Merge pull request #119 from eye-on-surveillance/AI/clean-names

AI/clean names

packages/backend/src/cache/faiss_index_general.dvc

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   path: faiss_index_general

packages/backend/src/cache/faiss_index_in_depth.dvc

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   nfiles: 2
   hash: md5
   path: faiss_index_in_depth

packages/backend/src/news_directory/Advocates to city council Spend COVID aid surplus dollars on housing and youth development.json

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+{
+    "messages": [
+        {
+            "page_content": "Menu\nShow Search\nDonate\nNow Playing\nWWNO 89.9\nNews\nAdvocates to City Council: Spend COVID aid, surplus dollars on housing and youth development\nWWNO - New Orleans Public Radio | By Michelle Liu, Verite\nPublished April 4, 2023 at 4:15 PM CDT\nFacebook\nTwitter\nLinkedIn\nEmail\nCarly Berlin\n/\nWWNO\nNew Orleans City Hall\nWhat could New Orleans do with an extra $147 million?\nBuild 2,000 new affordable homes, essentially end homelessness in the city, fund development programs for opportunity youth, subsidize bus and streetcar fares, expand violence intervention services \u2014 and more, a group of nonprofit organizations told the City Council on Tuesday (April 4).\nThe city should spend some of the millions of dollars in federal pandemic aid sitting in city coffers on these investments, which are aimed at easing the structural problems atthe root of the city\u2019s struggle with violence and crime, community advocates said at a Tuesday budget meeting.\n\u201cWhen we\u2019re having conversations in New Orleans about what provides public safety and what creates public safety, it is these types of investments,\u201d said Will Snowden, director of the Vera Institute of Justice\u2019s New Orleans office, who presented the spending plan along with representatives from the Louisiana Fair Housing Action Center and the New Orleans Workers\u2019 Center for Racial Justice.\nThe advocates\u2019 plan would direct $107 million to affordable housing initiatives, $20 million to youth development programming, $2 million to community violence prevention and $18 million to \u201ccommunity equity\u201d efforts such as supporting food banks and building a pilot program to make public transit fares free for riders.\nThe ambitious spending plan draws upon both the American Rescue Plan Act, or ARPA, dollars and theswell of unspent surpluses sitting in the city\u2019s fund balance. Their presentation is part of the public process this spring to figure out how to use those one-time funds, including what\u2019s left of the $388 million in ARPA money received by the city \u2014 most of which remains virtually untouched.\nThe plan is a chance for local leaders to align city funding with their stated values, especially when it comes to affordable housing, said Maxwell Ciardullo with the Louisiana Fair Housing Action Center.\nThe advocates say the $15 million they want the city to direct toward homelessness reduction initiatives would house the more than 400 people currently believed to be living on the streets. The plan would also direct $70 million for new development that could generate up to 2,000 additional permanently affordable units across low-poverty and gentrifying neighborhoods, along with $20 million toward forgivable loans for small landlords and low-income homeowners to repair health and safety violations and $2 million in one-time funds to support renters displaced by health and safety violations.\nNew Orleans is falling behind its peers, given that other cities across the South have already doled out dollars for affordable housing, Ciardullo said. Closer to home, Baton Rouge, which received $165 million in COVID-19 aid, has allocated spending toward gun violence reduction strategies, a modest number of planned affordable housing units, neighborhood revitalization and youth employment programs.\nCouncilmembers dug into specifics of some of the proposals. How would the city ensure that so-called \u201cslumlords\u201d wouldn\u2019t take advantage of a rental repair program for small landlords, Councilmember Lesli Harris asked. Could making city buses free help with the \u201cfraught\u201d busing situation for New Orleans charter school students, as Councilmember JP Morrell put it.\nCouncilmember Joe Giarrusso raised another potential use for the money not mentioned in the advocates\u2019 proposal: mortgage assistance for first-time homebuyers. \u201cThat\u2019s another piece we\u2019ve got to be looking at,\u201d Giarrusso said.\nTravis Hills, who lives at the homeless shelter on Gravier Street, gave a public comment to councilmembers following the presentation: \u201cFrom everything I hear, it sounds good,\u201d Hill said. \u201cJust show me the money.\u201d\nThe city has until the end of 2024 to decide how to use its leftover pandemic aid and the end of 2026 to actually spend it. The city technically used nearly all of its first round of ARPA dollars, totalling $194 million, to shore up departments amid anticipated revenue shortfalls in 2021 and 2022. However, due to higher-than-expected tax revenues and lower-than-expected expenses, it was able to save about the same amount and put the money in its reserve fund, which had grown to about $300 million by the beginning of this year. Of the second $194 million ARPA round, about $100 million has yet to be allocated.\nThe U.S. Treasury, which administers the funds, has encouraged local and state governments to spend the money on affordable housing, though governments can use their ARPA funds across four categories: replacing lost revenue, responding to public health and other pandemic impacts, offering premium pay for essential workers, and bulking up water, ewer and broadband infrastructure.\nHere\u2019s a breakdown of the groups\u2019 suggested spending plan for New Orleans:\nHousing: $70 million to build new affordable housing units, with another $37 million directed toward homelessness reduction initiatives ($15 million), forgivable loans for small landlords and low-income homeowners to repair health and safety violations ($20 million) and one-time funds to support renters displaced by health and safety violations ($2 million).\nYouth development: $20 million to support the Children Youth and Planning Board and fund programs for opportunity youth.\nCommunity violence prevention: $2 million to bolster the budget of the Office of Gun Violence Prevention.\nCommunity equity: $18 million across initiatives including a pilot program to make public transit free for riders ($5 million), cash assistance for some essential workers ($5.2 million) aiding food banks and expanding access to food assistance ($5 million), expanding the Office of Resilience and Sustainability ($2 million), an audit of contractor and subcontractors to ensure compliance with city labor laws ($500,000) and translation services for assorted city materials and City Council hearings ($500,000).\nThis article first appeared on Verite and is republished here under a Creative Commons license.\nTags\nNews City of New OrleansNew Orleans City Councilcity hallCOVID-19affordable housingpublic transportationyouth\nFacebook\nTwitter\nLinkedIn\nEmail\nMichelle Liu, Verite\nSee stories by Michelle Liu, Verite\n\ud83d\udc4b Looks like you could use more news. Sign up for our newsletters.\n* indicates required\nEmail Address *\nFirst Name\nLast Name\nNew Orleans Public Radio News\nDaily News\nWeekly News\nCoastal Desk\nNew Orleans Public Radio Info\nStation news\n\u00a9 2023 WWNO\nTerms of Use\nCommunity Discussion Rules\nPublic Information\nPublic Service Announcements\nPrivacy\nAbout\nContact\nCareers & Volunteers",
+            "url": "https://www.wwno.org/news/2023-04-04/advocates-to-city-council-spend-covid-aid-surplus-dollars-on-housing-and-youth-development",
+            "title": "Advocates to city council Spend COVID aid surplus dollars on housing and youth development"
+        }
+    ]
+}

