Banner planned to ask the council why they were retaining a lawyer to defend its president from personal ethical concerns. But she was interrupted by the council chairman, who cited an invalidated statute and warned her that, if she spoke, she could face criminal prosecution.
Posted inEnvironment
Climate report indicates dire future for Mississippi River basin, which is already feeling impacts
Though there is still room for mitigation, the cycle of flooding and drought will become more extreme.
Posted inEnvironment
Louisiana’s rare growing coast, anchored by black willows and bald cypress trees
Fifty years after the historic 1973 flood, land is still forming in the Wax Lake and Atchafalaya River deltas. It’s held in place by the roots of coastal trees, which protect from flooding and hurricane winds and store carbon dioxide.
Posted inEnvironment
Lighthouse network expands, as St. John Parish opens Louisiana’s largest resilience hub for solar energy and storage
As St. John, the nation’s most climate-vulnerable place, opens the state’s seventh Community Lighthouse, other struggling communities try to fight LNG export terminals and open community solar projects.
Posted inBehind The Lens
Behind the Lens episode 221: ‘A force multiplier’
The Orleans Parish DA’s office is using new predictive analytics software they say can help combat crime. Some critics are concerned. And annual A through F letter grades are in — what that means for schools.
Posted inCriminal Justice
The DA’s office wants to use predictive analytics software to direct city resources to ‘places that drive crime.’ Will it work?
Some advocates worry it could lead to increased police presence in already under-resourced areas. But the DA’s office says that the data is only a first step.
Posted inEnvironment
Judge halts industrial rezoning for proposed grain elevator site in St. John Parish
Land on the parish’s West Bank intended as the location for the Greenfield Grain Terminal will remain residential until the court orders otherwise.
Posted inSchools
State releases 2023 school performance scores for New Orleans schools
The NOLA Public Schools district received a C again this year. Five New Orleans charters received an F.
Posted inBehind The Lens
Behind The Lens episode 220: ‘Mothers want their kids out of there’
This week on Behind The Lens, Jackson Parish’s is housing kids awaiting adjudication in a detention center unlicensed to do so and state A through F letter grades are due out soon.
Posted inCriminal Justice
Judge Reese gives green light to Phase III construction, says city did what it had to do, by bypassing City Council approval to move capital funds
A federal judge overseeing the jail’s consent decree has ordered the facility be built to provide constitutional medical and mental healthcare for people incarcerated.