New Orleans is just a few short months away from seeing its leadership change — as Mitch Landrieu’s tenure as mayor comes to a close, the race to see who will take his mantle has quickly intensified. On Saturday, several top contenders in the race will meet with the Youth Voices Council to share their vision for the future of New Orleans. 

Councilwoman LaToya Cantrell and former Municipal Court Judge Desiree Charbonnet are vying to become the first female Mayor of New Orleans. It's high time, as over half of the Crescent City's population is female (51.6 percent according to the 2010 Census). Of the 18 contenders in the mayoral race, if either of these two leading candidates win it will be a landmark victory for the city. But their approaches to how they would take over New Orleans' highest office are very different. Read on for an in-depth breakdown of their different platforms. 

As a father of two daughters who knows there can be no shortage of successful role models for young women, I am not going to exploit the recent, clichéd Wonder Woman analogy when I say it’s a good sign that two of the city’s declared candidates for mayor are women.  Rather, I’m going to yank out a line from one of my favorites, The Matrix. Near the end of the original film, as he holds Neo’s head close to the subway rail, Agent Smith asks, “You hear that, Mr. Anderson? It’s the sound of inevitability.”

That, New Orleans, is now your reality.

New Orleans is just a few short months away from seeing its leadership change — as Mitch Landrieu’s tenure as mayor comes to a close, the race to see who will take his mantle has quickly intensified. On Saturday, two of the top contenders in the race, Councilwoman LaToya Cantrell and Judge Michael Bagneris, will meet with community members for a major public forum. 

We here at NoDef aren’t ones for gossip, but community speculation has had it for months that Desiree Charbonnet would run for Mayor of New Orleans this fall when current Mayor Mitch Landrieu leaves office. Though she has always shied from directly commenting on a possible mayoral run with the press, Charbonnet announced today that she has an “important announcement” to share with the city. 

There were whispers circulating around town for months that Judge Desiree Charbonnet would run for Mayor of New Orleans this fall when current Mayor Mitch Landrieu leaves office. Instead of the long-expected announcement that she would be seeking office, it was announced on Thursday (4.27) that Charbonnet will join the esteemed law firm Sullivan Stolier Schulze & Grubb, LLC. 

HIV and select Hepatitis C testing will now be offered free of charge to citizens and inmates that come before the Orleans Parish Municipal Courts. The test will be offered on behalf of a new partnership with NO/AIDS Task Force, Project IMPACT, and New Orleans Municipals Court Chief Judge Desiree Charbonnet.