packages/backend/src/news_directory/Cantrell administration should boost transparency on 388 million in federal funds BGR says.json

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+{
+    "messages": [
+        {
+            "page_content": "Skip to main content\nHomes\nCalendar\nStore\nPublic Notices\nE-Edition\nNewsletters\nSubscribe for $1\nCantrell administration should boost transparency on $388 million in federal funds, BGR says\nBY MATT SLEDGE | Staff writer\nDec 18, 2022\n4 min to read\n1 of 8\nMayor LaToya Cantrell answers questions during the Community Budget Meeting at Lakeview Christian Center in New Orleans, Thursday, Aug. 18, 2022. (Photo by Sophia Germer, NOLA.com, The Times-Picayune | The New Orleans Advocate)\nSophia Germer\nFacebook\nTwitter\nEmail\nPrint\nCopy article link\nSave\nWhen the New Orleans City Council passed a massive, $262 million amendment to the 2023 budget in the waning hours before a Dec. 1 deadline, local activists were surprised.\nThere\u2019d been no formal notice that Mayor LaToya Cantrell and the council had hammered out a deal to tap hundreds of millions of dollars in federal pandemic relief funds and other money, said Maxwell Ciardullo, the spokesperson for the Louisiana Fair Housing Action Center.\n\u201cEveryone was totally caught off guard,\u201d Ciardullo said.\nNow, organizers are preparing for another debate early next year over how to use the rest of the city\u2019s one-time funds.\nWhen that happens, the Cantrell administration should open the curtain on how it is spending American Rescue Plan Act funds and a huge general fund balance, the Bureau of Governmental Research said in a report this week.\nThat report faults the administration for a lack of transparency thus far. But it also notes that there is time for a course correction given the huge sums yet to be spent.\nA growing surplus\nWhen the pandemic walloped the city\u2019s tourism industry in 2020, the Cantrell administration prepared for a downturn in sales and hotel taxes for years to come. The city planned employee furloughs in 2021 that would save $26 million, plus another $92 million in general budget cuts, according to the BGR report.\nHowever, in March 2021, the U.S. Congress passed into law the American Rescue Plan Act, which was designed to provide a lifeline to local governments. Suddenly, New Orleans was in line to receive $388 million in federal funds in two installments.\nThe federal law placed some limits on how local governments could spend the money. The city plugged $187 million from the first installment into the police and fire departments, freeing up general fund dollars that would have been spent there as the city saw fit.\nThat didn\u2019t violate federal law. But the fact that the city only explained how it was using the money on the front end in an online dashboard, the Bureau of Governmental Research said, \u201cdoes not provide the public with the information necessary to understand ARPA\u2019s real impact on funding for other departments or the city\u2019s finances.\"\nMayor LaToya Cantrell answers questions during the Community Budget Meeting at Lakeview Christian Center in New Orleans, Thursday, Aug. 18, 2022. (Photo by Sophia Germer, NOLA.com, The Times-Picayune | The New Orleans Advocate)\nSophia Germer\nIn addition to the federal aid, another factor bulked up the city\u2019s bank account. Hundreds of unfilled positions, many in the New Orleans Police Department, contributed to a huge balance of leftover funds at the end of 2021. In total, the city spent $532 million in 2021, $100 million short of its trimmed-down budget.\nThe BGR report found that even without the federal funds, last year the city would have been able to meet all of its expenses while generating a $25 million surplus. In effect, the federal relief dollars helped grow the city's fund balance.\nThe Cantrell administration has portrayed its conservative budgeting as a prudent response to the uncertainty of the pandemic. Even after Congress passed ARPA it warned of budget shortfalls lasting into 2025. It has also said that the savings have allowed it to sock money into a much-needed rainy-day fund. Yet the drop in spending coincided with widespread complaints about the quality of municipal services.\nRebecca Mowbray, the president and CEO of BGR, said the group didn\u2019t try to determine how the two factors were related.\n\u201cOur task here really was just to follow the money and see where it went. We didn\u2019t so much make judgments about how they were spending it,\u201d she said.\nSpending the pot\nThis summer, the federal government sent the city its second, $194 million block of pandemic relief funds. Heading into the November budget season, Cantrell held a series of town halls.\nIn some settings, Cantrell didn't typically distinguish between sources of funds and the timing of City Council votes. But administration officials also stated that the city would allocate general funds through the ordinary budget process before turning to the federal dollars.