Soros accepts Ridenhour Prize for Courage in an age of lies
Ron Ridenhour's letter changed the history of a war. The post Soros accepts Ridenhour Prize for Courage in an age of lies appeared first on The Lens.
View ArticleLearning from NY: Cutting mental health carries hidden costs
City officials are right to decry the cuts to mental health services that could result from Gov. Bobby Jindal’s effort to plug a budget deficit. The post Learning from NY: Cutting mental health carries...
View ArticlePanel to tout, encourage whistleblowers
By Tom Gogola, The Lens staff writer | From Erin Brockovich to WikiLeaks, whistleblowers play a critical role in forcing transparency and accountability on corporate and public-sector shenanigans. New...
View ArticleKey to charter success: a principal rarely found in school's front office
By Folwell Dunbar, The Lens contributing opinion writer | Over the years I have had an opportunity to conduct quality reviews of numerous charter schools here in Louisiana and throughout the country....
View ArticleWhat's with City Hall's ongoing campaign to kill District Councils?
The New Orleans City Council will soon vote on the future of citizen participation in our city. It’s an ideal mandated by both a post-Katrina amendment to the City Charter and the city’s long-overdue...
View ArticleThe Lens hires prizewinner Tyler Bridges to cover public policy
Veteran prize-winning reporter Tyler Bridges will become a staff writer with The Lens on Oct. 1, focusing on state-level public-policy decisions that affect the New Orleans area. Bridges is returning...
View ArticleMichael Sartisky leaves board of The Lens; CPA Bev Nichols becomes a director
The Lens board of directors welcomes a longtime supporter of our nonprofit newsroom. The post Michael Sartisky leaves board of The Lens; CPA Bev Nichols becomes a director appeared first on The Lens.
View ArticleWebcast: graduation rates and job readiness part of WYES coverage
Joint education reporting initiative will examine options for students after high school. The post Webcast: graduation rates and job readiness part of WYES coverage appeared first on The Lens.
View ArticleLoyola student covering charter schools for The Lens wins national honor
Senior in mass communication wins First Amendment honor for tenacity regarding open-meetings laws. The post Loyola student covering charter schools for The Lens wins national honor appeared first on...
View ArticleElection Day 2016 peculiarities and irregularities in the New Orleans area
Our staff is collecting and catching up with any unusual reports today from the polls. The post Election Day 2016 peculiarities and irregularities in the New Orleans area appeared first on The Lens.
View ArticleWhen good times roll, must crime cameras roll, too?
By Mark Moseley, The Lens opinion writer | I trust you did something unstructured and excessive during Carnival. That’s the reason for the season, right? The morning parades after Mardi Gras are...
View ArticleGoing, going, gone! Auction proves a potent weapon in war on blight
By Brad Vogel, The Lens contributing opinion writer | The surest sign of success was when the fire marshal showed up. I’m not talking about a jazz gig on Frenchmen Street. I’m talking about Saturday’s...
View ArticleCurtain could drop on opportunity to restore Municipal Auditorium
Follow our coverage on Twitter at Thursday night’s public meeting on the redevelopment of the Municipal Auditorium. By Marie Chinappi, The Lens contributing opinion writer | The Municipal Auditorium...
View ArticleDon't go off the grid with second hospital
By Maggie Tishman and Jack Davis, guest opinion writers | For centuries, New Orleans’s largely intact street grid has fostered transportation efficiency, connectivity and the success of our compact and...
View ArticleDon't let state swipe unspent funds for energy efficiency
By Devin Lowell, The Lens contributing opinion writer | President Obama’s 2009 stimulus package breathed new life into a Louisiana energy-efficiency program. But now low enrollment threatens the...
View ArticleRefinery accident pollution estimates badly need refining
By Benjamin Leger, The Lens contributing opinion writer | Talk to anyone who lives near an oil refinery or chemical plant in Louisiana, and they’ll tell you they worry every night about what might...
