In a special episode, Adrinda Kelly, the founding Executive Director of Black Education for New Orleans (BE NOLA), whose mission is to support Black educators and Black-led schools, reflects on two decades of changes in New Orleans education.
Posted inEnvironment
Raised on meat, but going meatless one day a week.
Meat connected my family and so many Black families across the South – really across the world. Now, by embracing Meatless Mondays, I am weaning myself from it, for my health – and to help save Planet Earth.
Posted inEnvironment
Maurepas Swamp’s upcoming reintroduction to the Mississippi River
Reconnecting the dying swamp to fresh river water is vital for the health of the swamp’s cypress-tupelo forest, which minimizes storm surge damage for communities in St. John the Baptist, St. James, Ascension and Livingston Parishes.
Posted inNew OrLEaNS
Saving St. Louis No. 2 Cemetery from cars and longtime neglect
Though an SUV caused a recent injury to the historic burial ground, a preservationist found that the biggest risks to public safety in the cemetery came from some of its most magnificent structures: tombs built for now-dissolved society groups. Now, a five-generation master plasterer is determined to repair them.
Posted inBehind The Lens
Behind The Lens episode 258: ‘Floodplains’
Delaney Dryfoos and Eric Schmid on new insurance models Mississippi River towns are leaning on. Nick Chrastil on juveniles leaving the Jackson Parish Jail.
Posted inEnvironment
The United Nations Global Plastics Treaty: validating the struggles of fenceline communities in Louisiana
Though the Biden Administration backtracked its support of a cap on plastic production only a week before UN negotiations begin in South Korea, Louisiana advocates see the tide turning on plastics in a way that could turn future plastic-production facilities in Louisiana into even riskier investments.
Posted inCriminal Justice
Louisiana Office of Juvenile Justice to end contract with troubled Jackson Parish jail
Invoices show that Jackson charged OJJ nearly $2 million dollars over the past year to house juveniles in the jail, despite grave allegations of abuse and mistreatment.
Posted inBehind The Lens
Behind The Lens episode 257: ‘Creating new reefs’
Delaney Dryfoos and La’Shance Perry on “Cajun Coral,” a type of 3D printed coral used to help rebuild living reefs. Marta Jewson on the NOLA Public Schools’ $36 million budget shortfall and superintendent’s midyear resignation.
Posted inSchools
Compare 2024 school performance scores for New Orleans charters
Though its score climbed a little, the NOLA Public Schools district received the same grade, a C, from the state of Louisiana for the third year in a row. The state’s A-F letter grades are particularly high-stakes for 12 charters, who could face closure at the end of the school year.
Posted inCriminal Justice
To prevent suicide, New Orleans daughter urges states to let people ban themselves from buying guns
Donna’s Law, which allows people to ban themselves from gun ownership, has proven one of the few areas of gun policy where Republicans and Democrats can agree. But it has made little headway in Louisiana, home of the bill’s namesake.