It says, “the witness says two years ago, he saw the contractor filling the expansion joint or opening between the floodwalls with newspaper.”

OK, but that’s a lot different than saying, “The whole length of the wall was stuffed with newspaper.”

Which is it, hon?

In fact, if I do say so myself, the linked article is quite thorough and even, dare I say it, truthful. The reference they cite on expansion joints is and has been available freely on the web for years and years, for one thing, secondly, the expansion joints aren’t a problem; they’re a deliberate structural disconnect between wall segments for purposes of preventing cracking; it’s not a structural component of the system per se. However, the material in question looks more like a bond-breaker - which is a common element in an expansion joint. But… there’s something fishy about the missing waterstops. I hope they keep up the investigations. Toodles!