Big 6 Brass Band leader Thaddeus “Peanut” Ramsey has been stuck in Bermuda for nearly a year, fighting an invisible adversary: possible criminal charges. “If it’s something illegal, we should know that by now,” said his cousin, tuba player Walter Ramsey.
Author Archives: Katy Reckdahl
Katy Reckdahl is The Lens’ managing editor. Reckdahl was a staff reporter for The Times-Picayune and the alt-weekly Gambit before spending a decade as a freelancer, writing frequently for the New Orleans Advocate | Times-Picayune, The New York Times and the Washington Post.
She’s received more than two-dozen first-place New Orleans Press Club awards, the James Aronson Award for social justice reporting, a Casey Medal for Meritorious Journalism and three TV-documentary Emmy Awards. In 2020, she was a producer for The Atlantic’s Peabody Award-winning podcast, Floodlines.
Posted inIn the N.O.
Fatman Set the Pace
Grammy Award-winning snare drummer “Fatman” Hunter, who was killed by a car on Mardi Gras morning and laid to rest today, spoke his mind and created a distinct second-line groove.
Posted inNews
On Saturday, MLK Parade Again Spans St. Claude Avenue
Here it comes again this year: a birthday parade for Martin Luther King Jr. that returns to its traditional route: St. Claude Avenue, starting at 11 a.m. today (Saturday, January 13). The parade’s announcement came late from organizers at Friends of King School District, who finally resolved parade-permit security a few days ago, after being […]
Posted inIn the N.O.
Bakery Scraped By With Crumbs Because of Uber Eats Hacker
The Buttermilk Drop does more morning business than nearly anyone else on the city’s Uber Eats, its owners say. People hit the order button nonstop every morning, buying boxes of the bakery’s signature pastry, the Buttermilk Drop, and bigger breakfasts: shrimp and grits, omelets, breakfast rice with sausage and eggs, breakfast sandwiches, fried chicken, pancakes, […]
Posted inCriminal Justice
‘The car never started.’
Calvin Cains III was killed in early June by a Jefferson Parish Sheriff’s Office deputies who said they used lethal force to prevent Cains from running them over. But two key witnesses dispute that account, saying that Cains had just gotten into the car and may had not have even turned the key.
Posted inIn the N.O.
Revell Andrews, Picture of Potential
Andrews, 18, was killed Monday — “for nothing,” as he came home from his summer job
Posted inCriminal Justice
‘No time for him to do anything’
Eighteen-year-old Calvin Cains III was killed by JPSO deputies on Tuesday in front of his mother, who says deputies didn’t announce themselves or give him a chance to surrender.
Posted inCriminal Justice
Back to ‘the lion’s den’ – violence interrupters to re-start street gun-violence interventions, as city partners with University Medical Center
The city’s proposed new contract with UMC — which goes before the City Council on Thursday — summarizes its purpose very simply: “New Orleans faces a severe epidemic of gun violence. Hospital-based violence-interruption programs are evidence-based interventions that can reduce shootings and preserve health and life.”
Posted inIn the N.O.
Requiem for a Big Man Gone
After playing a night of gigs – and maybe shooting a few games of pool – Jeffrey Hills Sr. walked into the door with his sousaphone slung over his shoulder, pulled on his plaid pajama pants with a muscle shirt, made himself a little snack and crawled under the covers. If that sleep was like […]
Posted inCriminal Justice
Drug-related deaths at Angola prompted strip searches, but who is bringing in contraband?
Abdullah Muhammad entered the gates of the Louisiana State Penitentiary at Angola as a 25-year-old with a freshly issued life sentence. At intake, before he was issued a prison jumpsuit, guards searched him and told him to disrobe. “Anytime anyone forces you to take your clothes off, it’s traumatizing,” Muhammad said. He remembers feeling tense […]