Picture this: a teenager from the Lower Nine who had turned to selling drugs to keep himself and his family alive. He gets an opportunity to turn things around: going to college and interning at City Hall. To keep his connection to the community, he starts coaching baseball and basketball at a NORD facility in his old neighborhood with the goal of showing kids that they can, in fact, make something of themselves.

Pumping stations serving the two New Orleans neighborhoods hit hardest by Saturday's flood were operating at barely above half their full capacity, officials admitted Tuesday, directly contradicting assurances offered earlier by the Sewerage & Water Board and leading Mayor Mitch Landrieu to purge several top city officials.

The acknowledgement that critical portions of the mammoth system of pumps and canals intended to deal with heavy rainfall were down, pulled from S&WB officials during hours of testimony before the City Council on Tuesday afternoon, came after the agency had spent three days telling residents the pumps were operating to their fullest extent.

When the century was new and U.S. Sen. John N. Kennedy was still state treasurer, he used one of the powers available in that post and touched off a war among the highest ranks of Louisiana’s last Democratic majority government.

All Kennedy did was what a state treasurer could do: refuse to add to the State Bond Commission’s agenda the approval of an $85 million loan to build a sugar mill in Bunkie.

Shootings and murders are up, armed robberies are grabbing headlines and the New Orleans Police Department remains badly understaffed.

The focus in New Orleans — and in the race to determine the city’s next mayor — is once again on crime, which has risen to the top of the list of issues for those vying to succeed Mayor Mitch Landrieu in this fall's elections.

If you’re interested in the citywide elections in New Orleans, now is the time to pay attention and attend a forum or town hall. By the time the televised debates begin, much of the agenda will be set — but already community groups are framing the discussion. Many of them are new progressive groups that sprang up during the 2016 presidential election.

The field for this fall's citywide elections in New Orleans is set: 66 candidates signed up for 15 positions, including 18 for mayor.

Only one incumbent was unopposed: Orleans Civil District Clerk of Court Dale Atkins, who wins an eighth term in office.