For nearly a decade, Calvin Pep used what he’d learned on the streets to stop bloodshed through Cure Violence, a city-funded effort to prevent violence. From his teen years on, Pep had been “both a victim and a perpetrator,” as he describes himself. He’d been shot. He’d faced a murder charge. His co-workers had similar […]
Posted inNews
School zone speed enforcement ends Friday
The city will stop enforcing school zone speed limits on Friday as most schools in the city wrap up their school years, city spokesman John Lawson confirmed. The city’s school zone cameras, which enforce 20 m.p.h. speed limits for two hours each morning and evening on weekdays during the school year, will cease ticketing for […]
Posted inCriminal Justice
Neighborhood security stopped 3 young Black males; A federal judge is weighing a lawsuit over it
Lawyers representing police officers who are accused of racially profiling and pulling guns on several young Black males who were searching for a lost dog argued in federal court Wednesday that the officers didn’t violate the constitution and are entitled to qualified immunity from the civil rights claims. The case, brought as part of the […]
Posted inCharter Schools
Lycée Français board considers $165K CEO contract amid financial concerns
The board of Lycée Français de la Nouvelle-Orléans will consider a three-year, $165,000 salary contract for CEO Chase McLaurin, with the potential for significant annual increases, at its board meeting Tuesday night, as the school grapples with financial concerns. The draft contract includes the potential for two $15,000 increases. One, if the school is accredited […]
Posted inNews
Superintendent eyes racial disparities in school enrollment
Williams presented data on what she called “eligibility schools,” or the handful of New Orleans public schools with some type of eligibility requirement. She identified 10 schools, four with academic requirements and six with a language requirement.
Posted inNews
Orleans jail monitors disclose for first time issues found under Hutson’s leadership
Monitors tasked with overseeing the New Orleans jail and tracking its compliance with the long-running federal consent decree said staff falsified suicide-watch documentation, rubber-stamped investigations to justify uses of force, and that the facility is dangerously understaffed.
Posted inNews
A charter group closes final school, makes decision on future of daycare
NOCP CEO J’Vann Martin said the board directed the center’s staff to report directly to them and has implemented “strict financial controls” and will help ensure the center has back-office support from NOCP or a third-party business vendor.
Posted inCriminal Justice
Louisiana leads nation in percentage of people in adult prisons for crimes they committed as kids
A new report by the national non-profit Human Rights for Kids has found that the degree to which the United States punishes crimes committed by kids is far out of line with international standards, calling the mass incarceration of children as adults “one of the largest government-sanctioned human rights abuses against children in the world […]
Posted inCriminal Justice
After 23 years in prison for killing her abuser, she hopes no one in Louisiana has to do that again
On Dec. 2, 1996, Beatrice Taylor hobbled out of her apartment complex to a nearby payphone and dialed 911. She told a Gretna police dispatcher she needed officers to come out to her home for the second day in a row, according to court records. Her ex-boyfriend had become violent again, stomped on her foot and broken […]
Posted inCharter Schools
Gifted group asks school district to expand services
Universal screening and a gifted coordinator could help expand gifted services in Orleans Parish, advocates say.
Posted inCriminal Justice
Orleans Parish Sheriff Hutson withholding investigative records related several ‘serious’ uses of force on mental health tier
In late January, a sergeant working in the New Orleans jail called for backup because a detainee, who was housed on a tier reserved for people with mental health needs, had a broomstick in his cell. When three deputies arrived, they found the cell window covered in feces and “a large amount of unknown liquid […]
Posted inCriminal Justice
Drug-related deaths at Angola prompted strip searches, but who is bringing in contraband?
Abdullah Muhammad entered the gates of the Louisiana State Penitentiary at Angola as a 25-year-old with a freshly issued life sentence. At intake, before he was issued a prison jumpsuit, guards searched him and told him to disrobe. “Anytime anyone forces you to take your clothes off, it’s traumatizing,” Muhammad said. He remembers feeling tense […]
Posted inCriminal Justice
In Linda Frickey case, DA Williams using controversial legal doctrine to seek life sentences for 4 teens
The decision by District Attorney Jason William to charge the teens as adults was controversial, if not surprising. During his campaign for DA, Williams promised to keep all cases involving kids in juvenile court, and frequently cited research on youth brain development that indicates kids are more susceptible to peer pressure, more likely to engage in risky behavior, and less likely to consider the consequences of that behavior.
