The local flood protection authority is trying to determine whether it should let the Army Corps of Engineers add a protective layer to levees that may have been built too low. If the work happens and then the levees have to be raised, it would waste a lot of money — but the protective layer would add protection right away.
Next month, New Orleans voters will decide whether to extend an expiring property tax that finances repairs to public school buildings, but the measure is facing resistance from unlikely people: some members of the Orleans Parish School Board. Indeed, three out of the seven members voted against even sending the question to voters. That’s because the measure takes millions of dollars now controlled by the School Board and puts them in the hands of the Recovery School District, even though the state-run district isn’t mentioned anywhere in the ballot proposition.
Our maps were updated continually on Election Night as the Secretary of State counted votes. We tracked U.S. Senate, New Orleans judicial races and statewide constitutional amendments important to the city.
After the Supreme Court in January struck down a New Orleans ordinance that allowed tax-collection contractors to charge a 10 percent fee on past-due bills, it called into question a similar statewide law — both written by collections contractor Archon Information Systems. The Louisiana Municipal Association is lobbying for the passage of an amendment Tuesday that would make the arrangement unambiguously legal. A subsidiary of the Municipal Association benefits financially from a deal with Archon, and the company is bankrolling the association's political-action committee and has sponsored the association's events.
Scientists say one of the greatest environmental and economic disasters in the nation’s history is rushing toward a catastrophic conclusion. ProPublica and The Lens explore why it's happening and what will be lost if nothing is done.