Tag Archives: New Orleans

Archbishop Secretly Worked To Free Child Rapist Priest

The Guardian reports: As he reached the end of his 41-year life, Kevin Portier had endured child rape at the hands of a southern Louisiana Catholic priest for whom he had served as an altar boy; a highly publicized trial that sent the clergyman to prison for the rest of his days; and the trauma associated with those experiences. But …

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Christie’s Niece Charged In Drunken 2022 Flight Fight

The New Orleans Times-Picayune reports: Just over a year after former New Jersey governor and presidential candidate Chris Christie’s niece, Shannon Epstein, was kicked off a flight at Louis Armstrong New Orleans International Airport and accused of drunkenly biting, kicking and spitting on deputies who tried to arrest her, the Jefferson Parish District Attorney Office formally filed charges against her …

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Southwest Passenger Opens Emergency Exit And Flees

New Orleans’ CBS affiliate reports: The Jefferson Parish Sheriff’s Office said a man at Louis Armstrong New Orleans International Airport in Kenner, allegedly escaped through the emergency hatch and ran out onto the tarmac Sunday night. The plane was still parked at the terminal and had yet to push back from the gate for takeoff. Witnesses told media that the …

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Saltwater Likely To Contaminate NOLA Drinking Water

The New York Times reports: Saltwater is swiftly pushing its way up the Mississippi River and is expected to contaminate most of the New Orleans public drinking water supply on Oct. 28. President Biden declared a state of emergency on Wednesday, releasing federal funds to Louisiana. Officials are concerned about saltwater corroding lead pipes, which could leach heavy metals into …

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New Orleans Priest Indicted On Child Rape Charges

The Guardian reports: A retired Catholic priest from New Orleans who years ago secretly admitted to church leaders that he sexually molested or harassed numerous children is now facing criminal charges. State prosecutors in New Orleans obtained an indictment charging Lawrence Hecker, 91, on Thursday with aggravated rape, aggravated kidnapping, aggravated crime against nature and theft. The crime allegedly occurred …

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NOLA Archdiocese Will Sell Properties To Settle Suits

The New Orleans Times-Picayune reports: More than three years after filing for bankruptcy protection amid mounting claims of child sex abuse by local clergy, the Archdiocese of New Orleans is preparing to sell off seven properties — including the shuttered Sacred Heart of Jesus Church, the St. Jude Community Center and the Catholic Bookstore Uptown — as a way to …

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REPORT: New Orleans Archbishop Shielded Abusers

The Guardian reports: A board which helps the Roman Catholic archbishop of New Orleans, Gregory Aymond, evaluate abuse allegations against priests and deacons in six cases found clergymen to be credibly accused only for Aymond to ignore the findings and conceal them from the public, a Guardian investigation has found. Aymond’s management of the cases in question as the leader …

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Priest Gets 25 Years For Drugging, Molesting 17 Men

The New Orleans Times-Picayune reports: Stephen Sauer, the former Roman Catholic priest and ousted executive director of the Arc of Greater New Orleans, was sentenced Friday to 25 years in prison for drugging 17 men he met in the French Quarter, driving them to his Metairie home and taking pictures of them unconscious and partially undressed while he masturbated. Judge …

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Cops: Man Twerked Nude On Catholic Church’s Altar

The New Orleans Times-Picayune reports: A New Orleans man arrested on charges that he repeatedly damaged a 100-year-old statue of the Virgin Mary on the campus of St. Edward the Confessor Catholic Church in Metairie is now accused of illegally entering the church’s locked sanctuary and defiling the altar, the Jefferson Parish Sheriff’s Office said. Paul Laborde Jr., 56, a …

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Man Tries To Bring Loaded Assault Rifle Onto Flight

New Orleans’ CBS affiliate reports: Authorities say officers at Louis Armstrong New Orleans International Airport stopped a passenger with an “assault rifle” and 163 rounds of ammunition from being carried onto a plane headed for Houston this week. According to the Transportation Security Administration, a 52-year-old man from Jefferson, La., now faces a fine that could be as high as …