\nInstead, the Cantrell administration and the City Council passed the last-minute amendments to the mayor\u2019s proposed budget that caught organizers off-guard. Those amendments allocated $124 million in ARPA funds and $151 million in fund balance dollars, according to BGR.\n\u201cUltimately, they went ahead and passed everything all at once, not really giving citizens the opportunity to know the details,\u201d said Susie Dudis, a BGR research analyst.\nIn a statement, a city spokesperson pushed back at the idea that there wasn\u2019t advance notice, pointing to the town halls and budget hearings. John Lawson, the spokesperson, said the amendment included priorities that had emerged as consensus priorities, like fighting crime and blight.\n\u201cThe first set of appropriations invested in projects and initiatives in response to what we heard from the public as core/vital basic needs,\u201d said Lawson.\nGilbert Monta\u00f1o, bottom center, chief administrative officer for New Orleans, talks about the details of Mayor LaToya Cantrell's 2023 operating budget to the New Orleans City Council on Tuesday, October 25, 2022 at City Hall. (Photo by Chris Granger | The Times-Picayune | The New Orleans Advocate)\nSTAFF PHOTO BY CHRIS GRANGER\nThe budget amendment, unlike previous appropriations, sends the federal relief funds to specific departments rather than flowing it through police and fire. But even with that added level of detail, BGR\u2019s report faulted the administration for falling short on transparency.\nA $5 million outlay for \u201cunhoused populations,\u201d for example, was described in an internal memo as going to a \u201cfull-time staff member and consulting team to develop a comprehensive program to support unhoused populations in the city.\u201d\nThe BGR, Dudis said, is \u201choping we will see more of the actual plan details... their time frame, what are the objectives, what is the population of people being served. That, we don\u2019t have at this point.\u201d\nMoney in the bank\nDistrict A Council member Joe Giarrusso, the chair of the City Council budget committee, agreed with the Cantrell administration that the budget amendments reflected a broad consensus. But he also agreed with BGR that the city and council could have done a better job of communicating how they planned to allocate ARPA funds.\nThe issues raised in the BGR report, he said, pointed to the larger problem of compressing complex budget discussions into November. He favors expanding budget season to include October.\nGiarrusso said he expects to hold hearings on how to spend the remainder of one-time dollars from ARPA and the fund balance in January and February. That amounts to about $70 million in federal dollars plus at least as many fund-balance dollars, he\u2019s said previously.\nCiardullo and other activists are pushing for the city to spend the money on a wide variety of needs. His group\u2019s priority is up to $90 million to tackle what he called \u201ca tremendous shortage of affordable rental housing.\u201d\nGiarrusso said that under a new approach he is pioneering next year, there will also be quarterly hearings on how the city is spending its money. The Cantrell administration said that it will also be expanding an online dashboard in early 2023 to include spending outcomes and the use of fund balance dollars.\nEmail Matt Sledge at [email protected].\nFacebook\nTwitter\nEmail\nPrint\nCopy article link\nSave\nThis Day in History\nSponsored by Connatix\nRecommended for you\nRecommended by\nSECTIONS\nHOME\nNEWS\nOPINION\nSPORTS\nENTERTAINMENT/LIFE\nNEWSLETTERS\nGAMES\nSERVICES\nCLASSIFIEDS\nSEARCH\nSUBSCRIBE | GROUPS\nDIGITAL ADVERTISING\nHELP/CONTACT US\nRSS FEEDS\nMEDIA KIT\nEEDITION\nCAREERS\nTEACHER'S LINK\nREVIEWING THE RECORD\nOUR SITES\nOBITUARIES\nJOBS\nCELEBRATIONS\nNIE\nCLASSIFIEDS\nHOMES\nPETS\nARCHIVES\nSTORE\nCONTACT INFORMATION\nnola.com\n840 St. Charles Avenue\nNew Orleans, LA 70130\nPhone: 504-529-0522\n\nNews Tips:\[email protected]\nOther questions:\[email protected]\nNeed help?\nReport a delivery issue\nCreate a temporary stop\nSign up for recurring payments\nPay your bill\nUpdate your billing info\n\n\u00a9 Copyright 2023 NOLA.com 840 St. Charles Avenue, New Orleans, LA  | Terms of Use | Privacy Policy\nPowered by BLOX Content Management System from BLOX Digital.\n  This website stores data such as cookies to enable essential website functionality, marketing, personalization and analytics. By remaining on this website you indicate your consent. See updated terms and conditions.",
+            "url": "https://www.nola.com/news/politics/cantrell-administration-should-boost-transparency-on-388-million-in-federal-funds-bgr-says/article_6b591a1a-7d7c-11ed-b58f-0371d99e2538.html",
+            "title": "Cantrell administration should boost transparency on 388 million in federal funds BGR says"
+        }
+    ]
+}

