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In-depth news and investigations for New Orleans

Recent Posts

Peanut in Limbo

Big 6 Brass Band leader Thaddeus “Peanut” Ramsey has been stuck in Bermuda for nearly a year, fighting an invisible adversary: possible criminal charges. “If it’s something illegal, we should know that by now,” said his cousin, tuba player Walter Ramsey.

Fatman Set the Pace

Grammy Award-winning snare drummer “Fatman” Hunter, who was killed by a car on Mardi Gras morning and laid to rest today, spoke his mind and created a distinct second-line groove.

Keeping a Lid on Carnival Trash

They put out recycling bins and picked up cans during and after parades. In the end, this group of plucky nonprofit groups, with support from the city’s Recycle Dat! initiative, tripled the recycling totals for Uptown parades, diverting an impressive amount of trash from the River Birch landfill.

Civil Rights Icon in a Gown

In 1966, Karen Becnel made civil-rights history, as the first Black Carnival queen to be presented at Municipal Auditorium – a place where her grandfather had helped to dress the kings of the traditional old-line krewes like Rex and Comus.

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Senate Bill 3 most likely to affect teens charged with petty crimes.

The Louisiana legislature is poised to pass Senate Bill 3, which would lower the age to criminally prosecute children as adults to seventeen. This move will exclude all 17-year-olds from the juvenile justice system, no matter what they’re accused of. Issues such as a school-yard fight or shoplifting — while by no means trivial  — …

Proposed cuts to City Year program would do most harm to at-risk kids in under-resourced schools

“You can teach me stuff like vowels, words, and reading. You can teach me how to be calm.”   With that, City Year’s work in Louisiana was perfectly summed up by a first grader.  Each year, thousands of City Year AmeriCorps members – also known as student success coaches – embrace this unique role in 29…

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