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Category
Environment

Thwarted from connecting the Lower 9 to its wetland roots

After Katrina, environmentalists built an overlook on Bayou Bienvenue to give the community access to the wetlands, which had been devastated by salt water from a now-closed canal called MR-GO. Recent construction threatens that key post-Katrina achievement, Arthur Johnson says.
by Delaney Dryfoos February 1, 2025 Updated March 5, 2026

Embracing Katrina narratives

After an insinuation made by a Super Bowl planning committee, reporters from The Lens asked Lower 9 residents what Super Bowl visitors should see, plotted the points on a map, and documented the Katrina narratives that go with each landmark.
by Lens staff February 1, 2025 Updated March 5, 2026

St. John the Baptist Parish cleared in First Amendment lawsuit

A jury found that the defendants didn’t violate Joy Banner’s right to free speech or the Louisiana Open Meetings Law. But testimony revealed a hatred the Parish President harbors against the co-founders of The Descendants Project.
by Delaney Dryfoos January 29, 2025 Updated April 3, 2026

Trial begins in First Amendment suit against St. John the Baptist Parish

Joy Banner of The Descendants Project brought the lawsuit after the Parish Council chairman threatened her with prosecution and imprisonment for speaking during the public comment period of a 2023 meeting.
by Delaney Dryfoos January 27, 2025 Updated May 16, 2026

Pairing of Arctic air and moisture from the Gulf created record-breaking snowfall

The celebrated New Orleans snowfall is twice what Anchorage has recorded all winter long. Meteorologists attributed it to a perfect dance between weather systems.
by Delaney Dryfoos January 23, 2025 Updated January 30, 2025

Latest federal Water Resources Development Act addresses climate extremes and flooding along the Mississippi River

Louisiana secured the bill’s largest project authorization, for St. Tammany Flood Risk Management. New Orleans scored authorization for a study about salt water in the river.
by Madeline Heim, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, and Delaney Dryfoos, The Lens January 17, 2025 Updated January 29, 2025

Getting Greenfield to pay what it promised

The Descendants Project sues, contending that public officials had no right to forgive Greenfield’s grain-elevator-project debts.
by Delaney Dryfoos January 13, 2025 Updated January 14, 2025

Alabo Wharf deal gets slippery

In the Holy Cross Neighborhood, residents obtain Port emails showing that a modest grain terminal at the Alabo Wharf includes more phases—and now includes crude sunflower oil, shipped in from Turkey.
by Delaney Dryfoos December 20, 2024 Updated December 20, 2024

City Council committee allows Entergy New Orleans to sell its natural gas system

Though Councilmembers were swayed by job creation, critics said that the jobs pale in comparison to the rate increases and environmental effects that Orleans residents will now shoulder.
by Delaney Dryfoos December 17, 2024 Updated December 20, 2024

Oil and gaffe

by LTG Russel L. Honoré (Ret.) December 11, 2024 Updated December 11, 2024

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About The Lens

The Lens fights to reveal and report on issues that impact the community and the region.

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The Lens
The Lens fights to reveal and report on issues that impact the community and the region. Staunchly defending the public's right to know and deeply committed to sharing our knowledge with the community at large. We center human impact in all our work.
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For more than a decade, we have reported on issues as well as public policy meant to address the needs of residents. The Lens seeks to focus on the inherent inequality that has created a multi-tiered system. We, at The Lens seek to uncover, illuminate, inform and take part in a forward-looking community. Join us.

 
 

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