The board of Collegiate Academies voted Thursday to move forward with its commitment to establish and run two high schools in the space previously occupied by the failing George Washington Carver High School. The transition, opposed by a Carver alumni group, is scheduled for the coming school year. The board discussed how tempers flared between the […]
Posted inCriminal Justice
Judge tells sheriff, public defenders to negotiate solution to privacy complaint
Orleans Parish Sheriff Marlin Gusman’s attorneys were told to work with the Public Defender’s Office to find a solution to complaints over attorney-client privacy. Photo by Tom Gogola Attorneys suing Orleans Parish Sheriff Marlin Gusman over what they say is a lack of confidentiality in attorney-inmate consultations were told by a judge Monday to come […]
Posted inCriminal Justice
One OPP escapee still being sought after slipping under fence Saturday night
By Tom Gogola, The Lens staff writer | One of two inmates who escaped from Orleans Parish Prison Saturday is back in custody, though authorities were still searching for the other earlier today, the Sheriff’s Office said. Sherrick Brumfield, 27, who was awaiting trial on second degree battery charges, remains free. Reginald Young, 22, was […]
Posted inCriminal Justice
City Council seeks to expand CeaseFire to include more social-outreach services
By Tom Gogola, The Lens staff writer | New Orleans Crime Commissioner James Carter was called before the City Council’s Criminal Justice Committee Wednesday to talk about the implementation of the city’s new CeaseFire initiative in crime-ridden Central City. He didn’t have much to talk about because the program is just getting underway, so lawmakers […]
Posted inGovernment & Politics, Opinion
Earl updated: Don’t tweet or blog what you can wink or nod
Eight years ago, I was up at odd hours of the night, helping my wife care for a newborn. After a bit of noodling on the internet I discovered and joined the wonderful (and wonderfully small) community of South Louisiana bloggers. We discussed politics and current events and mocked the stupid things written on other […]
Posted inCriminal Justice, Government & Politics
NOAH contractor changes plea to guilty; stole post-Katrina federal funds for blight removal
By Karen Gadbois, The Lens staff writer | Appearing Thursday in federal court before Judge Nannette Jolivette-Brown, former New Orleans Affordable Homeownership contractor Earl Myers changed his plea from not guilty to guilty of conspiring to commit theft of federal funds. Until the city agency was shut down in November, New Orleans Affordable Homeownership, also […]
Posted inGovernment & Politics, Schools
Interview with OPSB's Thomas Robichaux: Looking beyond school system's past
Thomas Robichaux, 43, a former city attorney who now works as a lawyer for a gaming distribution company, ran in 2008 as a reform candidate for a seat on the Orleans Parish School Board and today is its president. Few dispute that change was sorely needed. For years the city school system had been synonymous […]
Posted inCharter Schools, Schools
It's official: second grade to be added next semester; new board chairman takes charge
By Amy Holiday, The Lens charter school reporter | Lycée Francais is adding a second grade, a move approved by the state Board of Elementary and Secondary Education and ratified at a special meeting of the school’s board, April 24. Thirty students were accepted conditionally by lottery from a large pool of applicants on April […]
Posted inCharter Schools, Schools
Two playgrounds are on the way; new board members seated; utility bills coming down
KaBoom will begin construction of two playgrounds at Edward Hynes next fall, its board announced at its April / May meeting. Principal Michelle Williams said KaBoom, a national non-profit dedicated to creating community play spaces, will build a smaller playground in a dedicated space for the school’s pre-kindergarten and kindergarten students and a larger one […]