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Category
Government & Politics

Great River Road dropped from consideration as a National Historic Landmark, for now

The head of the Louisiana Department of Environmental Quality and the president of St. John Parish said the West Bank is “now open for business.”
by Delaney Dryfoos February 21, 2025 Updated April 3, 2026

True Terror: New Orleans Likely Not Prepared for Much

"As a researcher who has closely observed, personally experienced local struggles," says the writer, Bethany Garfield, "it’s with a heavy heart that I say that investigations into the state of our city’s protective plans and systems will likely garner the following conclusion: New Orleans isn’t ready for much of anything.."
by Bethany Garfield February 13, 2025 Updated February 13, 2025

Behind the scenes of Super Bowl shelter planning

Emails show that state officials considered creating a shelter in a barge moored in Industrial Canal — and that prominent local developers knew about the shelter long before some city officials.
by Nick Chrastil February 12, 2025 Updated March 5, 2026

Super Bowl planners: ‘Anticipate any features of the [Lower 9] neighborhood which could be used by media to substantiate Katrina narrative’

by Nick Chrastil 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 January 27, 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

Ensuring we all feel safe and are stably employed

“We have much work to do,” Hunter writes, “to ensure that an anti-terrorist component is part of the planning process for every special event that attracts thousands – Mardi Gras, festivals and holiday celebrations, even our Sunday second-line parades.”
by Judge Arthur L. Hunter Jr.* January 15, 2025 Updated January 16, 2025

The shelter that the Super Bowl made

The leader of the governor’s temporary shelter says they are fully staffed and genuinely ready to move people into permanent housing. But it is several miles from the Superdome and is seen by critics as a way to warehouse homeless people away from Super Bowl crowds.
by Nick Chrastil and Katy Reckdahl January 15, 2025 Updated March 5, 2026

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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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