News, Gambit

Quote of the week

Mon, 13 May 2013 04:00:00 -0500

"I don't have his [Jindal's] cellphone. The governor said they would get me his cell number.…

Safe Biking

Mon, 13 May 2013 04:00:00 -0500

"Ride of Silence" May 15 May is National Bike Safety Month, and on May 15 the 10th annual Ride of Silence event will be held nationwide. The silent procession honors bicyclists who have been killed or injured by motorists, and the event aims to raise awareness of "share the road" rules and driving safety on public roadways.…

Newspaper war: On

Mon, 13 May 2013 04:00:00 -0500

Advocate Poaches Top Talent One week after New Orleans businessman John Georges purchased The Advocate and installed former Times-Picayune Managing Editors Peter Kovacs as editor and Dan Shea as general manager, the war between the papers escalated. Former T-P City Editor Gordon Russell and City Desk Editor Martha Carr — considered by staffers the leading lights in the newsroom during the paper's recent troubled times — defected to The Advocate, along with reporters Claire Galofaro and Andrew Vanacore.…

Scuttlebits

Mon, 13 May 2013 04:00:00 -0500

All the news that doesn't fit • Mother Jones ranked "America's 10 Worst Prisons" last week, and not surprisingly Orleans Parish Prison made the list. What may surprise many is that OPP came in at No. 4, below ADX (a federal "Supermax" prison in Colorado nicknamed "the Alcatraz of the Rockies"), the Texas death row unit and the infamous "Tent City Jail" in Maricopa County, Ariz. Still, rough company ...…

Shooting match

Mon, 13 May 2013 04:00:00 -0500

State gun bills on the move Months before the 2013 legislative session, GOP lawmakers pre-filed a rash of bills in response to "gun control threats" from the Obama administration in the wake of the elementary school shooting in Newtown, Conn., last December. Four of those bills got closer to Gov. Bobby Jindal's desk as they passed the Senate Judiciary Committee May 7.…

Bouquets & Brickbats

Mon, 13 May 2013 04:00:00 -0500

They get what they deserve The Daily Reveille, the student-run and -produced campus newspaper at Louisiana State University, was named the best all-around daily student paper in the country by the Society of Professional Journalists at its Mark of Excellence Awards May 1.…

Super impact

Mon, 13 May 2013 04:00:00 -0500

Bucking the trend (again) Nearly three months after New Orleans hosted Super Bowl XLVII, the University of New Orleans (UNO) reports the game had a $480 million net economic impact. UNO surveyed visitors from Jan. 30 to Feb. 3.…

The Dalai Lama in New Orleans

Alex Woodward — Mon, 13 May 2013 04:00:00 -0500

Alex Woodward on the Dalai Lama's first visit to the city by Alex Woodward On April 20, while Mayor Mitch Landrieu was a few miles away launching his NOLA for Life nonviolence event in Algiers, the French Market filled with colorful Tibetan prayer flags — symbols of peace and compassion — to mark Prayer Flag Day in New Orleans. That two events, coordinated separately and coincidentally, called for peace at the same hour had underscored the message relayed by political and religious leaders in preparation for the Dalai Lama's first-ever visit to New Orleans this week.…

State of the mayor's race

Mon, 13 May 2013 04:00:00 -0500

Mayor Mitch Landrieu delivered his annual State of the City address last week in the gymnasium of the Treme Center, the newly opened recreational facility in Armstrong Park. It was a fitting backdrop for a speech that was heavy on the city's (read: the mayor's) accomplishments over the last year, but this year's address — the last of Landrieu's current term — also had a not-so-subtle subtext, and that was what the city (read: the mayor) hopes to accomplish by 2018, the tercentennial of the founding of New Orleans.…

Food truck furor

Mon, 13 May 2013 04:00:00 -0500

Stacy Head on the Mayor's Veto On May 1, Mayor Mitch Landrieu vetoed City Council Vice President Stacy Head's food truck ordinance, a pilot plan package that would have updated the city's decades-old mobile vendor laws. Head responded with a compromise plan — and before Landrieu's annual State of the City address May 7, Head told Gambit her latest proposal now is "largely in the administration's court."…

David Vitter's resurrection

Stephanie Grace — Mon, 13 May 2013 04:00:00 -0500

Stephanie Grace on how Louisiana's junior senator has emerged as a powerbroker in Baton Rouge by Stephanie Grace As Gov. Bobby Jindal single-mindedly plans for life beyond Louisiana, the state Republican Party is planning for life beyond Jindal. And nobody is poised to play a bigger role than a man whose career was on life support just six years ago: U.S. Sen. David Vitter.…

Parade order

Mon, 06 May 2013 04:00:00 -0500

Cantrell: New carnival enforcement coming At her April 30 "State of the District" address in New Orleans City Council chambers, District B Councilwoman LaToya Cantrell mentioned that one of her goals in the second half of this year was to "introduce a comprehensive parade enforcement ordinance" that would be in place before Mardi Gras 2014, though she offered no specifics. Asked about it after the meeting, Cantrell told Gambit she intended to have a working draft of the ordinance by August, and hoped to have it adopted "by September at the latest" so public meetings about enforcement could begin by October.…

