This year, LEAP scores came back from the state of Louisiana in record time. Do parents understand the scores? Do kids? Now, the state begins to crunch school statistics to create School Performance ...

Until they were stopped by Louisiana legislators, neighbors around North Claiborne Avenue in New Orleans and communities within Louisiana’s “Cancer Alley” were able to view local air-quality, measured ...

In Louisiana, more than 200,000 people could lose coverage under Healthy Louisiana. Many don’t even realize that Medicaid is the coverage they rely on: for themselves, their kids, their aging parents, ...

This administration is placing vulnerable communities at greater risk when severe weather strikes, says Sara Gonzalez-Rothi, who helped to craft key forecasting legislation that’s now been undone. She ...

Unlocking opportunity: It’s a familiar scenario. Potential employers see criminal histories and don’t hire. In New Orleans, improvements to the city’s “Ban the Box” ordinance could better challenge ...

The Lens aims to engage and empower the residents of New Orleans and the Gulf Coast. We provide the information and analysis necessary to advocate for more accountable and just governance ...

A year ago, when Jackson Parish opened its new, unlicensed juvenile jail, kids complained of extended stints of solitary confinement, along with extensive abuse and violations. A DCFS inspection ...

The air in Ascension Parish is already saturated with the pungent odor of ammonia, a scent reminiscent of strong cleaning products or even cat urine. The odor emanates from the world’s largest ammonia ...

Academic leaders at the University of Louisiana Lafayette agreed to help spread industry talking points. Critics say that these relationships are a form of greenwashing.

In late 2015, the city of New Orleans and FEMA resolved years of haggling over how much federal relief the city should get to rebuild the sewage systems, water systems and roads damaged following ...

“Our community should still be proud of the long fight,” said longtime Orleans Parish Prison Reform Coalition leader Sade Dumas, as she stood outside the Phase III construction site last month.

In January, an appeals court injected new life into Formosa’s plans to build a huge plastics plant in St. James Parish. But to make plastic requires vinyl chloride, which already has a toxic 40-year ...