Skip to content

Read Our 2025 Impact Report

Focused On

  • Driving District 6
  • Justice
  • Opinion
  • ICE in Orleans
  • In the N.O.

Main Navigation

The Lens
  • Subscribe
  • ❤ Donate
The Lens
  • Subscribe
  • ❤ Donate

Focused On

  • Driving District 6
  • Justice
  • Opinion
  • ICE in Orleans
  • In the N.O.

Topics

  • Criminal Justice
  • Environment
  • Government & Politics
  • Land Use
  • Schools

Sign Up for the Latest News

  • The Lens Newsletter
  • About The Lens
  • Our Staff

Follow The Lens

  • Bluesky
  • Instagram
  • Facebook

Listen to Behind The Lens Podcast

  • Spotify
  • Environment
  • Criminal Justice
  • ICE enforcement
  • Opinion
  • Schools
  • In the N.O.
  • Podcast
  • About The Lens
  • Support Us

Category
Opinion

Perspectives and reflections that challenge, question, and inspire.

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 December 17, 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 December 17, 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 December 17, 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 Judge Arthur L. Hunter Jr.* October 5, 2025 Updated December 17, 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 December 17, 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 Judge Arthur L. Hunter Jr.* September 25, 2025 Updated December 17, 2025
This editorial-style illustration emphasizes the absence of environmental issues in the 2025 New Orleans elections. At the center, a clipboard lists the campaign focus areas—economic development, government services, public safety, and affordable housing—under the hashtag #livingwithwater. Surrounding the clipboard are silhouettes of political candidates framed by Democratic and Republican symbols. Below, the illustration highlights the city’s existential threats: flooding, saltwater intrusion, sinking levees, and overwhelmed floodwalls, reminding viewers that water and environment remain critical yet often overlooked priorities.

Casting votes for sustainability

In this city surrounded by water, we need to know each candidate’s position to address New Orleans’ environmental vulnerabilities, says the writer, an urban designer and educator who has long focused on water issues in the city.
by Aron Chang September 23, 2025 Updated December 17, 2025

Posts navigation

  • «
  • 1
  • …
  • 5
  • 6
  • 7
  • 8
  • 9
  • …
  • 97
  • »

About The Lens

The Lens fights to reveal and report on issues that impact the community and the region.

Staunchly defending the public's right to know, we are deeply committed to sharing our knowledge with the community at large. We center human impact in all our work.

Our reporting has more urgency than ever.

Sign up to get the latest news on New Orleans and the Gulf South sent directly to your inbox.

 
 

Support The Lens

We depend on your support. A generous gift in any amount helps us continue to bring you this service.

Donate Now

Most Popular

Katrina 21: Care Forgot. We Didn’t.Katrina 21: Care Forgot. We Didn’t.September 4, 2026Kristyna JonesOpinion
Louisiana balloon release ban inspires Sci High students to rethink traditionLouisiana balloon release ban inspires Sci High students to rethink traditionSeptember 2, 2026Vivi Smilgius and Delaney NolanEnvironment
Who is ICE arresting in Louisiana, and where? We broke it down.Who is ICE arresting in Louisiana, and where? We broke it down.August 30, 2026Delaney NolanCriminal Justice

The Lens
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.
  • Bluesky
  • Instagram
  • Facebook
  • About The Lens
  • Our Staff
  • Employment
  • Contact us
  • Corrections
  • Support The Lens
  • Get The Lens Newsletter
  • Privacy policy
  • Code Of Ethics
  • Republish our stories
Candid Platinum INN Member LION Member
© 2024 The Lens. All Rights Reserved.

Our reporting has more urgency than ever.


For more than a decade, we have reported on issues as well as public policy meant to address the needs of residents. The Lens seeks to focus on the inherent inequality that has created a multi-tiered system. We, at The Lens seek to uncover, illuminate, inform and take part in a forward-looking community. Join us.

 
 

Continue to The Lens