By Kim Chatelain | NOLA.com | August 23, 2022
The Nola Coalition, advocacy group formed last month to attack the city’s violent crime problem, has received a $1 million donation from a New Orleans-based commodities and fuel storage company. International-Matex Tank Terminals’ Chief Executive Carlin Conner said his firm put up the money because it sees crime as a primary obstacle to the city reaching its full economic potential. The coalition includes the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, Baptist Community Ministries, the Metropolitan Crime Commission and other civic and business groups.
OLD AS DIRT: The oldest man-made structures in North America aren’t in the historic French Quarter, in Florida’s St. Augustine or at Plymouth Rock. Odd though it may seem, they are located on the LSU campus in Baton Rouge in the shadow of Tiger Stadium. A new study led by an LSU professor emeritus suggests the two grassy mounds on Dalrymple Drive were built some 11,000 years ago by ancient indigenous people. Reporter James Wilkins provides a history lesson.
SNEAK PEEK: The most visible phase of the ongoing $557 million upgrade of the Ernest N. Morial Convention Center came into public view with the release of renderings showing art-filled lobbies, a new gathering area and meeting rooms with new audio/visual technology. The interior upgrade project, designed by the New Orleans architectural firm NANO LLC, is the biggest overhaul of the complex in the center’s nearly four decades of operation.