Coming up in this week’s Gambit (available in newsboxes on Sunday and online Monday):

• I’ve got the cover story: a look at the long, strange history of Louisiana’s covenant marriage law….

• Noah Bonaparte Pais remembers the late Antoinette K-Doe, and previews the 50th anniversary of Tulane’s mighty radio station, WTUL-FM….

• Clancy DuBos examines race and responsibility between the mayor and city council (column already online here)….

• In our monthly Health & Wellness section, Kandace Power Graves tours a new state-of-the-art breast reconstruction hospital on St. Charles Avenue….

• Rex Duke™ reviews every Carnival parade and hands out his golden crowns, along with the reader’s choices for the best of the season….

• …and we announce our nominees for this year’s Big Easy Theater Awards.

Don’t forget 60 Minutes on Sunday night — Morley Safer interviews Gov. Bobby Jindal:

He’s been called the Republican Obama and some think he may run for the presidency some day. But his opposition speech after the president’s address to Congress this week caused some to say he’s too young and inexperienced. Morley Safer profiles the governor of Louisiana.

See you on the newsstand.

It’s way too early to tell who’s even going to qualify for mayor nine months from now, or who will make the runoff 11 months from now, but this much seems clear already: The next round of citywide elections will be the most racially polarized in memory. That’s a damn shame, and there’s plenty of blame to go around.

But rather than just assign blame, maybe we should talk about responsibility. Not in the sense of who’s responsible for getting us in this mess, because that’s just another way of playing the blame game. Rather, let’s talk about responsibility in the sense of all of us being responsible for getting us out of this mess.

I’ll start with our elected officials, who have a responsibility to put personal, petty differences aside and deal with what’s best for the city.

The obvious case in point is the ongoing feud between Mayor Ray Nagin and the City Council. It started out as an honest, though heated, difference of opinion over the city budget. It escalated into a war over patronage contracts and then a race-baiting trap set by the mayor. Unfortunately, white council members walked right into the trap and made things worse.

Read the rest of this entry »

Tammy Stewart, a candidate for Juvenile Court Judge in New Orleans in the April 4 special election, picked up key endorsements this past week — from DA Leon Cannizzaro, City Council President Jackie Clarkson, Civil Sheriff Paul Valteau, Clerk of Criminal Court Arthur Morrell and Clerk of Civil Court Dale Atkins.

Stewart, a Democrat, faces fellow Democrats Jason E. Cantrell and Gary Wainwright in the special election to succeed former Juvenile Court Judge C. Hearn Taylor, who retired earlier this year.

Read the rest of this entry »

The Louisiana Democratic Party has issued a statement about Gov. Bobby Jindal’s office and its sorta-kinda retraction-clarification on the Harry Lee story:

Gov. Jindal told the story in a way that made it sound like he was assisting Harry Lee in the sheriff’s office as rescue boats were being turned away – which the governor’s office now says wasn’t the case. The first responders’ heroism during Katrina is something that Louisianians hold sacred, and people are upset that Gov. Jindal framed the incident as if he was one of those first responders.

No word on whether “people” are upset that the Dems are now working those first responders’ heroism as shamelessly as did Gov. Jindal.

Meanwhile, the Jindal office provides this YouTube video to Politico.com, and Politico notes:

Gov. Bobby Jindal’s office, stressing that he visited Sheriff Henry [sic] Lee in the heat of the Katrina crisis, sends over a video of the late sheriff recalling the storm and its aftermath.

In this video, Sheriff Harry Lee recalls Jindal arriving “the day after” the storm and says, “He was there all the time.”

Lee doesn’t recount or date the story of red tape delaying rescule boats in the video.

by Clay A. Smith

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Photograph by Jonathan Bachman

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Despite a mercurial season the New Orleans Hornets can still see an opportunity to climb up in the Western Conference.  Tyson Chandler is  glad to be back-in a big way. Chandler has given the Hornets reason to celebrate.

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The Hornets’ center has stepped up his play as of late, and in his return helped lift New Orleans past the Sacramento Kings with a double-double that included ten rebounds and fifteen points. This is good news for the Hornets because a determined Chandler could spark a big second half for New Orleans.

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But Chandler isn’t the only Hornet improving his play. David West had 24 points and nine rebounds against the Kings. Finishing with 30 points West’s rebounds and free throws were key in helping New Orleans nip the struggling Detroit Pistons 90-87.  Small forward James Posey gives New Orleans solid minutes off the bench- a bench that is arguably the least productive in the N.B.A.

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But perhaps gone unnoticed has been the emergence of Rasual Butler. New Orleans is happy to get anything out of the shooting guard position in the absence of anything resembling a shooter since the un-coachable J.R. Smith left for Denver, but Butler has carved a nice little niche for himself. Butler averages just over ten points a game and since the loss to Boston on February 11th, he has scored at least 12 points in every game (except against Detroit) - including 21 in a loss against the Utah Jazz and 31 in a loss against the Los Angeles Lakers.

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Look for the Hornets to make a push with upcoming games against some sub par teams from the Eastern Conference. They’ll start with the Milwaukee Bucks, a team that’s lost three of their last four games. Then they’ll play the 26-32 New Jersey Nets who, if not for a controversial buzzer beater by speedster Devin Harris, might have lost six of their last seven instead of just five. And they’ll finish up against the Philadelphia 76ers who, at 28-28, shouldn’t pose that much of a threat to a team with playoff aspirations.