Update: Two-and-a-half hours after this story was published, and shortly after our reporting partners at FOX 8 requested the report, Mayor Mitch Landrieu’s spokesman, Ryan Berni, provided a copy of the 100-plus-page report to The Lens. By Tom Gogola, The Lens staff writer | When is a public record not a public record? Apparently when […]
Author Archives: Tom Gogola
Tom Gogola covered criminal justice for The Lens from February 2012 to May 2013. He is a veteran journalist and editor who has written on a range of subjects for many publications, including Newsday, New York, The Nation, and Maxim. Gogola was a 2011 winner of the Hillman Foundation Sidney Award, for his groundbreaking report in New York magazine detailing regulatory waste in the commercial fishing industry.
Posted inGovernment & Politics
Cabbies jam council chambers to protest moves designed to burnish fleet
By Tom Gogola, The Lens staff writer | A standing-room-only crowd of cab drivers descended on City Hall this morning to protest a wide-ranging set of taxicab ordinances under consideration by the council’s Transportation Committee. The New Orleans taxicab industry has long been the target of criticism on a range of issues, from its aging […]
Posted inGovernment & Politics
Council to debate taxi reforms that could end up putting more cabs on the street
By Tom Gogola, The Lens staff writer | City officials Tuesday could take the first moves to expand the city’s number of taxicabs by as many as 120 Tuesday as they discuss a series of ordinances meant to improve the frequently criticized fleet. The expansion would come as handicapped-accessible vehicles are required as part of […]
Posted inCriminal Justice, Government & Politics
Judge's wife not the only appraiser for sheriff who lacks background but has connections
The wife of Municipal Court’s chief judge isn’t the only appraiser lacking a license in that field who is working at the pleasure of Orleans Parish Sheriff Marlin Gusman – and earning tens of thousands of dollars doing so. In fact, Ann Sens, wife of Judge Paul Sens, is a licensed real-estate broker and might […]
Posted inGovernment & Politics
Sheriff finds job for chief judge's wife despite lack of appraisal experience
Orleans Parish Sheriff Marlin Gusman hired the wife of Municipal Court Chief Judge Paul Sens as a real-estate appraiser about the same time the judge hired Gusman’s wife.
Posted inGovernment & Politics
Increasingly frustrated Council members say city can't afford mental-health cuts at LSU
City officials met Thursday morning to try and solve a nagging $15 million problem: How to restore critical health-care money for LSU Interim Hospital cut from Gov. Bobby Jindal’s mid-year budget adjustment.
Posted inGovernment & Politics
City rails against trimming mental-health care; Jindal envoy said state isn't dictating cuts
New Orleans city officials are aggressively pushing back against a “devastating” proposed $15 million cut to inpatient mental health and substance abuse services now being offered at LSU Interim Hospital. The cuts were included in Gov. Bobby Jindal’s recent budget, and they are part of an effort to close a $251 million state budget shortfall […]