Judge rules on Tenure for Ivor van Heerden

Monday, January 31st, 2011

From The Advocate by Fred Mulhearn

I just got off the phone with Ivor van Heerden.

I asked him if he could comment on U.S. District Judge James Brady’s ruling that Dr. van Heerden is not entitled to tenure at Louisiana State University (LSU).

http://www.2theadvocate.com/news/114937059.html

Dr. van Heerden recommended that I contact his lawyer Jill Craft. However, he did mention that this ruling was a less important part of a much larger process. He also added that he was currently working “out in the field” making sure the oil from the BP disaster got cleaned up.

Please follow me on Twitter or Facebook, or check the News section of Levees.org for updates.

Sandy Rosenthal
Founder, Levees.org
www.levees.org

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Levees.org founder to speak at Loyola Institute of Politics

Sunday, January 16th, 2011

Sandy Rosenthal at Kick Off Rally at Army Corps of Engineers Headquarters in New Orleans. Photo/Stanford Rosenthal 1/22/06

On January 18, 2011, Levees.org founder Sandy Rosenthal will speak to Loyola’s Institute of Politics class.

Ms. Rosenthal was invited by Tommy Screen, Director of the Institute, who took over for Ed Renwick in 2008.

Says Mr. Screen, each year 35-40 young professionals enroll in the program and get a practical education on politics. Each class hears from the “best and brightest” in their respective fields on everything from lobbying, campaign management, polling and many other political issues.

Ms. Rosenthal was invited to share with the class what made the group’s efforts so successful and how the group excelled as a grassroots organization.

Other speakers this year include Garret Graves, James Carville and Roy Fletcher.

Click here for complete list of past speakers.
http://www.loyno.edu/iop/past-speakers-topics

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Judge allows 17th Street Canal homeowners to seek relief in federal court

Friday, January 14th, 2011

Young girl holds flower at Ceremony at 17th Street Canal on May 29, 2006

Since I was downtown anyway this morning, I sat in on the hearing on a motion by Lakeview property owners in Civil Court presided over by Judge Kern Reese.

After hearing Tommy Anzelmo (for the SLFPA-East and the Orleans Levee District) and Randy Smith (for the 17th Street Canal Coalition), the judge issued this ruling.

Judge Reese denied the petition enjoining the Army Corps of Engineers from proceeding with remediation work for the 17th Street Canal. He didn’t feel that stopping the Corps’ work would accomplish anything good for either party.

However, the Judge told the plaintiffs that he believed the homeowners had been wronged. He said he would void his past judgement and allow the Coalition to re-write their petition and seek relief from the Corps of Engineers in federal court.

The most interesting part was the Judge’s last statement. Judge Reese turned his attention and gaze toward the ten homeowners in the courtroom and praised them for their strength to keep fighting and to not allow their rights to be violated.

Click here for video of story on WDSU.

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