A weekly review of our interesting, thought-provoking and original writing.

One day after the City Council voted to roll over roughly $600 million of spending into the 2010 budget, ground was broken on two roadway improvement projects.
A press release sent out Friday by Mayor Ray Nagin’s office announced the start of street repaving projects on St. Roch Avenue from North Roman Street to St. Claude [...]

The story seems to be everywhere, but few sites have posted the affidavit that led to the arrest of gonzo journalist James O’Keefe and three others. Working with a hidden camera, O’Keefe and Hannah Giles posed as a pimp and prostitute seeking advice from ACORN employees. Their videos led to tremendous outrage and a congressional [...]

As Haiti struggles to pull itself together, French finance minister Christine Lagarde is pushing to expedite a cancellation of hundreds of millions of dollars in Haitian government debt. Haitian historian Alex von Tunzelmann said, “For all of the 19th century and most of the 20th century, Haiti was unable to develop normally” because of crushing debt.
Vice [...]

The Lens will be an investigative news source and daily blog. Data-driven news stories, thoroughly researched and engagingly presented, will be complemented by daily blogs that cut to the quick. We will look behind the smoke and mirrors of big-city governance and also shine a light on key issues in communities too often ignored by [...]

To produce original, responsible investigative journalism to make institutional powers in New Orleans and the surrounding region more accountable to public interest.

With a newsroom staffed by experienced professional journalists and editors, we will cover significant areas of public policy—the economy, education, crime and criminal justice, the environment, land use and politics—with reporters who not only have expertise in each area, but who grasp the need for a analytical, context-driven approach.

The death of daily newspapers has been predicted for decades, but in the past year their decline accelerated. The consequence of diminished investigative reporting is especially dire on the Gulf Coast where communities remain in the throes of post-disaster recovery, with public policies undergoing major reform and billions in federal recovery dollars being spent with little oversight or accountability. The huge stakes here did not prevent Advance Publications, owner the Greater New Orleans region’s only daily newspaper, The Times Picayune, from recently announcing plans to further shrink its newsroom – and further erode coverage of the critical issues facing this uniquely challenged region.