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A man who was accosted at an ATM on St. Charles Avenue overnight responded by biting his attacker, New Orleans police said Thursday morning. The victim, a man in his 30s, was at an ATM at St. Charles and Jackson avenues around 12:15 a.m. today (Thursday, Aug. 1) when a stranger demanded his money and then snatched it away from him, according to the initial NOPD report.
It’s time to put up or shut up. Louisiana’s election season begins in earnest next Tuesday with qualifying for statewide offices and the 144 members of the Louisiana House and Senate. Dozens of prospective candidates will be trekking to their parish Clerk of Court or to the Louisiana Secretary of State before the Thursday 4:30 p.m. deadline. They will bring the appropriate cash, cashier’s check or money order (no credit cards or personal checks accepted) and swear that they really reside where they are registered and that all their taxes are paid in full. Those who perjure themselves – and these days there is usually someone – are quickly challenged in court.
A man was wounded in a shooting Saturday on Amelia Street following a homicide in the same location earlier that morning, New Orleans police said. The victim, a man in his 20s, was near Amelia and Liberty streets around 7 p.m. Saturday (July 27) when “two unknown males approached with weapons and started to shoot,” according to the initial NOPD report. The victim was hit by the gunfire and tried to run away with the gunmen following, but he made it to a private vehicle and was taken to the hospital, the report states. Around 2 a.m. the same day, police discovered a man in a crashed car on the same block and determined that he had been shot in the chest, according to earlier reports. Investigators have not said whether the two incidents are considered to be related, however.
Entergy and the New Orleans Regional Transit Authority are partnering to install solar panels on the streetcar barn on Willow Street, part of a larger effort to generate solar energy from the rooftops of publicly-owned buildings across New Orleans. For details about the project, see the news release from Entergy below. In another move to harness the power of the sun where empty commercial rooftops once stood, Entergy New Orleans and the New Orleans Regional Transit Authority have reached agreement to install solar panels on the roof of the agency’s Carrollton Streetcar Barn. The 300-kilowatt system will feed directly onto the Entergy New Orleans electric distribution grid for the benefit of all customers. The agreement is part of Entergy New Orleans’ 5-megawatt commercial-scale rooftop solar project, which was approved by the New Orleans City Council last year.
A burglar shot at the residents he found inside the Eagle Street home he was breaking into Friday, and another man was robbed of a motorcycle by the person he met to sell it to on Joliet Street, New Orleans police said in weekend crime reports. Around 12:15 a.m. Friday, July 26, three people — a man and a woman both in their mid 30s, and a 20-year man — were at home in the 2500 block of Eagle Street (near Nelson Street) when a stranger came in through a back window, according to the initial NOPD report. One of the residents confronted the intruder, who then drew a gun and demanded their belongings, the report states. The gunman then fired two shots and left the home through the rear, the report states. Around 9 p.m. Friday, a man in his 30s met another person near Joliet and Forshey streets to sell a motorcycle, according to the report in that case.
Audubon Park officials are requesting $3.5 million from the city for long-sought improvements to the riverfront park known as The Fly, including a new bicycle and jogging path, new lighting, more protection for trees and repaved road and parking areas. The new $500,000 “multimodal” trail for bicyclists and pedestrians will run behind the soccer fields and along the railroad tracks to link what is now the entrance and the exit to the park (formally known as the Audubon Riverview), capital projects director Kyle McGehee told City Planning Commission staff on Tuesday. It will be about 10 feet wide—not as broad as the jogging path around the lake in Audubon Park, but wide enough for several bicyclists to ride side-by-side—and constructed from a semi-permeable material, McGehee said. While the path will connect at the upriver end to the bike trail on top of the Mississippi River levee, the new section Audubon is planning will not be part of either the road or along the waterfront, McGehee said. “Our bike path would be separate from the roadway.
The New Orleans Police Department is asking city leaders to budget $37 million to replace the department’s headquarters, authorities said Wednesday morning (July 24). “We know we need a new building, and we need it fast,” said NOPD Deputy Superintendent Christopher Goodly in a budget meeting with city planning officials. “It’s basically time to consider looking at a new headquarters instead of spending the resources to repair a dilapidated building.” Read the full story at MidCityMessenger.com
One woman was robbed at gunpoint Friday morning on South Saratoga Street in Central City, and another woman was robbed Sunday afternoon on Palm Street, New Orleans police said in weekend crime reports. Shortly after 10 a.m. Friday (July 19), a woman in her 20s was getting out of her vehicle in the 2100 block of South Saratoga Street, according to the initial NOPD report in that case. An unknown assailant placed a weapon to the back of her head and demanded her belongings, and took her cash, two cell phones and her keys, the report states. Shortly after 2:30 p.m. Sunday (July 21), a woman in her 50s was getting out of her car in the 8600 block of Palm Street when two teens approached her, the report in that case states. One “brandished [a] weapon,” and they began to struggle with her over her purse, the report states.
The new development planned for the former gas station site at the corner of State and Magazine Street needs city approval for its parking plan, and will go before the City Planning Commission next week to request it, city documents show. The building planned for the site will have space for a coffee shop as the “anchor tenant,” plus two other businesses such as a health-food or juice shop and fitness studio, according to a letter to neighbors from consultants Sherman Strategies. The developers anticipate construction being “substantially complete” by October, they said. The project is planned to have 17 parking spaces, but the site sits on multiple lots, and the portion planned for parking is technically a separate lot at 808 State Street. Because of the zoning there, that aspect of the project requires a conditional-use permit from the city, the developers said.
Four New Orleans Police officers were fired Wednesday in connection with a March car chase that ended with the suspect’s vehicle crashing into a Broadmoor salon and starting a fire that killed three people, after an internal investigation revealed “multiple policy violations” and a pattern of unauthorized pursuits, authorities said. The fired officers are Alex Mikkelsen, Jonathan Broom, Jeffrey Herrington and Alex Florian. All have been with the department for two years except Florian, who had been on the force three years. Also suspended in the investigation were two more officers, 9-year veteran Colby Stewart and William Hery, who had also been with the department two years. Steward was suspended 44 days and Hery for 54 days.
