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Category
Opinion

Perspectives and reflections that challenge, question, and inspire. This category features thought-provoking essays and commentary from writers, community members, and photographers offering insight into the issues, ideas, and experiences that shape New Orleans and beyond.

No longer ‘half slave, half free’

by Deborah G. Plant August 23, 2024 Updated August 26, 2024

How much lead is in your water?

A New Orleans nonprofit will come to your home and test your household water
by Rebecca Malpass August 8, 2024 Updated August 7, 2024

We deserve better.

How New Orleans can generate revenue and support small businesses through a city-owned centralized payment-processing system
by Arthur Hunter Jr. August 5, 2024 Updated August 5, 2024

Louisiana is giving second chances to bad policy. It should be extending those second chances to our neighbors.

by Sarah Omojola August 1, 2024 Updated August 1, 2024

When the Village Fails

In the 10 years since George’s death, we have lost so many more in New Orleans to gun violence. Yet is we, the adults, who create the village, set the expectations, and weave the community safety net that keeps the young ones safe.
by Claudia Barker July 30, 2024 Updated July 29, 2024

Keeping Politics Out of Flood Protection

The writers, from levees.org, believe that Gov. Jeff Landry is acting against the intent of post-Katrina legislation meant to take politics out of the state’s flood-protection boards.
by Sandy Rosenthal and H.J. Bosworth, Jr. July 10, 2024 Updated July 10, 2024

A Decade of Delays: Time for Consumer-Focused Transmission

Although Entergy joined the regional grid to allay U.S. Department of Justice concerns about possible anticompetitive behavior, it seems to be more focused on profits than on the type of regional transmission projects that would most benefit Louisiana businesses and homeowners, says the writer, a former commissioner of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission.
by John Norris July 8, 2024 Updated July 8, 2024

Getting everyone’s input on City Park, our backyard

An online survey by the authors — local and national network of certified planners, architects, urban designers, and landscape architects — seems to indicate that outreach for City Park’s new Master Plan never happened, certainly not in any comprehensive manner.
by 150 signatories (see list at end of post) June 20, 2024 Updated June 20, 2024

Finish Renaming the Streets Now

The Juneteenth holiday serves as a reminder that the City Council should wait no longer to finish the street renaming it began four years ago.
by Lolis Eric Elie June 17, 2024 Updated June 17, 2024
An observer stands on the less-developed West Bank of the Mississippi River and watches the Marathon Refinery blaze across the river.

How federal tax dollars meant to fight climate change could end up boosting Louisiana’s fossil fuel production

The more carbon dioxide the factories produce and capture, the more federal money the projects can receive.
by Ned Randolph June 6, 2024 Updated June 17, 2024

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