The Lens Nola

A banned Thanksgiving staple becomes a window into life behind bars. A story told by Bernard Smith.

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#TheLensNola🔍 The warden himself ordered changes to the menus after some favorite holiday dishes - most notably, the cornbread dressing - left hundreds of men sick...

✍️Bernard Smith

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#TheLensNola🔍 “When I saw the brother Jamar (McNeely) giving out turkeys and hams, I said, ‘Let me bring the vegetables,’” said DeLance Vanderhorst of Healthier NOLA.

✍Gus Bennett

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#inspirenola #healthiernola #juvenile #thanksgiving

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#TheLensNola🔍 Over the past 75 years, more than a dozen Black proprietors have run the First and Last Stop Bar, a longtime gathering spot for 7th Ward neighbors and Black-masking Indians.

✍ Katy Reckdahl and Gus Bennett

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#TheLensNola🔍 The NOLA Public Schools district earned its first B letter grade since the schools returned to the district’s control in 2018, after being seized from the Orleans Parish School Board...

✍ Marta Jewson

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#TheLensNola🔍 Waste has been stored and recycled at other sites, but LDEQ grants an emergency exemption for River Birch.

✍ Wesley Muller, Louisiana Illuminator

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#oilwaste #smittyssupply #jeffersonparish

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#TheLensNola🔍 Forty-one people have been executed so far this year, the highest number since 2012.

✍ Amanda Watford, Stateline

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#deathpenalty #nitrogengasexecution #louisiana

#TheLensNola🔍 The federal trawling of grants for misaligned priorities has brought in bycatch at Louisiana Tech University.

✍Hannah Richter, Sierra Magazine

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#louisianatechuniversity #ecologist #federalgrant

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#TheLensNola🔍 Gov. Jeff Landry said his health department will find the money to cover $147 million in benefits next month for the elderly, disabled and children.

✍ Greg LaRose, Louisiana Illuminator Louisiana Illuminator

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#SNAPBenefits #foodstamps #neworleans

#OPINION Louisiana spends too much of its budget on criminal justice while ranking low in healthcare, education, infrastructure, and economic wellbeing. We could redirect those resources.

✍Dominque Johnson

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#criminaljustice #incarceratedparents #Louisiana

#TheLensNola🔍 Expansions at five petrochemical plants in Texas and Louisiana could add the equivalent of more than 1 million cars’ worth of pollution, advocates say.

✍Terry L. Jones, Floodlight

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#airpollution #chemicalplants #environemtalnews

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#TheLensNola🔍 New research in the journal Nature reveals oil and gas companies own a “marginal” share of global renewable capacity, years after claiming they would lead the energy transition.

✍Emily Sanders, ExxonKnews

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#TheLensNola🔍 Gov. Jeff Landry scraps sediment diversion planned for Breton Sound marsh.

✍Wesley Muller, Louisiana Illuminator

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#coastalrestorationproject #bretonsoundmarsh #environmentalnews

#TheLensNola🔍 Calvin Duncan, an uncommon man with an all-too-common story, is vying to become clerk of Orleans Parish Criminal District Court – and his campaign seems to have gathered enough momentum to draw fire from high-powered Louisiana officials.

✍ Katy Reckdahl

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#TheLensNola🔍 Marshall is one of the main forces behind the Oct. 11 charter amendment that would amend the New Orleans Bill of Rights to add “conviction history” alongside race, religion, disability, and gender.

✍ Katie Sikora for ANTIGRAVITY Magazine

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#TheLensNola🔍 Pharmacists insist no policies have changed as doctors try to determine why their patients have to chase down medication prior to health procedures.

✍Greg LaRose/ Louisiana Illuminator

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#foodanddrugadministration #abortionmedication #louisiana

#OPINION To further expand services for our neighbors in New Orleans, START CORP is working to develop a new clinic at the former St. Jude Community Center on North Rampart Street.

✍Casey Guidry, CEO, START CORP

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#startcorp #communityoutreach #TheLensNola🔍

#TheLensNola🔍 The school faces a sizable budget gap. Proponents say that it’s expensive to launch a stand-alone school, especially one that aspires to be a “beacon of culture.”

✍Marta Jewson and Katy Reckdahl

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#leahchaseschool #budgetgap #schoolprincipal #educationnews

#TheLensNola🔍 John F. Kennedy High School students who endured the 2019 graduation scandal can continue their class-action lawsuit against charter operator New Beginnings Schools Foundation, a state appellate court ruled last month.

✍Marta Jewson

Story 🔗: buff.ly/8eA5quU

#OPINION While Gov. Jeff Landry was quick to denounce the speed of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency-led clean-up, he's silent in holding Smitty's Supply itself accountable for the explosion...

✍Greg LaRose, Louisiana Illuminator

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#OPINION The writers, an educator and a parent who works as an advocate within schools, contend that the state takeover removed Black teachers who provided continuity and did not improve academic outcomes for Black students...

✍ Ashana Bigard and Elizabeth K. Jeffers

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#TheLensNola🔍 If parents notice their child struggling academically or facing more discipline in school, it may be time for a special education evaluation. Roughly 15% of students in Louisiana have special education plans.

✍️ Marta Jewson

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