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Behind The Lens episode 244: ‘More and more extremes’
This week on Behind The Lens, 15,000 Louisianans have lost food stamps due to reinstated federal work requirements. Thousands more will likely lose benefits starting this fall, due to a new Louisiana law that bars state officials from doing what they’ve done for nearly 25 years – asking for waivers of federal work requirements in parishes with high unemployment.
‘Robbed’ Kennedy High School grads get their day in court
On Wednesday, Judge Marissa Hutabarat of Orleans Parish Civil District Court agreed that John F. Kennedy High School grads of 2019 and 2020 had enough in common that they could sue as a legal class, allowing them to seek damages as a group from the now-defunct charter network, New Beginnings Schools Foundation and its insurers.
15k Louisianans lose food stamps due to reinstated federal work requirements
More than 15,000 people across Louisiana have been kicked off of state food-stamp rolls in recent months. The cuts date back to October 1, when federal officials reinstated work requirements that had been waived statewide for years and set aside nationally during the pandemic, according to data from the state Department of Children and Families Services (DCFS) – which administers the federally funded Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) food-stamp program.
Fifth Circuit appeals court sides with Angola’s Farm Line workers
On Friday evening, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit told the state Department of Corrections that it must comply with an earlier district-court order to “correct the glaring deficiencies in their heat-related policies” for workers forced to do agricultural labor at the Louisiana State Penitentiary at Angola.
Water from flooded Upper Mississippi River offers relief after two years of drought
For Louisianans, the devastating flooding along the upper Mississippi River will likely send some needed water downstream, and significantly lessen worries about summer drought on the lower Mississippi, according to meteorologists. Anna Wolverton, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service, said the flooding was “a saving grace” for communities on...
Behind The Lens episode 243: ‘The solar Motherhouse’
This week on Behind The Lens, a U.S. District judge ordered the Louisiana Department of Corrections to submit a plan to protect inmates laboring on the Farm line at Angola who face “immediate threats” from working in extreme heat without adequate protection. The prisoners had filed an emergency motion asking to halt the dangerous and sometimes deadly practice. The DOC appealed the decision.
Keeping Politics Out of Flood Protection
Now, nearly 19 years since New Orleans’ catastrophic levee breaches, there is no controversy over where the blame for those breaches lies. According to all final investigations, it belongs squarely on the federal Army Corps of Engineers, not on local levee officials. Nonetheless, in the immediate post-flood chaos, lawmakers...
A Decade of Delays: Time for Consumer-Focused Transmission
For most Americans, keeping the lights on isn’t an issue. But Louisianans have some unique challenges. For households in Louisiana, bills are rising while the reliability of their electricity service isn’t improving. And although there aren’t foolproof solutions for addressing extreme weather events, better-planned and executed transmission-line development could help the state address both cost and reliability.
Behind The Lens episode 242: ‘Extreme heat and dirty water’
This week on Behind The Lens, the number of inmates held at The Orleans Justice Center has surpassed the city’s jail population cap, sparking questions about how to increase releases while reducing bookings — and what the rising jail population means for the health of those incarcerated, and for the city of New Orleans.
Nuns Harnessing the Sun
When the next major storm strikes New Orleans, the Sisters of the Holy Family motherhouse will shine as a beacon for New Orleans East. “Follow the light to 6901 Chef Menteur Highway and that will lead you to God’s light,” said Oliver Thomas, who represents the East in the City Council, as he stood on the roof of the convent on Wednesday morning, to launch construction of the city’s newest Community Lighthouse.
‘It isn’t very clear who is responsible for the jail getting to that cap’
The Orleans Justice Center, the city’s jail, has exceeded its city-mandated population cap of 1,250. As of Wednesday (June 19th), the City Council data dashboard showed that the Orleans Parish Sheriff’s Office had in its custody 1,322 individuals, 72 people beyond the cap set in 2019 by the council.
Behind The Lens episode 241: ‘Radical Black joy’
This week on Behind The Lens, in a city that is synonymous with music, that’s be the driving force behind several local Juneteenth commemorations. Reporter Mizani Ball talks through her story on the historical and ongoing struggle for civil rights in the city and how that has been expressed through music in New Orleans.
Getting everyone’s input on City Park, our backyard
Note: We, the undersigned authors, first published this in April, as an open letter to the members of the New Orleans City Park Improvement Association and City Park Conservancy Boards. It was spurred partly by the tone-deaf suggestion of moving GrowDat from City Park. Last month, in the wake of a public outcry about the matter, the park postponed its fourth public input meeting to allow more time to gather community opinions, officials said. As has been announced, the park is now in conversations with GrowDat about its location, though no contract has yet been offered or signed.
Angola prisoners ask to end field work in worst heat
For decades, Angola has forced prisoners to work in fields in extreme heat. Today, they urged a federal judge to halt the practice. Prisoners filed an emergency motion about working in the summer heat, as part of a proposed class-action lawsuit to end the “Farm Line” — forced agricultural labor at the prison, for little or no pay.
“We should have a sense of urgency”: Drainage tile drives nutrient pollution
LIVINGSTON COUNTY, Mo. — An increased use of agricultural drainage tile is one reason a 2025 deadline to reduce nitrate and phosphorus entering the Gulf of Mexico by 20% is unlikely. Drainage tile, a system farmers use to drain water from croplands, is also a contributor to the historic...
Could the Mississippi River benefit from Chesapeake Bay’s strategy to improve water quality?
HAVRE DE GRACE, Md. — As environmental groups and policy analysts in the Mississippi River basin seek solutions to shrink a massive “dead zone” that forms off the coast of Louisiana each year, they have looked to a regional clean-up program in the Chesapeake Bay as a model.
Not just a Gulf problem: Mississippi River farm runoff pollutes upstream waters
ELBA, Minn. – Jeff Broberg’s well sits inside a wooden shed not too far from a field he rented about a decade ago to a local farmer. One day, Broberg discovered the farmer was fertilizing with hog manure. In doing so, combined with the commercial fertilizer he was already using, the farmer was almost doubling the amount of nitrogen on the field in hopes of producing a better corn yield.
At the mouth of the Mississippi, Louisiana bears the burden of upstream runoff. Why doesn’t it push for solutions?
CYPREMORT POINT, La. — Thomas Olander has watched his shrimp-catch shrink over the last 15 years. It’s not just a lesser abundance of Louisiana shrimp; Olander said that the average size of the crustacean has also shrunk. In the past, shrimpers could expect the crustaceans to grow throughout...
As conservation lags, so does progress in slashing Gulf’s ‘dead zone’
CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa – The cover crop that blankets Dan Voss’ farmland from late fall into the spring comforts the Eastern Iowa farmer because he knows heavy spring rain won’t wash away his topsoil. These off-season crops also soak up excess fertilizer. But for every Dan Voss,...
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