schools

Staff layoffs, shrinking enrollment roil New Orleans College Prep families

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After an unexpectedly low student enrollment this fall at Walter L. Cohen high school and Crocker elementary led to a handful of staff layoffs by the New Orleans College Prep administration last month, teachers and families from both schools pleaded with the charter network’s governing board to find a way to shore up the struggling school communities. The New Orleans College Prep administration had budgeted for 930 students this year, 560 at Crocker and 370 at Cohen. Instead, both schools missed that target by about 20 students, costing the network nearly $450,000 in state per-pupil funding this year. The drop in enrollment was unexpected at both schools, said CEO Jonathan Tebeleff. Cohen usually receives many of its students — 50 or 60 per year — during the summertime “late enrollment period,” but this year has only enrolled six during that time.

city government

New indoor pool at Gert Town Natatorium now open for swimmers

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The newly constructed Gert Town Natatorium — next door to the recently-completed New Orleans Police Department Second District station — is now open to swimmers, with classes scheduled throughout the day, according to city recreation officials. The indoor pool shares the same 3411 Broadway Street address with the new police station next door, which opened earlier in September. It is open from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. weekdays — though it closes from noon to 1:30 p.m. on Monday, Wednesday and Friday for cleaning — and also from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Saturdays. It is closed on Sundays. “The new 15,000 square foot facility houses a six-lane, 25-yard indoor competition swimming pool and shares a community plaza with the neighboring Second District Police Station,” according to the New Orleans Recreation Department Commission.

crime

Man robbed at gunpoint on South Liberty Street, police say

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A man sitting outside a South Liberty Street home was robbed at gunpoint Tuesday night, New Orleans police said. The victim, a man in his 30s, was sitting in the 3400 block of South Liberty Street around 11:45 p.m. Tuesday, Oct. 2, when two strangers with guns approached, according to the initial NOPD report. They forced him to give up his cell phone and car key, then left, the report states. Further details were not immediately available.

business

Cell phone store on Louisiana Avenue robbed at gunpoint, police say

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A cell-phone store on Louisiana Avenue was robbed at gunpoint late last week, New Orleans police said. A man with a gun entered the Metro PCS store in the 1700 block of Louisiana Avenue around 1:15 p.m. Thursday, Sept. 27, and “demanded money from the clerk,” according to the initial NOPD report. “The clerk complied and handed the subject cash and six cell phones. The subject put the items in a Metro PCS bag then fled the location on foot southbound on Baronne, right on Delachaise then unknown.”

crime

Subway robbed on South Carrollton; robbery at knifepoint on South Claiborne, police say

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The robbery of the Subway on South Carrollton Avenue was caught on surveillance camera, and a man was robbed at knifepoint on South Claiborne Avenue over the weekend, New Orleans police said. Shortly before 3 p.m. Friday, Sep. 28, a man walked into the Subway restaurant in the 3500 block of South Carrollton Avenue with a white T-shirt covering his face, startling the four people — a man in his 50s, and three women ranging in age from their 30s to their 50s — working there, according to the initial NOPD report. “One of the employees fell to the floor while the other employees fled to [the] back,” the report states. “The suspect went behind the counter and retrieved an unknown amount of cash from an open register.”

court

Campaign to require unanimous jury verdicts comes to Uptown with voter-registration effort

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The statewide effort to create a constitutional amendment requiring a unanimous jury vote for a conviction came to Uptown New Orleans this week, registering voters and rallying supporters for the Nov. 6 ballot question. Constitutional Amendment 2 — placed on the ballot after the legislature’s passage of a bill by state Rep. J.P. Morrell, D-New Orleans — will ask voters the simple question of whether they “support an amendment to require a unanimous jury verdict in all noncapital felony cases.” The proposed change has drawn national praise, as 48 other states have long required unanimous verdicts, and bipartisan support from Republicans as an issue of constitutional rights and liberals as a civil-rights reform. On Tuesday, the Unanimous Jury Coalition found support from local chapters of the New Leaders Council, a political-development organization for young progressives, and When We All Vote, a project spearheaded by former First Lady Michelle Obama to increase voter turnout.