Firefighters' pension fund

Clancy DuBos — Mon, 06 May 2013 04:00:00 -0500

Clancy DuBos on how Mayor Mitch Landrieu and local firefighters support competing bills to fix the pension fund by Clancy DuBos Mayor Mitch Landrieu has no shortage of political fires to put out these days. He has ongoing disputes with Sheriff Marlin Gusman and the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) over consent decrees; he recently vetoed the new food truck ordinance (which put him at odds once again with Councilmember-At-Large Stacy Head); and he's sparring with board members of the Wisner Trust — to name just a few.…

A shot across the inky bow

Mon, 06 May 2013 04:00:00 -0500

Less than a year ago, we learned that New Orleans was about to become America's largest city without a daily newspaper. Last week, we got something different: the first salvos in what looks to be a protracted, old-fashioned newspaper war.…

Unexpected veto

Mon, 06 May 2013 04:00:00 -0500

Mayor kayoes Head's food truck ordinance Following last month's New Orleans City Council passage of an ordinance — nearly a year in the marking — that redrafted the city's decades-old mobile vending (aka food truck) laws, Mayor Mitch Landrieu vetoed the measure May 1. Landrieu said he feared the ordinance violates the Equal Protection clause of the 14th Amendment.…

The sale of The Advocate

Kevin Allman — Mon, 06 May 2013 04:00:00 -0500

Kevin Allman on John Georges' purchase of the Baton Rouge newspaper … and what it could mean for The Times-Picayune by Kevin Allman The Advocate, which moved into the New Orleans market from Baton Rouge earlier this year in response to The Times-Picayune going to a three-day-per-week production schedule, was sold April 30 to New Orleans businessman and sometime-political candidate John Georges. The announcement of the "Georges Media Group" and its buy were announced May 1 at The Advocate's Bluebonnet Road offices, attended by Gov. Bobby Jindal, Mayor Mitch Landrieu and various politicos and dignitaries.…

Quote of the week

Mon, 06 May 2013 04:00:00 -0500

"If I closed my mind when I saw this man — in the dust, throwing some bones on the ground, semi-clothed — if I had closed him off and just said, 'That's not science. I'm not going to see this doctor,' I would have shut off a very good experience for myself."…

Fest father

Mon, 06 May 2013 04:00:00 -0500

Jazz & Heritage Foundation honors George Wein The New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Foundation named its new music education center after George Wein at a May 3 ceremony in Treme. In the 1950s, Wein created the Newport jazz and folk music festivals, which became the prototypes for festivals featuring multiple musical talents and the formula behind the first New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival 44 years ago.…

Saved by the Bel?

Jeremy Alford — Mon, 06 May 2013 04:00:00 -0500

Jeremy Alford on state Rep. John Bel Edwards, who is emerging as a leader among state Democrats by Jeremy Alford That he is former military was among the first things the Capitol crowd heard about John Bel Edwards in 2008 before he arrived for his first session as a newly minted state representative. The rest of his dossier was pretty standard stuff: Democrat, House District 72, Amite native, Catholic, trial attorney, not related to former Gov. Edwin Edwards.…

Monitor delay

Mon, 06 May 2013 04:00:00 -0500

NOPD fed consent decision postponed The New Orleans Police Department (NOPD) is still without a federal consent decree monitor. Last week, U.S. District Court Judge Susie Morgan was scheduled to select one of the two final firms that would monitor the NOPD and implement reforms as ordered under the federal consent decree.…

Scuttlebits

Mon, 06 May 2013 04:00:00 -0500

All the news that doesn't fit • Mayor Mitch Landrieu will deliver his annual "State of the City" address May 7. New this year is the venue: the Treme Center, a $5.7 million community hub at the rear of Armstrong Park, which opened April 30 ...…

The library's books

Mon, 06 May 2013 04:00:00 -0500

Dwindling reserves at NOPL Updating New Orleans City Council on New Orleans Public Library (NOPL) budget concerns May 2, city librarian Charles Brown warned councilmembers that its dwindling reserve funds could force closures, limited hours or construction delays. While NOPL receives $8 million annually to fund its 12 libraries and staff, the money comes from a millage; it does not receive any money from the city's general fund.…

Bouquets & Brickbats

Mon, 06 May 2013 04:00:00 -0500

They get what they deserve New Orleans Mission held its inaugural "Big Easy Big Heart" 5K race through The Fly at Audubon Park, where sponsors and more than 400 supporters helped raise more than $20,000 for the organization, which provides food, shelter, clothing and other services to homeless New Orleanians.…

Interview: Hall & Oates

Michael Patrick Welch — Tue, 30 Apr 2013 04:00:00 -0500

Michael Patrick Welch on the 1980s mainstays who are headlining Jazz Fest by Michael Patrick Welch During the 1980s, Daryl Hall and John Oates created their "rock and soul" sound by manipulating new musical technology, and with the help of music videos became what Billboard describes as the top-selling duo in rock, with 34 songs reaching the Top 100 chart. Since singing backup for Smokey Robinson almost 40 years ago, Hall has proved himself to be one of the best white soul singers of all time with hits like "Sara Smile."…

Celebrate and vote

Tue, 30 Apr 2013 04:00:00 -0500

Two years ago, the League of Women Voters of New Orleans conducted an extensive study of the city's municipal and parochial election dates and their impact on voter turnout. Since 1982, New Orleans has held its citywide elections in February and March — right in the middle of Carnival season.…