Sal Perricone, the former federal prosecutor whose outing as a prolific and pseudonymous online commenter on federal cases set in motion the eventual ouster of his boss, U.S. Attorney Jim Letten, has taken up the pen again, this time as a novelist.No, this is not some sort of Krewe Du Vieux inspired joke. This is real life.
Perricone will be discussing and signing his new book, “Blue Steel Crucifix,” at the Garden District Book Shop at 3 p.m. March 22.
A summary indicates that the protagonist is a “young Native American law student” named Wilson Three Eagles who is recruited by the FBI. Perricone is a former New Orleans police officer who attended law school at night and then worked for the FBI before becoming a federal prosecutor.Fred Heebe has already opened an anoymous Amazon account so that he can write reviews.
The storyline also ties together organized crime, a corrupt ex-governor and some nasty office politics as the young protagonist finds himself crosswise with some of his new colleagues as well as the mob and the “politically corrupt.”
The book, published by Wynnpix Productions, retails for $14.99. A sequel apparently is in the works.
Our biggest project is bulldozing that tacky housing development near the French Quarter and erecting the Uberville Condom-miniums,” announced lacily-clad spokeswomanIma Hoh, formerly of the Hoh BrothersErection Company, noted for its insertion of the sprawling, suburban-style medical center into the heart of the city. “What’s the value of historic buildings, centuries-old cemeteries and magnificent oak trees compared to giant, boxy towers?”Mama Roux is bringing us GMOs.
In addition to ridiculously overpriced condos and apartments, the Uberville site will include many of the outlet stores that hipsters patronize so slavishly. A partial list includes the Potty Barn, Trader Ho’s, UnBalanced Shoe Outlet, Whorestrom’s, Roach, Ickya, JScrewed, Tommy Yomama, Zeropostale, and Uberzombie & Bitch.
“Why would anyone want to shop at a unique, locally-owned business with distinctive and even hand-made products when you can make your purchases at monolithic, sterile chain stores?” sniffed Ms. Hoh. “What makes us hipsters different is that we all look exactly, like, the same.
The Mama Roux Center for Genetic Experiments, with its substantial enDowment, has long been a player in the world of experimental mutations. M o n s a n t e a u x a n d h i s t e a m o f biogeneticists first came to public attention with their popular Glow- Pets, genetically modifi ed glow-in- the-dark cats, dogs and hamsters which perform double duty as both loveable house pets and energy-efficient night lights.The paper officially endorses Bobby Jindal for President because, "Anything that will get him as far away from Louisiana as possible, we’re in favor of."
The Center then received the Times- Pick-a-loon Good Loving Cup for their pioneering development of Moskitokazes, mosquitoes genetically programmed to dive-bomb abandoned canoes in Bayou St. John instead of biting humans. World-wide fame and fortune, however, did not arrive until the Center developed SmartMeat, a talking beef tenderloin which actually tells the cook how long to bake it, and the Frogmato, a frog-tomato combination which jumps onto a salad plate and turns itself into a bruschetta.
The large vacant lot on Broadway Street near Earhart Boulevard in Gert Town that formerly held the Mary Church Terrell Elementary School received tentative approval this week to become the new New Orleans Police Department Second District station and a community pool.It may be falling apart but the current building is pretty attractive and in a prominent Uptown location. Wonder what will happen to it.
The Second District station on Magazine is more than 110 years old, and has needed emergency repairs and rehabilitations with increasing frequency — often paid for by the COPS II nonprofit or even individual residents, like attorney Morris Bart. It poses logistical challenges as well, as it lacks meeting space to accommodate the district’s officers in a single room, faces the same parking congestion as other Magazine Street properties, and sits at a far corner of the district.
Krewe du Vieux “Begs for Change” when it rolls at 6:30 p.m. Saturday in the Faubourg Marigny, French Quarter and CBD. The satirical and risque krewe typically picks themes with a double meaning, but this one is more socially conscious than usual.Just don't tell our city councilpersons about all the aggressive panhandling.
“The double meaning is the proliferation of the people on the street corners holding up signs all over the place but the other side of it is hoping for social and political change,” Krewe du Vieux Captain Joe Thompson said.
Among the 17 subkrewe variations on the theme, The Krewe of Underwear “Bulldozes for Change,” taking on the issue of hipster gentrification. The Krewe of T.O.K.I.N. “Burns (One) for Change,” arguing that Louisiana should “put the bud in the budget” and legalize cannabis.
The krewe is following a new parade route. For the first time in nearly 20 years, the parade will cross Canal Street, enter the Warehouse District and end at the Civic Theatre
There's no word on whether any cat fights factored into the decision-making process — or whether any scratch marks were left — but the royalty has been settled for the all-feline Krewe of Endymeow for its 13th annual Bal Masque on Friday, Jan. 30, at The Cat Practice Veterinary Hospital in the Lower Garden District, according to a press release.Carnival for cats. It's really better in concept than in practice... and it's a pretty terrible concept at that. On the other hand, if your cat likes to party...
