La’Shance Perry on the Krewe of Choctaw’s harmful portrayal of culture to those of Choctaw heritage. Delaney Dryfoos on stepped up Carnival recycling efforts this year. And Nick Chrastil on gun arrests during Mardi Gras and concerns about racial profiling.
Posted inEnvironment
Keeping a Lid on Carnival Trash
They put out recycling bins and picked up cans during and after parades. In the end, this group of plucky nonprofit groups, with support from the city’s Recycle Dat! initiative, tripled the recycling totals for Uptown parades, diverting an impressive amount of trash from the River Birch landfill.
Posted inNew OrLEaNS
Civil Rights Icon in a Gown
In 1966, Karen Becnel made civil-rights history, as the first Black Carnival queen to be presented at Municipal Auditorium – a place where her grandfather had helped to dress the kings of the traditional old-line krewes like Rex and Comus.
Posted inSchools
Shoebox Floats Everywhere
They are a longtime Carnival tradition that focuses on little ones — and education advocates say that the current shoebox-float renaissance may be a sign that public schools are seeing the positive side of once-repudiated New Orleans traditions.
Posted inNew OrLEaNS
From Back-a-Town to St. Charles, on Foot.
As my mom and two aunts prepared food for us 10 cousins, we worried that we were missing out on the fun on St. Charles Avenue. We weren’t worried about seeing Rex, the krewe that parades after Zulu. In the eyes of a 10-year-old, that was boring.
Posted inGovernment & Politics
The Sting of Fake Tomahawks
Some indigenous people say that it hurts them to see the predominantly white Krewe of Choctaw rolls past, dressed in feathered headdresses and “war paint.” Can they convince the krewe to change?
Posted inCriminal Justice
Gun-arrest data raises questions about profiling
Last year, on Mardi Gras Day, New Orleans police made more gun arrests than any single day in at least 13 years, maybe more, according to arrest data kept on the City Council website, which only goes back that far. Officers arrested 40 people. Most were on Bourbon Street. More were charged with the same misdemeanor […]
Posted inEnvironment
Formosa Plastics gets air permits back, but a few hurdles remain
Advocates still hope to block the permits for Formosa’s proposed petrochemical complex in St. James Parish, a community at the heart of new research into the health effects of air pollution.
Posted inBehind The Lens
Behind The Lens episode 229: ‘Backtracking on promises’
Nick Chrastil on Orleans Parish District Attorney Jason Williams’s decision to work closely with newly elected Governor Jeff Landry’s office, despite his progressive campaign promises.
Aidan McCahill on New Orleans water bills, some of the highest in the nation, and seniors who are feeling the pinch.
Posted inCriminal Justice
District Attorney Jason Williams will cede some New Orleans cases to state prosecutors. What does that mean for criminal justice in the city?
As state police make arrests in New Orleans, the state AG will prosecute the cases, through a new strange-bedfellows partnership between Williams and Gov. Jeff Landry.
