Joe Giarrusso rides a landslide into re-election for City Council District A

For Joe Giarrusso III, the question was not whether he would win his re-election bid for City Council District A, but by how much. The answer: by a landslide. 

Giarrusso crushed his competition, Libertarian Amy Misko and fellow Democrat Robert Murrell, and won with 76% of the vote in Saturday’s election, according to unofficial results from the Louisiana Secretary of State. In comparison, he won his first race for City Council in 2017 with 65% of the vote. The incumbent council member not only earned more than three times as many votes as his two opponents combined, he won in every District A precinct. 

His strongest performance was in the University area of Uptown, where he won more than 90% of the vote in four 14th Ward precincts (9, 8, 14 and 6). 

His weakest performance — although he still prevailed — was in a few left-leaning Mid-City spots: 5th Ward precincts 9 and 10, in the lower Bayou St. John area, and 3rd Ward precinct 19, a slice of Mid-City between Canal Street and the Pontchartrain Expressway.

Lusher board puts off name change, rejects naming school after Jeanne Marie Lusher 

After years of controversy and debate, the board governing Lusher Charter School officially voted on Thursday to change the school’s name to … something to be decided. 

At an emotional meeting that lasted almost four hours with 90 public comments, the Lusher board voted against renaming the school after pediatric oncologist Jeanne Marie Lusher. The four board members who opposed keeping “Lusher” in the name were Alysia Loshbaugh, Rachel Wisdom, Kiki Huston and George Wilson, while the two members willing to consider it were Brenda Bourne and Gary Solomon.  

“We are not the name. We are the community. We are the students. We are the faculty,” Wisdom said.

Lesli Harris adds to her list of endorsements as election day nears (sponsored)

While the current Councilperson of District B is insistent that he cannot make an impact on our community’s greatest challenges, Lesli Harris has outlined a new way forward. From her plans to repair our roads, increase community policing to reduce crime, and make District B more amenable to small businesses, Lesli Harris has demonstrated her commitment to improving our neighborhoods. For these reasons, Congressman Troy Carter released a video message this week urging residents of the district —which includes Uptown, Central City, parts of Mid City, and the CBD — to vote for Lesli Harris. The congressman, who won a seat in the U.S. House of Representatives earlier this year, is joined by District Attorney Jason Williams, the Democratic Party of New Orleans, the International Womens Organization, Forum for Equality, and others who are formally supporting Lesli Harris’ candidacy. “District B deserves a champion.

Joe Giarrusso: Your trust and confidence (sponsored)

Dear Friend,
Your trust and confidence has been so important to my service on the City Council. I want to continue the work we’ve started––and ask for your vote this Saturday. As your representative on the Council, I took the lead–– working with state, federal and local officials––to clean up the mess after Hurricane Ida, restore public services and keep our streets safe. I stood up for our district and put pressure on city waste haulers, Entergy, the Sewerage & Water Board and Cox Cable to do their jobs––and I’ll continue this fight until every problem is resolved. Effective and fair law enforcement is essential to public safety.

Nation’s oldest World War II veteran just wants to stay in his Central City home

 

Central City resident Lawrence Brooks, the nation’s oldest living World War II veteran at 112, is back at his home after a recent stay at the Veterans Affairs Medical Center and a few nights in the intensive care unit. When his daughter and caregiver, Vanessa Brooks, was notified of his impending release last Thursday (Nov. 4), she was asked whether she planned to ride home with him in the ambulance. She shook her head and laughed. “He’ll have six people with him,” she said.

Viewpoint: Will incumbents rule the day in Saturday’s election?

Mayor LaToya Cantrell’s re-election became even more of a certainty after her announcement Tuesday (Nov. 9) that she is abandoning the idea of relocating City Hall to the Municipal Auditorium in Armstrong Park. Even with the anti-Cantrell vote and the personal support her 13 opponents have garnered, Cantrell is still expected to take it in the first round. Four years ago she won with 60% of the vote. Opponents who could win at least a small portion of the votes include small business owner Vina Nguyen, fitness expert Leilani Heno and activist Belden Batiste. 

Many of the other incumbents on the ballot might not coast to victory as easily as Cantrell.

Viewpoint: Charter school is perpetuating Robert Mills Lusher’s racist legacy

By Corinne A. Williams, guest columnist

The pandemic along with the racial reckoning in our country and, most recently, Hurricane Ida have all put New Orleans’ kids in a position to experience a collective trauma — much like people my age experienced after Hurricane Katrina. In addition to traumas already thrust upon them, children attending Lusher Charter School are attuned to many internal school-related traumas. Their school leaders have put their best interests last for one of the simplest things that they have control over: the name of their school. Lusher Charter School is named for Robert Mills Lusher, a Confederate tax collector, segregationist and unabashed member of the Crescent City White League. By today’s standards and any anti-racist standard, Mr. Lusher would be someone who should be unequivocally rejected as a person to name anything after.

Police seeking second suspect in double homicide at church parking lot

The New Orleans Police Department is seeking assistance in locating a second suspect wanted in a double homicide on Oct. 6 outside a church in the Touro Bouligny neighborhood. NOPD Homicide Unit detectives have determined the unidentified male pictured below to be a suspect in a shooting that killed two men and injured two others. The four victims were working on a drainage project in the parking lot of the New Shiloh Missionary Baptist Church on Annunciation and Gen. Taylor streets when four men opened fire on the group. Victims Zernell Lee, 19, and Derrick Copelin, 25, died at the hospital.