crime

Police looking for suspect in attack on streetcar driver over fare on South Carrollton

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A man refused to pay the fare on a South Carrollton Avenue streetcar and then attacked the driver over the weekend, and investigators are now hoping the public can help identify the gentleman, New Orleans police said. The man got on the streetcar at South Carrollton and South Claiborne shortly after 1 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 22, but refused to pay the fare, according to a NOPD report. “The subject then engaged in an altercation with the streetcar driver, during which the subject allegedly committed a battery on the driver,” the report states. The suspect is described as a 5-foot-11 black man in his late 20s or 30s with a “short twist hairstyle,” the report states.

elections

Danae Columbus: Baton Rouge lawmaker woos Orleans Republicans in Secretary of State’s race

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Preaching in a staccato, firebrand rhetoric on numerous conservative sacred-cow issues, Baton Rouge State Rep. Rick Edmonds was heartily endorsed last night by the Orleans Parish Republican Executive Committee and the Greater New Orleans Republicans in the Nov. 6 race for Secretary of State, beating out better-known names locally such as Kenner State Rep. Julie Stokes, former State Sen. A.G. Crowe, and current Secretary of State Kyle Ardoin. Married to his high school sweetheart Cindy for more than 44 years, Edmonds has deep ties in the state’s faith-based communities and among fiscal and religious conservatives. Called to the ministry at an early age, Edmonds received his doctorate at New Orleans’ Baptist Theological Seminary and worked with churches in Florida and Louisiana including Shreveport’s Calvary Baptist Church and Academy where he managed 200 employees and a $12 million annual budget. After returning to Baton Rouge, Edmonds served as vice president of the powerful Louisiana Family Forum, which advocates for conservative Christian values.

Congress

Scalise spars with Democratic challengers over Trump tariffs, gun laws (live coverage)

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U.S. Rep. Steve Scalise faced his three Democratic challengers on Monday night in the first and thus far only debate of the fall Congressional elections, defending President Trump’s controversial tariffs against their criticisms of lost Louisiana jobs and explaining his ongoing opposition to new gun laws even after being shot. Scalise, the Republican incumbent in Louisiana’s First Congressional District, debated three challengers — Lee Ann Dugas, Jim Francis and Tammy Savoie, all Democrats — for an hour Monday at Loyola Law School before the Alliance for Good Government. Two other candidates have also filed to run against him, but Howard Kearney (a Libertarian) arrived late and only gave a closing statement, and Ferd Jones (running as an Independent) did not show at all. Based on fundraising and endorsements, Savoie and Francis are competing for the mantle of Democratic frontrunner to challenge Scalise. As of June 30, the most recent federal reporting deadline, Francis had raised $25,000 in contributions, Savoie raised $22,000, Dugas reported none and Scalise had a $1.9 million war chest.

city government

City officials propose $500,000 for wheelchair lift at Nix Library

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After years of requests from Carrollton neighborhood leaders and accessibility advocates, city officials are now considering allocating a half-million dollars to make Nix Library wheelchair-accessible with a new lift at the front entrance. The request for “Nix Library ADA Accessibility” was made by the New Orleans Public Library board this summer as part of the city’s annual Capital Improvement Project budgeting process. The project would include remodeling the front entrance to install a hydraulic lift, and an interior addition with an “ADA compliant bathroom” and a new janitorial closet, according to the budget request. The city planners who evaluate each budget request frequently reject most items outright (such as the library board’s other requests, for renovations to the children’s library and a new space for the main library archives) recommended allocating $503,363 for the project in 2019, using bond money the city has already secured. “Capital Projects Administration noted that because there are leftover bond funds from 2015, for the dedication to public library projects, these funds could be allocated in whole,” the capital-improvement budget notes.