Schools
At Charter Schools, Short Careers by Choice | New York Times – The charter movement and associated school-system shake-ups are resulting in considerably shorter careers for educators.
Alums, activists ask why high school is left in squalor with millions earmarked for it set aside | The Louisiana Weekly – Many are wondering why John McDonogh High School building is in a near-dangerous state while $34 million earmarked for the school sits in the bank
Making children “mere creatures of the state” | Thomas Fordham Institute – Blogger Adam Emerson believes Justice Department qualms about Louisiana’s school voucher program are without merit.
Environment
The Bayou Corne Sinkhole, Part II: What Really Happened | RedState – Conservative blogger Steve Maley continues his in-depth analysis of what caused the (still-expanding) sinkhole.
La. Community is “a ghost town” a year after Isaac | Associated Press – Between the destruction of Hurricane Isaac, and prohibitvely expensive new flood insurance premiums, the city of Braithwaite is “all but abandoned,” according to the article.
Gulf oil spill settlement claims administrator says BP’s allegations of fraud are ‘spurious,’ “unfounded’ | NOLA.com/The Times-Picayune – The court-appointed administrator of claims against BP Deepwater Horizon says BP is mischaracterizing the settlement program.
“Ultimately, BP asks the court to safeguard it from imagined harm at the expense of the settlement claimants without submitting any evidence that it has paid or will have to pay any improper claims as a result of the issues raised in its renewed motion,” said the response filing.
Land Use
Owen Courreges: Rearranging the deck chairs on a collapsing house | Uptown Messenger – Noting a story in which a New Orleanian had to install boards to prevent her neighbor’s house from toppling on her own, columnist Courreges observes: “The official motto of the Landrieu Administration’s blight eradication efforts should probably be: ‘We can’t do much, but we’ll do more of it!'”
Rapid, dramatic transformation continues at biomedical site – FOX 8 WVUE –
“What we’re looking at is the world’s largest hospital construction project and when you ride by and you see the massive number of cranes and activity and construction workers, it sure appears to be that,” said James McNamara, President of BioDistrict New Orleans. “Two million square feet of construction, 7,000 construction workers daily for the next two and half years. That describes it all.”
What Is Going On at St. Roch Market? | Curbed NOLA – Renovation of St. Roch Market, which was scheduled to open in the spring, is months behind schedule.
Criminal Justice
Journalist provocateur James O’Keefe posts video of confrontation with Jim Letten | NOLA.com/The Times-Picayune – Other than the yelling, name-calling, book-tossing, and assorted allegations flying to and fro, I suppose you could call it a cordial encounter.
The video shows an agitated Letten accusing O’Keefe of “terrorizing” the former U.S. attorney’s wife at their home, of harassing him and trespassing on the Tulane campus. He called O’Keefe a coward and a spud and referred to O’Keefe and his companions as hobbits and scum.
St. Tammany Parish Sheriff’s Office calls virtual ride-along a success, planning second one | NOLA.com/The Times-Picayune – Will officers live-tweeting their patrols become a trend?
Faith Groups Challenging Louisiana’s High Incarceration Rate | WWNO – “In New Orleans, one in seven African-American men is currently behind bars, on probation or on parole,” [Pastor Elenora Cushenberry of the Phillips Hartzell Memorial United Methodist Church] said. “This is not an accident. This is a result of decisions that have been made by public officials. Our faith community has had enough.”
Government & Politics
Obamacare Hot Topic in 2014 Races | NOLA DEFENDER – U.S. Rep. Bill Cassidy, R-Baton Rouge, is running for U.S. Senate as a staunch opponent of Obamacare — a position complicated by his 2007 support for state-run healthcare exchanges.
More Than One-Third of Louisiana Unemployment Payments Are “Improper” | Zero Hedge – The headline statistic comes from U.S. Department of Labor data, as compiled by economics blogger “Tyler Durden” (a nom de plume). Via The Hayride
Katrina Pain Index 2013: New Orleans Eight Years Later | Dissident Voice – Loyola University law professor Bill Quigley compiles a discouraging list of post-Katrina statistics.