Featured

International School of Louisiana may name new leader this month

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Although International School of Louisiana leader Sean Wilson will not depart for his new job until July, the charter school’s governing board may name a new Head of Schools this month, officials said Wednesday. After seven years at ISL, Wilson was chosen last month as the new leader of International High School, and his upcoming departure was the focus of much of the ISL’s monthly board meeting Wednesday night (held at the Hilton Garden Inn to coincide with a previously-planned event there). The board voted to convene a search committee for a new Head of Schools, and the committee will initially be comprised of current board members, said board president Matt Amoss. The committee’s meetings will be open to the public, however, and some parents or other community members may be added as non-voting members. The committee will meet on a weekly basis and likely name a successor to Wilson at the next full board meeting, currently scheduled for May 28, Amoss said after the meeting.

arts, books and music

Letter to the editor: Libraries have improved since 2011 report, but funding needs remain

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By Susan Larson

The New Orleans Public Library is so grateful for Jewel Bush’s warm and thoughtful article about the New Orleans Public Library; we appreciate her support and her advocacy — and her patronage! I am writing this as the secretary of the New Orleans Public Library Board, of which I have been a member since 2011. Much has transpired since the drafting of the consultant’s report cited in the article. To clarify: After years of revolving door leadership of acting, interim, consulting or poorly prepared library directors after Hurricane Katrina, the Board appointed Charles Brown, a nationally recognized library leader, as City Librarian/Executive Director of NOPL. This was in late 2011, after the report was drafted.

crime

Man arrested in invasion of 77-year-old’s Central City home, police say

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A 43-year-old man with a violent past has been arrested in connection with a home invasion Sunday in which a gang of five attackers held a 77-year-old Central City resident at gunpoint, New Orleans police said. Wardell Helmstetter is charged with aggravated burglary, according to court records, as well as third-offense possession of marijuana and two outstanding warrants for violation of protective orders. In the home-invasion, five men forced their way into the elderly victim’s home in the 2700 block of South Liberty, held him at gunpoint and searched the house until he let them into his safe, police said at the time. A subsequent search warrant at Helmstetter’s home by Sixth District investigators turned up several rings and other jewelry taken from the victim, according to a police report. Investigators also found marijuana at Helmstetter’s home, the report states.

city government

Jean-Paul Villere: Well, well, well; the culture of ‘not my job’

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“How are you doing?” “Good”

“No, Superman does good; you’re doing well”

So goes the old exchange that quickly provides the context of good versus well, and how one should really use them properly.  Among the titles New Orleans carries, The City that Care Forgot remains very real despite the influx of the educated and employed.  And you can see it almost anywhere. Just yesterday as I passed the Uptown / Lake corner of Magazine and Napoleon, right where there’s a field for Laurence Square, I noted a demolished collection of blue plastic shards and black and silver metal mangled, once a phone booth strewn across the city sidewalk but with a touch of caution tape and orange and white striped caution folding pylon, whatever you call those things.  And I just thought, “That’s ridiculous.”  At the center of a buzzing intersection in the shadow of open businesses, parks, schools, a library, and even a police precinct: this (dating back to April 10). We can’t remove it proper or I’m too busy to really address this, goes the thought process, so we’ll just put a little flare on it so passersby will know this is here.  Really!? When Coach Sean’s stern countenance was recently circulated in various media while absent from the Saints along with the words emblazoned “Do Your Job,” I always thought “Hey, that’s great.

court

One man gets 15 years, co-defendant gets seven years in Central City gun case

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A convicted drug dealer received 15 years in prison this week for possession of a gun following an April 2013 foot chase in the B.W. Cooper area of Central City, and his co-defendant was sentenced to seven years after agreeing to testify in the same case, New Orleans prosecutors said. Jamal “Mal” Smith, 25, pleaded guilty to the gun charge Tuesday and received 15 years, and Robert Steward, 20, received seven in connections with their arrests on Erato Street last year, according to the district attorney’s office. For details, see the full news release below:

District Attorney Leon Cannizzaro’s office convicted Jamal Smith (AKA “Mal”), 25 and Robert Steward, 20 of possession of a firearm by a convicted felon. Tuesday morning, both defendants pled guilty-as-charged in section “J” of Criminal District Court. On April 13, 2013, police responded to a call from a concerned citizen that Smith was armed with a handgun in the 3300 block of Erato Street.

city government

Prytania property owner takes yard-paving fight to court

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A dispute between a Prytania Street property owner and the city over the paving of a yard for parking at an apartment complex is headed to Civil District Court, according to a recent report by Karen Gadbois of The Lens. The yard paving took place after Katrina without city permission, and the Board of Zoning Adjustments has denied a request by property owner Henry Rosenblat to keep it, Gadbois reports, but attorney Joel Loeffelholz convinced a city hearing officer to delay any further administrative action for 90 days while the issue plays out in court.

crime

One victim, 24, dies in Annunciation Street double shooting

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One of the two men shot Friday night on Annunciation Street has died of his injuries, according to the coroner’s office. Willie Frank Quinn, 24, who was initially taken to the hospital in critical condition, has since died, confirmed John Gagliano, the chief investigator for the coroner’s office, on Tuesday morning. The shooting was reported around 9:45 p.m. Friday in the 3900 block of Annunciation Street, and sent two men to the hospital. The condition of the other victim was not immediately available, but police have since described in his injuries as a graze wound.

city government

Mayor’s “Race and Reconciliation” effort met with some hope and some skepticism

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The “Welcome Table,” a new effort led by the Mayor Mitch Landrieu’s office, intends to bring people together across racial lines and empower them with grant money to build their own projects to improve Central City and three other New Orleans communities. “We’re going to get some things done,” said Deputy Mayor Judy Reese Morse said at New Hope Baptist Church in Central City. “The grant will provide seed money to groups who are interested in actually working together to achieve something positive in our city.” When officials introduced the program Monday night, however, they were met with both skepticism that any real results will be accomplished and promises from participants that they will press forward despite their misgivings. Landrieu’s interest in the “Welcome Table” concept — created by the William Winter Institute at the University of Mississippi — dates back to his time as Lieutenant Governor, when he visited the institute with the hope of creating a statewide version of the program in Louisiana, Morse explained.

crime

Electronics stolen at knifepoint in university-area robbery

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A robber armed with a knife took a laptop and other electronics from a member of the Tulane community walking on Palmer Avenue on Monday night, authorities said. The robber got out of a white Crown Victoria around 10:30 p.m. in the 2500 block of Palmer Avenue (near Willow Street) and confronted the victim with a 2- to 3-inch knife, according to a Tulane police crime alert. The attacker took the victim’s bag — which had a laptop, iPhone and iPad inside — and left driving toward Claiborne Avenue on Palmer, the report states. The New Orleans Police Department is handling the investigation. Anyone with information is urged to call Second District detectives at 658-6020 or CrimeStoppers at 822-1111.

arts, books and music

jewel bush: Save the public libraries

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The New Orleans Public Library System is in trouble. Next year, the city has to find an additional $3 million just to keep the 13 current libraries open. That’s keep-the-lights-on money. Purchasing new books or investing in new library technologies are both out of the question under this scenario. In 2011, the New Orleans Public Library Foundation, a nonprofit that supports the library, hired a consultant to evaluate the system’s performance.