Deep ties connect New Orleans to a cluster of West Bank villages where several Palestinian-Americans have been killed. To date, Israeli prosecutors have not even released the shooters’ names.
A proposed $100 billion SpaceX spaceport in Louisiana’s Vermilion Parish is raising questions about the potential impact of large-scale space operations on nearby communities and the environment.
About 70,000 Louisiana Medicaid patients could lose in-network access to Ochsner Health providers after Dec. 1 as contract negotiations between Ochsner and Louisiana Healthcare Connections remain unresolved.
Crescent City Schools' Constellations program fills crucial service gaps in New Orleans’ decentralized school system by offering specialized education for students with cognitive disabilities.
A growing body of work illustrating the effect of gun violence on overall physical health. That matters in Orleans Parish, which has historically ranked among the worst in the nation for per-capita gun violence.
... the owner of the paper of record in the state, John Georges, rolls out the red carpet for Meta and explains how he thinks these deals will save journalism in the state.
As a national parasite outbreak leaves New Orleans residents looking for regionally grown produce, corner stores and growers step in to fill healthy food gaps.
The Board of Commissioners traded the safety of immigrant families for a $530,000 contract on a toxic site. Though the doors are opening in a few days, the commissioners still have time. What they may not have is the courage to undo this mistake.
Republicans in Congress provided billions in federal funding for local departments that are now an active arm of the nation's mass deportation campaign.
At this year’s annual alumni picnic, Cohen graduates remembered the school’s lively atmosphere, its music, sports and teachers who forged authentic relationships with students.
... the owner of the paper of record in the state, John Georges, rolls out the red carpet for Meta and explains how he thinks these deals will save journalism in the state.
A DeSmog review found that, across major fossil fuel companies, AI is increasingly being integrated into fossil fuel operations, from seismic exploration and drilling to equipment monitoring and field development.
Constructed from corrugated steel shipping containers and fitted with solar panels, the sustainable 2,000-square-foot schoolhouse holds digital art classrooms, a gallery, a combination library and meditation room, and an outdoor fruit tree orchard.
Elliott 'Stackman' Callier, who died recently at age 83, was known for his 'Super Fly' swagger, fanciful stories, and a fat, mellow tenor sax tone that helped define the New Orleans sound.
In this episode of “Behind The Lens,” questions of public safety, regulatory oversight and neighborhood concern come into focus in New Orleans’ Lower 9th Ward. Sunrise Foods International has received approval for a sprinkler system at a large grain-loading facility at the Alabo Wharf, despite the use of a system…
Former EPA officials warn that rapid AI data center expansion, combined with weakened federal pollution safeguards, could increase health risks associated with air pollution and fossil-fuel-powered energy production. Their report identifies at least 30 federal actions they say could make a more polluting data center…
Medicaid enrollees from five states and leading medical organizations filed a lawsuit Friday challenging new Medicaid work requirements, which they argue will threaten people’s coverage and care.
SpaceX’s planned launch facility in Vermilion Parish could transform South Louisiana while raising questions about impacts on coastal wetlands, migratory birds, wildlife and environmental protections.
Sometimes, being recognized for the community work you do gives you a moment to pause and ask an even bigger question: What happens when that same community needs its leaders to stand up for what’s right?
An open letter to Mayor Helena Moreno and the New Orleans City Council. Read More... from It is time for New Orleans to pause on surveillance technology
Changes to federal food assistance and a new recognition of Black education history raise important questions about students, schools, and the history taught in New Orleans classrooms.
The jury room can risk becoming a mere numbers game — a race to a unanimous verdict that targets dissenting voices rather than thoroughly analyzing the testimony. But when a single juror holds out, they force evidence-driven deliberations rather than verdict-driven ones.
The initiative brings New Orleans’ Civil Rights and education history to life during the third week of November with field trips, reenactments and social events.
Flaws in the plans for the warehouse's fire sprinkler system in the Lower 9 are “so egregious” they should not be permitted, one fire protection expert warned.