Posted inEnvironment
Leaks beneath pump stations responsible for New Orleans’ drinking water went uninvestigated for two years
Leaks from beneath one of three Sewerage and Water Board pump stations that distribute the majority of New Orleanians’ drinking water went uninvestigated by the Board for nearly two years. The drinking water leaks were discovered during major upgrades to the Claiborne Avenue Pumping Station on the northern edge of the Carrollton Water and Power […]
Posted inCriminal Justice
How will the DA’s decision to revive the habitual offender law impact plea negotiations in New Orleans?
Earlier this month, Orleans Parish District Attorney Jason Williams announced that he was going back on his campaign promise to never utilize or threaten to use the state’s habitual offender law, which can dramatically increase prison sentences for people who have been convicted of prior felonies. And for the first time last week, prosecutors with […]
Posted inCriminal Justice
Proposal to give police 25-foot buffer raises constitutional concerns
Getting within 25 feet of a police officer after being told to stop would be a crime under a measure being pushed by a Louisiana lawmaker, but the idea is raising constitutional concerns among advocacy organizations, who say it could deter people from witnessing and recording police abuse when they see it taking place. State […]
Posted inNews
School zone lights must now work in order to ticket drivers
An ordinance passed by the New Orleans City Council requires school zone flashing yellow lights to be working properly for camera tickets to be valid
Posted inEnvironment
Judge dismisses suit over Plaquemines LNG facility, environmental groups review options
Judge Wilson Fields of the 19th Judicial District Court in Baton Rouge on Monday sided with the state in dismissing the group’s petition but did not rule on the merits of their case. The environmental groups are now evaluating their legal options.
Posted inEnvironment
Bill would end eminent domain for carbon capture pipelines
Fears of explosions prompt CO2 pipeline bill.
Posted inCriminal Justice
As summer nears, Angola Farm Line workers again demand more protections against heat
Since prisoners challenged conditions on the Farm Line, state officials have implemented policies making them even worse, lawyers contend.
Posted inOperating Capital - Executions in Louisiana
Dark Resurrection
Prisoners come to terms with the return of capital punishment in Louisiana.
Posted inSchools
State, school district ask judge to end federal scrutiny of New Orleans special education
State and district school officials argue that they’ve complied with a 2015 federal civil-rights judgment. But lawyers representing students who still aren’t getting adequate special ed services say that school officials may be complying with the letter of the law, but not the spirit of it.
Posted inSchools
City Council poised to send $10 million to schools, Cantrell could veto
Council members say they feel beholden to the November agreement that they’d forged with the school board. And though the mayor backed out of the proposal, citing a tight city budget, council members see no worrisome shortfalls ahead, they say.
Posted inOpinion
It’s not a teacher raise, voices against Amendment 2 emphasize
As Louisiana restarts executions, stories about the state’s death penalty — from condemned men, victims, families, and those who work in the death chamber.
Posted inOpinion
Our kids deserve better: vote NO on 3
“Accountability is about helping someone take responsibility and change,” Malcolm Jenkins writes “It’s about making sure they never go back down that same road again. And for kids, that only works when you treat them like kids.”
Posted inBehind The Lens
Behind the Lens episode 269: ‘They are not forgotten’
This week, two St. James Parish residents who recently wrote a piece for the Lens on their families’ deep roots in the region and how local histories like their own are threatened by the oil, gas, and petrochemical industries. Barbara Washington and Gail LeBoeuf are co-founders and co-directors of Inclusive Louisiana, a local organization dedicated […]
Posted inBehind The Lens
Behind the Lens episode 266 Carnival Part II: ‘The best spot on Fat Tuesday’
Mizani Ball on family and friends settling in to their traditional parade watching spots on the route. Katy Reckdahl on a Black Masking Indian continuing his father’s tradition.
Posted inLens Carnival Edition
Big boots to fill
Anthony Hingle Jr. didn’t touch beads or feathers for 32 years. Now he’s back in town, continuing the work of his father, Flagboy Meathead, a legend among Black Masking Indians.
Posted inBehind The Lens
Behind The Lens episode 268: ‘Cruel and unusual’
Special guest Ned Randolph on Entergy’s proposal to build a massive AI data center in an impoverished section of north Louisiana that Meta is eyeing. Nick Chrastil on the state’s push to use nitrogen hypoxia for executions.