Eve Troeh

New Orleans ended the year with 155 murders. And while that’s still very high for a city of our size, it’s the least number of killings here in decades. Claire  Galofaro of The New Orleans Advocate looked into this number, and what it really means for New Orleans. She talked with WWNO News Director Eve Troeh.

Renowned Louisiana painter George Rodrigue died Saturday of cancer at a hospital in Houston.

The 69-year-old painter started out depicting scenes from Cajun life and culture. He became world-famous, though, for his Blue Dog paintings in the 1990s.

The character was inspired by the Cajun fairy tale of “Loup Garou,” a sort of werewolf. It became the star of a corporate campaign by Xerox.

Some recent reporting from The Lens and other outlets have highlighted a rapid rate of turnover in New Orleans school staffing. It’s a trend seen in the ranks of teachers and school administrators, and not just in New Orleans.

Sarah Carr is an education reporter for the Hechinger Report, an education news nonprofit, and a frequent contributor to WWNO. She sat down with News Director Eve Troeh to talk about the impact of high rates of  staff turnover in city schools.

About a year ago, Greg Thyssen and Shakti Belway bought an 1800's double shotgun in the Tremé neighborhood.

"I'm tall," Thyssen said, "so I love the high ceilings, a fireplace in every room, beautiful pocket doors."

Beauty, yes, but the house needed work. "The floors were eaten away by termites," Belway said, "and under layers and layers of linoleum."

The Common Core standards teach classroom fundamentals in new ways, with a goal of deeper understanding. Sarah Carr, who covers education for the Hechinger Report, has followed the adjustment to Common Core in Louisiana, including at Belle Chase Primary in Plaquemines Parish.

WWNO News Director Eve Troeh talked with Sarah Carr about how parents feel the Common Core changes, as they help their children with homework.

The NFL Players Association announced the launch this week of The Trust, a program created to assist former NFL players in the transition to life after professional football.

One major component of The Trust is the Brain and Body program, which will provide participants with medical evaluations and care. Tulane University here in New Orleans is one of The Trust’s three national medical providers.

President Barack Obama visited the Port of New Orleans on Friday, Nov. 8, delivering a speech on the state of the economy and the vitality of the nation's ports, and touching on future infrastructure spending and the Affordable Care Act.

The full text of the President's remarks, as provided by the White House Press Office:

This month the University of New Orleans sent out a notice, saying its child daycare facility would close December 20. The reason given? It loses money, at a time when the university is facing severe budget cuts. That leaves 81 children in need of new child care options.

At dusk, parents descend on the UNO lakefront campus to collect their little ones from daycare. But a few weeks ago, they lingered — to browse brochures for different child care. Word was out, the UNO Children’s Center was closing.

“It breaks our hearts, you know?”

This week, the city held public hearings about overhauling the citywide zoning code.

Most people don't pay attention to zoning issues, but it has a direct impact on potentially every property in the city — from bars and retail to major manufacturing.

Reporter Karen Gadbois covers land use for The Lens. She talks with WWNO's Eve Troeh about the many ways that zoning decisions and other city initiatives like blight reduction can impact neighborhoods and homeowners, and how those important decisions are made.