Schools
Federal complaint filed on behalf of parents who speak Spanish and Vietnamese | The Lens – In a story written for the Hechinger Report, Katy Reckdahl describes how hard it is for Spanish- and Vietnamese-speaking parents to understand their children’s homework and communicate with their schools.
While many school districts nationwide — particularly those undergoing budget cuts — struggle to adequately serve non-English-speaking families, the situation in New Orleans is unique. That’s because of the ethnic and linguistic complexity of the city as well as the radically decentralized school system created since Hurricane Katrina.
“We haven’t seen this kind of situation elsewhere,” said Thomas Mariadason, a lawyer for the [Asian American Legal Defense and Education Fund]. “There’s nothing quite like the education landscape in New Orleans.”
Common Core causes conundrum | The Advocate – InBloom, a not-for-profit vendor that collects student information, acknowledges that its security system isn’t impenetrable. If a data breach leads to children being harmed, parent Nicki Gaspard told state senators, education Superintendent John White should go to prison.
Five things to know about today’s report on unequal education | Associated Press – The Education Department reported that minorities and students with disabilities suffer widespread inequities in schools.
Taxpayers fund creationism in the classroom | POLITICO
Taxpayers in 14 states will bankroll nearly $1 billion this year in tuition for private schools, including hundreds of religious schools that teach Earth is less than 10,000 years old, Adam and Eve strolled the garden with dinosaurs, and much of modern biology, geology and cosmology is a web of lies.
Environment
Mary Landrieu Is Paying—and Getting Paid Big—for Her Stance on Global Warming | National Journal – Sen. Mary Landrieu irritates environmentalists but pleases Big Oil when she repeatedly sidesteps the climate change issue.
Big climate report: Warming is big risk for people | Associated Press
Past [intergovernmental] panel reports have been ignored because global warming’s effects seemed too distant in time and location, says Pennsylvania State University scientist Michael Mann.
This report finds “It’s not far-off in the future and it’s not exotic creatures — it’s us and now,” says Mann, who didn’t work on this latest report.
Thoughts on the Building Resilience Workshop V | DisasterMap.net Blog – Blogger Ezra Boyd said discussion at the conference “inevitably strayed toward what was described as the ‘elephant in the room’ meaning the unequal power relationships that have let a few stakeholders extract huge benefits from Louisiana’s working coast while shifting the costs of the damage from those activities to other parties, particularly residents.”
Photos Show Extent of Houston Ship Channel Oil Spill | gCaptain – The Houston Ship Channel closed when a tanker was breached, causing about 4,000 barrels of heavy bunker crude to spill into the water.
Criminal Justice
State tells sheriffs to better explain why deputies should get extra state pay | The Lens – A whistleblower says the Orleans Parish Sheriff is gaming the system to pay people who aren’t eligible.
How Louisiana Can Get Smart on Crime | The Pelican Post – The libertarian-leaning think tank suggests that Louisiana policymakers mimic sentencing reforms made in other conservative southern states, such as Texas and Georgia. Among the proposals: emphasize “rehabilitation over jail time, and reduce penalties for many drug and property crimes.”
Execution for Miss. woman looms | The Clarion-Ledger – Michelle Byrom is scheduled to be executed for murder on Thursday. Her son has confessed multiple times to the killing, but that evidence wasn’t part of the trial.
Land Use
Children’s Museum gets set for new home in City Park | The New Orleans Advocate – The Louisiana Children’s Museum plans to move from Julia Street in the Warehouse District to an 8.5-acre campus in City Park. It will be called “Early Learning Village.”
Tulane Avenue to Get Cultural District Designation? | Canal Street Beat
The New Orleans City Council has submitted an application to the State to create a new cultural products district in Mid City, which would include Tulane Avenue from South [Pierce] to Broad Street and I-10 from Bernadotte to City Park Avenue. New Orleans City Council members Susan Guidry and Latoya Cantrell led the effort.
Government & Politics
Lawmakers eyeing limits on payday loan industry | The Advocate – Legislators will consider limiting interest rates on short-term loans that can run as high as 300 percent a year, trapping recipients in a cycle of debt.
Louisiana bans use of welfare benefits for tattoos, lingerie, jewelry | Associated Press
Also barred in the latest restrictions from taking welfare debit cards are video arcades, bail bond companies, cruise ships, psychics, adult-entertainment businesses, nightclubs, bars and any businesses where minors are not allowed.