NEW ORLEANS METRO REAL-TIME NEWS

Breaking Local News from New Orleans, Louisiana

As criminal inquiries heat up in the New Orleans crime camera contract saga, so too is the civil lawsuit that's exposed the inner workings of the deal involving Mayor Ray Nagin's administration, Dell Inc., city technology vendors, and an affiliated firm that paid for junkets for the mayor.

Continue reading "New Orleans judge grants short delay in crime-camera civil case as criminal inquiries intensify" »

The St. Tammany Parish Council has agreed to consider local laws to either ban or heavily regulate video bingo halls in the unincorporated areas.

Continue reading "St. Tammany Parish Council to consider banning or heavily regulating video bingo" »

A 37-year-old man was convicted of sticking up mother-and-daughter employees at a Sonic Drive-in in Mandeville last year.

Continue reading "Mandeville man guilty of holding up Sonic Drive-In employees" »

NEW YORK (AP) -- The crown of the Statue of Liberty will reopen July 4 for the first time since the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, Interior Secretary Ken Salazar announced Friday.

"On July 4, we are giving America a special gift," Salazar said at a news conference on nearby Ellis Island.

The statue was closed to the public after 9/11 because of security concerns. The base, pedestal and lower observation deck have since been reopened.

Continue reading "Statue of Liberty crown to reopen July 4; $25M in stimulus funding to be used for nearby Ellis Island" »

A breakwater to protect a Kenner pumping station will affect a long-planned marina at the Gabriel subdivision.

Despite that, Kenner City Council members said they needed to put flood-protection first and unanimously voted Thursday to tell Mayor Ed Muniz to write a letter of no objection about the breakwater, while agreeing to set up meetings with Kenner officials, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and Gabriel officials to find a way for the breakwater and the marina projects to co-exist.

Continue reading "Kenner City Council does not object to breakwater project to protect Kenner pump station" »

The Corps of Engineers has awarded a $9.15 million contract to construct a breakwater to help protect the Bonnabel Pump Station at Lake Pontchartrain in Metairie.

The contract went to Boh Brothers Construction Co., and work should be finished by December 2009. It is the first of four breakwaters that will either be newly constructed or improved at each of the major four pump stations along the East Jefferson lakefront, by the start of hurricane season in 2011.

Continue reading "Corps of Engineers awards $9 million contract to build breakwater to protect Metairie pump station" »

Legislators, being rightly worried about the possibility of reprisal, are typically loath to say boo to the governor, although our current crop is more than usually gutless. Rep. Karen Carter Peterson, D-New Orleans, is one of the few willing to beard Bobby Jindal, but he remains boss. Peterson was quite right, for instance, to denounce Jindal, the self-proclaimed champion of "transparency, " for opposing a bill that would have ended his exemption from the public records law.

But most members of the House committee considering the bill were easily cowed by Jindal's executive counsel, Jimmy Faircloth, and that was the end of that.

Continue reading "James Gill: For lawmakers, a question of trust in Gov. Jindal" »

To a couple of standing ovations and much applause, longtime Kenner City Councilman Marc Johnson took the oath for an appellate judgeship Thursday and the council appointed his replacement.

"It's been a great run for me," said Johnson, who had served on the council since 1994. He was elected April 4 to the Louisiana 5th Circuit Court of Appeal, defeating 24th Judicial District Judge June Berry Darensberg.

Continue reading "Kenner councilman Marc Johnson sworn in as state appeal court judge" »

An armed man tried to rob a school uniform store in Slidell on Thursday but ran away after an employee told him she was calling the police, authorities said.

Continue reading "Gunman tries to rob school uniform store in Slidell" »

SANTA BARBARA, Calif. (AP) -- Firefighters struggled Friday to get ahead of a raging wildfire that was moving dangerously close to heavily populated areas in this idyllic coastal city and had forced the evacuation of an estimated 30,000 residents.

Continue reading "Wildfire raging near Santa Barbara, Calif.; 30,000 evacuated" »

WASHINGTON (AP) -- The pace of layoffs slowed in April when U.S. employers cut 539,000 jobs, the fewest in six months. But the unemployment rate climbed to 8.9 percent, the highest since late 1983, as many businesses remain wary of hiring given all the economic uncertainties.

Continue reading "Layoffs slow to 539,000 in April; jobless rate rises" »

Michael Singreen, who was accused of beating his parents to death inside their Uptown home in January, is being treated at the state's forensic psychiatric hospital in East Feliciana Parish, his attorney said Thursday.

