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Top 10 of 2025

The top 10 stories that you loved in 2025.

Last call at the First and Last Stop

Over the past 75 years, more than a dozen Black proprietors have run the First and Last Stop Bar, a longtime gathering spot for 7th Ward neighbors and Black-masking Indians. But earlier this month, a new owner posted an eviction notice on the door.
by Katy Reckdahl and Gus Bennett November 20, 2025 Updated December 28, 2025

Leah Chase School principal resigns

The school faces a sizable budget gap. Proponents say that it’s expensive to launch a stand-alone school, especially one that aspires to be a “beacon of culture.”
by Marta Jewson and Katy Reckdahl October 9, 2025 Updated December 28, 2025

Tulane changes syllabus, fires manager over Gaza article

Tulane University, facing an investigation by the Trump administration, fired an academic director and pulled an article about polio in Gaza from an infectious disease course.
by Delaney Nolan October 3, 2025 Updated December 28, 2025
A man in a gas mask stands next to a “Cancer Alley” sign with massive industrial data centers and smokestacks billowing black smoke behind him under an orange

Data centers spark fears of a ‘Digital Cancer Alley’ in Louisiana

A new report critical of the rapid data-center ramp-up across the South describes it as ‘Big Tech, following in the footsteps of Big Oil.'
by Gus Bennett September 25, 2025 Updated December 28, 2025
Audience members line up to ask questions during a public discussion at Dillard University in New Orleans, La., where author and criminal justice reform advocate Calvin Duncan spoke about his new memoir The Jailhouse Lawyer. The event, hosted by Baldwin & Co. Books, drew a full crowd engaged in dialogue about Duncan’s journey from wrongful incarceration to becoming a self-taught legal expert. (Photo by Gus Bennett for The Lens)

From jailhouse lawyer to clerk of court candidate

Calvin Duncan’s unfinished mission for justice moves to his political candidacy
by Bernard Smith July 15, 2025 Updated December 28, 2025

Fannie C. Williams School suspended child; told her to come back with ‘mental health’ eval

It’s unclear how the school’s order affected the student, who did return, but sporadically. But the school district sent Fannie C. Williams administrators a serious ‘notice of noncompliance’ in the case, which is still under investigation.
by Marta Jewson June 25, 2025 Updated December 28, 2025

Louisiana’s new bill would codify gas as “green energy”

A bill on its way to the Governor’s desk—with connections to gas industry allies—could enshrine hydrocarbons as Louisiana’s future.
by Emily Sanders, ExxonKnews, and Delaney Dryfoos, The Lens June 18, 2025 Updated December 28, 2025

Explaining Jessie Hoffman

People still say, ‘That’s not the Jessie I knew.’ But most didn’t know what he endured at home – and that’s likely what drove him on that day, psychiatrists say.
by Katy Reckdahl March 18, 2025 Updated December 28, 2025

Losing a community pillar

by Lolis Eric Elie January 28, 2025 Updated December 28, 2025

The shelter that the Super Bowl made

The leader of the governor’s temporary shelter says they are fully staffed and genuinely ready to move people into permanent housing. But it is several miles from the Superdome and is seen by critics as a way to warehouse homeless people away from Super Bowl crowds.
by Nick Chrastil and Katy Reckdahl January 15, 2025 Updated December 28, 2025

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Most Popular

Ten years to justiceTen years to justiceDecember 22, 2025Bernard SmithCriminal Justice
Preparing for a wildfire or hurricane? Don’t forget water, documents — and your birth control.Preparing for a wildfire or hurricane? Don’t forget water, documents — and your birth control.December 26, 2025Jessica Kutz, the 19th NewsEnvironment
Will NOLA Public Schools fulfill its promise to the Leah Chase School community?Will NOLA Public Schools fulfill its promise to the Leah Chase School community?December 18, 2025Elizabeth K. JeffersOpinion

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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.

 
 

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