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Della Hasselle
Della Hasselle, a freelance journalist and producer, reports environmental and criminal justice stories for The Lens. A graduate of Benjamin Franklin High School and the New Orleans Center for Creative Arts, Hasselle lived in New York for 10 years. While up north, she produced and anchored news segments, wrote feature stories and reported breaking news for DNAinfo.com, a hyperlocal news site. Before that, she worked at the New York Daily News. She obtained her master’s degree from the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism. She can be reached at (917) 304-6121.
The swamp is suffering from a lack of freshwater from natural flooding and from the penetration of saltwater through canals dug for logging. If nothing is done, scientists say the forest will become open water over time. The first phase of the project will be funded with $14 million in BP oil spill fines.
With the help of a $40 million federal grant, residents of six parishes in southeastern Louisiana have been talking about how their communities could be redesigned to deal with increased flooding. The plans are meant to complement the state’s expectations that thousands of homes will have be elevated, and some bought out, in the coming decades.
Despite a sweeping federal consent decree for Orleans Parish Prison, youth advocates say the facility remains unsafe for inmates 17 and younger. The City Council has declared that the juvenile detention center is the best place for all those 17 and under, but that facility doesn't have enough room.
Officials say the juvenile facility is the best place for most young defendants, even if they're charged with serious felonies in Criminal District Court. An ordinance before the City Council would require juveniles to await trial in the Youth Study Center, not OPP.
