InspireNOLA takes over the charter for Pierre A. Capdau, controversy over the appraisal for a new oil terminal in Plaquemines Parish, and the City Council begins working on the 2020 budget.
Posted inGovernment & Politics
Coalition that includes Mayor Cantrell splits with her over proposed Entergy profits
Coalition that includes the city among its members still supports lower rate of profit for utility, despite the mayor’s recent support for Entergy.
Posted inGovernment & Politics
Sheriff’s Office budget creates $13 million question mark for the 2020 budget
Also at Thursday’s budget hearing, the Orleans Public Defender’s Office advocated for greater funding, saying their current budget isn’t enough to end a year-long hiring freeze.
Posted inGovernment & Politics
Records show how Cantrell administration officials walked back Airbnb enforcement plans over the past year
Earlier this year, officials asked for as many as 16 new STR enforcement employees. That later went down to three. Emails show that top-ranking officials were nervous about how new enforcement rules would affect city tax revenue.
Posted inSchools
How Louisiana’s TOPS program lets state’s richest students go to school, while poor students are often left out
The state’s TOPS scholarship program and state budget formulas handicap less-advantaged students and colleges, and it’s a national trend.
Posted inSchools
InspireNOLA likely to take over Capdau as New Beginnings works to retain staff
New Beginnings voted to surrender its two charter schools at the end of this year after graduation problems at John F. Kennedy High School.
Posted inGovernment & Politics
In first day of city budget hearings, debate on property tax rates continues
Council members again ask if citywide property tax increases are necessary.
Posted inEnvironment, Government & Politics
Plaquemines council member accuses port of ‘appraiser shopping’ to justify $30.5M deal for proposed oil terminal
Plaquemines Parish Council Member Richie Blink brought before the council this month a series of emails between Port of Plaquemines officials and private firms working to develop an oil export terminal that show what Blink described as “several key missteps made by our port” in the process of negotiating the terminal deal. The emails suggest […]
Posted inBehind The Lens
Behind The Lens episode 54: ‘Targeting Black communities as sites for industrial pollution is environmental racism, and is unacceptable.’
An agreement is reached for a new hotel at the Convention Center, two charter schools are expected to get a failing rating and have their charter removed, and the Coalition Against Death Alley marches to Baton Rouge to protest a Formosa plastics plant.
Posted inSchools
Judge dismisses Orleans Parish School Board from Kennedy HS students’ lawsuit
The civil district court judge also dismissed the Board of Elementary and Secondary Education, leaving the Louisiana Department of Education and Kennedy’s charter group, New Beginnings.