Lately, public scrutiny has shined a bright spotlight on Entergy New Orleans’ $1 billion Operation Gridiron. The New Orleans City Council has been rightfully cautious, given the fees that would hit residents and the recent evidence of company deceit in pitching their plans to the council. Operation Gridiron is highly visible, taking center stage. But […]
Category: Government & Politics
Posted inEnvironment
St. John Parish vote opens door to controversial grain terminal
Commissioners approve rezoning of Greenfield property for heavy industrial use, despite a prolonged community push to keep the land’s residential zoning in this largely rural part of St. John.
Posted inEnvironment
Climate-weary Mississippi River delegation lobbies for help in D.C.
Mayors from Louisiana and advocates from the Water Collaborative, Healthy Gulf, 1Mississippi, and the National Audubon Society asked Congress to invest in better water infrastructure and increase federal funding for farmer-led conservation.
Posted inGovernment & Politics
The Sting of Fake Tomahawks
Some indigenous people say that it hurts them to see the predominantly white Krewe of Choctaw rolls past, dressed in feathered headdresses and “war paint.” Can they convince the krewe to change?
Posted inGovernment & Politics
St. John Parish sued for shutting down critic, told not to rezone controversial site
In the same week, a judge again barred the parish from making the Greenfield Property industrial. And parish-council critic Joy Banner filed a First Amendment lawsuit.
Posted inGovernment & Politics
Joy Banner told to curtail remarks or risk arrest
Banner planned to ask the council why they were retaining a lawyer to defend its president from personal ethical concerns. But she was interrupted by the council chairman, who cited an invalidated statute and warned her that, if she spoke, she could face criminal prosecution.
Posted inCriminal Justice
A group of ‘violence interrupters’ worked the streets of New Orleans to prevent retaliatory shootings — until they were sidelined 2 years ago
For nearly a decade, Calvin Pep used what he’d learned on the streets to stop bloodshed through Cure Violence, a city-funded effort to prevent violence. From his teen years on, Pep had been “both a victim and a perpetrator,” as he describes himself. He’d been shot. He’d faced a murder charge. His co-workers had similar […]
Posted inEnvironment
Rent to increase on FEMA trailers for Louisianans impacted by Hurricane Ida
Two years after Hurricane Ida hit Louisiana’s coast, the catastrophic damage it caused to homes and infrastructure remains unrepaired in many parts of southeast Louisiana. Despite the slow progress, especially when it comes to home repairs, the Federal Emergency Management Agency recently notified residents that it will soon dramatically increase the cost of the temporary […]
Posted inEnvironment
Mississippi River shipping infrastructure is aging. Who should pay for the repairs?
Around 175 million tons of freight travels on the Mississippi River each year, and from the river’s headwaters to southern Illinois, a series of locks and dams guide barges through the journey. Traffic is only increasing, but the locks and dams have aged far past their life expectancy. Even functioning properly, they slow barges down, […]
Posted inEnvironment
Offshore wind workforce a weak link in plan to build out renewables
A national push toward offshore wind energy could create thousands of well-paying domestic jobs in Louisiana and elsewhere, according to clean energy advocates and President Joe Biden, who wants to establish 30 gigawatts of offshore wind energy by 2030. But it’s unlikely there will be enough trained and certified workers to fill those positions, and […]