This week on our podcast Behind The Lens, host and producer Tom Wright talks to Lens reporter Michael Isaac Stein about the University of New Orleans’ Hospitality Research Center. Michael interviewed economists about a recent economic impact study by the research center that looked at short-term rentals in New Orleans. It found that they generated about $900 million in spending in the area last year.

But UNO, a public university, won’t release the data behind the report.

“This is not even an economic study,” economist Jay Brinkmann said. “I think their benefits are overstated and they have ignored the costs.”

Then we hear from reporter Marta Jewson on an asbestos clean-up at a New Orleans school. It’s the third such incident for the Orleans Parish school district this year.

Finally, Tom talks to Jee Park, executive director of the Innocence Project New Orleans, about a proposed state constitutional amendment on the Nov. 6 ballot. If it passes, it would require unanimous jury verdicts in all state felony trials. Louisiana is one of only two states that allow non-unanimous verdicts. For background, read The Advocate’s groundbreaking series on Louisiana’s  non-unanimous jury law.

Behind The Lens is available on Apple Podcasts.

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