The 2015 Rex procession, which rolls on Mardi Gras (Feb. 17), will include 27 floats on the theme of "Wars that Shaped Early America." The current Rex bulletin, reproduced here, shows artist's renderings of the floats.
Full-size Rex bulletins, which measure 19 inches by 25 inches, are sold through the Rex organization website. Bulletins from past years cost $30.
NEW ORLEANS - The King of Carnival will ride the rails, and not the river, when he makes his Lundi Gras arrival by train this year instead of by water, the Rex Organization announced Tuesday.Trying to get as much use out of that N.O. Public Belt as possible before Mitch sells it off to John Georges's father-in-law, I guess.
Since 1987 (though the practice harkens back to the 19th century), Rex has arrived at the Mississippi Riverfront at Spanish Plaza, via Coast Guard cutter, at 6 p.m. on Lundi Gras.
This year, on Lundi Gras, the King will arrive by train – reviving a tradition that Rex archivist Dr. Stephen Hales says dates back to the mid-1880s.
"He's going to revisit an old tradition, long since forgotten," Hales said. "He'll arrive by train, a specially decorated train car pushed by the N.O. Public Belt Railroad will arrive at Riverwalk. The King of Carnival and his entourage will emerge, greet the crowds, greet the mayor, proclaim Carnival and receive the keys to the city."
An analysis on the most recent tax documents available provides a glimpse at the prolific spending of Carnival krewes. What it doesn’t show is the revenue they direct to charitable causes.Yeah, hey, thank you, Rex, for profoundly fucking up the very concept of public education in New Orleans... for the good of the public, of course. There's also this factoid.
The Rex organization, for example, provided more than $860,000 in grants to charter schools and educational groups, through its Pro Bono Publico Foundation.
Non-parading Krewe Momus (disappeared after non-discrim ord) has $1.48m in assets. Richest Krewe? Endymion. http://t.co/tSYkxirerF
— Andrew Tuozzolo (@ATuozzolo) January 29, 2015
NEW ORLEANS - A labor dispute in California is turning into a possible Carnival crisis. Delays at a Los Angeles port has thousands of signature Mardi Gras beads on back order and local businesses are now concerned the throws will not make it in time for Mardi Gras.On the positive side, recent years have brought a build up of rumblings about the quantity of non-biodegradable plastic beads that get tossed around every year. Maybe this is an excuse to cut back a bit.
Krewes spend all year making, designing and buying throws for Mardi Gras, but right now much of that is just sitting in containers on the West Coast.
"It's about 20 percent of what we would normal bring in that is not here now," says Dan Kelly, president of Beads By The Dozen. "Unfortunately, a lot of it is the custom product we need for the krewes."
"I saw it, and I thought, 'Why not?' It was a spur of the moment thing," said Steve Himelfarb, the owner of Cake Café, and arguably the godfather of modern king cakes in New Orleans. He made a dozen mini king cakes filled with boudin and topped with crunchy bacon.Did you get that? A guy made a boudin king cake but then had to stop and give credit because, come to find out, someone else had already made a boudin king cake. And hey, that's not all. You might think that should be all. But it is not.
At 7:45 a.m., the Cake Café Facebook page posted a photo of one of them, and credited his inspiration, the boudin-filled and cracklin topped king cake conceived by Robert Carriker, who runs BoudinLink.com and kingcaker.com out of Lafayette. The boudin-stuffed king cake he conceived took social media by storm on Tuesday morning.
BoudinLink.com replied: "That is awesome. Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery - and we appreciate the recognition!"
Himelfarb said they do not bake other savory king cakes, but for their small catering gigs - they have several this weekend for Krewe de Vieux parties -- they make stuffed breads. One is filled with muffuletta ingredients, one with vegetables and one with roasted pork.Actually the savory king cake genre has been explored previously. Here's a meat pie cake that looks pretty good.
The political action committee that’s been set up to support Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal’s potential run for president started circulating letters to Republican donors Wednesday, pitching Jindal as a “once-in-a-lifetime leader.”
Buzzfeed obtained a copy of the letter, which is signed by former Congressman Bob Livingston, chairman of the pro-Jindal “Believe Again” super PAC.
The letter largely touts Jindal’s gubernatorial track record, including sweeping cuts that have been made to state government — without noting the state currently is facing significant budget struggles.
Meanwhile, Duke said he’s considering an electoral challenge to Scalise.He's not even registered to vote. Anyway, if there's anything we can do to encourage him to pursue this fantasy, then let's get on that. Running Duke against Scalise is very much like running Stormy Daniels against David Vitter.. except, people will actually pay attention to this.
