La’Shance Perry, Nick Chrastil and Katy Reckdahl on the jail exceeding its population cap and Angola prisoners still forced to work the fields in extreme summer heat.
Posted inEnvironment
Nuns Harnessing the Sun
The Sisters of the Holy Family are constructing solar panels on the order’s New Orleans East motherhouse, to create the city’s 12th solar-driven Community Lighthouse – and, over on Dwyer Road, they’re installing solar panels to reduce their neighbors’ Entergy bills.
Posted inCriminal Justice
‘It isn’t very clear who is responsible for the jail getting to that cap’
The Orleans Justice Center has surpassed the city’s jail population cap, sparking questions about how to increase releases while reducing bookings — and what the rising jail population means for the health of those incarcerated and for the city of New Orleans.
Posted inBehind The Lens
Behind The Lens episode 241: ‘Radical Black joy’
Mizani Ball on the historical and ongoing struggle for civil rights in New Orleans and how its expressed through music in the city. Katy Reckdahl on a teacher accused of restraining a student been involved in a similar incident 8 years ago, raising concerns about background checks into school personnel.
Posted inOpinion
Getting everyone’s input on City Park, our backyard
An online survey by the authors — local and national network of certified planners, architects, urban designers, and landscape architects — seems to indicate that outreach for City Park’s new Master Plan never happened, certainly not in any comprehensive manner.
Posted inCriminal Justice
Angola prisoners ask to end field work in worst heat
For decades, Angola has forced prisoners to work in fields in extreme heat. Today, they’re urging a federal judge to halt the practice — prisoners have filed a motion as part of a proposed class-action lawsuit to end the practice of forced agricultural labor at the prison
Posted inFarm to Trouble
“We should have a sense of urgency”: Drainage tile drives nutrient pollution
Agricultural drainage tile, a system used by farmers to increase crop yields, is a main contributor to excess nutrients in waterways.
Posted inFarm to Trouble
Could the Mississippi River benefit from Chesapeake Bay’s strategy to improve water quality?
Sluggish progress on reducing nutrient runoff into the Bay marks an inconvenient truth, but offers lessons for others seeking to clean their watersheds.
Posted inFarm to Trouble
Not just a Gulf problem: Mississippi River farm runoff pollutes upstream waters
Worsening local effects on health and recreation in states like Minnesota and Wisconsin are spurring action on problems that also cause the Gulf of Mexico’s chronic “dead zone.”
Posted inFarm to Trouble
At the mouth of the Mississippi, Louisiana bears the burden of upstream runoff. Why doesn’t it push for solutions?
This summer’s “dead zone,” a low-oxygen area where the river empties into the sea, could span 5,827 square miles across the Gulf of Mexico. Louisiana has the power to call for change.