Armed by scientific studies, reading experts urged a resurgence of phonics, which helps children learn to read by sounding-out words, in a way well-known to older generations. But the state’s third graders are still struggling from their Zoom-heavy start to reading.
Category: Top Story
Posted inEnvironment
Tracking the sediment carried by the muddy Mississippi
New research shows that typically, less than 10% of land-building alluvium reaches the Bird’s Foot Delta region, the southernmost reach of the river, where it meets the Gulf.
Posted inCriminal Justice
Judge’s order requires Farm Line ‘be treated with human decency’
For the second consecutive year, a federal judge tells the DOC to provide Farm Line workers with protections from the sweltering Louisiana heat.
Posted inCriminal Justice
‘It’s just not fair’
Nearly 1,000 Louisiana prisoners, including a Jefferson Parish man convicted by an 11-1 jury verdict, hope for relief in a non-unanimous jury bill that could hit the Senate floor on Wednesday.
Posted inSchools
KIPP and NOLA Public Schools argue over special education of a kindergartener
Parents said that their young child was too sick to go to school. But the school disagreed, and so the child received no services last year, then started this year with no services. It’s still unclear who’s to blame — and how to catch other students before they fall through the cracks.
Posted inEnvironment
Through a new Mississippi River channel, Mother Nature shows the land-building power of sediment diversions
As the Mid-Barataria Sediment Diversion flounders amid politics, some scientists say that doubts about its effectiveness can be addressed by Neptune Pass, which branched off the Mississippi on its own and is creating the largest new delta in North America.
Posted inSchools
School leaders, board “cautiously optimistic” about city’s settlement offer in tax-skimming lawsuit
Over the past five months, as the two parties negotiated, charter leaders have been tightening belts and hoping that the city will finally agree to hand over 100% of property-tax money to schools, instead of skimming away millions each year.
Posted inCriminal Justice
Screen Time
Disciplinary incidents dropped sharply within the Orleans Justice Center with the advent of electronic tablets, which stay on for 17 hours a day, bringing those in the jail new options — movies, music, videogames, and e-messages — all of which are tied to new charges — 50 cents for an e-message and about a penny a minute for streaming content.
Posted inEnvironment
LNG terminals threaten to push Calcasieu River pollution ‘beyond repair’
The shrimp stopped coming up the Calcasieu River after Venture Global built its Liquified Natural Gas terminal. The river’s ongoing pollution, on top of decades of hazardous waste dumping, earned the Calcasieu the #9 slot on American Rivers’ 2025 list of most endangered rivers.
Posted inEnvironment
In Louisiana’s Cancer Alley, a legacy of resistance lives on.
In the River Parishes, at the site of the largest slave revolt in history, a new generation is fighting for a cleaner future.