The Port Street bar was the scene of a fatal March shooting. Photo credit Matt Davis By Karen Gadbois, The Lens staff writer | Tuesday’s meeting on whether to revoke the license of a Ninth Ward watering hole made for painful memories. And yet, even though Adrian Joseph was host of the birthday party for […]
Posted inCriminal Justice
Deputy who punched girlfriend in face has been fired; not the first encounter with law
By Matt Davis, The Lens staff writer | An Orleans Parish Sheriff’s Office deputy who was fired recently after admitting he punched his girlfriend in the face had other brushes with the law before he was hired less than a year ago, according to records and interviews with an alleged statutory rape victim’s mother. It’s […]
Posted inGovernment & Politics, Investigations
Dejean kept Gert Town board in the dark, ex-chairman of secretive non-profit contends
By Jessica Williams, The Lens staff writer | The embattled director of a Gert Town community fund has been as reluctant to share information with her board as with the community she is meant to serve, according to a former board chairman. An investigative report published last week by The Lens noted neighborhood concern that […]
Posted inOpinion
Opportunity missed: Why aren't we coating the wetlands with mud from a mighty high river?
The “mighty” Mississippi again is offering a dazzling display of its power. Unfortunately, Louisiana is blowing an equally mighty opportunity to show the world that we are serious about saving our coast.
Posted inEnvironment, Opinion
Tales of a river gone mad and a would-be suicide’s cork leg
Historian and local mensch John Barry has written some recent articles comparing the current Mississippi River flood conditions to the Great Flood of 1927, about which he authored the definitive account. These prompted me to look up other Mississippi flood years, and through the power of the Internet I learned about the flood of 1882. […]
Posted inGovernment & Politics, Investigations
Why the secrecy? Gert Town community agency won't show how it's spending lawsuit windfall
Five years after the Gert Town neighborhood started collecting $404,000 for community renewal, the non-profit dispensing the cash refuses to give residents an accounting of how it’s being spent.
Posted inGovernment & Politics
House votes to jack up Traffic Court fees, despite ample current revenue streams
By Matt Davis, The Lens staff writer | The state House this afternoon voted 86 to 1 to approve a bill that would let New Orleans Traffic Court charge higher fees even though its budget has ballooned recently. The legislator who sponsored the bill and one of the court’s judges gave different reasons why the […]
Posted inGovernment & Politics, Opinion
Likening BP’s blowout to an airline crash still doesn’t fly
Last July, I took issue with a dubious airline analogy promoted by foes of the offshore drilling moratorium during BP’s Macondo deepwater oil gusher of 2011. Big Oil apologists repeated the analogy ad nauseam: “We don’t ground all airplanes after one crash, do we?” They hoped to portray the Obama administration’s response to the blowout […]
Posted inCriminal Justice, Government & Politics
Despite record income, Traffic Court judges pushing bill to give themselves more money
By Matt Davis, The Lens staff writer | A bill scheduled for debate Wednesday on the floor of the state House would let New Orleans Traffic Court charge higher fees even though its budget is booming. Further, the legislator who sponsored the bill and one of the court’s judges gave different reasons why the bill […]
Posted inCriminal Justice, Land Use, Schools
Tulane erases scandal-plagued frat house; cop station to rise on cleared Broadway lot
By Karen Gadbois, The Lens staff writer | Tulane on Tuesday dumped a frat house into the dustbin of Greek history to make way for a new campus police station. A wrecking crew made quick work of the former Pi Kappa Alpha house at 1036 Broadway, catty corner to The Boot, a popular campus watering […]