Pulitzer winner Bob Marshall to cover environment for The Lens

Pulitzer Prize-winning environmental journalist Bob Marshall has joined the staff of The Lens, where he will bring his widely recognized expertise to bear on issues of wetlands restoration, flood protection and coastal erosion. Marshall was a reporter and columnist at The Times-Picayune for more than 30 years.

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If you suspect illegal lead-paint sanding, who ya gonna call?

Deputy Mayor Michelle Thomas and acting Director of the Department of Safety and Permits Pura Bascos addressed a City Council committee to discuss the permitting process for the removal of lead paint, but they didn’t have all the answers. Although a city ordinance was passed in 2001 detailing the proper procedure for the removal of lead paint from the exterior of houses, there seems to be a continuing issue with adherence to the rules.

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Lens co-founder wins award for report on NOPD victim policy

Karen Gadbois, co-founder of The Lens and a staff writer, is the 2012 recipient of the Society of Professional Journalists’ annual Ethics in Journalism Award, the organization announced today. Previous winners include writers for The New York Times, The Washington Post and the Los Angeles Times.

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After storm, flood, frustration and demolition, family finally gets a home

By Bob Butler, Fellow, G.W. Williams Center for Independent Journalism, and Danielle Bell, The Lens staff writer |

Seven years to the day since Jewell and Kisa Holmes moved into their first house in New Orleans, they moved into their second. What happened in between was a tale of financial confusion, pressure, bureaucracy and frustration that is sadly familiar to the many families still working to rebuild their lives – and sometimes their homes – nearly seven years after Hurricane Katrina.  That story, first told by The Lens in an award-winning December piece, ultimately led to the family’s happy homecoming last week.

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Thoughts on The Lens' role in covering the TP, and a quaint look back

The Lens this week produced a photo essay of readers enjoying their Monday and Tuesday papers, something they won’t be able to do when The Times-Picayune stops publishing those days and two others sometime this fall. Like a lot of ideas in this town, the photo essay was born on a front porch over an evening bottle of wine.

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