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Posted inGovernment & Politics, Schools

Confusion swirls as BESE ponders proper size of neighborhood attendance zones

Correction: The description of the admission process at RSD open-enrollment charter schools has been amended to reflect that, if applications exceed capacity, students are chosen by lottery. By Jessica Williams, The Lens staff writer | The state Board of Elementary and Secondary Education had a rare meeting in New Orleans Wednesday night to ponder rules […]

Posted inEnvironment, Government & Politics

Council ponders whether recycling carts are too big; French Quarter may get service

By Karen Gadbois, The Lens staff writer | Is the city’s new recycling program putting the cart before the trash man’s horse? With 50,000 carts for recycled trash already on order, City Council members on Thursday debated whether the 64-gallon size soon to be delivered is too big. Also still up in the air: whether […]

Posted inCriminal Justice

Inmate's lawyer: Sheriff emptied women's jail after complaint to feds about conditions

By Matt Davis, The Lens staff writer | Orleans Parish Sheriff Marlin Gusman moved his women prisoners from their separate facility at Orleans Parish Prison into a temporary tent next door after a complaint about conditions, the attorney who filed the complaint said Tuesday. Attorney Billy Sothern wrote to the U.S. Marshals Office on Feb. […]

Posted inEnvironment, Government & Politics

Recycling carts, service and costs top agenda for City Council committee meeting

By Karen Gadbois, The Lens staff writer | Anyone excited, frustrated or just plain interested in the city’s latest effort to reinstate curbside recycling by May will have plenty to listen to at tomorrow’s meeting of the City Council’s Sanitation Committee. Most of the agenda is dedicated to the matter, from next week’s expected bid […]

Posted inCriminal Justice, Government & Politics

City Council zaps 'aggressive' panhandlers in New Orleans business district

By Karen Gadbois, The Lens staff writer | It’s no longer legal to borrow a paraplegic’s wheelchair and fake infirmity yourself – not if your intent is to soften the hearts of people you’re panhandling in the Central Business District. Downtown ATM machines? Do your begging elsewhere, as long as it’s not a bus or […]

Posted inGovernment & Politics, Opinion

Louisiana pols fiddle with facts while Japan’s reactors burn

The onslaught of disasters in Japan right now stuns the imagination: a huge earthquake, a devastating tsunami, overheating nuclear power plants, and even an active volcano. Thousands have perished, hundreds of thousands are homeless, and millions are enduring winter nights without reliable power. The human suffering is appalling. While I understand that U.S. TV news […]