Hurricane Katrina devastated the Gulf Coast, but the storm also struck the Triangle.

It hit people's hearts, and it moved many to action. Some of us raised money; others gave it.

The N&O devoted full pages and a special section to lists of ways people could help. We also reported on ongoing relief efforts, including a recent story on how the North Carolina Baptist Men are helping rebuild in Gulfport, Miss.

Six months after Katrina, we wanted to take you back to the heart of this story, to the people of Mississippi and Louisiana who are still living the storm's aftermath.

Photographer Travis Long and multimedia journalist Joe Weiss traveled south to help residents there tell you, person to person, what life is like now and what they have endured.

Today you'll meet hurricane survivors on Mississippi's Gulf Coast.

Stan Tiner, executive editor of the Biloxi, Miss., Sun Herald, has led his staff members in reporting this story through the trials of the storm itself and the losses it inflicted on them and their community.

I asked for his help as we returned to the Gulf Coast areas where we had sent teams after the Aug. 29 storm.

He responded generously, in part because he and his staff want people elsewhere to know what's happening in Mississippi: how much has happened, what challenges remain.

Next week, look for reports from New Orleans.

We'll include information on how to help and links to the Sun Herald and the Times-Picayune. Their journalism these past six months reminds us what good reporting can mean to people in crisis.

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Our front-page series on immigration takes on a specific challenge: weighing the costs and benefits that illegal workers bring to North Carolina.

Today's reporting by Karin Rives explores the magnet drawing many immigrants: jobs.

Over the next few days, other stories look at how illegal immigration is adding to health-care and education costs and boosting commerce in various ways across the state.

This isn't the whole story on immigration by any means. Nationally, a political debate rages about U.S. immigration policy. Historically, immigration is at the heart of the American experience, and the debate about its effects strikes people personally and emotionally.

Our series, "Illegal Immigration: Who Profits, Who Pays," has a practical bent. It focuses not on what should happen but on what is happening. Our state has seen some of the nation's fastest immigration growth.

These newcomers are changing North Carolina. In exploring some of these effects, we hope to provide information for an ongoing discussion here.

If you'd like to join that discussion, go to the series online at www.newsobserver.com key word immigration.