This week on Behind the Lens, the Orleans Parish School Board and the New Orleans City Council consider six highly controversial property tax exemptions for Folgers. The tax exemption requests, which are worth roughly $25 million over 10 years, come as the city and the schools are facing ongoing fiscal uncertainty from the COVID-19 crisis.

New emails obtained by the ACLU shed more light on NOPD’s use of facial recognition over several years. 

And a look back at the big stories of 2020.

Our guests this week are government and cultural economy reporter Michael Isaac Stein, education reporter Marta Jewson, and The Lens editor, Charles Maldonado.

Behind The Lens is available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Play and Stitcher. And we broadcast the show on community radio stations 102.3 FM WHIV LP in Mid-City and 90.3 FM WAMF-LP in the Marigny.

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Carolyne Heldman has been in media for 35 years, most recently as Executive Director at an NPR member station in Colorado where she was responsible for new multi-platform content initiatives, strategic...