Part of the challenge in publishing a weekly newspaper is deadlines and space constraints. Since The Independent's launch three years ago, there are countless stories, scoops, news items and humorous episodes we've wanted to report that couldn't make it into our print pages because of timing. In today's 24-7 news environment, the nine days between our Monday press deadline and the Wednesday street delivery of the following week's issue have sometimes felt like an eternity for our editorial staff.
With Da Bog, that won't be an issue anymore. When we want to share something with you, we can do it immediately.
It's going to be a total free-for-all when it comes to subject matter. We'll be covering politics, hard news, local business, food, music, art, books and more ' whatever compels us to post on the blog at that moment. The beauty of the blog is that there are no space limitations; our posts can be breaking news, mini-essays, or simply one sentence. And we can post pictures accompanying our blog posts too, so if we discover an out-of-the-way boudin joint that knocks our socks off, we'll have pictures and the full details of that afternoon's lunch specials.
Most importantly, it's a way for us to have more dialogue with you, our readers. You can comment directly on our posts and let us know what you think.
If you'd like to receive news alerts when we post breaking news on Da Bog, simply sign up for our e-mail service by visiting www.theind.com and clicking on the menu item "Email News." It's easy (we don't ask you those annoying registration questions about your employment or salary), secure and private, and we will never give your registration information to a third party.
And we intend to have some fun with Da Bog. There's no shortage of absurd news that happens in Acadiana, and now we'll have a place where it will always be highlighted. It'll also be a great place to keep up with all the eye-popping ridiculous mistakes in The Daily Advertiser and The Times of Acadiana. You can read about it first on Da Bog when The Advertiser refers to a Catholic Church as a synagogue in a front-page story headline, says Axl Rose is coming to 307 Downtown, proclaims Gregg Allman is dead, or publishes the "LSU watering schedule." We'll keep you informed when a Times of Acadiana cover story says that missing an episode of American Idol is worse than the destruction from Hurricane Katrina, or its Managing Editor Gene Williams woefully tries to cover his back when we catch him publishing fake letters to the editor. You won't have to wait for the next day's Advertiser for corrections like their latest doozy from Saturday, Sept. 2, which said: "A headline on a story on Page 1C Friday about Lafayette Parish Animal Control's method of euthanizing animals did not reflect the context or content of the story." Seriously. We can't make this stuff up. (And we won't mind praising 'em when they do get it right, like with their great sports special section last weekend on the historic upset 10 years ago when UL Lafayette beat Texas A&M.)
The ground rules for using Da Bog are pretty simple. If you'd like to post comments, you agree not to engage in personal attacks, antagonize other users, make inflammatory remarks, use obscene language, make slanderous or libelous statements, or make hateful or bigoted remarks. We will edit or delete any posts or comments fitting those description from Da Bog and will ban any users who don't adhere to our user agreement.
And the blog doesn't change our core mission at The Independent Weekly. Our traditions of hard news, narrative journalism, extended Q&As, insightful arts, culture and entertainment coverage and an eye for the stories ignored by other local media will always remain our hallmarks. The blog is an extension of those philosophies in a different format and a chance for you to get to know The Independent's writers and editors a little better.
We look forward to meeting you and talking with you in Da Bog. C'mon in. The water's fine.
MAY 21 Gambit columnist Clancy DuBos writes about the Mother's Day shooting, and how the stages of shock and blame and healing mirror those traveled by the same city following Hurricane Katrina. The city will recover, just as it did following the storm, by reaching out to help the people injured most seriously by the event, DuBos writes. It's how we heal, he says.
MAY 21 Here's a post on the Advocate (but buried on a subpage, not on the front) that reports something Louisiana Voice reported some time ago: a top DOE official lives in Los Angeles and "commutes" to Baton Rouge. The positioning of the story caused a stir on Facebook Monday, with several posters asking if the Advocate was covering someone's hiney. Sentell's stories on DOE are notoriously soft, and this one is no different: don't expect any hard questions in here.
MAY 21 Here's another post from blogger Tom Aswell about the "course choice" program. He's already reported on kids being signed up without their consent or knowledge, and has more here: For example, he tells of a six-year-old who was signed up for high school Latin. He also digs a little deeper into the sister companies of the main one operating in Louisiana; all of them seem to have complaints against them. Stinky.
MAY 21 Given the 80 percent cut in higher ed funding since he's been in office, it's clear Gov. Jindal would rather give tax cuts to out of state companies than have a functioning system, blogger Dayne Sherman argues in this post. The cuts have been such a disaster, Sherman says, that it will take 30 years to fix what's been broken. He says he believes the aim is to shut down most of the schools before Jindal leaves in 2016.
MAY 21 Blogger CB Forgotston says there are too many elections in Louisiana, and they're costing us too much money. The proof is in the pudding: turnout for most of these nonsensical pollings gets worse and worse, CB opines, even as millions of dollars that could be spent on health care or higher ed go down the tubes. The legislature must take action to stem the tide of pointless elections, he says.
MAY 21 Here's an interesting investigative piece by WVUE on the retirement benefits of some Jefferson Parish public employees. According to the story, the taxpayers are paying 100 percent of the retirement contributions of employees who started work prior to a certain date in April 1986 -- and have done for more than 30 years. It costs the parish millions annually, and might not be legal, the story reports.
MAY 21 This post on Bayou Buzz provides insight from Louisiana's intrepid pollster, Bernie Pinsonat, on the winners and losers from this year's legislative session. But to hear Bernie tell it, there's almost nuttin but losers: Jindal, the Republican party, the Fiscal Hawks all get big goose eggs in his win column.
MAY 20 This post on The Lens takes a look at a huge (either $500K or $250K) bill that one NOLA charter now has for school lunches. The RSD says the charter group didn't fill out the proper paperwork for federal reimbursement, but the story details how the RSD didn't ensure the people running the charter had the proper training, despite requests from hapless charter employees trying to fill out forms. Either way, somebody's asleep at the wheel.
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