Teach For America recruits better trained; lawmakers rip flood authority lawsuit

Join our email list

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.

I'm not interested

Schools

Special education students still looking for fairness in New Orleans: Editorial | NOLA.com/The Times-Picayune – The editors say more needs to be done so that special needs students are offered more choices among New Orleans schools.

Teach For America’s ‘dirty little secret’ | Washington Post – “TFA’s training is far better than it was two decades ago.  And it is better precisely because it has adopted many of the practices typically associated with traditional teacher education.”

Lead poisoning’s impact: Kids suspended more at school | USA TODAY – New research finds that “children with just moderate levels of lead in their first three years of life are nearly three times as likely to be suspended from school by the time they’re 9 or 10 as those whose blood-lead levels were below recent treatment thresholds.”

10 Ideas to Get Those Back-to-School Juices Flowing | MindShift – A worthwhile list of thought-provoking pedagogic tools for teachers to consider as the new school year gets started. One example: a step-by-step approach on how to design thinking in class.

 Environment

Lawmakers criticize Flood Protection Authority for suing oil and gas companies | The Lens – At a joint House and Senate meeting at the Capitol, legislators questioned the board’s decision to act alone and suggested it may not have had the legal authority to do so. 

 WHAT TO DO ABOUT RISING FLOOD INSURANCE RATES? | Jim Brown’s Blog – The former Louisiana insurance commissioner resurrects a proposal he made nearly 20 years ago to replace the current system with a multi-layered national disaster-insurance fund.

Wine Island may be wiped off map | Houma Today – “With no immediate plans by the parish or the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to restore the island, Wine Island’s name could also be stripped from nautical charts.” 

Government & Politics

Tax hike? More cuts? Refilling rainy day fund clouds state budget prospects | The Lens – Tapping the state’s piggy bank has helped Jindal and legislators avoid tax hikes. But after pulling $255 million out of the rainy day fund, the state now has to find a way to replenish it in two years — foreshadowing tough choices.

Kimberley Strassel: Behind an Ethanol Special Favor | Wall Street Journal – Great report on how a small Louisiana refinery successfully lobbied to secure a rare and valuable hardship exemption from the EPA’s ethanol blend mandates.

More than half of noncompliant NGOs still unresponsive, Louisiana treasurer says | NOLA.com/The Times-Picayune – According to Louisiana Treasurer John Kennedy, over half of the 34 nongovernmental organizations that are out of compliance with state reporting laws have not turned over financial records.

Land Use

Former city employee arrested for malfeasance in office | FOX 8 WVUE – A former building inspector is accused of taking money for permits. 

Man arrested after more than 700 roosters seized on eastern New Orleans property | NOLA.com/The Times-Picayune – The huge cockfighting operation uncovered yesterday was the largest animal seizure in Louisiana SPCA history.

Action Report: St. Charles Ave. residents feel left in dark | WWL-TV – A survey by the St. Charles Avenue Association found that nearly half the streetlights between Carrollton and Jackson avenues, are burned out, broken or missing.

Criminal Justice

New Orleans judicial races attract a crowd | NOLA.com/The Times-Picayune – “So far, Mark Vicknair, a former prosecutor in Municipal Court, faces Harry Cantrell, a longtime magistrate commissioner and father-in-law to City Councilwoman LaToya Cantrell, in the battle to succeed Magistrate Judge Gerard Hansen, who will retire Nov. 1 after 39 years on the bench.”

Police Dept.’s Focus on Race Is at Core of Ruling Against Stop-and-Frisk Tactic | New York Times – Federal Judge Shira Scheindlin ruled that the New York City Police Department’s “stop and frisk” tactics violate the 14th Amendment because they are rooted in racial profiling. Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly called that description of his department’s policy “recklessly untrue.”

New Orleans charter school operators turn to Baton Rouge for expansion | The Lens

The expansion to Baton Rouge and other parts of the state are a sign that there’s not much more room for charter organizations to grow in Orleans Parish. Most charter operators in New Orleans have expanded by taking over schools directly run by the Recovery School District or those run by other organizations that haven’t turned them around. Now there are only five directly run schools left in the RSD’s portfolio here, and fewer schools are failing now than in past years.