On Friday, National Public Radio put the spotlight on Louisiana and its Science Education Act. The All Things Considered segment was less than flattering. Meet West Monroe assistant principal Danny Pennington who has created a PowerPoint presentation to document the "weaknesses with the theory" of evolution, and Baton Rouge biology teacher Patsy Peebles, who says, "We didn't need someone to tell us to introduce critical thinking into the classroom because we already teach critical thinking." Listen to and read "Louisiana Law Protects Evolution Skeptics In Class."
On another front in this modern-backwards-Scopes-Monkey-Trial-spectacle, in a posting to its website titled "No Thanks, New Orleans," the Society for Integrative & Comparative Biology recently announced: "SICB President Rich Satterlie informed Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal that the SICB will not come to New Orleans for the 2011 annual meeting because of the state law that undermines science education and attacks teaching evolution." In the letter, Satterlie notes that for its 2009 meeting, the group brought 1,850 people to Boston for five days. "SICB is joining other scientific organizations in suggesting professional societies reconsider any plans to host meetings in Louisiana. As scientists, it is our responsibility to oppose anti-science initiatives." Read the PDF of the letter here.
David Calhoun and Elizabeth “EB” Brooks are the first two employees of Lafayette Central Park Inc., the nonprofit charged with turning Lafayette Consolidated Government’s 100-acre Johnston Street Horse Farm property into a passive public park. Calhoun was named executive director, and Brooks is director of planning and design.
There will soon be a whole lot of shakin’ going on at Benny’s Sportshack Supplement Depot, a new concept by Opelousas native Benny Nele. Located at 2002 Johnston St., the supplement shop, smoothie bar and café, featuring hot off the press paninis and wraps, plans to open in late May.
This year’s Cool Town issue is all about people who are not native to South Louisiana but made a conscious decision to be here, to be among us, to participate in our culture and contribute to it.
A shelved ordinance transferring $200,000 from a northside drainage project to a south Lafayette development may not break any laws, but it stinks to high heaven.
An effort to restore a shuttered dancehall and document other vacant or razed honky-tonks could serve as a model for saving an endangered species of entertainment.
Lafayette’s gene pool has been host to a long line of eccentric characters who have blurred the lines between crazy, genius, disturbed and curiously entertaining.
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