THUMBS UP
Tulane University’s Innovation Institute
awarded a total of $55,000 to four New Orleans-based startups at the $50K Demo Day pitch competition during the recent New Orleans Entrepreneur Week. Ten startups competed, and Informuta, a health care company that uses AI and machine learning for infectious disease detection and health data analysis, took first place and $25,000.
THUMBS UP
New Orleans City Council
passed a motion to rename the intersection of Jackson Avenue and Oretha Castle Haley Boulevard in honor of the late Big Chief Bo Dollis Sr. The leader of the Wild Magnolias grew up in Central City on Jackson Avenue and first masked with the Golden Arrows before joining the Wild Magnolias in the 1960s. Joined by Monk Boudreaux, Dollis and the Wild Magnolias pioneered Mardi Gras Indian funk music and introduced it to the wider world on tour. Dollis died in 2015 at the age of 71.
THUMBS DOWN
St. Tammany Parish Coroner Christopher Tape
has said he will cut his office’s sexual assault nurse examiner (SANE) program, which collects evidence and provides health care to survivors of sexual assault in five parishes. Tape has said he wants hospitals to take on those duties, which would be difficult for rural institutions. Tape faced charges of child sexual assault in 2002, and is now being called to step down.
