A legislative bid to reverse Gov. Bobby Jindal’s cuts in health care services for the poor and uninsured seems likely to fail. In a survey by The Lens state legislators from Orleans, Jefferson and St. Tammany parishes expressed doubt that the political will exists to call the Legislature into special session next month to restore […]
Category: Government & Politics
Posted inGovernment & Politics
Criminal courts struggle with delays, aggressive schedule
The volunteer non-profit organization Court Watch Nola issued its annual report today, highlighting a rise in court delays that plagued the Orleans Criminal District Court in 2011 and have continued into this year. The report, compiled by volunteers from 3,000 separate court-date observations, found that two-thirds of defendants had to come back to court another […]
Posted inCriminal Justice, Government & Politics
Judge makes city a defendant with sheriff in federal lawsuit
A federal judge made the city of New Orleans a defendant today in a lawsuit that seeks to force Orleans Parish Sheriff Marlin Gusman to bring his jails into compliance with the U.S. Constitution. In court papers filed this morning in U.S. District Court, attorneys for Gusman said he was “making this claim against [the city] […]
Posted inGovernment & Politics, Opinion
What better place for the already penitent Broussard: a penitentiary
In 2006—before the parish president’s great fall—a Carnival float depicted Broussard as Humpty Dumpty. Photo: Photo: Infrogmation (Creative Commons) “I only pray in public,” said my friend Clint, with a sly wink, before we grilled pork steaks and watched the Saints fall to the Packers. The quip tickled me. It also brought to mind a recent […]
Posted inGovernment & Politics
Jindal's path to be determined by presidential election results
What’s next, Bobby? In a career marked by a series of stepping-stone jobs – with the White House increasingly apparent as the ultimate goal – Gov. Bobby Jindal’s future will depend on who wins November’s presidential election. Ironically, a victory for his party’s standard-bearer, Mitt Romney, would force Jindal to postpone his presidential ambitions until […]
Posted inGovernment & Politics, Opinion
Skies will soon buzz with drones—but cops may not like it
They say character is what you do when no one else is watching. But these days I’m wondering: What if someone’s always watching? What happens to character then? And that leads to larger questions, such as how do you even form an authentic “self” in a surveillance society? Coming soon, to airspace above you! When Plato […]
Posted inGovernment & Politics, Schools
Future of school governance? Make your voice heard
The Orleans Public Education Network is hosting a series of community discussions on the future of public school governance in New Orleans. The series intends to ensure the community is heard in the governance conversation, network executive director Deidre Johnson Burel said. The meetings will be held each Saturday during the month of October, to […]
Posted inGovernment & Politics, Opinion
A drone of our own! How the city should sell its latest dream
An eye in the sky, the Bravo 300 is made in New Orleans but has yet to find a buyer in local government. Photo courtesy of Crescent Unmanned Systems City Hall has reversed plans to use drone surveillance over New Orleans during the Super Bowl in February. That’s surprising, because Deputy Mayor Jerry Sneed had […]
Posted inCriminal Justice, Government & Politics, Investigations
City cancels plans for Super Bowl drone despite enthusiasm and interest from NOPD, others
A month after The Lens began asking questions about city officials’ plans to use a U.S. Homeland Security Department aerial drone to monitor Super Bowl crowds, a spokesman for Mayor Mitch Landrieu said today that the city is scrapping those plans. Spokesman Ryan Berni offered no reason for dropping the eye-in-the-sky technology, telling a reporter […]
Posted inGovernment & Politics, Land Use, Squandered Heritage
Extreme caution: Handle with care—the billboard that is
In April, as city officials debated whether to allow its demolition, the shotgun beneath the billboard still bore some resemblance to a house. photo: Preservation Resource Center In the words of Ryan Berni, Mayor Mitch Landrieu’s director of communications, the city using “extreme caution” as it attempts the demolition of the Ninth Ward shotgun pictured […]