New Orleans

My Father Stood For The Anthem, For The Same Reason That Colin Kaepernick Sits

6:13pm August 31, 2016

by Keith Woods

As a child, I found my father's love of the national anthem utterly bewildering. His was the generation of men born free but shackled by bigotry. So why did he sound so proud, singing that song?

Her income as a New Orleans singer fluctuates with the tourist season, says Lisa Lynn Kotnik, and that's made health insurance too expensive in the past. Now that she has a Medicaid card, getting the health care and medicine she needs should be easier.

Louisiana Medicaid Expansion Brings Insurance To Many New Orleans Musicians

4:38pm July 01, 2016

by Alison Kodjak

The state this week became the 31st in the nation to expand Medicaid to the working poor. It's also the first state in the Deep South to embrace the Obamacare program.

National

Out Of Ashes, An Unwavering Resolve: 'That's The Legacy. We Never Ran Away'

9:39am June 24, 2016

by NPR Staff

Before the Orlando shooting, the deadliest attack on LGBT people in the U.S. happened at a New Orleans gay bar. Decades later, a pastor recalls the fire's brutal — but, somehow, hopeful — aftermath.

Queue Listen Now

Though the Mardi Gras Indian who appears in "Lemonade" is a young woman, most people who mask and parade as part of the tradition are male.

The Mardi Gras Indian Of 'Lemonade'

2:18pm April 27, 2016

by Leah Donnella

In "Lemonade," Beyoncé's much-discussed visual album, a girl resplendent in white plumage appears. It's a nod to the pop star's New Orleans roots and loaded with the region's racial history.

In 2005, the Danziger Bridge was the scene of a police shooting that left two unarmed people dead and several others seriously wounded.

National

5 Former New Orleans Police Officers Plead Guilty Over Danziger Bridge Killings

4:45pm April 20, 2016

by Bill Chappell

Their previous sentences had carried a collective weight of more than 200 years in prison. The new plea deal reduces that to less than 45 years in total.

Jeff Hebert, who is leading New Orleans' efforts to adapt to rising sea levels, stands at the site of the future Mirabeau Water Garden, a federally funded project designed to absorb water in residential Gentilly.

Adapting To A More Extreme Climate, Coastal Cities Get Creative

4:12pm April 13, 2016

In preparation for sea level rise, vulnerable cities are building infrastructure to protect themselves. But as a look at New Orleans and Philadelphia shows, the strategies are unique to each city.

Sybil Morial has written a memoir about growing up in segregated New Orleans.

'Witness To Change' Recounts Civil Rights Struggles Of New Orleans

6:00pm March 13, 2016

Sybil Morial's memoir details her formative experiences living under Jim Crow laws.

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Mardi Gras Spectators in Mobile, Ala., in 2010.

National

For Mardi Gras, Les Bon Temps Rouler In Mobile, Ala., Too

5:54am February 08, 2016

by Debbie Elliott

Most people think of New Orleans on Mardi Gras. But the pre-Lenten celebration has roots in another Gulf Coast city. Mobile, Ala., proudly bills itself as the "mother of mystics."

Delvin Breaux, during a game against the New York Giants in November 2015.

Sports

Even A Broken Neck Couldn't Bury His Dream

6:00pm February 06, 2016

by NPR Staff

Just to make it to an NFL tryout, New Orleans Saints cornerback Delvin Breaux overcame long odds — like a broken neck in high school. It took years for him to work his way back up the ranks.

The Robert E. Lee Monument in Lee Circle in New Orleans, shown on Sept. 2, is one of four prominent Confederate monuments the City Council has voted to remove.

National

New Orleans Shifts Away From Symbols Of Old South

6:44pm December 17, 2015

by Debbie Elliott

The City Council votes to remove four prominent Confederate monuments. The decision comes after four decades of work by activists — and months of heated debate.