To bolster WWNO-FM’s news-focused format change, which begins today, the station is forming a reporting collaboration with The Lens and NolaVie.com. The joint effort brings together experienced journalists to increase local news coverage on broadcast and digital platforms at a critical point in the renewal of our city, region and community. The three nonprofits began […]
Posted inCharter Schools, Schools
Board meeting agenda released
Review the agenda for the board’s July meeting here.
Posted inInside the News Room
The Lens takes 1st-place awards at annual journalism competition
The Lens brought home three first-place awards at Saturday nights’ Excellence in Journalism Awards sponsored by the Press Club of New Orleans. The Lens won the top honors for: Best Local News Website. Second place was nola.com; third was wwltv.com Best Investigative Story in Print, for this story by reporter Matt Davis on moonlighting deputies […]
Posted inGovernment & Politics, Schools
Postponed: BESE's Orange Jones set for Ethics Board ruling
Update: 8:55 a.m. Friday. The executive secretary of the Ethics Board said Orange Jones’ attorney requested Thursday that the matter be delayed until the board’s August meeting. The Louisiana Board of Ethics is scheduled to meet Friday and hand down its edict on whether Board of Elementary and Secondary Education representative Kira Orange Jones should […]
Posted inCriminal Justice
Traffic court judge: Efficiency would cost too many city jobs
The city should ignore the advice of its inspector general and not merge Municipal Court and Traffic Court because too many city employees would lose their jobs in the interest of government efficiency, the head of Traffic Court said today. The candid remarks from Chief Judge Robert Jones came as New Orleans City Councilwoman Susan […]
Posted inGovernment & Politics
State auditor's report reveals more details about misuse of recovery money
A little-noticed January report from the state Legislative Auditor’s Office provides more insight into disgraced City Councilman Jon Johnson’s illegal dealings, to which he pleaded guilty in federal court today. The report shows that a nonprofit run by Johnson wrote checks to Johnson’s sister and a number of people who couldn’t be found to explain […]
Posted inCharter Schools, Schools
Budget for 2012-13 anticipates more students – and higher building costs
Robert Moton Charter School’s operating budget is increasing 53 percent, propelled by a rising enrollment and the school’s first full year in a larger building. Spending in the 2012-2013 school year is anticipated to be $2.7 million, compared to last year’s $1.7 million. The school moved in February to a building on Gentilly Boulevard, leased […]
Posted inCharter Schools, Schools
Projected 2012-13 budget holds steady, despite doubling of OPSB use fee
Warren Easton Charter School’s proposed budget for the 2012-2013 school year shows little change from last year. Expenditures will rise $113,000, a 1.6 percent increase. Notable differences include a doubling of the projected use fee, for an increase of $79,422. The use fee is determined by the Orleans Parish School Board and covers flood and […]
Posted inGovernment & Politics, Investigations, Land Use
Councilman connected to nine blighted buildings in the Lower 9th Ward neighborhood
Scenes of neglect are ubiquitous in the flood-scarred Lower 9th Ward, but nine buildings in particular have caught the attention of neighbors since the fall because of their connection to a City Councilman.
Posted inGovernment & Politics, Schools
School board agrees to put archived meetings online
Archived videos of Orleans Parish School Board meetings will be available on the board’s website, members decided at their Tuesday night meeting, but not without spirited debate. An amended disadvantaged-business policy was also approved, and the board agreed to the deletion of 21 positions from the payroll. In what’s become a customary alliance, board members […]