A technology vendor to the city of New Orleans shut down a key computer system Monday because the city hasn’t paid “hundreds of thousands of dollars” in past-due bills, the contractor said Wednesday.
Based on a tip from a developer unable to move a project forward, The Lens uncovered the problem in a joint investigation with [...]

In January, The Lens reported on taxpayer money collected by DKM Acquisitions and Properties for economic development.
At the time, nothing visible had been done to renovate the gutted and unkempt Lake Terrace Shopping Center at Robert E. Lee Boulevard and Paris Avenue. City officials said that the $162,500 given to the company had been used [...]

By Ariella Cohen, staff writer — In the months after Hurricane Katrina, traumatized New Orleanians turned out in droves to discuss the fate of their neighborhoods. They gave hours of their time with the understanding that their input would guide the rebuilding of their city – and help secure the federal disaster grants needed to [...]

By Karen Gadbois, staff writer –
A taxpayer-financed program to stimulate economic development in New Orleans continues to back dubious business ventures, throwing into question the city’s stewardship of some $2.5 million in annual grants, an investigation by The Lens and Fox 8 News has found.
Since December 2008, more than $200,000 has been funneled to the [...]

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.