ABC26 News

That's what New Orleans Police Superintendent Warren Riley said at a press conference he called this morning to discuss the recent violence near parades. Five shootings since Wednesday, nine people hurt, all either on or within blocks of the Uptown parade route.

Riley said in each shooting, law enforcement was close by. "One of them happened where we have our sky tower, which makes absolutely no sense," he said. Police arrested suspects in three of the shootings -- all teens. Riley called them "young, brazen thugs."

Responding to a reporter's question about how to prevent these types of shootings, Riley asked:

"How do you police a mentality that is so brazen and negligent? How do you change that mindset? What makes that individual do what they do in front of an area where you have that many law enforcement officers? And that's why in three of those incidents, they have been apprehended. It's just crazy."

Do you have an answer for the Chief?

Louisiana lawmakers are bogged down in the minutia of passing ethics reform legislation.

Governor Bobby Jindal wants to do away with expensive dinners and other freebies, as well as require lawmakers, and their spouses, to disclose their sources of income.

Lawmakers say they're for ethics reform. But many are fighting some of the reform ideas.

Some argue there's no need to disclose the income of spouses. Others say that they receive free tickets all the time from constituents who genuinely want them to attend a certain event-- an event that they wouldn't attend otherwise.

Many lobbyists are also watching the session. Some feel that the ethics reform ideas will just make their jobs tougher, but will not discourage people from breaking the rules. They add-- there's nothing in the session that will prevent big business in the state from influencing top elected officials.

Are lawmakers going to pass needed reforms? Or will the new ethics rules just be window dressing?

About 44% -- almost half -- of the policy holders of Louisiana Citizens Property Insurance are in Jefferson and Orleans Parishes.

But most of that 44% are not in the hurricane-flooded areas of the east bank. They are on the west bank.

After Katrina, many westbankers – and people all over Louisiana – got dropped by their insurance companies because they were customers for less than three years. Their only choice for insurance was the insurer of last resort: Citizens.

ABC26 News anchor Liz Reyes told the story of one of those 44%, Deanna Theiss. She lives in Marrero. Her insurance company canceled her policy even though she made a claim of less than $2,000. She was a policy holder for less than three years.

She signed on with Citizens when no other companies would take her. Her insurance doubled, and she had to take on a part-time job to make the payments.

Why is Citizens Insurance so high? By law, it must charge 10% more than private companies so it can't compete for customers.

But, since Katrina, there's not a lot of companies competing in our region. So, homeowners like Theiss have to pay 10% more than going with a private company.

Go to ABC26.com and watch Liz’s story and tell us what you think about Citizens' rates. Are homeowners being punished because of a lack of competition? What about a temporary reduction of Citizens' rates until more companies start writing policies?

Let us know what you think in the comments section.