The state Office of Public Health this week will begin posting online certain portions of inspection reports for restaurants, bars and residential and day-care centers.
The website, according to The Advocate, will allow the public to see specific “critical” and “noncritical” public health violations found in restaurants — but the data will not be posted until seven days after an inspection takes place.
Also included in the database will be info on 8,800 stores, 4,700 bars, 2,500 day-care and residential facilities, and others. Not included, though, will be overall number or letter grades of the businesses, a practice DHH tried in 2005 and later abandoned:
The agency is responsible for licensing and permitting nearly 32,000 retail food establishments through its food safety certification program. Restaurants account for 50 percent of the total.
Other parts of the site would provide the public with food safety information, such as tips for: tailgating parties, preparing a child’s school lunch, and alerts when there are food-related scares.
State Department of Health and Hospitals Secretary Bruce Greenstein said people should have convenient access to public records, and today’s technology allows that to happen, rather than making people wade through reams of paper.
The website announcement follows an investigation by The Daily Advertiser that maintains the website was launched only after the daily’s extensive probe of inspections. Its report finds that Louisiana is one of only 10 states that doesn’t post inspections online, and says that even after the info is posted publicly, it won’t include the full reports:
The DHH has gone with a new, objective approach to inspections, simply listing restaurants’ critical and non-critical violations. “There’s no way to say what the best restaurant is in the government’s point of view,” Greenstein said.
Critical violations, or immediate health hazards, are listed first. These violations might have to do with cross-contamination of raw and cooked food, a rodent or insect problem or improper food temperatures.
Non-critical violations are listed next. These violations could become critical if not repaired. These violations include dirty utensils, improper food storage and unclean floors.
MAY 23 Here's a story in the Picayune about some statistics that must come as a blow to folks who believe that any private school can do a better job of educating kids than any public school: Danielle Dreilinger reports that only 30 percent of the voucher kids are passing. That's less than half of the state wide average, she says. It's an interesting statistic because most of the schools (if not all) taking voucher kids have never had their students' standardized test scores released to the public before.
MAY 23 Stephen Sabludowsky blogs on Bayou Buzz about auditor requests here. Recently the state GOP started crowing about a request from the Legislative Auditor, claiming they were being targeted because of their anti-tax stance. (Uh, your what?) Denial and hyperbole aside, the state Democratic party blew holes in that theory with an email announcing they'd received the same request, Sabludowsky writes here.
MAY 23 Jim Brown blogs about the senate race in this post. He says that, given Bobby Jindal's "lack of traction" on the national stage, it might make more sense for the governor to consider running against Mary Landrieu for the senate seat. Since Tim Teeple left the Cassidy team, it makes sense he might land on a Jindal for Senate team, Brown opines.
MAY 23 In this Louisiana Voice post, blogger Tom Aswell writes of rumors that his nemesis, state Superintendent of Education John White, may be soon departing Louisiana for a federal post. It's hard to believe, given his performance, Aswell says, but stranger things have happened. An anti-White BESE member says that, if true, White is quitting before he can be fired.
MAY 23 In this post on American Zombie, blogger Jason Berry writes about the Mother's Day shooting. Mayor Landrieu said that "this is not who we are," but the fact is, this is New Orleans, Berry writes. The violence infused in the city is the result of a culture created by "sins of omission or sins of commission," Berry writes. It's not a problem that can be solved by legislating, policing, praying or publicizing, he says: Someone's got to understand what's happening first.
MAY 23 This post in the Westside Journal tells us what Port Allen Mayor Deedy has been up to lately: vetoing ordinances, apparently. This story is most interesting, however, when it delves into a petition that has been circulating around the city lately. It accuses the former mayor of a lot of nasty things; the former mayor says it is full of lies and "broken syntax" which may be a larger offense in his eyes.
MAY 23 This editorial posted in The Advocate is a bit confusing. The writing is poor - definitely not up to the usual editorial writing standard there - and the point is hard to grasp. Apparently, the writer is saying that privatization of state efforts is OK, as long as there is oversight and transparency, but Jindal's not good at that, and the legislature shouldn't over-react. Okey Dokey. Can't they get one of them Pulitzer-winning people to write an editorial?
MAY 23 This post on The Lens gives you links to a new Google Earth tool that allows you to see any spot on earth transform over the past 30 years. Bob Marshall, who covers the coast for the paper, says that in the case of Louisiana's coastline, it's possibly something you don't want to see, because it's not a pretty picture. There are several clips here, showing critical areas erode away. For Marshall, it was vindication for all those times he was met with eye-rolling when he talked about erosion.
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