Free Republic

NEW ORLEANS -- New Orleans began the process of taking down Confederate statutes early Monday with the removal of the monument to the Battle at Liberty Place. The city became the latest Southern body to divorce itself from what some say are symbols of racism and intolerance but which opponents say are historic.

The letters were sent to officials in Chicago, New Orleans, Philadelphia, Las Vegas, Miami, Milwaukee, New York City and Sacramento, Calif., as well as Cook County, Ill. These municipalities were identified in a Justice Department inspector general’s report last year as potentially out of compliance with the requirements. Friday’s letter asks the cities to send documentation that they are in compliance by the end of June.

Statues of Confederate leaders Robert E. Lee and Jefferson Davis are targeted for removal in New Orleans, after a federal appeals court approved the city's plan to change how it treats symbols of its history. Opponents of the move vow to keep fighting it in court. When Mayor Mitch Landrieu called for the city to remove the statue of Lee back in 2015, he said, "There may have been a time when that monument reflected who we were as a city, but times change. And so do we," as member station WWNO reported. After an intense public debate, the city...

NEW ORLEANS, LA (WVUE) - A driver plowed into a crowd of Endymion revelers Saturday, injuring several people. The crash happened at about 6:45 p.m. at the corner of Orleans and N. Carrollton avenues. Police said initial reports show so far about a dozen people are in critical condition. That number could rise, police said. One person was arrested,according to FOX 8 reporter Rob Krieger. Fox8live.com will update this story as details become available.

The suspected robber shot and killed by an armed customer Friday night (Feb. 10) has been identified by the Orleans Parish Coroner's Office as Jordan Espadron. Espadron, 28, was armed when he entered the T-Mobile store, 506 St. Andrew St., shortly before 7:30 p.m., New Orleans police said. Once inside, police said he ordered employees and a customer to the back room and demanded money from the store safe.-snip-Jordan Espadron life fell off track, his grandmother said. A search of online court records in Jefferson Parish shows separate 2008 convictions for cocaine possession and for attempting to possess a firearm...

Saturday, December 3, 2016: The Louisiana GOP is hosting a “Get Out The Vote” Rally With Vice President-Elect Mike Pence. RSBN is LIVE on the scene. Watch the LIVE stream and FULL replay of the event below:

Ten people were shot, one of them fatally, in the crowded heart of New Orleans' French Quarter early Sunday, police said. Shots were fired at around 1:30 a.m. on the famous Bourbon Street at its intersection with Iberville Street, one block from Canal Street. Thirty police officers were already in the same block as part of extra patrols following the earlier Bayou Classic college football game and were able to respond quickly, Superintendent Michael Harrison told NBC station WDSU. "Shots rang out, we responded," he said, adding it was not clear what triggered the incident. Ten victims aged between 20...

A historic World War II boat that survived dozens of operations -- and a few near-misses -- on the other side of the Atlantic is finally heading home to the waters where its journey began more than 70 years ago. PT-305, fresh off a multi-year restoration project at the National World War II Museum in New Orleans, is traveling atop a barge set to reach the Industrial Canal near Louisiana’s Lake Pontchartrain by midday Tuesday. “This is a big deal for all of us, but especially for the men and women for the last ten years who put blood, sweat...

Members of the Hell's Angels motorcycle club went to Lee Circle and surrounded the Robert E. Lee monument Thursday. The development came after New Orleans and other American cities were roiled by a wave of vandalism by those lashing out after the election of Donald Trump as president of the United States. Protesters took to the streets again later that night, but in a much more peaceful manner.New Orleans Police Superintendent Michael Harrison held a press conference hours earlier to detail the NOPD strategy for handling those protests.

NEW ORLEANS, Louisiana – What started as a protest against President-Elect Donald Trump soon turned to violent riots where one of New Orleans’ most famous monuments was covered in graffiti and glass windows were shattered out of a nearby bank. Hundreds showed up to denounce the election of Trump–but despite media reports of a peaceful gathering, the crowd grew increasingly hostile and violent, according to Breitbart Texas sources on the ground. Students holding signs reading “End white supremacy” originally gathered on the steps of the Lee Circle monument before the demonstrations turned destructive. Lee Circle was fully covered in graffiti...

