Brown water and boil notices: Small towns struggle with failing water systems
Like New Orleans, many small cities and towns are grappling with aging infrastructure and frequent boil-water notices.
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This category showcases the lead coverage readers need to know, offering context, clarity, and insight into issues shaping New Orleans and beyond.
Carbon capture is a dangerous distraction, not a climate solution
The oil industry is spending millions in taxpayer subsidies to hide emissions underground rather than transitioning to renewables.
Black residents win key ruling in ‘Cancer Alley’ environmental racism case
Lawyers for residents say that zoning that concentrates pollution in Black districts is a violation of the 13th Amendment, which abolished slavery.
Louisiana’s “Lightning Amendment” quietly shifts AI data-center costs onto your electric bill
Data centers are created by the nation’s wealthiest companies, like Meta. But in Louisiana, utility billpayers could cover up to 75% of AI data-center costs, thanks to a fast-track policy quietly passed by Louisiana regulators.
Dolling, in communion with women who first brought sassy to the streets
Nothing is more fun than watching a group of hip-swinging, raddy-walking, second-lining women, says babydoll Denise Augustine, founder of the New Orleans Voodoo Babydolls, who plans to ‘lay down her umbrella’ and retire after this Carnival season.
Banding Together: the heart and resilience of 9th Ward high-school bands
In two 9th Ward schools, Abramson and Douglass, students lean on discipline, music, and one another as they prepare for New Orleans Carnival — and for life beyond the parade route.
‘ICE in our drinks, not in our streets’ this Carnival
To make clear that ICE is not welcome in New Orleans, a group of protesters walked the St. Charles route ahead of the Legion of Mars parade, which last year featured armed ICE officers.
Throw Me Somethin’ Mista
“Throw me my Motha Mista, alive well before age fifty and dancing whole,” writes poet MonaLisa Saloy. This poem kicks off this year’s Lens Carnival Edition, a collection of stories, photography, and poetry.
In departure from norm, Coast Guard demands immigration papers on Louisiana docks
In St. Bernard Parish, fishing deckhands fear death and detention amid regular immigration sweeps - not by ICE, but the Coast Guard. Critics say the Trump administration is undermining the Coast Guard’s other missions - and harming working-class boat captains while sparing industries with powerful lobbies.
Louisiana bets big on ‘blue ammonia.’ Communities along Cancer Alley brace for the cost.
Carbon capture hasn’t delivered major climate benefits — and the plants would still emit thousands of tons of pollution.
