New Orleans in the News is a blog dedicated to moments when the city is the focus in the national spotlight. From issues concerning culture to politics to corruption, we try to cull stories from national news outlets, blogs and all kinds of sources that talk about this great city. If you have a link that we'd be interested in, send it to webteam@wwltv.com
Nagin interviewed in Essence
Gambit Weekly's blog, blogofneworleans.com, has a preview of an Essence magazine's interview with Mayor Ray Nagin that has him saying there's a "concerted effort to minimize my accomplishments."
The interview isn't set to be released until March when the issue hits stands.
Nagin also says that there was "no corruption under my watch."
An Eyewitness News poll released last month showed Nagin's approvability ratings at 20 percent.
USA Today: Katrina, Mardi Gras, Super Bowl made him trash king
USA Today has a profile on Sidney Torres, owner of SDT Waste & Debris telling of Torres' quick rise to owning one of the largest trash companies in the city and of his new show, Trashmen, that recently debuted on TLC. The article says he has "rock-star status."
"Torres, who once toured with musician Lenny Kravitz as his personal assistant, is also trying to bring glamour to garbage," writes Rick Jervis. "On Thursday, the cable television channel TLC premiered Trashmen, a reality show based on Torres and his crew tackling the city's cleanup challenges. He has already acquired a rock-star status to those whose businesses rely on prompt pickups."
However, the article does not mention last year's controversy surrounding Torres after a 4 Investigates report showed a company trucks illegally dumping following Voodoo in St. Bernard Parish. Torres says the truck was stolen. It also doesn't mention the focus of another 4 Investigates report dealing with trash contracts and the amount his company was billed by several other parishes.
Salon: 11 Democrats who will decide the fate of healthcare reform
Salon.com lists Sen. Mary Landrieu as one of the Democrats who could stand in the way of healthcare reform. Mike Madden says Landrieu doesn't like the idea of reconciliation, which would mean passing the bill without the 60 votes needed to surmount a filibuster, and said if Democrats couldn't get a bill through Congress that had broad support, she doesn't want it.
"Getting her on board would probably require better messaging than Reid's office and the White House have managed so far," Madden writes. "There's no particular reason why a majority vote should be seen as insufficient for passing reform, but lawmakers like Landrieu will need more political cover than they've found so far if they're going to support the tactic."
NPR: Changing the perception of Mardi Gras
NPR spoke with Tom Martin about the MyMardiGrasExperience that I was a part of this past weekend. He talks about the goal of the project, to change the perception of Mardi Gras to the more family-friendly experience that it is,
"I call it a breadcrumb theory of marketing and that is if I drop the breadcrumbs the right way a reasonably logical individual is going to get to the end point that I want them to get to," Martin told NPR's Marketplace.
For more on the experiment, read the NPR article and head to the website.
