New Orleans

ATLANTA (BAMM Network) — Labor Day weekend is becoming one of the South’s biggest annual showcases of Black LGBTQ+ culture, with major celebrations unfolding simultaneously in Atlanta and New Orleans — and generating business far beyond the official event stages. An attendee celebrates Atlanta Black Pride at Piedmont Park in 2025. Atlanta Black Pride marks its 20th anniversary this Labor Day weekend with parties, community events and Sunday’s Pure Heat Community Festival. (Th

NEW ORLEANS (BAMM Network) — New Orleans police are solving homicides at a rate the department has not seen in years, with NOPD reporting a 98% homicide clearance rate as of Aug. 12 — up from 43% in 2022, when the city recorded 266 killings. Investigators work behind police tape at a New Orleans crime scene. NOPD’s homicide unit is clearing cases at a much higher rate this year than during the city’s 2022 violence surge. (WWL-TV) The turnaround comes as New Orleans is also ex

BATON ROUGE, La. (BAMM Network) — Southern University System Board Chairman Tony Clayton wants the university system to consider a broader student dress code, arguing that students should present themselves in a way that reflects the professional preparation expected from a college education. Southern University students gather on the Baton Rouge campus. A proposed systemwide dress code is raising broader questions about professionalism, personal expression and how HBCUs shou

NEW ORLEANS (BAMM Network) — Jerome “Big Duck” Smith, a legendary New Orleans civil rights activist, Freedom Rider, educator and community leader whose work helped shape the city’s role in the national civil rights movement, has died. He was 87. Smith’s death was confirmed Friday. WDSU reported that the longtime activist and culture bearer had died, marking the loss of one of the city’s most enduring voices for racial justice and community empowerment. A lifelong New Orleania

BATON ROUGE, La. — Southern University’s famed Human Jukebox Marching Band has landed a collaboration with Gap, becoming the latest HBCU band to take its sound, style and cultural influence into a national fashion campaign. The Human Jukebox stars in Gap’s new “Denim On Your Own” campaign, performing its own arrangement of Robyn’s 2010 hit “Dancing on My Own.” Images from the campaign show band members wearing customized Gap denim featuring Southern University branding. T

SEOUL, South Korea — Louisiana-born rapper YoungBoy Never Broke Again says he has relocated to South Korea and has no intention of moving back to the United States, revealing the major life change during a rare interview with comedian Funny Marco. The Baton Rouge native, whose real name is Kentrell Gaulden, discussed his new home during an episode of Marco’s “Open Thoughts” released Tuesday. The interview itself was filmed in South Korea, where YoungBoy said he is now living.

A potentially deadly bacterium found naturally in warm coastal waters is raising renewed concerns across the Gulf Coast, with Louisiana and Florida reporting infections and deaths as summer temperatures keep millions of residents and tourists near beaches and other waterways. Vibrio vulnificus, commonly described as a “flesh-eating” bacterium because severe infections can rapidly destroy tissue, is naturally present in warm salt and brackish water. Infections are relatively r

NEW ORLEANS (BAMM Network) — Every summer, thousands of people across the South trade bright colors for crisp white linen, filling streets lined with art galleries, boutiques, restaurants and live music. White Linen Night 2026_Photo from @Alexx_Robinson Instagram Page What began more than three decades ago as a neighborhood arts promotion in New Orleans has grown into a cultural tradition embraced by cities hundreds of miles apart—and one that reflects the South's growing inf