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Asylum-Seekers Can Appeal Fast-Track Deportations, Court Rules

A federal court made it harder Thursday for the U.S. government to quickly deport asylum-seekers if they fail an initial screening at the border. A law passed by Congress in 1996 sharply limited the ability of asylum-seekers to access U.S. courts if they want to challenge decisions of an asylum officer and immigration judge. Those limitations are unconstitutional, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit said. Asylum-seekers are offered "meager procedural protections," and the law...

House Votes To Condemn Anti-Semitism After Rep. Omar's Comments

Updated at 7:04 p.m. ET The House approved a resolution Thursday to condemn "anti-Semitism, Islamophobia, racism and other forms of bigotry" in a move that Democrats hope will quell the latest uproar over Rep. Ilhan Omar's criticism of Israel. The vote on the measure was 407-23. The 23 opposed were all Republican lawmakers. For the second time in as many months, the freshman Minnesota Democrat has provoked contentious debate on Capitol Hill over rhetoric that many lawmakers — including senior...

A Gulp Of Genetically Modified Bacteria Might Someday Treat A Range Of Illnesses

Mysterious Type Of Killer Whale, Sought After For Years, Found In Southern Ocean

Pets In Your Garden

By Lee Rouse • Mar 8, 2019

There are two general issues to consider when you have pets and a garden landscape: keeping pets from harming your landscape, and keeping the landscape from harming your pets.

Sunlight Is The Most Important Gardening Basic

By Lee Rouse • Mar 1, 2019

As gardeners, it's important to understand basic principles of plant life. And more critical than everything else is the fact that plants need light. It doesn't take many years of trial and error in the garden to learn that you must learn the light preferences of each plant and provide the right amount of light to that plant as closely as possible. Certainly other factors like soil, drainage, and climate are important, but nothing else matters if you don't get the light correct.

Coastal News Roundup: Greening Up The Gras

By Travis Lux & Thomas Walsh • Mar 1, 2019

Last year, the city of New Orleans announced that workers had sucked 46 tons of Mardi Gras beads from catch basins on the side of the road. And that was from just five blocks along St. Charles Avenue -- one of the main parade routes.

That news got a lot of attention, and a growing number of people are trying to figure out how to reduce Mardi Gras waste -- without reducing the magic.

This week on the Coastal News Roundup, WWNO’s Travis Lux and Thomas Walsh take a look at what’s being done.

Thousands Become Eligible To Vote Friday, As Louisiana's New Felon Voting Law Takes Effect

By Wallis Watkins • Feb 26, 2019

More than 36,000 convicted felons in Louisiana will regain their right to vote Friday, March 1. One of those people is Checo Yancy.

Army Corps Will Open Bonnet Carre Spillway On Wednesday

By Travis Lux • Feb 26, 2019

Heavy rains in the Midwest have caused the Mississippi River to swell. To relieve pressure on local levees, the Army Corps of Engineers will begin operating the Bonnet Carre Spillway in Norco on Wednesday.

The levees near New Orleans are only built to handle water moving at 1.25 million cubic feet per second -- quick enough to fill the Superdome in about a minute, the Corps estimates. When the river gets going that fast the Corps opens the spillway, diverting some of that water into Lake Pontchartrain.

Plant Peppers In Early Spring

By Lee Rouse • Feb 23, 2019

Louisianians have been appreciating the qualities of spicy foods for generations. The fire in Louisiana's cooking is provided primarily by the use of hot peppers or products made from them. Thanks to modern breeding efforts, we can now grow bell peppers that ripen to a red, yellow, or orange color, and can even be purple, lavender, or chocolate brown when unripe. Many pepper varieties are attractive enough to use as ornamentals in the landscape as well as in the vegetable garden.

Coastal News Roundup: Who, Or What, Killed Pelicans In St. Bernard and Plaquemines?

By Travis Lux & Tristan Baurick • Feb 22, 2019

This week on the Coastal News Roundup: officials investigate who or what might have been behind all the dead pelicans in Plaquemines and St. Bernard Parishes. Plus, an update on the Taylor Energy oil well that’s been leaking in the Gulf of Mexico for almost 15 years.

WWNO’s Travis Lux talks with environment reporter Tristan Baurick from Nola.com | The Times-Picayune about the week in coastal news.

As Revenue Stalemate Continues, Edwards' Administration Offers Wishful Budget Proposal

By Wallis Watkins • Feb 22, 2019

Governor John Bel Edwards’ administration presented a $31 billion proposal for next year’s budget on Friday. But before it can become a reality, a legislative stalemate would have to break.

FDA Gets More Money To Inspect Imported Seafood; Local Shrimpers Hope To Gain

By Travis Lux • Feb 19, 2019

The spending bill signed by President Trump last week will increase the amount of money for inspections of imported seafood -- a move praised by the local shrimp industry.

The United States is importing more and more shrimp from other countries, some of which is produced with antibiotics that are banned in the US. So when it’s tested by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), it’s rejected.

Ethics Board Backpedals Child Care Decision For Political Candidates In Louisiana

By Wallis Watkins • Feb 19, 2019

The Louisiana Board of Ethics voted on Friday to allow political candidates to use campaign funds to pay for certain child care expenses. Some say the decision breaks down a barrier that working parents, especially women, face getting on the ballot.