By clicking submit, you agree to share your email address with The Lens and our email service, Mailchimp, to receive marketing, updates, and other emails from us. Use the unsubscribe link in those emails to opt out at any time.

Environment

The Louisiana Coast: Last Call — Diversions? | WWNO – Using sediment diversions to restore the coast means “moving” it. The Lens’ Bob Marshall talks with fisherman George Ricks, who opposes the diversions called for by the state’s Master Plan.

Stronger Efforts Needed to Reduce Nitrate Pollution in Mississippi River Basin | National Geographic – Nitrate levels from fertilizers continue to rise, polluting Mississippi. (via Restore the Mississippi Delta)

Rolling on the River | The New Orleans Advocate – The state appears to be at the beginning of the biggest industrial boom since the 1980s. “Much of the action — tens of billions of dollars of investment — is happening along the 70-mile corridor between New Orleans and Baton Rouge.” This corridor is also known as Cancer Alley. 

Louisiana consultants ease Seaside Heights’ Sandy recovery | The Asbury Park Press – Consultants from Louisiana help Superstorm Sandy victims maximize their FEMA reimbursements.

Criminal Justice

Sheriff Gusman’s office levels new accusations against Orleans Parish Prison whistleblower | NOLA.com/The Times-Picayune

The Orleans Parish Sheriff’s Office leveled new accusations Friday against a deputy after a NOLA.com | Times-Picayune report made public the jailer’s fears that the office is retaliating against him for being a whistleblower.

The Sheriff’s Office accused Deputy Bryan Collins of missing work without approval and questioned his actions in a jailhouse attack that Collins helped expose by sending photos of the bloody cell to NOLA.com | The Times-Picayune.

Our superficial sheriff | Gambit – Opinion writer Clancy Dubos argues that Sheriff Marlin Gusman doesn’t understand that a mismanaged jail can contribute to the city’s crime problem:

I had several conversations with Gusman, months ago, about the jail. Each time, he reminded me that OPP is filled with “bad people,” as if they deserved to be treated like human detritus — before being returned to our streets angrier and more violent than ever. Gusman obviously forgets that on any given day hundreds of men in his jail haven’t even stood trial yet, that some in fact are innocent, and that many are not violent (at least, they weren’t when they entered Gusman’s circle of hell).

It’s time for people to recognize the link between an inhumane jail and the city’s high crime rate.

Government & Politics

The long fabled Thompson/Thibodeaux Community Development Corporation Investigative Audit Released…. | Slabbed – In September, blogger Doug Handshoe broke news of a coming legislative audit after Jefferson Parish community development director Anatola Thompson abruptly resigned from her post. The 400 page legislative audit found that a nonprofit improperly spent at least $700,000 to benefit relatives and friends of former state Sen. Derrick Shepherd, former Jefferson Parish Councilman Byron Lee and Lee’s successor, Mark Spears Jr.

Light City Church and Christian Academy: state audit questions federal recovery money for Lower 9th Ward nonprofits | NOLA.com/The Times-Picayune

A Lower 9th Ward church and school damaged during Hurricane Katrina and run by a minister who has dabbled in city politics, have not properly accounted for more than $326,600 in federal aid spread across seven recovery projects, the state legislative auditor has found.

Louisiana gives campaign donors too much power, too little oversight: Editorial | NOLA.com/The Times-Picayune – NOLA.com/The Times-Picayune announced a collaborative series with Fox 8 examining how big campaign donors “dominate our political realm” by legally bypassing state limits on donations. The first story will air Tuesday at 10 p.m. on WVUE; it will be published in Wednesday’s newspaper. “Also Tuesday night, NOLA.com will launch a database of the campaign contributions that are part of the investigation for anyone to search.”

Schools

Alabama outpacing LSU on gridiron, in classroom | The Advocate – In a sobering prelude to Saturday’s game between the Tigers and Crimson Tide, The Advocate looked at the different trajectories of LSU and the University of Alabama as educational institutions. One example:

Alabama has grown its enrollment over the past decade from about 20,000 students in 2003 to just under 35,000 today. LSU, on the other hand, lost about 2,000 students over the same time, putting its current enrollment at just under 30,000.

Akili Academy Finds A New Home In An Historic, Renovated Building | WWNO – Akili Academy has moved into the “half renovated, half brand-new” former William Frantz Elementary building. The school will have a room named after Ruby Bridges, who was one of four African-American students who began the integration of New Orleans public schools in 1960.

Common Core hearing format triggers criticism | The Advocate – “While state lawmakers will reopen arguments Monday on tougher public school courses, the lack of any plan to hear from rank-and-file citizens is sparking criticism.”

Land Use

Coroner, EMS expected to be in new offices in a year | The New Orleans Advocate – After years of delay, a new, $11.2 million building for the New Orleans Coroner and Emergency Medical Services should be ready in the fall of 2014. 

Banksy in Bywater? NOLA’s Rice Mill Lofts Remixes Its Industrial Past | National Trust for Historic Preservation – Residents in the Rice Mill Lofts are not allowed to alter the building’s “original graffiti.” (Via Nola Curbed.)

Mark Moseley

Mark Moseley blogs at Your Right Hand Thief. Until mid 2014, Mark Moseley was The Lens' opinion writer, engagement specialist and coordinator for the Charter Schools Reporting Corps. After Katrina and...