Singreen, 28, who has been indicted on two counts of first-degree murder, will remain in the hospital until authorities determine he is able to assist his attorneys in his defense, said capital defense attorney Kerry Cuccia. Singreen could receive the death penalty if convicted.

Continue reading "Man accused of beating his parents to death now in mental hospital" »

ALEXANDIA, VA. -- The military security contractor who shot and killed an Afghan prisoner being held after setting an unarmed social scientist on fire was sentenced today to five years probation.

Don Ayala, who moved to New Orleans about six years ago, will serve no prison time, but will have to pay a $12,500 fine.

U.S. District Court Judge Claude Hilton said he was sympathetic to the horror of what Ayala went through after learning that a friend and colleague had been brutally attacked. Federal sentencing guidelines called for a prison term of 78 to 97 months for the voluntary manslaughter charge for which Ayala pleaded guilty. Federal prosecutors had said they believed Ayala deserved substantial time in prison.

Continue reading "Contractor gets probation in death of Afghan prisoner" »

Officials of the National World War II Museum announced details Thursday for a three-day grand opening of the museum's newest phase: a 70,000 square foot complex where visitors can experience the sights, sounds, tastes and feel of the way life was for American soldiers on the battlefield and for their folks back home.

Continue reading "New attractions at National World War II Museum to open with Nov. 6 weekend celebration" »

If the recently concluded New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival presented by Shell felt a bit more crowded this year, that's because it was.

Total ticket sales for the seven days at the New Orleans Fair Grounds topped 400,000, organizers said.

Continue reading "Jazz Fest attendance surpasses 400,000" »

Lynn Cunningham, assistant to the editor of The Times-Picayune, has been named the newspaper's online editor.

In her new job, Cunningham, 58, will coordinate and direct The Times-Picayune's content on NOLA.com, the newspaper's affiliated Web site.

Cunningham has been assistant to the editor since 1993. She joined The Times-Picayune staff in 1977. During her tenure at the paper she has been a reporter and an assistant city editor. A graduate of St. Mary's Dominican High School and the University of New Orleans, Cunningham is a native of New Orleans.

Lynn Cunninghman can be reached at lcunningham@timespicayune.com.

For the past few weeks, the Jefferson Parish Council has wanted to show it's not above the law. But to its members' chagrin, the law, pesky as it is, keeps getting in the way.

Continue reading "Drug testing law snagged for Jefferson Parish officials" »

At Wednesday's meeting of the Jefferson Parish School Board, board member Gene Katsanis checked his watch more than a few times. He had a party to host, but also wanted to say his peace on Superintendent Diane Roussel's proposed change in the job description for assistant regional superintendent. Continue reading "Gene Katsanis pulled in two directions at Jefferson Parish School Board meeting" »

The students at Dr. Charles R. Drew Elementary climbed over each other Thursday, pressing their hands and faces to the classroom windows.

Girls puffed their cheeks and covered their mouths with both hands. Boys arched their eyebrows and unleashed a collective gasp.

Snoop Dogg, the controversial rapper and pop culture icon, was here to teach a lesson.

Continue reading "Rapper Snoop Dogg sings praises of education to kids in event organized by Rev. Toris Young" »

BATON ROUGE -- Many chickens may die in north Louisiana to bring another Super Bowl to New Orleans.

In Louisiana style, those seemingly dissimilar events are coinciding in the state Legislature, which on Thursday approved a $50 million rescue of a Farmerville chicken plant that could start a domino effect felt all the way to the National Football League's championship game in 2013.

Continue reading "Chicken plant subsidy approved by Legislature" »

In what was billed as an effort to overhaul Louis Armstrong International Airport's heavily criticized taxi service, the New Orleans Aviation Board used secret meetings and contradicted its own bid rules to keep the same company in charge of the curbside cabs, according to a lawsuit filed this week by a rejected competitor.

Continue reading "Airport taxi deal rigged, lawsuit says" »

The St. Tammany Parish Council slashed the 2009 operating budgets of all parish departments and agencies by 3 percent as expected Thursday night amid concerns that more cuts could be necessary before the year is out.

Continue reading "St. Tammany Parish Council makes budget cuts" »

New Orleans police are investigating a shooting death in the Hollygrove neighborhood.