“I am not registered to vote right now. I have legally been able to vote for years but I haven’t registered right now and I’d be able to vote for, but I might just register,” he said. “Just so, I might have to run against Steve Scalise because you know, I really might. I mean, I’m definitely going to consider it because its so disgusting to me to see…he got elected on false pretenses.”
Duke added that “the Republican Party’s issues are my issues,” but said “the difference with me in the Republican Party is that I didn’t betray them when I got elected.”
In a brief interview with Fox Sports New Orleans sideline reporter Jennifer Hale that was shown on the video boards of the Smoothie King Center at halftime of the Pelicans game against the Nuggets, Benson dismissed accusations that he's not healthy enough to make sound business decisions.He can feel any way he wants. We're still gonna think there's something wrong with him. Also, we heard this interview in person at the Pelicans game last night but could barely make out what he was saying thanks to the exceptionally crappy sound system in the Blended Beverage Building. Maybe some of the inheritance can go to getting that fixed.
"People think there's something wrong with me," Benson said. "I've been in the office everyday putting in a full days of work. I feel fine."
“We’re here today to witness a major miracle,” Governor Edwards announced at a press conference on June 3, 1985. “I can’t tell you how many times it took just another little miracle to keep the deal afloat.” [i] The governor rarely shied from hyperbole, but he had a point: after seventeen losing seasons under original owner John Mecom, the woeful Saints were rescued by a native son. Mecom was a rich man’s son, an unpopular Texan whose family owned oil wells and chemical plants. His Saints never finished with a winning record, going a combined 83-187-5 and driving fans to don paper bags over their heads in shame. Some predicted the franchise would relocate. Instead, Tom Benson returned to purchase his hometown team. He entered the bidding as an underdog: the NFL required an owner to purchase 51 percent to officially hold a controlling stake in the team. Unable to hit the percentage on his own, Benson lobbied successfully for special approval by league owners to be declared the principal owner among a group of ten investors. Once again, the Saints found themselves on the positive side of a rule change. Together with Edwards, Benson wrestled a new Superdome lease and a sales-tax waiver on concessions from a skeptical state legislature. On May 31, 1985, the sale was approved. “I want everybody to know who I am,” Benson reportedly told his lawyer. “Everybody is saying, ‘He’s just a used car dealer.’ Let them see me now.”Benson needed help from the state, and from the Governor's political pull just to have himself installed as the Saints' owner. He's been benefiting from state largesse ever since. It has made him a billionaire. But even so, he and whoever inherits his fortune somehow retains the prerogative to remove the team from the city on a whim.
A decade or so ago, around the time we bought a little Pekingese puppy, I began noticing the birth of an increasingly powerful movement that I’m still trying to wrap my head around: the pooper troopers.Aside from the obvious absurdity of wrapping biodegradable mass in unnecessary plastic, there's something psychologically weird about the dogshit obsession. It's another sign that the city is becoming, literally, anal about stupid stuff.
I’d feel their cold stares as I walked my dog. Somehow, while my head was turned, they had infiltrated the social and cultural consciousness of America. Under their watchful eyes and the movement’s fluttering banner (a plastic grocery bag), it had become politically incorrect, anti-social, downright disgusting, filthy and even criminal not to scoop your mutt’s poop.
I gave the matter deep thought. What is the purpose, I asked myself.
A pair of developers, headed by the owner of Tipitina's, is negotiating the lease of a stretch of disused lakefront property in the hopes of constructing a 4.5 acre water park and outdoor concert-festival venue.It looks like they finally want to redevelop the Jazzland/Six Flags site... only they're not doing it at the Jazzland/Six Flags site.
The development would sit on the site of the old Bally's riverboat casino landing in eastern New Orleans.
The Orleans Parish Non-Flood Protection Asset Management Board, which owns the land, is negotiating lease terms with Studio Network-Lakefront LLC, a company formed by Tipitina's owner Roland von Kurnatowski and his business partner, Dr. Eric George, a prominent New Orleans orthopedic surgeon.
Studio Network's proposal for the lakefront, dubbed Tipitina's Festival Park, would include:The "Non-Flood Protection Asset Management Board" exists as a result of the a post-Katrina reorganization of the levee board. Even though the city had been flooded because of levee design failures on the part of the US Army Corps of Engineers, some felt as though it was inappropriate for the levee board to go on managing real estate and other recreational assets such as this riverboat landing. That same some argued that, since managing these properties exposed the levee board to the dreaded appearance of possible corruption, that this somehow made us less safe from catastrophic flooding.. even though it hadn't.
- An outdoor amphitheater with a 5,000 capacity.
- A lazy river and splash park.
- Water slides and zip lines.
