Signs of the siege were scattered across East Grand Terre Island at the mouth of Barataria Bay: a pile of rakes crusted with oily mud, drenched absorbent matted into the sand, baby pools filled with greasy mud-colored water, wooden scrub brushes that looked more appropriate for a bubble bath than the cleanup of the biggest [...]
After sitting on most of a half-million-dollar grant for nearly two years, the city of New Orleans has convinced the Rockefeller Foundation to give it another three months to spend the money on getting citizens more involved with government. Without the extension past Monday’s expiration, the city would have had to return the unspent balance, [...]
The embezzlement of hundreds of thousands of dollars from an independent New Orleans public school could jeopardize its lone-wolf status. Acknowledging that it needs tighter financial controls, the nonprofit board that runs Langston Hughes Academy will vote in coming weeks on whether to hire a charter management organization, FirstLine Schools, to take over operations at [...]
The former business manager of a New Orleans charter school was sentenced today to five years in jail for embezzling $660,000 from the school, according to U.S. Attorney Jim Letten’s office. In February, former business manager Kelly Thompson pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court to making more than 150 cash withdrawals from Langston Hughes Academy [...]
Hundreds of thousands of people from across the world are logging on to see live video of oil gushing from a broken pipe that is responsible for the gargantuan petrochemical spill in the Gulf of Mexico and increasingly, the coastal wetlands that protect New Orleans. The live video feed, transmitted from 5,000 feet below the [...]
The owner of the site of the former Methodist Hospital complex in eastern New Orleans has granted Mayor Mitch Landrieu a two-month extension on a $40 million deal to purchase the property, Methodist Health System Foundation CEO Fred Young Jr., said Monday. “The mayor asked for 60 days so he could look over the deal,” [...]
An infant rattled his mother’s car keys in blissful ignorance as she wondered aloud where his brothers would go to school in the fall. Two students in matching school uniforms whispered and appeared confused by the worked-up parents standing around them. And a toddler covered her ears with her hands as a stranger yelled. The [...]
About 20 police-brutality activists rallied on the steps of City Hall today calling for the removal of New Orleans Police Department Superintendent Ronal Serpas. “We want a completely new landscape free of people who came up in a NOPD culture of abuse and terror,” said organizer W.C. Johnson. Johnson said that while he is pleased [...]
Reginika Tasso snorted at news that the number of vacant houses in New Orleans dropped over the past year by nearly 9,000 to a new post-Katrina low of 50,100. “Really…” the Central City-raised Harvey resident intoned. Did they count the house where I used to stay, asked Tasso, giving an incredulous eye to the reporter [...]
New Orleans celebrated the inauguration of Mayor Mitch Landrieu with a jubilant second line last Monday. Smiling wide and swaying from the hips, the new mayor danced through downtown New Orleans. Rebirth Brass Band played. Men in suits and ladies in hats clapped as they trotted along the smooth – for New Orleans – pavement [...]