Journalist Emmanuel Felton talks about traveling through Louisiana’s disputed congressional district, examining the communities at the center of a U.S. Supreme Court ruling on racial gerrymandering, representation and political power.
Laws in Louisiana and other states now curb the use of community-collected data. In Louisiana, public air monitors are often located miles from major industrial polluters and fail to test for some of the most dangerous chemicals.
A series by Louisiana for Children’s Rights, in partnership with The Lens, that elevates the voices and experiences of Black youth currently or formerly detained in the Orleans Parish juvenile jail
More than 90% of Orleans public schools automatically offer free breakfast and lunch to all students due to high SNAP enrollment rates. With Louisiana SNAP cutting 1 in 5 recipients, school cafeterias could also be serving fewer free meals.
Environmental science students are exploring affordable alternatives that honor loved ones while protecting wildlife, waterways and local infrastructure.
New Orleanians left with only our tenacity after Hurricane Katrina 21 years ago, stepped up with ingenuity and solutions. Now it’s up to our elected officials. If they don’t step up soon, we will lose the most important city in the nation.
Research shows that AI data center facilities are landing in Black and low-income communities already treated as environmental sacrifice zones. In Louisiana, the two neighboring towns have a majority Black population, but residents fear that the jobs are not reaching them.
This week on Behind The Lens, a federal judge takes an extraordinary step in response to the illegal detention of an Ethiopian man living in the United States, holding an Immigration and Customs Enforcement official in contempt of court after the official twice ignored the judge’s orders. Reporter Delaney Nolan and…
Residents of the enclaves of District 6 carry a shared inheritance: cancer, pennies-an-hour wages, broken sewer lines, and highways aimed at their front doors. When divided into separate voting districts, those griefs were left unheard and isolated.
Criminal justice reporter Bernard Smith looks at a law passed by the Louisiana Legislature three years ago to automatically clear eligible criminal records. Despite its promise of a cleaner slate, the effort has yet to get past the starting gate because of technological hurdles. Smith explains what is preventing the…
The neighborhoods that the old 6th District gathered up—strung along rivers, railroads, and interstates from Shreveport to Baton Rouge—are the exact communities left scattered apart by two centuries of plantations, Jim Crow, and systemic disinvestment.
In every corner of the now-scuttled 6th District, Black residents tell of deep connections through Louisiana history, food, and today’s struggles. But this spring, the nation’s highest court concluded that those voters share only race, not a cohesive culture.
Louisiana judge will decide Wednesday whether to charge ICE officials with contempt for flouting his orders releasing an unlawfully detained Ethiopian man
Despite last Wednesday's procedural setback, the PSC's final decision on all these new gas plants is not scheduled to take place until December 16th. "The fight isn’t over, writes Paul Arbaje, as he outlines the substance of Meta's proposal and why it’s a risky proposition for Louisiana ratepayers.
Advocates celebrated the 61st anniversary of the Voting Rights Act, even after Supreme Court rulings gutted key federal protections and threw Southern congressional maps into chaos.
Louisiana's two biggest cities took different paths: New Orleans funded community programs to historic success, while Baton Rouge shifted its priorities, leaving the program with little to no funding.
A series by Louisiana for Children’s Rights, in partnership with The Lens, that elevates the voices and experiences of Black youth currently or formerly detained in the Orleans Parish juvenile jail
No single policy stands out among all the new state and districts policies governing technology. What's notable is how quickly the conversation around education and technology has changed.
Despite 2023 law, eligible Louisiana residents must still petition and wait to clear old criminal records instead of sealing them automatically, like 14 other states do.
More than 888,000 Louisiana residents struggle with hunger as SNAP cuts and reduced federal funding place growing pressure on families, seniors, people with disabilities and food banks.
New Orleans serves about 84% of 4-year-olds from low-income families. That leaves many New Orleans children entering kindergarten without necessary skills, and hundreds of parents who are not able to work as much as they want to, or at all, creating economic hardship.
