On Tuesday, six days after Hurricane Francine smashed into Louisiana’s coast as the strongest storm of this year’s hurricane season, the Biden administration announced a major disaster declaration for the state and ordered federal aid to supplement the recovery process. How quickly states and local counties can help individual households largely depends on how quickly […]
Louisiana
Posted inExtreme Weather, Housing
Hurricane Francine Leaves 400,000 Louisianans Without Power
Hurricane Francine zig-zagged through southern Louisiana on Sept. 11, leaving widespread power outages and flooding behind. Some parts of the state experienced winds of 100 mph and 10 inches of rain. As thousands of Gulf Coast residents were under mandatory evacuation orders, those remaining, particularly in the state’s largest city, New Orleans, were left riding […]
Posted inAir Pollution, Environmental Justice
The Court Ruling That Guarantees a Future of Environmental Racism
About 45 minutes from New Orleans, cities founded by formerly enslaved people make up St. John the Baptist Parish. As the regional economy has shifted from chains and plantation slavery to smokestacks and petrochemical plants, their descendants still make up most of the people who live there. Those original deadly threats have not disappeared. Today, parts […]
Posted inAir Pollution, Environmental Justice
Biden’s $150M Cancer Pledge Clashes with Reality in Louisiana’s Cancer Alley
NEW ORLEANS — In one of President Joe Biden’s first public appearances since ending his reelection campaign, he spoke on something very personal to him — cancer. But Louisiana’s Black activists say he still missed the point. Over the past decade, Biden has not shied from explaining how the life of his son, Beau Biden, […]
Posted inEverything's Political, Politics & Policy
Everything’s Political, Including a South Carolina Map
Welcome back to Everything’s Political, Capital B’s weekly news, culture, and politics newsletter! In this edition, learn about the U.S. Supreme Court’s devastating decision on a South Carolina congressional map, the pardon of a man who killed a Black Lives Matter protester, voting rights in Louisiana, the search for a missing Black woman in Mississippi, […]
Posted inAir Pollution, Environmental Justice, Partner Content
Republican Lawmakers Take Aim at Community Air Monitoring in Louisiana
Originally published by Floodlight. In 2022, decades of advocacy by the Louisiana Environmental Action Network to address poor air quality near industrial facilities took a significant leap forward. That’s when the Biden administration awarded more than $50 million through the Inflation Reduction Act to increase air quality monitoring in some U.S. communities historically overburdened by […]
Posted inCulture, Everything's Political, Politics & Policy
Everything’s Political, Including the L.A. Rebellion
Welcome back to Everything’s Political, Capital B’s weekly news, culture, and politics newsletter! In this edition, learn about how a pioneering Black actor lived up to the idea that all art is political, what an Arkansas ruling means for two Black educators in the state, why Louisiana might backtrack on its voting map, what’s next […]
Posted inEverything's Political, Politics & Policy
Everything’s Political, Including This Holiday
Welcome back to Everything’s Political, Capital B’s news, culture, and politics newsletter! Every Thursday, I’ll take a look at recent stories that seem particularly noteworthy. But before we dive into this week’s roundup, I first wanted to let you know that Capital B has released a mission statement and FAQ explaining how our national newsroom […]
Posted inAir Pollution, Environmental Justice, Partner Content
23 States Ask EPA to Halt Civil Rights Rules Regulating Pollution
Echoing arguments similar to those used by the conservative majority on the U.S. Supreme Court striking down affirmative action, Republican attorneys general from 23 states petitioned the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency this week to stop taking race into account when regulating pollution. The petition, authored by the office of Florida Attorney General Ashley Moody, was filed […]
Posted inCriminal Justice, Policing
Reform Rollbacks May Lead to Another Rise in Mass Incarceration
LaNaisha Edwards was 15 when she started going to funerals in the mid-1990s. By her senior year, getting dressed for another memorial service “became the normal thing to do — sadly” in Los Angeles, she said. By September 2010, the plague of gun violence that destroyed other families hit too close to home. Her 24-year-old […]
