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Category
Government & Politics

Embracing Katrina narratives

After an insinuation made by a Super Bowl planning committee, reporters from The Lens asked Lower 9 residents what Super Bowl visitors should see, plotted the points on a map, and documented the Katrina narratives that go with each landmark.
by Lens staff February 1, 2025 Updated February 20, 2025

St. John the Baptist Parish cleared in First Amendment lawsuit

A jury found that the defendants didn’t violate Joy Banner’s right to free speech or the Louisiana Open Meetings Law. But testimony revealed a hatred the Parish President harbors against the co-founders of The Descendants Project.
by Delaney Dryfoos January 29, 2025 Updated January 29, 2025

Trial begins in First Amendment suit against St. John the Baptist Parish

Joy Banner of The Descendants Project brought the lawsuit after the Parish Council chairman threatened her with prosecution and imprisonment for speaking during the public comment period of a 2023 meeting.
by Delaney Dryfoos January 27, 2025 Updated January 27, 2025

Latest federal Water Resources Development Act addresses climate extremes and flooding along the Mississippi River

Louisiana secured the bill’s largest project authorization, for St. Tammany Flood Risk Management. New Orleans scored authorization for a study about salt water in the river.
by Madeline Heim, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, and Delaney Dryfoos, The Lens January 17, 2025 Updated January 29, 2025

Ensuring we all feel safe and are stably employed

“We have much work to do,” Hunter writes, “to ensure that an anti-terrorist component is part of the planning process for every special event that attracts thousands – Mardi Gras, festivals and holiday celebrations, even our Sunday second-line parades.”
by Arthur Hunter Jr. January 15, 2025 Updated January 16, 2025

The shelter that the Super Bowl made

The leader of the governor’s temporary shelter says they are fully staffed and genuinely ready to move people into permanent housing. But it is several miles from the Superdome and is seen by critics as a way to warehouse homeless people away from Super Bowl crowds.
by Nick Chrastil and Katy Reckdahl January 15, 2025 Updated December 28, 2025

Fighting Act 246 in court

As advocates and lawyers file suit against the state, asking a judge to bar the reclassification of drugs used for medication abortion, women seeking IUDs and needing prenatal care say that they are also feeling the effects of the new law.
by La'Shance Perry December 18, 2024 Updated December 20, 2024

City Council committee allows Entergy New Orleans to sell its natural gas system

Though Councilmembers were swayed by job creation, critics said that the jobs pale in comparison to the rate increases and environmental effects that Orleans residents will now shoulder.
by Delaney Dryfoos December 17, 2024 Updated December 20, 2024

Towns across Louisiana clamor to build new juvenile detention centers

Local governments request more than $500 million to build regional and local juvenile-detention facilities — and to repair and construct some adult jails.
by Nick Chrastil December 16, 2024 Updated January 10, 2025

The increased urgency of Planned Parenthood’s work

Like most Americans, most Louisianans support abortion access. And when we show up, especially when it’s difficult and the odds feel stacked against us, we remind our legislative leaders that this government is supposed to work for us and reflect our values. 
by Petrice Sams-Abiodun, Vice President of Strategic Partnerships-Louisiana, Planned Parenthood Gulf Coast December 11, 2024 Updated December 10, 2024

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For more than a decade, we have reported on issues as well as public policy meant to address the needs of residents. The Lens seeks to focus on the inherent inequality that has created a multi-tiered system. We, at The Lens seek to uncover, illuminate, inform and take part in a forward-looking community. Join us.

 
 

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