A federal judge has granted preliminary approval of an agreement between the Justice Department and the city of New Orleans that's designed to clean up the city-funded jail.
The consent decree with Orleans Parish Sheriff Marlin Gusman calls for him to provide adequate medical and mental health care and overhaul policies on use of force and rape prevention, among other reforms. U.S. District Judge Lance Africk's approval Tuesday is a step towards implementing some of those reforms.
A federal judge has signed off on the Justice Department's consent decree to reform the New Orleans Police Department. City officials want more time to work out paying for the changes.
The Transocean Discoverer Enterprise drill ship collects oil from the site of the Deepwater Horizon oil well as workers try to stem the flow of the spill in the Gulf of Mexico, June 12, 2010.
Transocean, the owner of the Deepwater Horizon rig where 11 men died in April 2010, has agreed to pay $1.4 billion in criminal and civil penalties to resolve Justice Department allegations over its role in the Gulf of Mexico oil spill.
Federal attorneys have subpoenaed The Times-Picayune's parent company for information about 11 commenters on the newspaper's website, as part of an investigation of posts there by two federal prosecutors.
The newspaper reports that company attorneys have objected thus far to providing the information, asking the government to explain why it's wanted.
The Justice Department has filed two criminal misdemeanor charges against Temple-Inland, the former owner of a paper mill in Bogalusa, for violating federal environmental laws.
The charges stem from a five-day spill of pollutants from the company's paper plant into the Pearl River in August 2011.
A bill of information filed in U.S. District Court in New Orleans on Dec. 20 says a "liquor" produced during the processing of pulpwood into paper pulp was discharged, resulting in the death of thousands of fish.
