Investigations
In Louisiana, rape survivors are denied access to their own medical records
Ten years ago, Yvonne Williams agreed to have her body photographed, poked and prodded as part of a forensic medical exam — or rape kit exam — at the Interim LSU hospital in New Orleans. Williams hoped the exam would lead to the arrest of the man she was confident assaulted her, but it didn’t […]
Quality Jobs program shows poor return on investment even after excluding Pelicans
The Louisiana Legislative Auditor’s most recent analysis that painted a lackluster picture of the state’s Quality Jobs incentive program specifically excluded the New Orleans Pelicans from the study because, the auditors said, the extremely large salaries being reported by the team would have likely skewed the results. “They were such an anomaly from the rest […]
New Orleans Pelicans get millions in incentives for creating ‘quality jobs’ for NBA players
The New Orleans Pelicans receive a $3.65 million cash rebate every year from Louisiana — more than any other company — by counting its professional basketball players’ positions as newly-created direct jobs under the state’s Quality Jobs program, an economic incentive that’s supposed to encourage companies to create well-paid, full-time jobs for residents. In 2020, […]
Who’s responsible for Louisiana’s nursing home evacuation plans? State officials won’t say
Louisiana state government does little to screen the nursing home natural disaster evacuation plans required by law or to ensure that nursing homes carry out those plans as written, according to several state government officials and records released by the Louisiana Department of Health this month. The health department reviews the nursing home evacuation plans, […]
Louisiana nursing home owner who warehoused patients is a political donor
The nursing homes owner who left nearly 850 of his patients in an unsanitary warehouse following Hurricane Ida has been a generous supporter of both Democratic and Republican politicians in Louisiana. State and federal campaign finance records show Bob Dean has given at least $289,000 to candidates since 1994 both as an individual and through […]
Louisiana boil water notices paint a picture of the state’s failing drinking water infrastructure
This story was co-published with WWNO/WRKF. As far back as Fannie King, 39, can remember, there have been problems with the drinking water in Tallulah, a small city in northeastern Louisiana. King’s experienced water outages, discolored water and backups that cause the water to drain slowly. “As long as I’ve been living, there’s always been […]
UNO hired a professor who had been arrested for a sex crime. Then, he ended up harassing a student.
In the spring of 2018, a student at the University of New Orleans told administrators biology professor Shawn Vincent asked her for sex in exchange for an A in his class. UNO administrators suspended Vincent immediately, and days later, when the student turned over to university officials text messages and an audio recording of Vincent, […]
Louisiana AG didn’t report discipline resulting from office sexual harassment complaint
Louisiana Attorney General Jeff Landry chose not to disclose that he had to discipline one of his top deputies following a sexual harassment complaint in an annual report that tracks sexual misconduct across state government and is required by state law. Landry’s Department of Justice, like all other state agencies, is legally obligated to reveal […]