- A two-story, covered boardwalk with shops.
- The conversion of the old riverboat terminal into an open-air market.
When those properties were returned to local control with the 2010 creation of the authority, the Bally's parcel was just one in a long list of battered assets that the newly-created entity, which lacks tax-funding, was incapable of repairing and returning to commerce on its own.Speaking of non-flood assets, this story reminded me of another waterfront development in roughly the same part of town. When last I saw they also wanted to build a boardwalk.
Last year, the authority decided to let the private sector have a go, issuing a request for development proposals.
Studio Network's proposal was the only submittal.
Among other amenities, Pontchartrain Landing boasts 105 RV sites, 40 boat slips, a swimming pool, the Lighthouse Bar and Restaurant, three houseboats and regular shuttle service to the French Quarter. According to Bob MacKinnon, the founder of GuestReviews, a kind of TripAdvisor for the camping and RV industry, Pontchartrain Landing has consistently ranked among the top 1 percent of campgrounds in the country.When that story was published they were lobbying City Council for an "overlay district" zoning exception. Whatever happened there?
"It's part of a pretty exclusive group," MacKinnon said.
And it's currently in the midst of a makeover. In time for Mardi Gras, Schenck plans to add a large reception hall, a new seafood restaurant, a coffee shop, 10 boat slips, 20 RV sites and 51 hotel-style rental units.
"Our goal is to create a boardwalk atmosphere on the north end of the canal," Schenck said during a tour of the property, as excavators tore up the earth around him. "We want to be what the West End of New Orleans used to be."
South African energy giant Sasol will delay making a final investment decision on its proposed gas-to-liquids plant in the Lake Charles area because of the collapse in oil prices.Very high profile project. Could not have been more over-hyped.. although Bobby Jindal did try.. as Clay observed earlier.
Sasol will continue to work on the project although “at a much slower pace,” President and Chief Executive Officer David Constable said.
The gas-to-liquids plant makes up the bulk of an estimated $22 billion complex.
The GTL complex would produce more than 96,000 barrels of diesel fuel, naphtha and other chemical products each day. The facility would have created 750 permanent jobs.
Governor Jindal said, “We are proud that Sasol is following through with its commitment to invest in this historic manufacturing project, and that the company is developing a project to the highest environmental standards in our state’s history. Thousands of high-paying construction jobs will be created by this world-scale chemical project, and thousands more permanent jobs will result when this ethane cracker complex begins operating in just a few short years.“Today, Louisiana is the epicenter of an industrial renaissance surpassing anything we’ve witnessed since perhaps the industrial revolution in 19th-century America. With projects like Sasol’s historic manufacturing investment in Louisiana, we truly are reaping the benefits of having the nation’s best business climate and a workforce that is second to none in the world. Indeed, Louisiana is the new frontier for business investment, and the best place in the world to live, work and raise a family.”
What made the indignity so much worse was that the attacks came from people these journalists regard as nobodies: just average people, non-journalists, sometimes even anonymous ones. What right did they have even to form an opinion, let alone express one? As NBC News star Brian Williams revealingly put it in 2007:Greenwald has a lot more to add regarding the standard complaints about the often vicious tone of online criticism. He's been on the receiving end of that sort of thing as much as anyone with a high profile. One of the consequences of letting the rabble into the deb party is sometimes the lobster tree gets knocked over. The thing about that, though, is that it's pretty much just part of the job.
You’re going to be up against people who have an opinion, a modem, and a bathrobe. All of my life, developing credentials to cover my field of work, and now I’m up against a guy named Vinny in an efficiency apartment in the Bronx who hasn’t left the efficiency apartment in two years.That sort of sneering from establishment journalists was commonplace once they realized that they had critics and that ignoring them was no longer an option. Seemingly every week, a new column appeared in the NYT, Washington Post, or Time lamenting the threat to journalism and democracy and All Things Decent posed by the hordes of unhinged, uncredentialed losers who now had undeserved platforms to say mean things about honored journalists.
But that’s the price one pays for having a platform. And, on balance, it’s good that this price has to be paid. In fact, the larger and more influential platform one has, the more important it is that the person be subjected to aggressive, even harsh, criticisms. Few things are more dangerous than having someone with influence or power hear only praise or agreement. Having people devoted to attacking you – even in unfair, invalid or personal ways – is actually valuable for keeping one honest and self-reflective.News and politics (news is politics, really) is not a consumer product to be passively absorbed. It is a a contentious struggle to define what is important and what gets done. The purpose of democracy is to ensure that the greatest number (ideally all) of the citizens are not only informed of the issues of the day but that they are active participants in how those issues are articulated and argued over. This is not a healthy process if it is dominated by authoritative gatekeepers. It is messy and often impolite. It is insurrectionist.
