Criminal Justice
Police vow to solve shootings of 19 in New Orleans – Associated Press | “Video released early Monday by New Orleans police shows a possible suspect in the Mother’s Day gunfire that wounded 19 people during a neighborhood parade. The grainy surveillance video shows a crowd suddenly scattering in all directions, with some falling to the ground.” The video can be viewed here.
Mother’s Day shooting reminds us that no one is immune from street violence — The Lens | The Lens’ Jed Horne says violence like this threatens the very culture of New Orleans:
Our open-air culture and its availability to all is the truly distinctive thing about New Orleans — the thing that keeps the city vibrant and a mecca for visitors from all over the world. Lose that, and we’re Omaha. Omaha without even a stockyard. Deb is not alone in arguing that for New Orleans to thrive, these cultural traditions must be preserved in all their vitality — not just relegated to the life-size diorama that is the French Quarter.
Deborah Cotton, who has done videography for The Lens and has reported on second-line parades for Gambit and NOLA.com, was among those shot. Cotton had recently debuted a new website called New Orleans Good Good, about “only in New Orleans people, traditions [and] events.” Here’s Cotton talking about violence in New Orleans (Via Cliff’s Crib):
New Orleans Shooting: I Saw the Mother’s Day Parade Gunman – The Daily Beast | Medical student Jarratt Pytell writes a clinical but moving firsthand account of the shooting.
Secrets of the NYPD – Salon.com | The article explains how “a massive, taxpayer-funded public agency routinely ignores transparency laws.”
Schools
Analysis: Voucher ruling creates uncertainties — Associated Press | Gov. Bobby Jindal views the Louisiana Supreme Court’s decision that declared the financing of his school voucher program unconstitutional as a speed bump. This analysis enumerates the numerous difficulties presented by the ruling.
Don’t look back on vouchers: James Varney — NOLA.com/The Times-Picayune | Varney urges Jindal and the Legislature to find a way to fund and maintain the school voucher program, and to withstand resistance from opponents such as teacher’s unions.
12 members of St. Helena High’s Class of 2013 to retake GEE — The Advocate | In the second news item in this story, we learn that the St. Helena Parish board “removed from the district’s manual a policy permitting corporal punishment of students and replaced it with a policy expressly forbidding the practice.” In previous opinion columns I’ve urged school districts in Louisiana to end corporal punishment.
Environment
The Louisiana Coast: Last Call — The Shape We’re In Now — WWNO | Tune in to WWNO each morning this week to hear Lens reporter Bob Marshall talk about Louisiana’s imperiled coast. This morning’s installment certainly didn’t sugarcoat the problem: “What is arguably the greatest environmental and economic disaster in the nation’s history is racing toward a tragic climax that few of the tourists who flock here know about — and that Congress has shown little interest in addressing.”
Shell to drill world’s deepest offshore oil well in Gulf of Mexico — Grist
Shell is preparing to drill 9,500 feet — nearly two miles — beneath the surface of the sea to suck oil out of a reserve that was discovered eight years ago, 200 miles southeast of New Orleans. … The quest for deeper wells reflects advancing technology and increasing desperation as shallower reserves dry up.
Ex-BP engineer warns of ‘substantial risk’ of wrongful conviction in Gulf spill case — Fuel Fix | A former BP engineer renews claims that “obstruction of justice charges should never have been brought against him over his actions after the 2010 Gulf of Mexico oil spill.”
Land Use
Soft second mortgage program helps mother of two start over after years of abuse — NOLA.com/The Times-Picayune | A home-ownership assistance program funded with Hurricane Katrina recovery funds has meant a world of difference to a woman from Zimbabwe who had to overcome an abusive marriage.
St. Bernard agrees to $2.5M settlement of housing suits – Associated Press | “The U.S. Justice Department says St. Bernard Parish has agreed to a settlement of more than $2.5 million to resolve lawsuits alleging the parish tried to restrict rental housing to blacks after Hurricane Katrina.”
Government & Politics
Bill Black: Brown-Vitter Will Not and Cannot Work but it is Criminogenic — naked capitalism | Blogger Yves Smith argues that Sen. David Vitter’s “Too Big To Fail” legislation to curtail highly-leveraged investments by banks might inadvertently increase risks because of the financial system is so “tightly-coupled.” Smith republishes an extended criticism of the legislation by University of Missouri-Kansas City economics professor Bill Black.
2016’s specter: Paul, Jindal visit early voting states — Concord Monitor | Can’t speaking engagements in early 2016 primary states wait until after state budget negotiations are completed? “Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal became the first potential 2016 presidential candidate this year to visit New Hampshire, unofficially kicking off the state’s presidential primary season roughly 2½ years before voting begins. “
Marcia St. Martin says S&WB should pay her replacement more than $206,000 — The Lens | In case you missed it, the outgoing head of the Sewerage and Water Board “believes the utility will have to pay her replacement more than her.” She currently makes $206,000 and will retire with a generous pension.