By Karen Gadbois, The Lens staff writer | [Update, 20:30:] According to petition documents obtained by The Lens, these are the names of the bars, business, and owners that were named in the suit for alleged non-payment of taxes, that led to the seizure of The Bentley: Newport Corporation of Louisiana, Millionaire Boy’s Club, Inc., […]
Posted inGovernment & Politics, Opinion
Better late than never: Wishing bin Laden a speedy trip to hell
For the past seven years at my old blog, I regularly wondered why Osama bin Laden wasn’t already dead and in hell. I’d always believed bin Laden’s liquidation should’ve been a top priority for the United States, if for no other reason than justified vengeance. He deserved to die for the 9/11 attacks and for […]
Posted inEnvironment
The glass is half empty for recycling: New city program will not take bottles or jars
By Karen Gadbois, The Lens staff writer | As you clean up from the first weekend of Jazz Fest, you may be tempted to toss the empty glass bottles into the recycling bin, along with the newspapers and plastics. You need to fight that temptation. Glass is not accepted in the city’s recycling program that […]
Posted inLand Use
Rock 'n' Bowl owner gets permission to demolish pair of houses for parking lots
By Karen Gadbois, The Lens staff writer | Rock ‘n’ Bowl owner John Blancher won city approval this week to tear down two apartment duplexes adjacent to the New Orleans bowling alley and night club, with plans to use the space for parking. Six New Orleans City Council members voted unanimously to overrule the Neighborhood […]
Posted inGovernment & Politics, Land Use
Iberville developer eyes Lafitte Greenway linear park for obligatory off-site housing
By Ariella Cohen, The Lens staff writer | The Landrieu administration is considering a request to build affordable housing on a parcel of fallow city-owned land long expected to be part of the Lafitte Greenway in Mid-City. The land in question is the largest contiguous piece of land within the footprint of the linear park, […]
Posted inEnvironment, Opinion
Berm blather distracts us from the real issue: slapdash drilling
The Gulf Coast Leadership Summit was convened last week at the Hilton to remember and discuss the Deepwater Horizon rig explosion and the oil gusher that followed. The first day of the Summit included a forum with former Oil Spill Commission members as well as forums with political leaders from affected coastal regions. Much of […]
Posted inOpinion
Don't let state swipe unspent funds for energy efficiency
By Devin Lowell, The Lens contributing opinion writer | President Obama’s 2009 stimulus package breathed new life into a Louisiana energy-efficiency program. But now low enrollment threatens the funding for that program, and state Department of Natural Resources wants to shift the money into programs they view as a better investment. If that happens, the […]
Posted inOpinion
When demolition becomes an act of cultural vandalism
By Karen Gadbois, The Lens staff opinion writer | There’s a familiar ring to it: yet another house being knocked down as preservationists scramble in vain to defend it. But don’t be deceived. This time it’s not about the house. No one pretends that the blighted Central City double at 2040 Felicity Street was an […]
Posted inGovernment & Politics, Opinion
Could ‘Trumped’-up birther campaign be a secret deal with Dems?
A billboard on I-10 near Roanoke, Louisiana, asks drivers, ”Where’s the Birth Certificate?” The reference here is to President Obama, part of a long campaign to spread doubts about his citizenship. Many on the political right buy into the idea that Obama wasn’t born in Hawaii. They insinuate that he’s something strange, something scary, a […]
Posted inCriminal Justice
Another Orleans Parish deputy arrested in a domestic-dispute case; sheriff remains mum
By Matt Davis, The Lens staff writer | A jailhouse sergeant at the Orleans Parish Sheriff’s Office was booked in Jefferson Parish with domestic abuse battery and aggravated assault 10 days ago, records show, and a co-worker at the Orleans Parish Prison said the sergeant hasn’t been to work since. Sgt. William Holmes was arrested […]