NEW ORLEANS, Louisiana – A Black Lives Matter-aligned organization called ‘Take ‘Em Down Nola’ stormed New Orleans’ Andrew Jackson monument demanding all monuments related to the Civil War come down across the city. The monument which sits at the heart of the city’s historic French Quarter. Chanting “No justice, no peace” and “F*ck the police,” the group of protesters took issue with barricades and police guarding the iconic Jackson Square monument as a few members of Take ‘Em Down Nola immediately tried to jump the barriers, but were quickly apprehended by New Orleans Police Department (NOPD) officers. The protests, for...

Without any movement by state legislators in North Carolina to change newly enacted laws targeted at the LGBT community, the NBA is pulling the 2017 All-Star Game out of Charlotte, league sources told The Vertical

"A bullet hole in the head." "They blew her guts out." As Mayor Mitch Landrieu spoke about violence in New Orleans, it seemed at times as if he was using intentionally graphic language in an attempt to shock the audience gathered Wednesday (April 27) at Tulane University.

NEW ORLEANS (AP) -- The killer of former Saints defensive end Will Smith shot him eight times in the back after deliberately ramming his Hummer into the NFL veteran's Mercedes SUV hard enough to shatter its back window, the Smith family's lawyer said Wednesday.

Police are investigating whether the shooting death of Will Smith, a former defensive end who played on the New Orleans Saints‘ Super Bowl-winning team, was a random act that occurred when an argument erupted into road rage after an auto accident Saturday night in New Orleans’s Lower Garden District

WASHINGTON - The Louisiana Supreme Court Friday (May 1) permanently barred former Rep. William Jefferson from practicing law. Jefferson, 68, a Democrat who represented New Orleans in Congress for 12 terms, is serving a 13-year prison sentence in Oakdale for corruption and not scheduled for release until August, 30, 2023, when he would be 76 years old. The Louisiana Supreme Court said in its ruling that it agreed with the unanimous finding of the Louisiana Attorney Disciplinary Board that the conduct of the Harvard-educated lawyer is so egregious that he should not be allowed to return to the practice of...

New Orleans police released surveillance footage of Tulane University medical student Peter Gold being shot early Friday morning (Nov. 20) while trying to stop an apparent armed robbery at Magazine and St. Mary streets in the Lower Garden District.Gold, 25, stopped his car upon seeing a man dragging a woman toward an SUV in the 1000 block of Saint Mary Street, police said. When he tried to help, police said the gunman pointed a weapon at Gold and demanded his money. "The victim explained to the suspect, repeatedly, that he did not have any cash," NOPD said in a news...

Heads up America, Syrian refugees have arrived and they are here to stay. Your State Department funds are being well invested in one-way tickets for Syrian refugees to New Orleans, Louisiana. FOX 8 WVUE New Orleans News, Weather, Sports, Social Former FBI Special Agent-In-Charge Jim Bernazzani gave his opinion on the matter. "If I was in charge of ISIL, logistically I'd take advantage of this situation and put my people in, into the United States," he said. Governor Bobby Jindal expressed his concerns to the president by writing a letter to the executive office. "As with former immigration crises and...

Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal demanded Saturday that the Obama administration keep him informed on the Syrian refugees that are being placed in his home state, saying he is erring on the side of caution following the terrorist attacks in Paris.Mr. Jindal, a 2016 GOP presidential candidate, sent a letter to President Obama urging him to “pause” the entire relocation effort until more is known about the attacks that left more than 120 people dead. He also questioned the level of screening the refugees are undergoing and whether they will be monitored moving forward — pointing out that one of the...

(November 3rd story) After the Hayride broke the exclusive story on 10,000 Syrian refugees possibly resettling in Baton Rouge, Lafayette and Metairie, it has now come to light that refugees are already coming into the New Orleans area. Catholic Charities, which receive federal grants from U.S. Department of State/Bureau of Population, Refugees and Migration, have apparently taken in two Syrian refugee families already and are expecting many more. There are approximately 180 cities in the country that are eligible to accept the 10,000 Syrian refugees. Here is the full list of those cities, which includes Baton Rouge, Matairie and Lafayette: