Author

Michael Isaac Stern, Verite

Michael Isaac Stern, Verite

Before joining Verite, Michael Isaac Stein spent five years as an investigative reporter at The Lens, a nonprofit New Orleans news publication, covering local government, housing and labor issues. Before working at The Lens, Stein was a reporter for WWNO New Orleans Public Radio and freelanced for various national publications including The Intercept, The New Republic and Bloomberg’s CityLab. He holds a bachelor’s degree from the University of Michigan’s Ford School of Public Policy.

A screenshot from crime camera footage that shows Michael Celestine at the corner of Pauger and North Villere streets. The footage led to Celestine's stop and arrest on January 13th, 2020

Lawsuit shows growth in surveillance-based police stops, advocates say
By: and - March 18, 2023

NEW ORLEANS – Twenty-five year old Michael Celestine walked outside his friend’s 7th Ward home to take a phone call and smoke a cigarette. Wearing a Tommy Hillfiger puffer jacket on a brisk day in January 2020, he chatted with a friend, walked across the street and then went back inside. What Celestine didn’t know […]

A van from the NOLaToya recall effort is parked in front of New Orleans City Hall.

Court agreement lowers threshold for signatures needed to recall Cantrell
By: - March 1, 2023

NEW ORLEANS – The signature-count threshold needed to trigger a general election to recall Mayor LaToya Cantrell would be lowered from about 50,000 to about 45,000 in a surprising court settlement reached Wednesday between the recall drive organizers and the Secretary of State’s office. The details of the settlement were not immediately available, but a […]

Entergy's New Orleans Power Station.

Frequent outages could lead to big fines for Entergy New Orleans under new standards
By: - February 18, 2023

The New Orleans City Council established a new set of reliability standards Thursday for Entergy New Orleans that could lead to fines up to $3.7 million per year if the number of annual blackouts exceeds those standards. The council is the regulator of Entergy New Orleans. “Entergy New Orleans must meet our standards or owe the […]

A sign notes the presence of surveillance cameras in the Jackson Square area of New Orleans' French Quarter.

Surveillance cameras recorded you. Who should be able to see?
By: - January 14, 2023

NEW ORLEANS – As local law enforcement collects more and more video surveillance footage from public spaces, government agencies are being forced to grapple with whether the public should be allowed to see it. And not everyone is on the same page. “It’s a really tough issue, and most public bodies haven’t figured it out […]

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