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Category
News

Timely coverage of the people, policies, and events shaping New Orleans and Louisiana. This category delivers clear, factual reporting that keeps readers informed about local government, community issues, and stories that matter most to everyday residents.

‘Another step backwards’: $9.5 million private security contract for Louisiana youth prisons raises eyebrows

OJJ pays $75 per hour to staffing company for guards. Critics say that contractor seems to be “enriching themselves on the backs of Louisiana's teenagers and taxpayers’
by Nick Chrastil October 25, 2023 Updated November 2, 2023

Louisiana’s inland, non-tidal wetlands are most at risk to lose protections from weakened Clean Water Act

As the Clean Water Act turns 51 today, environmental advocates scramble to understand a new judicial interpretation that leaves more than half of the country’s 118 million acres of wetlands unprotected, including the swamps of Acadiana and key waterfowl habitat.
by Delaney Dryfoos October 18, 2023 Updated October 19, 2023

‘No Phase III’ still a battlecry

Even as construction begins, the fight continues. Within the jail, monitors find, conditions are worse, due to the same old chronic issues: short staffing, violence, and shoddy mental-healthcare.
by Nick Chrastil October 11, 2023 Updated October 11, 2023

Federal review finds grain terminal would harm historic sites in climate-vulnerable St. John Parish

Several historic sites would suffer “adverse effects” from construction of gigantic Greenfield Grain Terminal, says review of rural St. John the Baptist Parish – which was recently placed at the top spot of a nationwide list of places vulnerable to climate risks.
by Delaney Dryfoos October 11, 2023 Updated August 30, 2024

Sheriff Hutson moves several pre-trial detainees from New Orleans jail to Angola

While the move was largely made to bring down the jail’s population, placing pre-trial defendants in a state prison is “really problematic on a human-being level,” said public defender Alexis Chernow. The move also worries victims, who fear cases could stall if defendants not prepped for court and transported.
by Nick Chrastil and Katy Reckdahl October 6, 2023 Updated October 6, 2023

One in four Orleans charter schools face high-stakes renewals

District will hold one more meeting, on Thursday. Next month, state-issued grades typically are released.
by Marta Jewson October 4, 2023 Updated November 14, 2023

Calvin Cains’ mother withdraws one lawsuit, but will keep fighting for body-cam

She now plans to file a “civil-rights and wrongful death lawsuit” against JPSO; body-camera footage would likely be turned over in the course of those proceedings.
by Nick Chrastil October 2, 2023 Updated October 3, 2023

LNG plant operators change their tune on carbon capture

While tax subsidies allay financial concerns about carbon capture and storage (CCS), key questions remain about the controversial technology and whether it’s able to reduce carbon emissions.
by Sara Sneath September 29, 2023 Updated November 14, 2023

Mother of young man killed by JPSO deputies sues for body-camera video

Mallory Cains believes that the footage will show that deputies wrongfully shot her son, Calvin Cains, without giving him a chance to surrender.
by Marta Jewson September 28, 2023 Updated October 2, 2023

Residents look to St. John Parish history to save a rural stretch of the West Bank from industrialization

West Bank residents fighting the gigantic Greenfield Grain Terminal are heartened by news from the National Park Service, which will spend the next year considering a largely rural, 14-mile stretch of Great River Road for a prestigious historical designation.
by Delaney Dryfoos September 26, 2023 Updated August 30, 2024

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