Police responded to a report of shots fired and found the body of the 31-year-old man in an empty lot in the 3600 block of Hollygrove shortly after 9 p.m. He had multiple gunshot wounds, said Officer Shereese Harper.

Continue reading "Police investigate homicide in Hollygrove neighborhood" »

Police unions trying to block news organizations' access to internal police investigations of New Orleans officers also are waging a campaign in the civil and criminal courts to keep such records out of the hands of the city's public defenders office.

Continue reading "Police unions fight access to internal investigation files" »

Louisiana's inshore shrimp season will open across most of the state Monday.

Continue reading "Inshore shrimping seasons announced" »

With its revenue dipping to unanticipated levels, the Jefferson Parish School Board has been forced to scoop even deeper into its savings to make up for a more than $25 million projected shortfall in its budget for this school year.

Continue reading "Jeff Parish School Board raids savings to finance budget" »

The probation given to a former Slidell police officer who shook down Hispanic motorists has outraged some members of the New Orleans area's Hispanic community, who decried the sentence as too light and said it is a reflection of how many people see Hispanics as second-class citizens.

Continue reading "Hispanics upset about sentence of former Slidell cop" »

Having little significant legislation of its own to deal with, the New Orleans City Council spent much of its meeting Thursday offering advice to state lawmakers and Gov. Bobby Jindal.

Continue reading "New Orleans City Council voices support for UNO athletics, SUNO" »

WASHINGTON -- Louisiana lawmakers are praising President Barack Obama's plan to trim about $17 billion in federal spending in his record $3.4 trillion federal budget proposal, but question his decision to hold off financing on an 11th amphibious Navy ship, a project centered at Northrop Grumman's Avondale Shipyards.

In its budget proposal Thursday, the administration says a delay in advance procurement for the LPD 17 "allows the Navy more time to fully analyze required amphibious fleet capabilities."

Continue reading "Obama budget would hold spending on Avondale ship project" »

A Chalmette teen has been booked with second-degree battery after allegedly beating up another teen at a bus stop, authorities said.

Continue reading "Chalmette teen booked after bus stop fight" »

More than three decades after the end of the Vietnam War, the Vietnam Veterans Memorial and replicas such as The Wall That Heals are still opening deep emotions held back for years.

Continue reading "Vietnam Memorial replica exhibit opens in Destrehan" »

BATON ROUGE -- Louisiana lawmakers are considering a change in high school curriculum at the state's public schools.

Continue reading "Louisiana Senate panel considers high school curriculum change" »

A 13- and a 14-year-old have been booked with aggravated arson for setting fire to a toilet paper dispenser that caused Roosevelt Middle School to be evacuated, Kenner police said today.

Continue reading "Two boys arrested for arson at Kenner middle school" »

A display of boxing techniques turned into genuine violence early Thursday morning when a Texas man and his 16-year-old nephew severely beat another man in their Slidell motel room, authorities said.

Continue reading "Beating at Slidell motel may leave man with brain damage" »

Times-Picayune police reporter Brendan McCarthy on Thursday was named the winner of the 2009 Mike Berger Award for in-depth, human-interest reporting, granted by Columbia University's Graduate School of Journalism in New York City.

Continue reading "Times-Picayune reporter wins national writing award from Columbia University" »

BATON ROUGE -- The proposed deal between the state and the New Orleans Saints is still a concern to lawmakers who feel that tapping $85 million in state surplus money to renovate the state-owned Superdome is not the best use of the money, the chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee said Thursday.

"You still have a number of members concerned about whether this is the right way to spend" parts of the state's $865 million surplus from last fiscal year, said Rep. Hunter Greene, R-Baton Rouge, one of Gov. Bobby Jindal's floor leaders. "There are a number of different regions in the state interested in the surplus" being used in other ways.

Continue reading "Key lawmaker has concerns about Saints deal" »

Motorists can expect intermittent nighttime lane closures on Interstate 12 between the Tangipahoa Parish line and the Slidell area because of on-going construction projects.

Continue reading "Lane closures continue on I-12 due to construction work" »

BATON ROUGE -- A financially struggling firm that took over a state-built sugar mill in Lacassine is postponing debt payments to a Louisiana bank under a deal approved by an agriculture commission today.

The payment extension gives Lake Charles Cane-Lacassine Mill LLC six months to find a new investment partner so that it can stay in business and meet its loan obligations, or otherwise the state would have to pay millions of dollars in defaulted loans.

Continue reading "Loan requirements adjusted for Lacassine sugar mill" »