Despite efforts to align himself with Trump, David Duke remains “toxic” politically, biographer says

By Nicholas Reimann for UptownMessenger.com

The journalist that’s covered essentially the entire political career of former Ku Klux Klan leader David Duke said it’s clear the man himself has no political future — even as many of the ideas he ran on in the early 1990s are now gaining wider acceptance by mainstream politicians.

Current Advocate and former Times-Picayune political reporter Tyler Bridges shared those thoughts at Octavia Books Thursday, as he and Lawrence Powell — Tulane historian and co-founder of the anti-Duke Louisiana Coalition Against Racism and Nazism — met for conversation about Bridges’ new book, “The Rise and Fall of David Duke.”

As non-unanimous jury amendment vote nears, the fate of 12-member juries loom

Twelve men, one room, and a murder charge.

“It has to be twelve to nothing, either way. That’s the law.”

Sidney Lumet’s “12 Angry Men” is one of the most respected films centered around the criminal justice system. But the overall plot, where members of a 12-man jury must agree on a verdict that could send a teenager to the electric chair, could never occur in the state of Louisiana under state law.

Louisiana does not require unanimous jury verdicts in felony trials, instead allowing 10-2 verdicts to send the accused to prison for life. The abnormal verdict law stems from nearly 130 years ago, when delegates at an overtly racist convention ratified the state constitution to allow for non-unanimous juries. Norris Henderson, state director of the Unanimous Jury Coalition, explained the laws’ history during an intimate panel hosted by the Jewish Federation of Greater New Orleans.

Rouses eyes former Bloomin’ Deals spot on Freret for new grocery

Residents near Freret Street — both those that have been there for generations and more recent newcomers — have clamored for years for a neighborhood grocery on the commercial corridor.

With the announcement this week by Rouses that they are planning a location in the location of the former Bloomin’ Deals thrift shop — practically across the street from another ongoing grocery project in the former Publiq House space — those residents may soon have two groceries to choose from.

Danae Columbus: Service to community moves Mary Keller Zervigon

Uptown resident and long time activist-philanthropist Mary Keller Zervigon epitomizes the best in service to the community. When the United Way of Southeast Louisiana was looking for a worthy New Orleanian to induct into their Alexis de Tocqueville Society on Nov. 1, Zervigon – an heir to the Louisiana Coca-Cola Bottling Company fortune – was an easy choice. Zervigon’s grandfather Alfred Bird (A.B) Freeman began selling the new-fangled bottled drink in 1906. Several decades later, the family’s well-documented history of philanthropy began.