It would be wonderful on one level if all criticisms were expressed in the soft and respectful tones formalized in the U.S. Senate, but it’s good and necessary when people who wield power or influence are treated exactly like everyone else, which means that sometimes people say mean and unfair things about you in not-nice tones. Between erring on the side of people with power being treated with excess deference or excess criticisms, the latter is vastly preferable. The key enabling role of the government, media and other elites in the disasters and crimes of the post-9/11 era, by itself, leaves no doubt about this. It also proves that one of the best aspects of the internet is that it gives voice to people who are not credentialed – meaning not molded through the homogenizing grinder of establishment media outlets
Big Shirley’s, which Dummett runs with his wife, Suzette, cooks neighborhood New Orleans food. Live here long enough, and you recognize the style immediately and crave it daily.You can still find food like this, of course. It's just that the places you find it are usually aiming a little higher than just the no-frills lunch crowd. The High Hat on Freret is one example that comes to mind. You can get a terrific plate of catfish and side of greens there, but it comes as more of an.. elevated concept.. than simply a quick bite. What's missing from the landscape these days is a menu like Big Shirley's but without the pretense of a concept... or an accompanying "craft cocktail" list.
It’s food like hot sausage po-boys or pork chops with a side of greens and thick rounds of candied yams. At Big Shirley’s, they have meatloaf on Tuesdays, spaghetti on Thursdays and fish on Fridays.
The definition of New Orleans neighborhood food has always been flexible enough to admit new additions. And at Big Shirley’s, you can order jerked shrimp, roasted garlic rosemary chicken and vegetable pasta primavera.
Brossett, who introduced the ordinance last week, bills it as a "living wage" proposal similar to others approved in progressive cities around the country.Nevermind that $10.10 is hardly what we could call a "living wage." If you think people can or should be able to live on that, well, as President Obama said, last week, "You try it."
"I am a firm believer that economic opportunity is one the cornerstones of a thriving city," Brossett said Monday (Jan. 26). "Sadly, too many of our citizens don't have that opportunity. A job by itself is not the type of opportunity we need. A good-paying job is what our people need. And if your company wants to do business with the city, we want them to pay you a living wage."
Yesterday, at-large councilman Jason Williams introduced an amendment to remove NOPD as an enforcement agency. That amendment was approved. NOPD and the still-in-progress NOLA Patrol will not carry out enforcement of the ordinance. District E Councilman James Gray also objected to a community service requirement for people unable to pay the fine. That amendment also was approved. Rather than mandate seven hours of community service to anyone unable to pay the fine, it will now be left to a judge's discretion.Noble sentiments from Gray and from Williams, of course. Isn't it neat the way they got to step in and be heroes at the last minute there? Gray, Williams, and Nadine Ramsey got to make a big show of cutting all the nasty parts out of Cantrell's ordinance. The opposition got to shout into the void. And, of course, the ordinance passed. Everybody wins!
Enforcement of the ordinance is largely incumbent upon businesses to remind smokers to step outside. Bar owners and managers, under the ordinance, must ask smoking patrons to put out their cigarette.
Williams said removing the NOPD from the picture "makes sure we don’t overburden or add an additional burden on the NOPD for a smoke-free New Orleans."
"It would be poor judgement to take police officers off the street for even a minute (to address smoking)," he said."
"It’s not a great thing if it becomes a tool of oppression for some people in this city," Gray added, suggesting that the ordinance could become an excuse to "stop young black men in the street" simply for smoking.
However you want to look at it, it’s great stuff. And it’s just getting started, so sit back and watch the show.It gets smarmier than that. But I hope you guys are all sufficiently shamed now that you have been informed that the Bensons are real people with the same real problems that you or I might have.
To which we say, stop it.
Stop. It.
Now.
Yes, this is a family feud. But it’s no game show.
These are real people involved.
Yes, they’re flawed people — like all of us are.
Yes, they’ve had dysfunction in their family before — like most of us have.
But they’re also real people who undoubtedly are feeling both deeply heartbroken about what has happened and embarrassed that it is playing out this way, no matter what kind of public face they’re trying to put on.
So why isn’t it all more entertaining?Gah! At first glance, it looks like Grace is making Lewis's point for him. We love this stuff because the pain is real. What kind of sick people must we be to so enjoy the thrill of watching human beings deliberately injuring themselves and one another in public for millions of dollars like this? And anyway, isn't the football enough of that already?
Let’s start with the obvious. These aren’t Hollywood characters but real people we’ve all watched for years, even if we don’t know them personally, and they’re experiencing real pain.
Moreover, some elements of the story are universal. At some point, every family must face the mental and physical decline of a loved one, and it’s always wrenching.
