Louisiana

On Sunday morning, around 10 am, I posted this image (right) and accompanying text on Instagram: “I was starting to get salty about having to work on Mother’s Day. Then I got some perspective handed to me real fresh & simple.”

The flyer advertises a "free support group for children of homicide victims." [...Read more]

Judge Lance Africk is hearing arguments in United States District Court this week regarding a consent decree designed to correct the violent, inhumane, life-threatening conditions at the Orleans Parish Prison (OPP), a jail that an expert witness from a nonprofit criminal justice research and training firm described as the “worst jail I've ever seen.” The parties involved in the court action include [...Read more]

A delegation of Filipino groups from across the country visited Louisiana this weekend to show solidarity with a local labor struggle against the oil industry, with national and international implications. A group of former workers at Grand Isle Shipyard (GIS), all guestworkers from the Philippines, have filed a class action lawsuit against the oil company for a range of labor abuses. [...Read more]

Good natured New Orleanians may be laughing about Sunday night's blackout during the Super Bowl, as a "now you see how we live" type moment for the rest of the country.  I'm actually feeling pretty PO’ed. Not by the black out, no. I am infuriated by the overblown language that some media makers have used to make hay over a pretty minor inconvenience, RELATIVELY SPEAKING, *ahem*. [...Read more]

Over five months since the Texas Brine sinkhole first appeared over the Napoleonville Salt Dome, residents of Bayou Corne, Louisiana continue to struggle to be heard – particularly by Governor Bobby Jindal.

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For those of you who do not know already, this year has been a journey of  learning and becoming aware. This journey began years ago, when my adopted  Dad went on an expedition and came back trying to educate people, including his bosses at Shell, as to what damage the oil industry was causing to the Continental Shelf.  This harm would not be stopped or slowed until change was brought about. [...Read more]

Crossposted from Facing South -  A professor who left the University of Texas at Austin following a scandal over his failure to disclose his oil and gas industry connections is now heading up a nonprofit, taxpayer-supported water research institute in Louisiana --  and he is still being less than candid about his industry ties.

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As a woman with disabilities – she has cerebral palsy and requires the assistance of personal care attendants to live an independent life – Ashley Volion is no stranger to isolation and discrimination. But as she wrote on Bridge The Gulf yesterday, nothing hurt this 28-year old academic from Lafitte, Louisiana as much as having to defer pursuing a Ph.D. [...Read more]

My name is Ashley Volion. It has always been a dream of mine to become a professor and to open a nonprofit for people with disabilities, within my Louisiana community, that would teach them about their bodies and their sexual health. For me this aspiration is deeply personal – I have cerebral palsy and have worked hard all my life both to live independently and to support my community. [...Read more]

Baton Rouge, Louisiana - A June 14th release of Naphtha – a mixture of flammable liquid hydrocarbon – from ExxonMobil's Baton Rouge Chemical Plant is under investigation for being severely under-reported by the corporation. [...Read more]