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Mike Freer ,
the athletic trainer for the New Orleans Zephyrs baseball team, has been named the Professional Baseball Athletic Trainers Society's "Minor League Athletic Trainer of the Year." Freer, who this year is entering his eighth season with the Class AAA affiliate of the Houston Astros, has spent 20 years working in professional baseball.

Jonathan Batiste, Lorna Williams, and Carl Latio, students at the New Orleans Center for the Creative Arts/Riverfront, have received national accolades. Batiste, a pianist, will perform at Grammy events with the 2004 Gibson/Baldwin Grammy Jazz Combo; and Williams and Lation have won visual arts and dance scholarships, respectively, from the National Foundation for Advancement in the Arts Recognition and Talent Search.

Second Harvesters Food Bank volunteers,
most from local Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints congregations, spent a recent Saturday gathering more than 20,000 pounds of unharvested navel oranges for food bank recipients. The fruit came from Harrigan Citrus in Port Sulphur, and would have otherwise been discarded or left in the orchard. Second Harvesters officials say fresh produce is especially needed by the food bank.

New Orleans School Board member Jimmy Fahrenholtz
should apologize to public-school teachers after telling The Times-Picayune that those who complained about receiving botched tax forms "should take the 15 minutes they used to call to complain, and prepare lessons for their classes. At least most of the ones we're not going to fire." Fahrenholtz said his words weren't directed at most teachers, and refused to apologize. But his flip attitude justifiably angered educators, who had legitimate grievances about the snafu.

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Insider Drama Over Corrections Job

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