We may feel like voyeurs, but the rest of us have a stake in how this turns out, too. All of us, from the Louisiana taxpayers who built the two franchises’ facilities and have spent hundreds of millions on their upkeep, to the fans who buy tickets and merchandise, to the New Orleanians who will never forget how the Saints helped get them through the toughest of times — and who get that the continued presence of both teams signals the city’s survival, resurgence and big-league stature to the outside world.New Orleans isn't obsessed with Bensonology right now solely for the sake of titillation. They're concerned that the massive investment they've all made in public treasure, passion, and goodwill is under the stewardship of unstable, incompetent, and, frankly, unnecessary plutocrats.
And yet even some owners have been frustrated by aspects of Goodell's tenure. Bob McNair, who owns the Houston Texans and is a Goodell supporter, told me that when Saints owner Tom Benson resigned from three league committees in 2013, Goodell's pay package and his handling of the Saints' Bountygate scandal were two reasons. "Tom's a green-eyeshade accountant of many years," McNair said. "He's just not happy about what happened." (Through a spokesman, Benson denies this.) It's also an open secret in league circles that some owners, especially Woody Johnson of the Jets, resent the preferential treatment Goodell is perceived to extend to his inner circle.Goodell's "pay package" is so obnoxious that even robber-barron Tom Benson is offended by it.
The good news for Saints fans is, after meeting with Payton and Loomis, Brees is confident the front office realized the error of its ways and has a better plan in place entering this offseason.Was Henry Ellard really that much of a problem?
“I think we’ve identified the problems or the things that got us beat or the things that didn’t allow us to be as good as we know we can be, and we have the solution to fix it,” said Brees, before boarding the bus out of the Pro Bowl. “It’s going to take a lot of work, but I know we can get it done.”
Minutes after Ramsey had joined her colleagues last week in unanimously passing a new anti-smoking ordinance, she offered a new ordinance that would have given Harrah's a 50-percent exemption. Her proposal would also remove "places of employment" from the list of locales that banned smoking and added "tobacco retailers" to the list of places exempted from the ban.
Such changes likely would have gutted the new law by allowing any establishment selling tobacco products or operating as a legal casino to dodge the ban.
Johnson said Ramsey had thought Mayor Mitch Landrieu's administration had asked her to offer the changes. The mayor, through his spokesman, disavowed any such request Monday and said he supported the ban that passed last week.
Since 2006, The American Zombie blog has been providing original, independent, investigative reporting on corruption issues that affect New Orleans and the State of Louisiana. From government to the power players that pull the strings behind the scenes, AZ has fearlessly dug up the story just below the surface shedding light on the corruption, dirty politics, and backroom deals among the power players that have enriched themselves at the great expense of the public as a whole.Jason does some of the most valuable work out there. If you can keep the guy in business, consider doing it.
Residents say while potholes and street lamps in the Lower Ninth Ward and other low-income neighborhoods go unfixed, and while people who were here before Katrina struggle to maintain their damaged homes with little city help, the city has refocused its energy on attracting rich outsiders and corporations. It isnow one of the fastest-growing cities in the US.
The battle for control of the New Orleans Saints and Pelicans moved into court Thursday (Jan. 23) as family members associated with Rita Benson LeBlanc filed a lawsuit claiming that the teams' owner and family patriarch Tom Benson is incompetent and is being directed by a manipulative wife and her allies at the highest level of the sports empire.Have you read the lawsuit yet? Of course you have. It's the tale of a great king and his three heartbroken heirs separated from their patriarch by an interloping witch.
The suit was filed one day after Tom Benson unexpectedly announced plans to transfer future ownership of the clubs to wife, Gayle, cutting off his daughter, Renee LeBlanc, and his two grandchildren, Ryan LeBlanc and Rita Benson LeBlanc, who until recently had been designated as the heir apparent.
The suit attempts to paint Gayle Benson, 67, as a gold-digging opportunist who has taken advantage of her husband's unfit state of health and ostracized family members in grasping for power and riches.She keeps him locked away and feeds him only ice cream and wine. (No, not wine ice cream. You can't buy that in Louisiana.) She's taken control of the family fortunes and all of the king's communications. (Sometimes to very strange effect, indeed.)
State Rep. Jeff Arnold plans to end his tenure in the Legislature this year by pushing a bill that would have Algiers and West Jefferson secede from Orleans and Jefferson parishes.
Early indications, however, are that the West Bank lawmaker may have difficulty finding many people who want to go along with the idea.
Arnold, a term-limited Democrat who has represented Algiers for almost a dozen years, envisions a 65th parish that would stretch from Algiers to Grand Isle, powered by an offshore and marine services-based economy and a population large enough to qualify it as one of the top six parishes in the state.
A proposal that would make it illegal to smoke in most indoor public places, including bars and casinos, appears poised to win approval from the New Orleans City Council on Thursday as long as the measure does not require that the New Orleans Police Department act as an enforcement agency for the ban.The last minute appeals of the vapists seem to have fallen on deaf ears.