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New Orleans Former Priest Jailed For Contempt After Conviction For His Altar Three-Way With Dominatrices

The New Orleans Times-Picayune reports: A former Catholic priest who pleaded guilty last month to a felony obscenity charge for performing sex acts with two professional dominatrices on the altar of a Pearl River church has been held in contempt of court for giving a television news interview. Travis Clark, 39, now must serve six months behind bars. Clark had …

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Chris Christie’s Niece Arrested After Racist Meltdown

The New Orleans Times-Picayune reports: After getting forced off an airplane for asking passengers who appeared to her to be Latino whether they were drug mules, a niece of former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie bit, kicked and spit on Jefferson Parish sheriff’s deputies trying to detain her. Shannon Epstein, 25, boarded the Spirit Airlines flight to New Jersey on …

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NOLA Priest Pleads Guilty To Felony In Altar Three-Way

The New Orleans Times-Picayune reports: A former Catholic priest who was arrested in 2020 after a passerby saw him and two dominatrices having sex on the altar of Pearl River church pleaded guilty Monday to a single count of felony obscenity. Travis Clark listened to 22nd Judicial District Judge Ellen Creel read the elements of the obscenity statute at the …

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NOLA Again Denied Flooding Funds Over Abortion

New Orleans’ CBS affiliate reports: Abortion rights and flood mitigation don’t seem to have much in common, but here in New Orleans the politics over one is delaying funding approval for another. Thursday, for the second time, the Louisiana Bond Commission deferred the decision on a $39 million line of credit for a Sewerage & Water Board project over the …

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Dominatrices To Testify Against New Orleans Priest

The New Orleans Times-Picayune reports: Two professional dominatrices accused of a sexual tryst with a priest on the altar of Pearl River Catholic church in 2020 have each pleaded guilty to a single misdemeanor charge of institutional vandalism and won’t serve jail time, according to court records. But Melissa Cheng and Mindy Dixon will have to come back to 22nd …

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NOLA Health Official: Southern Decadence “Will Be A Superspreader Event” Without MPX Vaccine Availability

The Louisiana Illuminator reports: Southern Decadence, advertised as the largest LGBTQ+ festival held annually in the Deep South, is scheduled for Labor Day weekend (Sept. 1-5) in New Orleans. It typically attracts 100,000 to 300,000 participants and is a major economic boon to the city in a season when tourism is otherwise sluggish. Health officials at the state and local …

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Louisiana Withholds $39M From NOLA Over Abortion

New Orleans’ CBS affiliate reports: Louisiana’s Bond Commission agreed to withhold a $39 million line of credit to the Sewerage & Water Board New Orleans due to the city’s defiance of the state’s abortion ban “trigger law.” Louisiana Attorney General Jeff Landry [photo] said he would push for funding to be withheld to the city after the New Orleans City …

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FBI Opens Molestation Probe Into NOLA Archdiocese

The Associated Press reports: The FBI has opened a widening investigation into sex abuse in the Roman Catholic Church in New Orleans going back decades, a rare federal foray into such cases looking specifically at whether priests took children across state lines to molest them, officials and others familiar with the inquiry told The Associated Press. More than a dozen …

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Tornado Strikes New Orleans, Extensive Damage

CNN reports: Search and rescue teams were combing through debris and damaged neighborhoods in the New Orleans area overnight after a tornado slammed the region Tuesday. A tornado touched down in the Lower Ninth Ward and New Orleans East communities just before 8 p.m., New Orleans Mayor Latoya Cantrell said in a statement. One person was killed in the hard-hit …

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NOLA Health Official Quits Mardi Gras After Threats

The New Orleans Times-Picayune reports: New Orleans health director Dr. Jennifer Avegno decided not to ride as queen of Krewe du Vieux next month after unspecified threats that caused her to be concerned for her personal safety and the safety of krewe members, she wrote in a letter to the krewe. On Monday, Krewe du Vieux reported that Avegno, head …

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