Environment
Oil group sues AG Buddy Caldwell over industry lawsuit | The Associated Press – A brief story says the Louisiana Oil and Gas Association has accused Caldwell’s office of illegally signing off on a lawsuit by the Southeast Louisiana Flood Protection Authority-East. The levee authority’s suit blames oil and gas companies for coastal loss.
Louisiana Wetlands Tattered by Industrial Canals, Not Just River Levees | Scientific American – Gene Turner, professor of oceanography at Louisiana State University, claims that navigation canals for the oil and gas industry are a chief driver of coastal erosion. “You can make the case that the flood protection levees were not the cause of the wetland loss. … Instead, it is the local cuts and nicks, one acre at a time.”
Editorial: Looming flood insurance rates means Congress should act fast | NOLA.com/The Times-Picayune – Sunday’s front-page editorial urges Congress to find a quick fix for skyrocketing flood insurance premiums, which could strangle the real estate market in coastal neighborhoods. A proposal to delay premium hikes for four years seems like it would be a welcome reprieve for homeowners — but wouldn’t that just delay the problem?
The U.S. Coast Guard wants to allow barges filled with fracking wastewater to ply the nation’s rivers on their way toward disposal in Louisiana and other places. Many environmentalists are horrified, but industry groups say barge transport has its advantages.
Criminal Justice
Verdict in Henry Glover case sets remaining allegations in new light | The New Orleans Advocate – New Orleans Police Officer David Warren’s acquittal raises thorny legal questions about the actions of the other defendants in the Glover case.
Former NOPD officer Travis McCabe is slated to be retried next year for his role in the alleged cover-up. But if Glover’s shooting was justified, the argument goes, does McCabe’s alleged altering of a police report to downplay the shooting still rise to the same criminal level?
And with former officer Gregory McRae, who admitted burning Glover’s body in a car on the Algiers levee, was his action just dealing with one more Katrina corpse with nowhere to go, instead of the disposal of possible evidence of an officer committing murder?
Monday morning, Orleans Parish Coroner announced that he would reopen the Glover case to review FBI evidence he hasn’t seen. Naomi Martin of NOLA.com/The Times-Picayune tweeted, “Minyard: expects to have reclassification of Glover death in 7-10 days. Glovers death was changed from accident to undetermined in Oct. 2009.” NOLA.com has just published a short story on Minyard’s announcement.
New rulings reveal 4th Danziger commenter is FBI agent | The Advocate – An agent in the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s New Orleans office, who served in a supervisory capacity over the Danziger investigation, wrote over 100 anonymous comments on NOLA.com.
Deadline for DA to act on Merritt Landry case is near, but meaningless | The Advocate – If the District Attorney doesn’t charge Merritt Landry by Dec. 22, the Marigny homeowner who shot unarmed teenager Marshall Coulter will have his bond erased. However, the state has up to six years to press charges for attempted murder.
Schools
The permanent, dwindling Recovery School District | NOLA.com/The Times-Picayune – The core question at the center of the article: Has the Recovery School District become a permanent part of the city’s educational landscape? The article compiles a list of all the changes to RSD schools in recent years. The story notes that Benjamin Banneker Elementary School and A.P. Tureaud Elementary School are scheduled for closure in June 2014, in addition to Sarah T. Reed High School.
DOE vehicles for personal use after Vallas fiasco? Never! Now they just lease ‘em year-round for 7 DOE employees | Louisiana Voice – Blogger Tom Aswell looks at car usage in the Department of Education and concludes: State schools Superintendent “John White’s expenditures on Enterprise rental cars make [former superintendent Paul] Vallas look like Ebenezer Scrooge.”
How Much Do We Pay Public School Teachers? | Higher Ed Data Stories –Public school teachers in Louisiana are paid about $51,000 annually on average, which is more than Texas or any state in the Deep South except for Georgia. (Via The Washington Post’s Answer Sheet)
Government & Politics
Late qualifiers shake up New Orleans elections | NOLA.com/The Times-Picayune – This story includes a rundown of all the candidates who qualified for the municipal races.
Political Horizons: Human trafficking legislation being considered | The Advocate
The main focus of the 2014 legislative package, [state Rep. Neil] Abramson said, will be mandatory education for law enforcement and creating a revenue stream that would help support the services to help the young prostitutes integrate back into regular, everyday life.
Bloomberg Focuses on Rest (as in Rest of World) | The New York Times
Mayor Mitchell J. Landrieu of New Orleans recalled receiving a $4 million grant from [New York City Mayor Michael] Bloomberg last year to hire a team of eight outside experts that advised the city on how to lower its murder rate. Since then, the city has created a multiagency team to combat gang activity, set up a midnight basketball league to keep young men off the streets and pushed to make it harder for those charged with gun crimes to get out of jail.
The murder rate in New Orleans has fallen by 17 percent this year.
“To his credit,” Mr. Landrieu said of Mr. Bloomberg, “this guy is putting his personal money into making city government work better.”
Land Use
First recipient of Fresh Food Retail Initiative closes, puts store on market | The Lens – DaFresh Seafood received a $117,000 low-interest loan through the city’s program. The owner says he’ll repay it.
Neighbors hope to get some relief after city tells doggy day-care center to muzzle noise | The Lens – The Belladoggie “resort spa for dogs” at the edge of the Irish Channel was reprimanded by the city last week for excessive noise. At a hearing, neighbors played a recording of predawn barking and howling.
Louisiana’s largest building to be picked up and relocated is on | FOX 8 WVUE
The largest building to ever be picked up and relocated in the state is on the move for the third time.
The McDonogh 11 School is slowly being re-positioned outside of the LSU Medical Center footprint.