Councilwoman LaToya Cantrell, who introduced the ordinance, said she believes at least four other members on the seven-person council will vote for it.
“I think we’re in good shape in taking a step toward protecting our residents, our employees, our musicians,” Cantrell said Wednesday
The ordinance may ultimately end up including other amendments — from council members and Mayor Mitch Landrieu’s administration — that would, for instance, allow smoking on certain patios and balconies.I agree with Ms. Cantrell that vaping seems pretty gross and that inhaling large concentrated quantities of nicotine-spiked chemicals is, in all likelihood, not very good for you. On the other hand, it has been decades since the dangers of second hand smoking have been widely understood and we're only just now confident enough in our legal standing to impose a ban on smoking. Interesting that we can just plunge ahead and bad e-cigarettes as well with next to zero data available.
Cantrell said, however, that she has no plan to remove a prohibition on smoking electronic cigarettes indoors despite pressure from e-cigarette lobbyists to exempt the devices.
“The data is not concrete as it relates to (the safety of) e-cigarettes,” Cantrell said. “Until they’ve been regulated, we have to just wait on that.”
"The Council will soon be considering an ordinance to permit and regulate transient vacation rentals" http://t.co/EElnAx6AXX
— Charles Maldonado (@CMaldonadoLens) January 22, 2015
NEW ORLEANS - Big Chief Theodore "Bo" Dollis, who led the Wild Magnolia tribe of Mardi Gras Indians in performances around the world, has died. He was 71.A few things about "Carnival anthems." If you're from New Orleans.. meaning, if you spent the especially nostalgic portion of your childhood here.. they're more accurately Carnival carols, almost a sacred kind of music tied to a holiday season. There's a more or less standard playlist that most people can rattle off in a few minutes. The most famous recordings of these songs were all made roughly between the 1940s and 70s. The earlier ones are rock n' roll songs, the later ones are classic funk. Each has its own distinctive quality. None of these is more distinctive than Bo Dollis's voice.
His death was announced by the Mardi Gras Indian Hall of Fame and confirmed by his son.
Dollis masked as a Mardi Gras Indian for more than five decades.
Though he had no formal musical training, Dollis and The Wild Magnolias recorded several albums, spreading the music of the Mardi Gras Indians worldwide and featuring Dollis' distinctive voice.
He is best known to many for his signature vocals on Wild Magnolia songs including "Handa Wanda" and "New Suit." Their song "Smoke My Peace Pipe (Smoke It Right)," climbed onto the Billboard singles chart. In 1974, they released the album that introduced the recorded version of "Handa Wanda," which is now a familiar Carnival anthem.
A musical pioneer, Dollis expanded the reach of the Mardi Gras Indian sound by recording traditional chants and blending them with funk and rhythm-and-blues music. The Wild Magnolias performed at the first New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival in 1970.
With Dollis as lead vocalist, the Wild Magnolias recorded several albums, including “The Wild Magnolias” in 1974 and “They Call Us Wild” in 1975.
“Bo Dollis created the soundtrack to Mardi Gras with the Mardi Gras Indian sound,” Big Chief Juan Pardo of the Gold Comanche tribe said.
Dollis may be best known for his raw vocals, exemplified in the Mardi Gras classic “Handa Wanda,” which opens with Dollis’ powerful shout.
In the pantheon of New Orleans music's great voices, Bo Dollis' remarkable rasp, equal parts gravel and joy, ranks near the top. It is just as unmistakable, if the stylistic opposite, of Aaron Neville's delicate, fluttering falsetto.
Stanton Moore, the Galactic drummer, once observed that Dollis' voice, like those of Robert Plant and James Brown, is "rooted to the center of the earth. It's the most soulful, powerful shout that I've ever heard. It's heartbreaking and triumphant at the same time."
By the middle of the 20th century, the chants sung by Mardi Gras Indians in the streets of New Orleans had begun to work their way onto wax. In the mid-1950s, folklorist Samuel Charters had collected field recordings of Indians in New Orleans, later released on the Smithsonian Folkways label. In the '50s and early '60s, Danny Barker, James "Sugar Boy" Crawford and the Dixie Cups had released swinging jazz and rhythm and blues arrangements of Indian tunes like "Tootie Ma Is a Big Fine Thing" and "Iko Iko." Earlier than all of that, Jelly Roll Morton had demonstrated Indian melodies on the piano for Alan Lomax, during Lomax's landmark, marathon Library of Congress interview sessions.After those Wild Magnolias records were made, Dollis's shout was forever entwined with the image of the Mardi Gras Indian in the public imagination... so much of that image being shrouded in mystery.
