Threatening the bridge that defines the Lower 9
Revived after 25 years, the Army Corps’ project would expand the Industrial Canal lock and destroy the historic St. Claude lift bridge, in a construction project that will last 14 years.
Category: Top Story
This category showcases the lead coverage readers need to know, offering context, clarity, and insight into issues shaping New Orleans and beyond.
Rust and corrosion threaten levee steel pumps and supports
A permanent fix is still on the way for corrosion found in the massive lakefront pumps – and there’s likely more corrosion on the underground steel supporting certain floodwalls, because the Army Corps only painted a fraction of it with protective coatings
20 years after Katrina, New Orleans schools are still ‘a work in progress’
New Orleans schools show improvement from pre-Katrina days, but families have had to weather the growing pains of the charter movement, including too many school closures, "no-excuses" discipline, and an inordinate focus on academics and not on the extracurriculars that help create well-rounded students.
No & yes, post-Katrina
No, the East’s rebuilding wasn’t limited to tall apartments on top of three or four levels of parking garages, despite what was proposed. And, yes, homes in neighborhoods built on former marshland were rebuilt, despite the Green Dot Plan. A reminder of what did and did not happen after Hurricane Katrina by journalist Jed Horne.
We Ain’t Dead Yet
"We knew it was the breath of this city | And it was the confirmation that we were looking for," writes Chuck Perkins. We chose this poem to kick off The Lens' week of Katrina20 stories, essays, photography, and poetry.
Entergy gets green light for three controversial new gas plants
Public service commissioners voted 4-1 for Entergy’s proposal for three gas plants to power new energy-hungry Meta AI data center.
Trump-fueled gas boom has fenceline Gulf Coast communities on edge
Residents cite pollution, loss of fishing and diminished tax revenue as liquefied natural gas production accelerates here, feeding demand from Europe and Asia.
The gospel of Chuck
Blessed are the ones who live with vigor | Despite life’s tragic comedy.
Hell on Earth
Men incarcerated within Louisiana State Penitentiary at Angola want relief from the prison’s extreme heat and overcrowding.
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.
