By: Allen Johnson
 
“There is a lot of information that is public information that is not getting out (to the public),” says city Inspector General Robert Cerasoli. The head of the new watchdog agency says he wants to work with City Attorney Penya Moses-Field to resolve the longstanding problem, which predates Hurricane Katrina. “I have to sit down with the city attorney and figure out where the jam-up is coming from,” Cerasoli says. The IG says Moses-Field has already told him she needs more attorneys to review the constant flow of written requests for city documents, but antiquated record-keeping in other city departments may be gumming up the process. Since arriving last August, Cerasoli says, he has heard complaints from citizens and media about written requests for police reports and other public records going unanswered. State public-records laws require public officials and agencies to make all public records “immediately available” upon request if the requested records are not in use. If a government official raises a question about whether the requested information is a public record, the government must respond in writing to the request within three business days.

By: Allen Johnson

The public may finally get a watchdog for the New Orleans Police Department — six years after a task force appointed by outgoing Mayor Marc Morial formally pitched the idea to incoming “reformers” at City Hall. Councilman James Carter and city Inspector General Robert Cerasoli are jointly drafting an ordinance to place a NOPD Independent Monitor under Cerasoli’s fledgling agency. Duties of the “IM” will be spelled out in the proposed ordinance. The IG’s $3.4 million annual budget allocates $250,000 toward hiring an independent monitor and two assistants. “We’ll probably have to use more money out of my budget because $250,000 isn’t enough,” Cerasoli says. Civil rights attorney Mary Howell and other activists have called for an independent monitor to review police policies and practices since 1996. In 2001, Morial appointed a task force, led by then-Councilman Marlin Gusman, to explore the concept after a controversial police killing in Algiers. After months of study, the task force in 2002 supported the concept of an IM over a police-civilian review board. Despite strong public support, the proposal languished under Mayor Ray Nagin, then regained momentum under a new City Council in 2006.

By: Clancy Dubos

Veteran Criminal Court Judge Dennis Waldron will retire at the end of his current term, creating another open judgeship at Tulane and Broad for this fall’s courthouse elections. Waldron’s term ends Dec. 31. A former first assistant DA under Harry Connick, Waldron was first elected to the bench in 1982. He is known in legal circles for keeping abreast of the latest appellate and Supreme Court rulings in the areas of criminal law and procedure — at both the state and federal levels — on a weekly basis. “I still read the ’slip opinions’ every week, and I have a series of boxes containing note cards with all my notes on them,” Waldron tells Gambit Weekly. “I don’t use a law clerk, and I don’t use Westlaw — because I don’t know how to use a computer. I call my set of boxes ‘Wald-law’ instead of Westlaw, and I plan to continue reading the slips for as long as I can.” Waldron also taught criminal law and procedure at Loyola Law School for 19 years and criminal justice to undergraduates at Loyola University for 27 years. Even more impressive, he hasn’t missed a single day on the bench for illness, nor has he ever been known to start court late. “I hope to go out with a record for perfect attendance and promptness,” he says.

by Alejandro de los Rios

Well that was one hell of a game wasn’t it? The turning point, without a doubt, came with eight minutes to play when the game was tied at 90. The Hornets went on a 16-4 that essentially clinched the game. But more important than the franchise-record tying 54 wins, more important than beating a possible playoff team, and more important than staying atop the Western Conference, the Hornets did it all today on national television. Read the rest of this entry »

by Alejandro de los Rios

Anyone who’s been to a Hornets game knows that every time Chris Paul scores or assists, the PA announcer says his name followed by the WWE’s Ric Flair’s tradmark “Wooo!” The practice dates back to when the Hornets were in Charlotte, where The Nature Boy hails from and carried over to New Orleans as Flair and owner George Shinn are good friends. So it only makes sense that, with the Hornets on national television, for Ric Flair to announce the opening lineup and then sign autographs at halftime. Read the rest of this entry »

by Alejandro de los Rios

In case you’ve been living under a rock for the past week, you know that the Hornets host the Warriors today in a nationally broadcast game. Tip-off is at noon, so if you’re awake and reading this, get to the Hive now. Personally, I think there should never be a sporting event before my usual wake up time at the crack of 1 p.m. but what are you gonna do?

Meanwhile, ESPN.com has full coverage of all the games today, not to mention this fine article about coach Byron Scott by J.A. Adande. There’s also this video featuring CP3 to Tyson Chandler alley-oop play.

Gives those links a look over, put on your Sunday best and go out and cheer the Hornets.

Mandeville state Rep. Tim Burns did his best to make the First Congressional District’s Republican runoff a real contest, but in the end the two candidates pretty much ran according to form. Metairie state Sen. Steve Scalise, who entered the race as the favorite — and the anointed among state and Washington GOP insiders — won the runoff by a margin of 58 percent to 42 percent. Burns conceded Saturday night, but said he felt good about the fact that he started the race with only 4 percent in the polls and wound up making a real race of it.

To the extent that geography mattered, it favored Scalise, even though he hails form the less populous Southshore. He captured almost 83 percent of the vote south of Lake Pontchartrain and more than 36 percent of the Northshore vote. Scalise’s showing in the runoff was an improvement over his already impressive 30 percent showing on the Northshore in the primary, when he faced three Northshore candidates. The Northshore has a majority of the registered voters overall, and a majority of the Republican voters, but the vote did not break totally along geopolitical lines — at least, not on the Northshore. Read the rest of this entry »