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Jan 12, 2021 NEW ORLEANS (AP) A New Orleans city council member took the oath of office as the city’s new district attorney Monday, facing a pandemic-related backlog of cases and high expectations from criminal justice reform advocates who rallied around him despite his indictment on federal tax charges. Jason Williams vowed in his inaugural speech to hold those guilty of serious crimes accountable. But he repeatedly stressed the need in a city with a high incarceration rate and a high percentage of Black prisoners to stop seeking jail time for people whose crimes are related to poverty, drug addiction or mental illness. ....