizing, fundraising, technology, green initiatives, and the arts. (I interviewed 23-year-old Happy Johnson and came away with the feeling I’ve done nothing with my life….)

• Jason Berry looks at the power plays behind the decision to shutter some local Catholic churches, and gets inside the protest vigil that began this week at Our Lady of Good Counsel….

• All the arts & entertainment coverage you can swallow to help you plan your week, along with cartoons (This Modern World and Vic ‘n’ Nat’ly)….

• There’s an election on Tuesday — have you heard? Clancy DuBos examines the perils of underestimating Sen. Mary Landrieu, and Jeremy Alford offers a postmortem look at the Louisiana campaign season….

• …and Gambit will be trying something new on Tuesday night: liveblogging the election from the studios of WWL-TV, reporting the results as they come in and getting off-the-cuff reaction from the reporters, analysts, and pundits on the Channel 4 desk. We’ll take your questions and get inside the news operation to see how the WWL folks get it all done.

That’s it. Have a good All Saints’ Day. Get out to a cemetery and pay your respects.

- It’s Voodoo Music Experience weekend, and Gambit has several writers at City Park to get all the information, soak up the music, flirt and goof off. We’ve even set up a separate Voodoo blog just for musical posts — click the blinking red box to the right for interviews, remixes, and reviews, or just click Voodoo08.

- In our cover story, D. Eric Bookhardt previews the upcoming, enormous Prospect.1 biennial — the galleries, the installations, and all the ways you can take in the art. (If you haven’t heard of Prospect.1 yet, you will. Soon. And did we mention it’s all free? Including shuttle service?)…

- Blood on the D.A.nce floor: Clancy DuBos looks at the race for district attorney between Leon Cannizzaro and Ralph Capitelli. How will the candidates make a big push for votes in the final week before election day, and will the mudslinging get scary just in time for Halloween?…

- Noah Bonaparte Pais interviews Lt. Gov. Mitch Landrieu about next week’s World Cultural Economic Forum and drops in on the latest project of Central City’s Mondo Bizarro…

- Alison Fensterstock listens to Quintron and Miss Pussycat’s new “Wild New Orleans R&B / Punk / Organ Dance Party!” album, Too Thirsty for Love…

- Rick Barton takes the measure of Oliver Stone’s presidential biopic W.…

- Ian McNulty finds good dim sum on the West Bank…

- …and Gambit Weekly announces its endorsements in the Congressional races as well as on all the other ballot measures.

There will also be cartoons and Sudoku. Have a good weekend.

– Kevin

It’s Gambit’s guide to the 10th annual Voodoo Music Experience, with a pullout section that includes schedule cubes, a map, band profiles, and interviews with everyone from R.E.M.’s Mike Mills to Sharon Jones of Dap-Kings fame…along with TV on the Radio, Panic! At the Disco, Tokyo Police Club, and more more more.

• In our cover story, Alison Fensterstock explores the phenomenon of Lil Wayne — from the 17th Ward to the top of the charts….

• Noah Bonaparte Pais checks out the ways that the Obama/McCain race is shaping up on local college campuses….

• Clancy DuBos chronicles the rise and fall of Derrick Shepherd, and wonders if Shepherd’s resignation will help keep Bill Jefferson in office….

• Jeremy Alford notices that Bobby Jindal hasn’t exactly been front and center helping John Kennedy in his battle to unseat Sen. Mary Landrieu, and wonders: O Governor, Where Art Thou?….

• And the November issue of our monthly home and lifestyle magazine, CUE, is all about New Orleans food culture. Your guide is CUE editor Kara Nelson.

Pick up a copy on Sunday before the Saints/Panthers game (Alejandro de los Rios will be here blogging and doing color commentary on Brees v. Delhomme), or click back here on Monday afternoon for the online edition. Now get off the computer and go enjoy this beautiful weekend. (Is fall really, truly, finally here at last?) – Kevin

• In our cover story, Jeremy Alford takes a look at the Landrieu/Kennedy megabrawl for the U.S. Senate seat…

• Clancy DuBos runs the numbers on the Bill Jefferson/Helena Moreno race for the House of Representatives, and comes to some interesting conclusions. Math don’t lie…

• A stripper-turned-preacher, a rockabilly legend, and the fierce competitors for a drag beauty title are among the subjects of documentaries at the New Orleans Film Festival. Will Coviello, Noah Bonaparte Pais, David Lee Simmons, and Caroline Goyette review some of the more interesting offerings…

• Alison Fensterstock previews the 3rd annual Crescent City Blues & BBQ Festival…

• …and there’s a row in our Letters section regarding Clancy’s column last week regarding Entergy New Orleans. Weighing in: a spokesperson for Entergy, the Alliance for Affordable Energy, and New Orleans councilmember Shelley Midura.

Pick up the paper on Sunday, or click back here on Monday.