NEW ORLEANS – Mark Whitaker sells chicken and hot links in New Orleans’ historic French Quarter every New Year’s Eve as fireworks paint the sky along the Mississippi River. He pulls his cooler and barbecue pit through the crowded streets to maximize his profits as the city attracts up to 150,000 tourists on New Year’s […]
New Orleans
Posted inClimate Change, Environmental Justice, Health
Climate Change Is Deepening HIV Inequities for Black Americans
As Hurricane Ida’s fierce winds ripped panels off of rooftops across New Orleans in September 2021, health workers and HIV activists braced for the aftermath. With power cut and roads blocked by debris, prescription refills and patients would be lost and forgotten in the storm’s chaotic wake across the South. And with record-breaking hurricanes like […]
Posted inEnvironmental Justice, Extreme Weather, Housing
Flooded, Foreclosed, and Forgotten: The Unkept Promises to Hurricane Katrina’s Victims
NEW ORLEANS – Robert Green guesses it was about 5 a.m. when the water first broke through. By 5:10, he, his mother, brother, cousin, and three grandchildren, ages 4, 3, and 2, were on the roof. Within five minutes, their house was floating down the street. By 5:20, the home, pinned against an oak tree, […]
Posted inEducation, K-12, Partner Content
All-Charter No More: New Orleans Opens Its First Traditional School in Nearly Two Decades
This story about New Orleans schools was produced by The Hechinger Report, a nonprofit, independent news organization focused on inequality and innovation in education. Sign up for the Hechinger newsletter. In August, more than 300 students started the school year in the first traditional school run directly by the New Orleans school district since 2019. […]
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 inClimate Change, Environmental Justice, Extreme Weather
‘We Can’t Wait’: How Black Neighborhoods Are Preparing for the Summer Heat
After closing out May with four days of triple-digit temperatures and New Orleans’ first heat advisory of the season, the group of mainly Black elders welcomed the “dip” in temperature on June 1. Still, it swelled to 96 degrees that morning as roughly 35 people huddled in a community center in the city’s Upper Ninth […]
Posted inBlack Farmers, Economy, Food Access
A New Road Threatens to Displace a ‘Safe Haven’ for New Orleans’ Black Youth
NEW ORLEANS — As the youth group sat in its warm-up circle, Kennedy Turner, half-jokingly, scoffed at his peers. “Why didn’t y’all react to my prom photos in the group chat?” Quickly, Cionne Chase, 19, jumped in to explain that she did, in fact, react to the photos and most definitely did not deserve to […]
Posted inFood Access, Money
Freddie Gray’s Life Ignited a Movement for Black Food Sovereignty
In death, Freddie Gray’s life sparked a movement. After the 25-year-old was killed in the spring of 2015 by Baltimore police, nationwide, Black folks fought for children to receive the support and resources that he lacked while living. In his hometown, it laid bare how environmental factors — toxic contamination and poor access to fresh […]
Posted inPolitics & Policy
Officials Withheld Funds Over an Abortion Ban. Black Louisianans Are Most At Risk.
Sitting in the Louisiana Senate chambers last week, Democratic Sen. Jimmy Harris received a text alert: A brewing storm heading toward his New Orleans district had prompted a flood advisory. Moments later, the state’s all-male bond commission voted 7-6 to temporarily block a $39 million loan that New Orleans planned to use for a power […]