Commentary
Commentary: Poverty got worse in 2020 as many low-wage workers took the brunt of the economic blows
By Elena Delavega, University of Memphis Poverty in the U.S. increased in 2020 as the coronavirus pandemic hammered the economy and unemployment soared. Those at the bottom of the economic ladder were hit hardest, new figures confirm, suggesting that the recession may have widened the gap between the rich and the poor. The share of […]
Commentary: Seven charts that explain 18 months of the COVID-19 pandemic
By Katelyn Jetelina A year and a half into what the World Health Organization officially declared a pandemic on March 11, 2020, it’s an understatement to say that Americans are exhausted. I’m an epidemiologist and an internationally recognized science communicator, and I’ve often found myself running between COVID-19 meetings asking “how did we get here?” […]
What was it all for? Looking back on military service in Afghanistan
Barbara Jordan for Source New Mexico I can still taste the sand, feel the heat on my skin. We were told to smell our water before we drank it, just in case something had been added to it. I remember the faces, including my own, when one of our brothers or sisters in arms […]
Commentary: Five facts anti-abortion activists get wrong
Want to reduce abortions? Great — but doing so doesn’t require unconstitutional abortion bans. Conversations on female reproductive biology have long been muted. The duct tape is often applied by religious and conservative sects that historically view even the most basic utterances of sexual education as lewd. The result? A fundamental lack of understanding of […]
Everything we know about work is wrong. The pandemic proved it.
So what can the plight of a little cafe tell you about the state of the American economy and the changing face of work? A lot, as it turns out. The other week, the bistro where my family and I have been grabbing brunch every Sunday since the start of the pandemic announced that it […]
Can burying power lines protect storm-wracked electric grids? Not always
The good news when Hurricane Ida churned into Louisiana on Aug. 29, 2021 was that levees held up – especially those that were strengthened after Hurricane Katrina flooded New Orleans in 2005. The bad news: In many places, power systems failed. Nearly five days later, more than 80% of New Orleans customers were still in […]
I quit teaching over COVID-19
It took 36 years, but I’ve finally left school. The end came shortly after University of Colorado administrators denied faculty the ability to teach remotely amid yet another COVID-19 surge. Following the denial, a stream of unusual advice for professors trickled in: anticipate chaos, get creative and, if necessary, call the police. Over the years, […]
Hey, GOP: There’s a museum up in Montgomery y’all really ought to see
MONTGOMERY — You walk out of the fierce summer sun into a shadowy forest of rectangular steel columns, row upon row of them, six or seven feet tall, covered in rust the color of dried blood. It takes a minute to adjust to the dim light. Then you begin to see the names inscribed on […]
With COVID-19 out of control, New Orleans forced to take drastic steps | Tammy C. Barney
These are desperate times that require drastic measures. New Orleans became the first city in the South Monday to require either proof of vaccination or a recent negative COVID-19 test to participate in certain indoor activities that have a higher rate of transmission. San Francisco and New York have issued similar vaccine mandates. “Unlike this […]
Louisianians deserve journalism that prioritizes their daily struggles, successes
Louisianians deserve news stories and columns that make their problems the priority. On June 18, 2020, five days before the Louisiana Illuminator launched, I drove to Scenic Highway in Baton Rouge to photograph the ExxonMobil refinery in case we needed pictures to illustrate either our planned story about plants claiming the pandemic prevented them from […]
New Orleans’ jail made him sick. Angola’s medical treatment killed him.
Editor’s note: This commentary contains a graphic description of a person’s suffering and death. By Lois Ratcliff as told to Jamiles Lartey I spent 40 years working in healthcare, mostly as a certified nursing assistant, taking care of elderly and infirmed patients. I watched many people that I had spent years caring for as their health […]
Louisiana children threatened but don’t find a protector in Landry | Tammy C. Barney
The COVID-19 numbers are rising again, but this time our children are bearing the brunt of the coronavirus. At Children’s Hospital New Orleans, 1,000 children were seen in the emergency room in one week; 132 were COVID positive. Eighteen children have been hospitalized with COVID-19, nine are under the age of 2. Six are in […]