Indian tunes were making their way into popular music – though, outside of Charters' recordings captured in the field, none of them were performed by actual masking Indians. In 1970, Wild Magnolias Big Chief Bo Dollis, who died Tuesday (Jan. 20), changed that. He did so with the help of his longtime friend Monk Boudreaux — Big Chief of the Golden Eagles Mardi Gras Indians — and a young Quint Davis.
""He was the modern musical face of the Mardi Gras Indian culture that broke through to the outside world," (Quint) Davis said. His voice "came out of his personality. Bo wasn't an angry Indian. He was a joyous Indian. Bo had this joy about the whole culture. He had this joy about the fact that he was leading it, and he could sing it. That infused what he was singing."
He (Jindal) announced confidently to a group that included a number of British parliamentarians that the police in the United Kingdom don't dare to tread in these zones, where Sharia law is widely used. "Nonassimilationist Muslims establish enclaves and carry out as much of Sharia law as they can without regard for the laws of the democratic countries which provided them a new home," he saidYou know it's bad when David Cameron thinks you are a "complete idiot." On the other hand, that's probably exactly what Bobby Jindal wants. Here's Jindal not backing down one bit when confronted after his speech by a reporter.
This is the sort of ill-informed fantasy that plays well in certain right-wing circles. This probably works for Jindal back home in Louisiana.
Oddly enough, Fox News got into trouble recently on the "no-go zone" nonsense, too, as when Steve Emerson, a so-called terrorism expert, explained to the American masses that Birmingham, a major British urban center, was populated entirely by Muslims and that "non-Muslims just simply don't go in."
British Prime Minister David Cameron correctly labeled him "a complete idiot," and Emerson's remark caused a spokesperson for the network to admit that Muslim "no-go zones" don't actually exist, not in Britain, not in Europe.
But later, he was confronted by CNN’s Max Foster to back up these claims. “Look, I’ve heard from folks here that there are neighborhoods where women don’t feel comfortable going in without veils,” Jindal said. “That’s wrong. We all know that there are neighborhoods where police are less likely to go into.”
“But you need to have proper, sort of, facts to back that up,” Foster replied, saying he, as British man, has never heard of “no-go zones” for non-Muslims.
Jindal said that’s why he added the word “so-called” before “no-go zones” in his speech before turning the accusations around on liberals. “I think that the radical Left absolutely wants to pretend like this problem is not here. Pretending it’s not here won’t make it go away,” he said.
As Foster continued to press him for evidence and accused him of “exaggerating” the situation, Jindal replied, “I think your viewers know absolutely there are places where the police are less likely to go. They absolutely know there are neighborhoods where they wouldn’t feel comfortable.”
I’ll save you 45 mins. Obama will decry Republicans, beat up on private business and argue for more “free stuff". Your welcome. #SOTU2015”
— Gov. Bobby Jindal (@BobbyJindal) January 21, 2015
The fundamental question is: Does America have the capacity to hear and heed the radical King or must America sanitize King in order to evade and avoid his challenge?Today, the house is still on fire.
King indeed had a dream. But it was not the American dream. King’s dream was rooted in the American Dream—it was what the quest for life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness looked like for people enslaved and Jim Crowed, terrorized, traumatized, and stigmatized by American laws and American citizens. The litmus test for realizing King’s dream was neither a black face in the White House nor a black presence on Wall Street. Rather, the fulfillment of his dream was for all poor and working people to live lives of decency and dignity.
King’s dream of a more free and democratic America and world had morphed into, in his words, “a nightmare,” owing to the persistence of “racism, poverty, militarism, and materialism.” He called America a “sick society.” At one point, King cried out in despair, “I have found out that all that I have been doing in trying to correct this system in America has been in vain. I am trying to get at the roots of it to see just what ought to be done. The whole thing will have to be done away with.” He said to his dear brother Harry Belafonte days before his, King’s, death, “Are we integrating into a burning house?” He was weary of pervasive economic injustice, cultural decay, and political paralysis. He was not an American Gibbon chronicling the decline and fall of the American empire but a courageous and visionary Christian blues man, fighting with style and love in the face of the four catastrophes he identified, which are still with us today.
The world's richest 1 percent will own more wealth than the bottom 99 percent combined by next year, according to a new study released Monday by Oxfam.Maybe it's a very small consolation, but if you're grasping about for hope, it is significant that we have dedicated a national holiday to the contemplation of King's memory. When seen in full, it is a contemplation of the potential of radical resistance and of what it means to practice participatory democracy. Rather than a stale commemoration of long gone history, King's holiday is an active reminder of how much there is still to do.
In 2014, the wealthiest one percent owned 48 percent of the overall wealth, while everyone else had 52 percent combined. Their share of the wealth has steadily risen in recent years and is poised to surpass 50 percent by 2016, the study found.