A divide over how to heal a community divided by a highway

Mar 17, 2023
A midcentury expressway tore through New Orleans' historic Black neighborhood of Tremé. A federal initiative wants to address that damage.
Amy Stelly, of the Claiborne Avenue Alliance Design Studio, in front of two expressway ramps. She lives in her childhood home near the interstate.
Carly Berlin

The origins of a glass recycling empire

Aug 19, 2022
The sand Glass Half Full creates from processed bottles is repurposed for flood disaster relief and mitigating coastal erosion, among other things.
Glass Half Full turns the glass it collects into a sand product that can be used in anything from art to disaster relief.
Courtesy Glass Half Full

Sign writer launches a booming side hustle during the pandemic

Oct 25, 2021
A New Orleans business set up an order form for Nan Parati's signs. "We got over 1,000 orders in just a couple weeks," she says.
Nan Parati makes a sign at the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival circa 1990. She's been writing signs for festivals for 36 years.
Courtesy Nan Parati

Carnival and Mardi Gras usually mean $1 billion for the New Orleans economy. What about this year?

Feb 11, 2021
Quentin Messer Jr., head of the New Orleans Business Alliance, says the city's spirit is alive, but there's a sense of loss too.
Due to the cancellation of traditional Mardi Gras activities, New Orleanians are decorating their homes and businesses to resemble festive floats.
Chris Graythen/Getty Images

The economic impact of COVID-19 is magnified in New Orleans

Apr 1, 2020
The city is quickly becoming a case study for how a frayed social safety net responds in a global pandemic.
View of an empty street in the French Quarter amid the COVID-19 pandemic on March 27, 2020 in New Orleans, Louisiana.
Chris Graythen/Getty Images

Could we be doing more to help people on parole?

A former New Orleans parole officer reflects on what could be done better to help parolees stay out of jail and build new lives.
A truck is parked in front of a home in the historic Fauborg Marigny neighborhood in New Orleans, Louisiana.
Mario Tama/Getty Image

Low pay and long hours: Staffing in the restaurant industry remains a challenge as sales grow

Jul 17, 2018
The National Restaurant association projects that sales will grow by 4 percent this year. Celebrity chefs and Instagram foodie streams all point to an industry on the upswing. But staffing restaurants isn’t easy these days. Susan Spicer runs three restaurants in New Orleans, and says this is in part because her industry gets a bad […]
CHRISTOPHE ARCHAMBAULT/AFP/Getty Images

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Police resources brought in to help with Mardi Gras

Feb 9, 2016
New Orleans is short police officers after years of budget constraints.
A float in the New Orleans Muses parade makes its way up New Orleans' St. Charles Avenue
Eve Troeh

A neighborhood divided over housing

Nov 30, 2015
A New Orleans neighborhood grapples with questions over low-income housing.
Dianne Morris in her home in New Orleans East.
Noel King/Marketplace

A New Orleans business banks on new connections

Aug 28, 2015
Owners of small companies take advantage of a Goldman Sachs program.
McMillan's First Steps is a preschool and K-5 academy.
Caitlin Esch/Marketplace