Live blog: City Council discusses funding, effectiveness of NOLA for Life programs
Councilwoman Stacy Head said a previous hearing "was more of a PR presentation."
Category
Government & Politics
Louisiana unemployment could surpass national rate as Katrina rebuilding tapers
The state has traditionally had higher unemployment than the national rate. The post-Katrina boom pushed it lower.
Southern Board’s scholarships cost the state more than $87,000 over two years
Southern University's board members get two scholarships each to award.
Years of political inaction preceded latest cutbacks in Algiers ferry service
It was no secret to politicians: No one had a long-term plan to keep the New Orleans area ferries operating if they lost their main source of revenue from the Crescent City Connection tolls. But few leaders made an efforts to address the problem, and those who tried were rebuffed. Looking back, very few overarching planning documents even mentioned the ferries. So the cutbacks are of little surprise.
LSU Board of Supervisors awards $1.3 million through little-known scholarship program
The 16 members awarded 190 scholarships for the last school year. Though the scholarships are posted online, there aren't any uniform policies for advertising them. It's up to each board member, most of whom are politically connected, to decide. A new law mandates that the recipients are listed online, along with the board members who selected them.
City’s house elevation grant program a case study in opaque governance
Is the federal government getting a good deal by spending $11.8 million to elevate 48 houses? We don't know.
New Orleans vs. Omaha: Can we mimic its Midwestern economic vitality here?
Omaha has done pretty well after its stockyards were shut down. New Orleans has struggled to diversify its economy beyond tourism.
Louisiana’s employment performance more mixed than Jindal portrays
Jindal often notes that under his watch, the state’s unemployment rate has been lower than the national rate. But unemployment has risen sharply since he took office, and since December the rate has risen while nationally it has fallen. However, economists say that Katrina rebuilding had pushed the state unemployment rate to artificially low levels.
Louisiana’s voter ID law from 1997 eases effects of Supreme Court decision
State was ahead of curve in requiring ID to vote, but provision for affidavit softened concerns, officials say.
Opaque process used to dole out grant money in NOLA for Life homicide-reduction effort
In touting his reforms to the process of awarding city money, Mayor Mitch Landrieu has repeatedly said, “It’s not about who you know. It’s about what you know.” But when it comes to determining how $500,000 was given out through the NOLA for Life Fund, the public knows very little. The city set it up was involved in picking the grantees, but it's shielded from typical public scrutiny and accountability because a private foundation administers it.
