Allan Katz and Danae Columbus
Today is an important milestone in Councilman-at-large Jacquelyn Brechtel Clarkson’s life. It is the beginning of her last year as City Council President. She is slated to take over today from the effervescent Councilwoman-at-large Stacy Head who made lots of headway on projects she considers important. Continue reading »
Police investigate a fatal shooting at the corner of Amelia and Magnolia streets in the Milan neighborhood. (Robert Morris, UptownMessenger.com)
A 35-year-old man was shot to death Wednesday evening at the intersection of Amelia and Magnolia streets in the Milan neighborhood, police have confirmed.
Continue reading »
Crowds gather around the Ace Hardware on Oak Street in late March in preparation for the Pigeontown Steppers second line. A banner announcing the store’s impending closure hangs above the store. (UptownMessenger.com file photo)
Jean-Paul Villere
Without fuss or fanfare the Oak St Ace Hardware depleted its remaining inventory over April and closed its doors permanently. Forever. Gone. Kaput. No mas. The corner fixture that united neighbors and brought inexpensive solutions to the 21st century world of buying in bulk, automated key duplicating machines, and the like became another memory, the end result of a society that more often chooses convenience over customer service and cost over care. I, for one, was a fan and truly shopped there as often as I could, and I am more than a little sad if only because I can see the future. Effectively our consuming buying patterns and the all too nearby Lowe’s spelled the demise for this little gem. Continue reading »
A NOPD officer keeps drivers away from a road hazard on Joseph Street that snared several vehicles on Tuesday, waiting for city workers to bring barricades to keep drivers away from it until it can be repaired. (Robert Morris, UptownMessenger.com)
In 2011, east Carrollton residents complained of a treacherous hump in Lowerline Street next to Lusher Elementary school that was scraping the bottom of some vehicles or causing others to swerve dangerously around it with children in the area. In December of that year, the “Lusher lump” was fixed to great rejoicing — until now, when a scarily similar lump on Joseph Street is ensnaring drivers next to Lusher High School. Continue reading »
City Councilwoman LaToya Cantrell delivers her “State of District B” address Tuesday night at City Hall. (Robert Morris, UptownMessenger.com)
City Councilwoman LaToya Cantrell laid out a holistic vision for stronger neighborhoods with more opportunities for young people and healthier residents with better jobs, but said she will need the support of her entire district to bring it to reality.
“I wanted to truly bring our district together, much how we did in Broadmoor. We subdivided to figure out our needs, but we came together as a neighborhood,” Cantrell said. “Tonight, I want us to come together as a district. With your help, we can truly build a District B that we can believe in.” Continue reading »
Matthew Stone, a sex offender convicted on five counts of indecent solicitation of a minor in Illinois with an outstanding warrant for his arrest for failing to register when he moved to New Orleans, was placed in a Tulane University apartment with three undergraduates in January 2011 when he enrolled in the School of Continuing Studies, which does not request incoming students’ criminal history, according to a lengthy account by Maggie Herman of the Tulane Hullabaloo student newspaper. Stone later moved to New York, served time on forgery charges pressed by a girlfriend from New Orleans, and is now back in prison in Illinois serving a four-year sentence for failing to register as a sex offender, the Hullabaloo reports.
In their first year participating in the growing OneApp enrollment process for New Orleans public schools, Ben Franklin Elementary was the most popular choice for young students and Eleanor McMain Secondary School was the most sought-after for high school students, according to an article by Danielle Dreilinger of The Times-Picayune. All direct-run Orleans Parish School Board campuses joined the process this year, including both of the B-rated Uptown schools that proved so popular.
Charters authorized through the state Board of Elementary and Secondary Education — including the International School of Louisiana and Lycée Français de la Nouvelle Orléans — will join the OneApp process in the next year, state officials previously decided. Orleans Parish charters, such as Lusher and Audubon, are not likely to be required to join until their current charters are renewed several years down the road.
A project rendering by the city of New Orleans.
After merchants and residents aired their frustrations last month about the long delays in upgrades to O.C. Haley Boulevard, city officials will present the most current plans for the project tonight (at 5:30 p.m. Tuesday, April 30) at the Ashe Cultural Arts Center. Continue reading »
Students from Eleanor McMain Secondary School perform at Tipitina’s Instruments A Comin’ benefit Monday night. (Robert Morris, UptownMessenger.com)
Marching bands from four New Orleans schools — Martin Behrman, Eleanor McMain, McDonogh 35 and the St. Augustine “Marching 100″ — performed for crowds packing Napoleon Avenue on Monday night to kick off Tipitina’s annual Instruments A Comin’ benefit, raising money to buy instruments that will be placed in other area schools. Continue reading »
City Councilwoman LaToya Cantrell speaks to the Bouligny Improvement Association in February. (UptownMessenger.com file photo by Robert Morris)
Bricolage Academy, the new Orleans Parish charter school borne out of the efforts of the 4.0 Schools education think tank, will spend its first year at Touro Synagogue on St. Charles Avenue, officials announced. Continue reading »
(cartoon by Owen Courreges for UptownMessenger.com)
Owen Courreges
“The care of human life and happiness and not their destruction is the only legitimate object of good government.”
– Thomas Jefferson, 1809
“Good government is practically applying the principles which make a man a good citizen.”
– Theodore Roosevelt, 1902
“We are trying to resolve this behind closed doors cause that is good government.”
– Jackie Clarkson, 2013
How does that old Sesame Street tune go? “One of these things is not like the others…” Continue reading »
A member of the St. Augustine Marching 100 plays in the Battle of the Bands for the Instruments A-Comin’ benefit at Tipitina’s in April 2012. (UptownMessenger.com file photo by Robert Morris)
Devante Billy (via opcso.org)
Byron J. Johnson (via opcso.org)
(image via tingaling.org)
Aite Tinga, a harpist from Switzerland, will perform music from her latest release, “Where the Windrose Seeds,” in a free performance at Nix Library at 6 p.m. tonight (Friday, April 26). Continue reading »
Craig Giesecke
I mentioned in last week’s column some of my ideas about pairing various beers, wines and foods together, and already I’ve gotten a few questions. They mainly involve how someone knows certain things go together before they spend a fair amount of money during a trip to the store. Pretty much anyone who cooks even semi-regularly is willing to experiment and improve, and I’m one who has been lucky enough to make a fair living doing so. Continue reading »
White powder in a letter sent to Touro Infirmary earlier this month — just a few days before the Boston Marathon bombings and a series of envelopes containing the toxin ricin were sent to federal officials — has been deemed harmless by investigators, officials said. Continue reading »
A group painting by 20 adult students in Karen Stastny’s painting class that will be part of the Jewish Community Center art show.
The Jewish Community Center annual art show and sale will open tonight (Thursday, April 25) with a reception from 5 to 7 p.m., and the art will remain on display through May 10. Continue reading »
A banner on a house at the corner of Bellecastle and Tchoupitoulas proclaims the future expansion of Blue Dot Donuts, the popular Mid-City shop started by three police officers. (Robert Morris, UptownMessenger.com)
When three officers from the New Orleans Police Department’s Uptown-based Second District opened a donut shop in Mid-City, they thought they heard every cop-and-donut gag in the book.
Now that they’re planning a new location on Tchoupitoulas — much closer to the station where they all worked — they know to expect a whole new round of jokes. Continue reading »
Demetrius Williams (via opcso.org)