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☆ New Orleans residents brace for salt water intrusion as Biden declares national emergency
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-28 | by ( Rebecca Picciotto | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +6 min

An aerial view of New Orleans can be seen from a drone above the Mississippi River on April 1, 2023 in New Orleans, La. Ricky Carioti | The Washington Post | Getty ImagesPresident Joe Biden on Wednesday declared a federal emergency for a saltwater intrusion in the Mississippi River, which is threatening New Orleans' water infrastructure. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers projects that two New Orleans water treatment plants will be affected by the end of October: the Algiers Water Treatment Plant on Oct. 22 and the Carrollton Water Treatment Plant on Oct. 28. Solutions under considerationAt a New Orleans City Council meeting on Wednesday, councilmembers, officials from the SWBNO and from the Department of Homeland Security discussed possible response strategies. Some New Orleanians are wondering why the city is always playing defense, despite the warning signs of saltwater intrusion in years past.

Persons: Ricky Carioti, Joe Biden, John Bel Edwards, Biden, Jesse Keenan, Mia Miller, Miller, Joseph Giarrusso, SWBNO, Councilmember Lesli Harris, Councilmember, there's, We're, Bywater, Stephen Murphy, bode, Murphy Organizations: Washington Post, Getty, Wednesday, Louisiana Gov, Federal Emergency Management Agency, Biden's, U.S . Army Corps of Engineers, Board, New, New Orleans City Council, U.S . Army Corps of Engineers New, Water Board, Tulane University, New Orleans City, Department of Homeland Security, FEMA, Tulane University's Disaster Management Locations: New Orleans, Mississippi, La, Plaquemines Parish, Louisiana, U.S . Army Corps of Engineers New Orleans, Algiers, Carrollton, Bywater, councilmembers

☆ Hundreds of activists packed Atlanta's City Hall to protest 'Cop City', but lawmakers approved $67 million in funding for it anyway
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-06 | by ( R.J. Rico | Associated Press | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +8 min

Hundreds of activists packed Atlanta's City Hall to protest the funding of "Cop City." But the City Council approved $67 million in funding for the police training center anyway. Arvin Temkar/Atlanta Journal-Constitution via APThe training center was approved by the City Council in September 2021 but required an additional vote for more funding. Though more than 220 people spoke publicly against the training center, a small handful voiced support, saying they trusted Dickens' judgment. Protestors gather in the atrium of Atlanta City Hall to protest the proposed police training center on Monday, June 5, 2023.

Persons: —, Andre Dickens, Dickens, Jason Getz, Manuel Paez Terán, Matthew Johnson, Johnson, Arvin Temkar, Councilmembers, Natrice Miller, Sen, Raphael Warnock, Devin Franklin, Franklin, Sara McClintock, councilmembers, McClintock, It's Organizations: Council, Service, ATLANTA, Atlanta City Council, City Council, Atlanta Police Foundation's, Atlanta, Beloved Community, Protesters, Hall, Atlanta Police Foundation, Atlanta City Hall, AP, Atlanta Solidarity Fund, Prosecutors, Democratic, Civil Rights Movement, Southern, For Human, City Hall, Emory University Locations: Atlanta, DeKalb County, City

☆ The zero-fare public transit movement is picking up momentum
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-14 | by ( Rebecca Picciotto | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +7 min

In late 2019, Kansas City, Missouri, became the first major U.S. city to approve a fare-free public transit system. The public transit crisisKansas City's bus system, called RideKC. Alexandria and Richmond in Virginia have successfully integrated fare-free transit into their annual budgets. Source: Kansas City Area Transportation AuthorityIn Kansas City, zero-fare transit has become a hallmark of life. The zero-fare bus started in December 2019 as a pilot program.

The councilman has defied demands for his resignation and attended last week’s meeting, amid vociferous protests, “to get back to work,” he told CNN’s Kate Bolduan before the meeting. Calls for de León’s resignation have continued since October, when audio of a year-old conversation between de Léon and fellow council members was posted anonymously on Reddit and obtained by the Los Angeles Times. Much of the conversation focused on maps proposed by the city’s redistricting commission and the council members’ frustration with them, but it also featured racist remarks about a fellow council member’s Black son and about Oaxacans. “I shouldn’t have said what I said,” de León told CNN on Tuesday, clarifying his remarks comparing White colleague Mike Bonin’s Black child to a designer handbag. De León pointed to his body of work, including his work on environmental issues and advocacy on behalf of undocumented immigrants.

☆ Indigenous Latino L.A. residents feel hurt, betrayed by racist remarks
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-13 | by ( Associated Press | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +7 min

But the disparaging remarks still deeply hurt the city’s immigrants from Oaxaca, which has one of Mexico’s large indigenous populations. Both growing up in their homeland and after reaching the U.S., they say they’ve become accustomed to hearing such stinging comments — not only from non-Latinos but from lighter skinned Mexican immigrants and their descendants. Martinez used a disparaging term for the Black son of a white council member and called immigrants from Oaxaca ugly. Los Angeles is home to the country’s largest Mexican population and nearly half the city of 4 million people is Latino, census figures show. Informal studies indicate several hundred thousand Oaxacan immigrants live in California, with the largest concentration in Los Angeles, said Gaspar Rivera-Salgado, director of the University of California, Los Angeles Center for Mexican Studies.

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