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From a Mote in the Ocean, a National Disaster
Ramon Antonia Vargas, a reporter at The Times-Picayune, rolled out of bed at 5 a.m. on April 21 to check the local news and came across the press release from the Coast Guard. The press release said the previous night an oil drilling rig, known as the MODU Deepwater Horizon, had exploded and caught fire at 10 p.m. in the Gulf of Mexico, about 45 miles southeast of Venice, La.
“It was about a minute after I had woken up and I had already made my first call to the Coast Guard,” said Vargas.
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A clammy atmosphere surrounded the sizzling sounds of char-boiled oysters, the smells of fried catfish and shrimp po’ boys and the mucky fingers and mouths devouring the crawfish.
Gaus, a law student at Tulane University in New Orleans, is the founder and director of Dogs of the 9th Ward, which rescues stray, abandoned and feral dogs in the devastated, storm-stricken community.
Families, couples and food lovers braved the New Orleans heat to sample hundreds of wines, enjoy live jazz performances and taste food from some of the best restaurants in New Orleans at the 19th Annual New Orleans Wine & Food Experience.
Multimedia
For most people, the only visible effects of the oil spill are on the ground. Photographer April Buffington took to the skies to document them from a different angle.
Whether it’s day or night, the area surrounding the French Quarter is alive with scenes waiting to be captured. Photographer Thaisi H. Da Silva walked the area in hopes of portraying these moments in different times of day.
Welcome to Treme, a New Orleans neighborhood with a rich African-American history, especially in music. The neighborhood is the setting for the hit HBO show of the same name.
News
New Orleans activists push for more camera surveillanceAccording to the Electronic Privacy Information Center, or EPIC, as crime rates rapidly rose in post-Katrina New Orleans, all levels of government infused money into an extensive surveillance camera system to monitor crime hotspots.
Experts Project Heavy Hurricane Season
While the nation focuses on the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, weather experts warn there’s a greater threat headed for the Gulf — a hurricane season that’s expected to be more active than normal.
BP Announces Second Phase of Plan to Stem Oil
The spill has also shined light on major environmental concerns about the impact of the spill on aquatic life.
Blogs
As the Newsroom ClosesOver the past two weeks, 24 budding journalists pounded the pavement across New Orleans, searching for ledes, sources and that juicy, undiscovered story. After long nights of producing copy, captions and performing painstaking editing with Photoshop and Avid, we’ve constructed a mosaic of information on New Orleans. Here are our closing thoughts.
Bourbon Street: A Class Act
Bourbon Street, with its bars, restaurants and clubs, is known as one of the most popular places to hang out in the Big Easy. Found on this lively venue are many street vendors and musicians who provide entertainment, often for a few fleeting moments before the crowds move on and they’re forgotten.
Does My Lede Draw You In?
Vivid language is constantly at odds with word counts and breaking news urgency at the New York Times Student Journalism Institute. And as a magazine-bred reporter, cutting copy feels like a prison shank — quick and dirty.
Sports
Zephyrs Secure Another Win, Continuing Team’s Winning StreakShortstop Donnie Murphy sprinted out of the batter’s box and rounded the first base bag, his eyes focused on the right field wall. As the baseball left the Zephyrs Field, he raised his right hand to the raucous home crowd.
Taking to the Courts to Keep From the Streets
On courts throughout New Orleans, devoted players put their bodies on the line night after night, week after week and year after year. But it’s also a mental game.
An Owner Dreams for Her Team
Dana Stumpf, owner of the New Orleans Jesters, hopes to develop the team into a Major League Soccer club.