Black defendants face major barriers to securing representative juries, while a Lower Ninth Ward family farm wins a settlement after its property was mistakenly treated with pesticides.
Constructing the massive Delfin LNG deepwater export terminal 40 miles off the Louisiana coast could threaten protected marine life, exacerbate the state’s already poor air quality, and contribute to heating our planet, writes attorney Lauren Parker of the Center for Biological Diversity’s Climate Law Institute.
While Entergy struggles with everyday power outages, city officials are skeptical of the utility’s ability to keep the lights on during hurricane season
Louisiana deserves a correctional system that prepares people for successful re-entry, an agricultural system built on dignity rather than exploitation and a public conversation honest enough to recognize that slavery's legacy is not only in the past.
Glenn Davis instinctively connected his predominantly white jury and his wrongful verdict. His instincts are supported by jury-deliberation studies, which shows that non-diverse juries like his err more often.
Dozens of Landry employees, from the most senior aides to the most junior temps, inked strict confidentiality agreements with the governor’s office binding them to secrecy about what they learn on the job.
Questions about how power Is exercised in Louisiana, as the governor vetoes more money for wrongfully convicted exonerees and a 14-year-old student is handcuffed and barred from her middle-school graduation.
In his research, Dr. Sharven Taghavi, a Tulane trauma surgeon, found a "clear association" between hunger and gun violence. A trauma surgeon in Atlanta had similar findings.
An Orkin man went to the wrong address, fogged Fat River Farm in the Lower 9th Ward with pesticides, ruined the farm’s ability to market its produce as organic, and upset the garden’s natural balance of insects.
The state’s air monitors are often miles from its biggest polluters and residents have little way of knowing what they’re breathing. That’s no accident.
As Meta’s massive AI data center, the most expensive in the nation, transforms rural Richland Parish, Louisiana's Black and white churches are divided over whether technological progress represents a God-given opportunity or a powerful new force likely to deepen inequities.
If a new federal rule is enacted, the administration could deny research grant applications related to life-saving issues like vaccine safety, climate science, and LGBTQ+ health.
A federal judge agreed that Angola works men into the ground in unconstitutional heat. Then he said he could not make it stop. “The fields did not change,” writes Andrea Hagan. “The law that was supposed to govern them did.”
Greg Bright served 27.5 wrongful years in the Louisiana State Penitentiary. He is now facing financial hardship, because his innocence compensation ended in September.
A proposed solar farm in Iberia Parish promised millions in local tax revenue and a boost for Louisiana's clean energy future. Instead, a misinformation campaign fueled public opposition that helped bring the project to a halt.
As witnesses from Baton Rouge join a federal lawsuit, a Louisiana immigration judge instructs her staff to allow the public to observe court hearings. Denials were never court policy, she asserts.
Advocates say stricter immigration documentation requirements ignore the realities of abuse, prompting concerns that victims will be denied protection.
Incoming principal Kendall McManus-Thomas returns to Easton as a pathbreaker who grew up in pre-Katrina schools, experienced the disaster and all of its chaos as a displaced high school student, and went on to become the first Black man to head up Franklin High School.
Advocates warn that the changes, part of the so-called "One Big Beautiful Bill," will deepen existing racial, gender and class inequities in college access.
"What united us in 1776 was the idea that a country can be defined by a shared belief that freedom and equality are human rights. Without belonging, there can be no true democracy.”
The manufacturer is building a $6 billion facility that will use cleaner technology — and potentially green hydrogen. But residents question whether they will benefit.
There’s been a recent spike in demand for pills, especially from patients in Louisiana, where all the media coverage may be reaching people who didn’t know they could get abortion pills online.
For those of us concerned with New Orleans’s survival and that of vulnerable communities like it, we must finally acknowledge a startling reality: New Orleans can only be saved if it first accepts that it might not be.