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.
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.
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
“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.
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.
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.”
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.
As conservation lags, so does progress in slashing Gulf’s ‘dead zone’
One year away from a federal deadline to reduce nutrient runoff into the Gulf of Mexico by 20%, increases in tile drainage, livestock and fertilizer use have made success unlikely.
How The Lens got the state of Louisiana to turn over a $1,000-an-hour contract with out-of-state lawyers hired to defend the state police
It took several months and a lawsuit, but a judge agreed that legal contracts are public records.
Finish Renaming the Streets Now
The Juneteenth holiday serves as a reminder that the City Council should wait no longer to finish the street renaming it began four years ago.