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Opinion

Perspectives and reflections that challenge, question, and inspire.

A bright pink Roseate spoonbill flies low over the grassy wetlands of south Louisiana, its wings fully extended against a backdrop of wildflowers and marsh vegetation.

Nobody Seems to Want Carbon Capture — Not Even Air Products

Air Products wants to off-load its risk for a proposed carbon-capture project in Lake Maurepas, which the writers see as a signal that carbon-capture technology, “a corporate experiment,” is also too risky for the state of Louisiana.
by Lt. Gen. Russel Honoré and Livingston Parish Councilman Dean Coates December 8, 2025 Updated December 7, 2025
A low-angle view of a tall bronze monument featuring a worker holding a broom, with additional sculpted figures and architectural forms rising behind him, set against a bright sky with scattered clouds and surrounding trees.

New Orleans does not want or need a mass enforcement operation

New Orleans cherishes its immigrant community. We owe them safety, dignity, and the assurance that this city will stand with them. What is happening across the country cannot become our reality.
by Royce Duplessis December 5, 2025 Updated December 5, 2025

We learned from Katrina what government-created trauma looks like. Let’s not repeat it.

As we learned from Katrina, when government decisions destabilize families and communities, the psychological impact on children is profound and lasting.
by Stacy Overstreet December 4, 2025 Updated December 6, 2025
Dominque Jones-Johnson sits at a table showing photos of her incarcerated father on her phone to a group of smiling young girls at the Daughters Beyond Incarceration headquarters in New Orleans.

When a parent goes to prison, a child pays the price

Louisiana spends too much of its budget on criminal justice while ranking low in healthcare, education, infrastructure, and economic wellbeing. We could redirect those resources.
by Dominque Johnson October 28, 2025 Updated October 28, 2025

It takes all of us to help our unhoused neighbors

To further expand services for our neighbors in New Orleans, START CORP is working to develop a new clinic at the former St. Jude Community Center on North Rampart Street.
by Casey Guidry October 9, 2025 Updated October 10, 2025

Silence from Smitty’s Supply, EPA’s lagging response leave lasting stains

While Gov. Jeff Landry was quick to denounce the speed of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency-led clean-up, he's silent in holding Smitty's Supply itself accountable for the explosion, fire and recovery.
by Greg LaRose, Louisiana Illuminator October 7, 2025 Updated October 7, 2025
A cluster of empty black chairs arranged haphazardly in a circle on a linoleum school floor symbolizes disorder and instability.

Success for whom? Twenty years of school reform.

The writers, an educator and a parent who works as an advocate within schools, contend that the state takeover removed Black teachers who provided continuity and did not improve academic outcomes for Black students who too often changed schools frequently.
by Ashana Bigard and Elizabeth K. Jeffers October 7, 2025 Updated October 7, 2025

Whatever we want to achieve in our city can be undermined by the lack of public safety

In recent months, public officials rushed to the microphone to take credit when the crime rate dropped. Will they now rush back to the microphone and take blame when the crime rate rises?
by Arthur Hunter Jr. October 5, 2025 Updated October 6, 2025
Exterior of the NOLA Cannabis Co. dispensary on South Carrollton Avenue in New Orleans, with a red sign on the building behind a chain-link fence and large oak trees framing the sidewalk.

Smoke and mirrors in cannabis zoning

In New Orleans, marijuana dispensaries — like the one opening soon in our community — can be granted a permit without any neighborhood notice. And in Louisiana, unlike other neighboring states, dispensaries can open up next to a library, elementary school, church, or daycare.
by Betty DiMarco and Lane Trippe September 30, 2025 Updated October 28, 2025

Keep the Guard in reserve. Build on what works.

If a limited deployment is ordered, there are ways to do this right, Arthur Hunter writes. Guard personnel could assume tasks to increase public safety by putting more officers on streets, and improve our infrastructure by attacking the places that invite crime.
by Arthur Hunter Jr. September 25, 2025 Updated September 25, 2025

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