YAYA Arts Center to host Back in Bloom on Friday

YAYA Arts Center in Central City is hosting Back in Bloom, a spring showcase with art demos, live music from Jack Sledge and the Hammers, and an art market by YAYA artists. The free celebration of spring will be held Friday (May 21) from 6 to 8 pm. at the YAYA Arts Center, 3322 LaSalle St. Participants can also watch glass art demos and take part in the Goblet Grab, which involves buying a handmade glass that can be filled, free of charge, throughout the evening. YAYA, for Young Aspirations Young Artists, was founded in 1988 as a creative partnership between New Orleans artist Jana Napoli and art students from International High School of New Orleans as an after-school enrichment program.

City planners approve affordable housing development for Hollygrove

An affordable housing development planned for Hollygrove has won the unanimous approval of the City Planning Commission. Called Grove Place, the development would take up an entire square, about 1.8 acres, bounded by Earhart Boulevard and Monroe, Leonidas and Colapissa streets. Eleven existing doubles and triplexes, now vacant, will be renovated. The developers, New Orleans Restoration Properties, are also planning to construct a three-story 20-unit apartment building at Earhart and Monroe, on a site that once held a Church’s Chicken. That section of the property has commercial zoning, requiring a use exception from the city for the multi-family residential building.

Red Beans & Rouses partners with local churches to help feed neighborhoods (sponsored)

New Orleans traditions are here to stay! Every year, Rouses Markets donates millions of pounds of food to local food banks, food pantries, and community fridges. “I appreciate and love the way our stores and the neighborhoods they serve work together to support one another, and make sure that everyone has enough food to eat,” said Marcy Nathan, Rouses Markets’ creative director. Rouses Markets has always supported local nonprofit organizations, schools and churches working to make their neighborhoods better places to live and work. Recently they started a new community initiative, Red Beans & Rouses, in partnership with churches all over New Orleans.

S&WB lifts its boil water advisory

From the Sewerage & Water Board

The Sewerage & Water Board of New Orleans, in consultation with the Louisiana Department of Health, has canceled the precautionary boil water advisory for residents and businesses in New Orleans after bacteriological tests confirmed that water in the area was safe to drink and could be used for personal needs. Water samples from across the area have tested negative for contamination. Customers who have not used their water supply during this precautionary boil water advisory are advised to flush their internal and external plumbing by running water through their system for several minutes.

15-year-old booked in murder of teen near A.L Davis Park

The NOPD has arrested a 15-year-old male in the investigation of a homicide on April 19 at Washington Avenue and LaSalle Street, near the A.L. Davis playground that claimed the life of a 14-year-old boy. At about 7:35 p.m. on April 19, NOPD Sixth District officers responded to the location and found a 14-year-old juvenile teen male having sustained a gunshot wound. The victim, Joel Nichols, was transported to a local hospital. On April 20, Joel died from his injuries. Sixth District detectives positively identified the 15-year-old juvenile as a suspect and obtained an arrest warrant on a charge of second-degree murder.