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Top Story

This category showcases the lead coverage readers need to know, offering context, clarity, and insight into issues shaping New Orleans and beyond.

Hell on Earth

Men incarcerated within Louisiana State Penitentiary at Angola want relief from the prison’s extreme heat and overcrowding.
by Bernard Smith July 29, 2025 Updated January 18, 2026

Police

Regardless of how nervous this might make a kid, everything intensifies when your family is Black and big, white, tobacco-spitting cops approach your car in the middle of nowhere.
by Chuck Perkins July 29, 2025 Updated January 17, 2026

Despite early LEAP results, state needs four months to create School Performance Scores

This year, LEAP scores came back from the state of Louisiana in record time. Do parents understand the scores? Do kids? Now, the state begins to crunch school statistics to create School Performance Scores, which could lead to charter-school closures later this fall.
by Marta Jewson July 28, 2025 Updated October 8, 2025

Unlocking opportunity:

It’s a familiar scenario. Potential employers see criminal histories and don’t hire. In New Orleans, improvements to the city’s “Ban the Box” ordinance could better challenge employment barriers. An Oct. 11 ballot amendment could expand that protection to include housing 
by Bernard Smith July 22, 2025 Updated January 18, 2026
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 a race for political office
by Bernard Smith July 15, 2025 Updated January 18, 2026

Mayor pulls nomination for ethics-plagued former Sewerage & Water Board member, pledges to reappoint at later date

Kimberly Thomas, who served a decade ago on the S&WB, was given nod by a council committee last week and was slated for Council approval on Thursday
by Matt McBride July 11, 2025 Updated July 11, 2025

Essence isn’t just facing organizational problems—it’s having an identity crisis

by Gus Bennett July 9, 2025 Updated July 12, 2025
A four-panel collage of Calvin Duncan speaking animatedly during an interview with The Lens. He wears glasses, a checkered shirt, and a t-shirt, using expressive hand gestures as he shares his story. The background is clean and white, highlighting his emotion and energy in each frame.

From prison to justice

Calvin Duncan’s fight to free himself and others from a broken system — an interview by Bernard Smith.
by Calvin Duncan interviewed by Bernard Smith July 8, 2025 Updated January 17, 2026

Air pollution questions linger over Alabo Street Wharf

Sunrise Foods released air-quality assessments scant in detail. But early last month, LDEQ accelerated the company’s approval for its air-permit application.
by Delaney Dryfoos July 2, 2025 Updated August 12, 2025
Hardy and Chantele Els, along with another rider, smile while holding their custom lowrider bicycles under the Claiborne Overpass during the Ride for Peace in New Orleans. Other participants with colorful bikes gather in the background, preparing to begin the community event.

‘Ride for Peace’ Brings New Orleanians together to interrupt violence and build community

Part protest, part celebration, the Ride for Peace Sopped at City Hall and pedaled through neighborhoods long affected by violence.
by Gus Bennett July 1, 2025 Updated January 18, 2026

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