packages/backend/src/news_directory/City council questions 911 call center director tyrell morris over life - threatening failures.json

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+        {
+            "page_content": "Skip to content\n67\u00b0\nNew Orleans, LA\nNews\nLive\nVideo\nHurricane Center\nSaltwater Intrusion\nCity Council questions 911 call center director Tyrell Morris over life-threatening failures\nUpdated: Mar. 14, 2023 at 9:00 PM CDT\nShare on FacebookEmail This LinkShare on TwitterShare on PinterestShare on LinkedIn\nDEMUXER_ERROR_NO_SUPPORTED_STREAMS: FFmpegDemuxer: no supported streams\nCRIMETRACKER\nAttorneys demand independent DNA testing for woman accused of killing Bella Fontenelle\nUpdated: 8 hours ago\nLSU FOOTBALL\nGarland Gillen recaps a winning weekend for LSU and Tulane\nUpdated: 10 hours ago\nSAINTS\nSean Fazende recaps a sloppy Saints in Houston\nUpdated: 11 hours ago\nNEWS\nFamily begs for help in recovering missing river worker\nUpdated: 22 hours ago\nNEWS\nBipartisan US Senate Delegation takes shelter in Tel Aviv amid rocket fire\nUpdated: 22 hours ago\nNEWS\nGov. Edwards offers congratulations to Gov.-elect Jeff Landry\nUpdated: 22 hours ago\nNews\nLive\nWeather\nSports\nInvestigations\nEspa\u00f1ol\nNOLA Weekend\nWVUE\n1025 S. Norman C. Francis Pkwy.\nNew Orleans, LA 70125\n(504) 486-6161\nPublic Inspection File\[email protected] - (504) 486-6161\nTerms of Service\nPrivacy Policy\nEEO Statement\nFCC Applications\nAdvertising\nDigital Advertising\nClosed Captioning/Audio Description\nAt Gray, our journalists report, write, edit and produce the news content that informs the communities we serve. Click here to learn more about our approach to artificial intelligence.\nA Gray Media Group, Inc. Station - \u00a9 2002-2023 Gray Television, Inc.",
+            "url": "https://www.fox8live.com/video/2023/03/15/city-council-questions-911-call-center-director-tyrell-morris-over-life-threatening-failures/",
+            "title": "City council questions 911 call center director tyrell morris over life - threatening failures"
+        }
+    ]
+}