View ArticleBills to revamp housing agency should nail down ethics issues
By Sara Meadows Tolleson, The Lens contributing opinion writer | Reshaping the way Louisiana handles affordable housing may be a worthwhile endeavor, but tandem housing bills now nearing a vote in the...
View ArticleKudos to city for new blight strategy in historic areas
By Brad Vogel, The Lens contributing opinion writer | I didn’t expect to, but I actually broke into applause last Thursday at the city’s BlightStat meeting. Toward the end of the meeting, Jeff Hebert,...
View ArticleBGR housing study was complemented, not contradicted, by UNO
Janet R. Howard, The Lens contributing opinion writer | On May 24, The Lens posted an article from Sara Meadows Tolleson on a bill proposed by House Speaker Jim Tucker to consolidate three housing...
View ArticleNeighborhoods are dandy, but no reason to settle for the 'official' 73
By Keith G.C. Twitchell, The Lens contributing opinion writer | A recent Lens article by Richard Campanella argues against the current official city neighborhood map and its 73 “official”...
View ArticleArts funding cuts carry a hidden economic risk
By Nathan C. Martin, The Lens contributing opinion writer | Culture is to Louisianans what water is to fish. Our public spaces and private lives are utterly infused with forms of expression that make...
View ArticleGood, not great: City deserves better plan for Mid-City Market
By Alan Williams, The Lens contributing opinion writer | The proposed Mid-City Market is a bit like the 2006 Saints: a big improvement over prior efforts, but ultimately just not good enough. To be...
View ArticleCity blight blitz is overlooking key allies: owners trying to rebuild
By Tess Monaghan, The Lens contributing opinion writer | Nearly six years after Hurricane Katrina, tens of thousands of residential properties in New Orleans sit vacant. Some have been blighted for...
View ArticlePedicab success pivots on City Council opting for merit selection
By Alan Williams, The Lens contributing opinion writer | Finally, New Orleans has joined the ranks of cities that permit pedal-powered cabs to carry residents and visitors around town. Soon, New...
View ArticleTIGER III funds: How NOT to spend these federal transit dollars
By Stephen Crim, The Lens contributing opinion writer | The U.S. Department of Transportation has opened the application process for $527 million in grants for transportation projects under the name...
View ArticleLet culture buffs fund the arts – not govt. bureaucrats
By Kevin Kane, The Lens contributing opinion writer | In an opinion piece posted recently at The Lens, New Orleans’ online investigative news site, arts writer and editor Nathan C. Martin recently...
View ArticleSenator using skewed numbers on oil industry’s safety record
By Benjamin Leger, The Lens contributing opinion writer | Testifying in front of the Senate Energy Committee in May 2010 while the Deepwater Horizon was still gushing oil into the Gulf, Louisiana’s...
View ArticleGet government funding out of the arts? Get real!
By Lamar White Jr., The Lens contributing opinion writer | In a recent opinion piece for The Lens, Kevin Kane argued against government support for the arts. Louisiana’s richly indigenous culture is...
View ArticleGung ho for demolition: FEMA pays, but neighborhoods lose
By Brad Vogel, The Lens contributing opinion writer | Over the weekend, David Simon, creator of HBO’s Treme, publicly critiqued the city’s ongoing blight fight. Addressing the sixth annual Rising Tide...
View ArticleProblems at Blair Grocery's farm/school follow a familiar pattern
By Evan Casper-Futterman, The Lens contributing opinion writer | I was saddened by Ariella Cohen’s feature on problems at Blair Grocery’s urban farm and school because, without ever setting foot on the...
View ArticleYet another anniversary — and still no substitute for Charity Hospital
By Sandra Stokes, The Lens contributing opinion writer | The sixth anniversary of Hurricane Katrina reminds us, as a community, how resilient we are, how we can work together to find solutions to the...
View ArticleInitiative aims to bring 'Creole Canal Street' back to full vigor
By Samuel Cook III, The Lens contributing opinion writer Saint Bernard Avenue runs through the 7th Ward, a central vein of this historic community. And the iconic Circle Food Store once served as its...
