| By Drew Broach | Deputy metro editor
SOLDIERING ON - The seven-year official effort to erase Confederate tributes from New Orleans' public property inched forward again Thursday when the City Council introduced a proposal to rechristen the Central Business District traffic circle that bears the name of Gen. Robert E. Lee. But the proposal is not the one that the council's street renaming commission recommended.
A FIRST FOR THE YEAR - In death, Renard Matthews, 17, went viral when pictures circulated of his funeral, where his family posed his body slouched in a chair playing a video game with his favorite snacks — Doritos, root beer and Little Debbie Zebra Cakes — on a table beside him. Police arrested Jonovan Parker in the killing, and prosecutors took him to trial this week, but a jury on Thursday tfound him no guilty, making the first jury acquittal of 2022 in New Orleans court.
STUDENTS SILENCED - John Raymond wears many hats: church founder and pastor, "Survivor" television show contestant, school headmaster, casino opponent, former political candidate and member of the Louisiana Republican Parisy's governing board. To that list add criminal suspect, for Raymond was arrested Thursday on charges of cruelty to juveniles, for allegedly taping shut the mouths of three students who had been talking excessively in class.
Thanks for starting your Friday with us. Check out NOLA.com for more news all day. D.B. | 
