Judge orders Angola to provide Farm Line workers access to shade, rest, sunscreen, and water
DOC must submit plan within a week to protect incarcerated persons laboring on the Farm Line, who otherwise face “immediate threats” including death and permanent injury
Recent Posts
Nuns Harnessing the Sun
The Sisters of the Holy Family are constructing solar panels on the order’s New Orleans East motherhouse, to create the city’s 12th solar-driven Community Lighthouse – and, over on Dwyer Road, they’re installing solar panels to reduce their neighbors’ Entergy bills.
‘It isn’t very clear who is responsible for the jail getting to that cap’
The Orleans Justice Center has surpassed the city’s jail population cap, sparking questions about how to increase releases while reducing bookings — and what the rising jail population means for the health of those incarcerated and for the city of New Orleans.
Angola prisoners ask to end field work in worst heat
For decades, Angola has forced prisoners to work in fields in extreme heat. Today, they’re urging a federal judge to halt the practice — prisoners have filed a motion as part of a proposed class-action lawsuit to end the practice of forced agricultural labor at the prison
“We should have a sense of urgency”: Drainage tile drives nutrient pollution
Agricultural drainage tile, a system used by farmers to increase crop yields, is a main contributor to excess nutrients in waterways.
Could the Mississippi River benefit from Chesapeake Bay’s strategy to improve water quality?
Sluggish progress on reducing nutrient runoff into the Bay marks an inconvenient truth, but offers lessons for others seeking to clean their watersheds.
Not just a Gulf problem: Mississippi River farm runoff pollutes upstream waters
Worsening local effects on health and recreation in states like Minnesota and Wisconsin are spurring action on problems that also cause the Gulf of Mexico’s chronic “dead zone.”
opinion
Getting everyone’s input on City Park, our backyard
An online survey by the authors — local and national network of certified planners, architects, urban designers, and landscape architects — seems to indicate that outreach for City Park’s new Master Plan never happened, certainly not in any comprehensive manner.
Finish Renaming the Streets Now
The Juneteenth holiday serves as a reminder that the City Council should wait no longer to finish the street renaming it began four years ago.
How federal tax dollars meant to fight climate change could end up boosting Louisiana’s fossil fuel production
The more carbon dioxide the factories produce and capture, the more federal money the projects can receive.
We are not helpless in the face of climate change.
If we bring the right people to the table and think outside the box, we can reduce insurance rates, bring down heat levels within our city, put our youth to work, have strong roofs, dry streets, cooler neighborhoods and be a national leader in climate adaptation.
PODCAST
Behind The Lens episode 242: ‘Extreme heat and dirty water’
La’Shance Perry, Nick Chrastil and Katy Reckdahl on the jail exceeding its population cap and Angola prisoners still forced to work the fields in extreme summer heat.
About the Lens
The Lens aims to engage and empower the residents of New Orleans and the Gulf Coast. We provide the information and analysis necessary to advocate for more accountable and just governance.