The Lens

09/25/2025

🔍 With New Orleans’s fall elections just weeks away, I have been combing through the published platforms of the people running to serve as New Orleans’s next mayor, councilmember, and assessor.

✍Aron Chang

Read More👀: https://thelensnola.org/2025/09/23/casting-votes-for-sustainability/

09/20/2025

How close is “too close” when it comes to pollution near the places we call home?👀 Hear why residents are raising alarms after the Smitty’s explosion on our latest episode of 🎙️
Listen where you get your podcasts🎧‼️

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09/20/2025

📰 Don’t just catch up—stay ahead. The Lens newsletter brings you the latest news, insights, and voices shaping New Orleans. Subscribe for free today!

09/19/2025

🔍 A new Tulane University study on brown anoles could offer a better understanding of lead poisoning...

✍Elise Plunk, Louisiana Illuminator Elise Plunk

Read More🗞: https://thelensnola.org/2025/09/19/new-orleans-lead-heavy-lizards-could-help-scientists-better-grasp-toxicity-evolution/

09/18/2025

🔍 Experts and residents decry hazards to people and lack of regulations, transparency

✍Delaney Nolan, The Lens and Emily Sanders, Exxon Knews

Full Story 🔗: https://thelensnola.org/2025/09/18/in-st-james-parish-exxon-plans-to-lay-carbon-pipeline-alarmingly-close-to-homes-businesses/

09/13/2025

Stay informed on stories that matter to you. Subscribe to our newsletter today and join the thousands who rely on The Lens for trustworthy, timely, and community-focused news, delivered every Saturday📬

09/13/2025

🔍 A buzzed-about spelling bee returns to the United States’ biggest maximum security prison.

✍Lawson Strickland

Full Story 🔗: https://thelensnola.org/2025/09/12/competing-to-be-the-best-s-p-e-l-l-e-r-inside-angola-prison/

09/10/2025

🔍 Order continues for the second consecutive summer. Once the heat index hits 88 degrees, the DOC must provide some relief to the men working for pennies an hour in the prison’s fields.

✍Bernard Smith

Full Story 🔗: https://thelensnola.org/2025/09/10/judge-extends-an-additional-90-days-of-protection-for-angola-farm-line/

09/08/2025

🔍 Though Louisiana legislators passed a statewide ban against physical punishment in 2023, parents can still give permission for their children to be physically disciplined.

✍Marta Jewson

Full Story 🔗: https://thelensnola.org/2025/09/08/football-coach-leaves-sarah-t-reed-high-after-alleged-paddling-incident/

09/07/2025

Forgotten behind bars during Katrina, prisoners endured rising waters, abandonment, and years of fallout. On our latest episode of 🎙️Criminal Justice Reporter Bernard Smith uncovers what really happened inside Orleans Parish Prison and reforms that still fall short. Tune in where you get your podcasts🎧 🔍

09/06/2025

From levees to local government, The Lens digs deep so you don’t miss what matters. Get the stories shaping New Orleans—delivered straight to your inbox🗳

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09/05/2025

A story that still matters. Haven’t read it yet? You should.
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For more than a century, the St. Claude Avenue lift bridge over the Industrial Canal has withstood life-altering floods and record-breaking hurricanes. Last November, it became a national historic landmark. But it faces an uncertain future because of expansion plans proposed by the U.S. Army Corps....