View Articletest title for Akili
lorem ipsum, this is a post for Akili Academy. It shouldn’t publish anywhere until we creat an Akili Academy School page. The post test title for Akili appeared first on The Lens.
View ArticleRefusing to let the 9/11 anniversary be owned solely by horror
By Billy Sothern, The Lens contributing opinion writer | On September 10, 2009, my wife Nikki was at her midwife’s office hoping to get some indication that our baby – four days past due – would come...
View ArticleAs social media grow, so does appreciation of the First Amendment
By Eric Newton, The Lens contributing opinion writer | Each year, on Constitution Day, students and teachers celebrate the most fundamental laws of our republic. This year, they should celebrate...
View ArticleBalance gentrification with equity along the St. Claude Avenue corridor
By Michael T. Martin, The Lens contributing opinion writer | With the opening of the Healing Center and the possibility of extending streetcar service all the way to Poland Avenue, it’s time to accord...
View ArticleStreet legal: Let’s make law fit our culture, not the other way around
By Alan Williams, The Lens contributing opinion writer | The Landrieu Administration is making a valiant effort to give some meaning to the letter of the law in New Orleans. They seem to understand...
View ArticleOccupy Wall Street? Here? Pondering common denominators
By Kira Akerman, The Lens contributing opinion writer | “The system was never broken it was built this way,” read the hand-painted sign held by a woman in New York City’s Occupy Wall Street protest....
View ArticleRTA lists worthy projects; let's be sure they're well designed
TIGER III dollars would link and extend streetcar service. By Stephen Crim, The Lens contributing opinion writer | With applications due at the end of the month for TIGER III grants for transportation...
View ArticleRelax oversight? How about protecting us from oil's ravages?
By Anne Rolfes, The Lens contributing opinion writer | Last Monday began with a bang. On my way to work I learned that Senator David Vitter and Rep. Jeff Landry were at it again — planning to meet with...
View ArticleMaking 'Complete Streets' a policy makes complete sense
By Matthew Rufo, The Lens contributing opinion writer | In recent years, New Orleanians have witnessed a transformation of their streets from motor vehicle speedways to multimodal havens for a variety...
View ArticleShake a leg! Physical 'movement' is also the political kind
By Kira Akerman, The Lens contributing opinion writer | Every afternoon, I enter the chaotic cafeteria of a middle school in Treme— a punch for a punch, a broken finger, broken jaw — nothing unusual. A...
View ArticleStudent loan amnesty would $upercharge grad-magnetic New Orleans
By Nathan C. Martin, The Lens contributing opinion writer | New Orleans is home to seven four-year colleges and universities that graduate thousands of students each spring, and in the years since...
View ArticleSaluting Occupy NOLA, a movement as quirky as our schizoid city
By Tiffany Marceaux, The Lens contributing opinion writer | On Oct. 6 I arrived at Duncan Plaza for Occupy NOLA’s first General Assembly with revolution in my heart. And I wasn’t the only one....
View ArticleLast ONE left standing? Sucker punch whacks 'citizen participation'
By Tim Garrett, The Lens contributing opinion writer | Tuesday’s four-hour meeting of the New Orleans Planning Commission amounted to a public showdown between two rival visions for “citizen...
View ArticleAnxious Algiers residents seek answers to crime day after Samaritan killed in...
By Kelsey Foster, The Lens contributing writer | A day after a good Samaritan was shot and killed while trying to stop a carjacking in Algiers Point, a beefed-up police presence was evident in the...
View ArticleAbout this project
The Center for Public Integrity and Columbia Journalism Investigations collaborated on this project with newsrooms around the country. The post About this project appeared first on The Lens.
View ArticleThe Lens appoints interim editor
Longtime reporter Marta Jewson named interim editor. The post The Lens appoints interim editor appeared first on The Lens.
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