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N O L A.C O M
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T u e s d ay, F e b r u a ry 4, 2025
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‘THE WORLD IS AT OUR DOORSTEP’
New Orleans ready to host safe, fun Super Bowl, officials say
S&WB chief Korban to exit ‘My mission was to stabilize the utility, and I believe that I have done that’
BY BEN MYERS Staff writer
STAFF PHOTO BY CHRIS GRANGER
The St. Augustine High School Marching 100 performs on the field during the Super Bowl LIX opening night at the Caesars Superdome on Monday. BY MISSY WILKINSON
Staff writer
The teams have landed. The Vince Lombardi Trophy has been paraded around town. The Caesars Superdome is lit up and ready. And though New Orleans has been tested by both a terrorist attack and a historic snowfall in recent weeks, city leaders said Monday they are excited and ready to FEB. 9 STAFF PHOTO BY BRETT DUKE NEW ORLEANS host a record-tying 11th Mayor LaToya Cantrell speaks Monday as Super Bowl. At the Super Bowl LIX kickoff news New Orleans kicks off Super Bowl week. conference at the Ernest N. Morial Convention Center, Saints owner Gayle Ben- will provide a festive — and secure — exson, Mayor LaToya Cantrell and a host of perience in the lead up to the big game business and civic leaders said the city on Sunday.
“The NFL was unshaken, standing with the city of New Orleans after Jan. 1,” Cantrell said. “They wanted to make sure the soul and spirit of New Orleans was unshaken as well.” “Let this be a real testament not only of our faith, but how we are stronger and united in ensuring that Super Bowl LIX will be the best ever,” she added. Events related to the game will take place across New Orleans over the next week. Some, like the Super Bowl Experience at the Convention Center, are aimed at fans in New Orleans and from elsewhere descending on the city, while other parties and ceremonies will feature strict invite lists with A-list guest attendees. On Monday night, the first major event
ä See SAFE, page 6A
Super Bowl helping draw attention to Leeville has lost nearly all its land and Disappearing town at which people over recent decades. “Since the last storm, there’s no center of land loss crisis more gas stations, no more restau-
BY JOSIE ABUGOV
rants,” Phyllis Melancon said of 2021’s Hurricane Ida. “It’s just a road,” Timmy Melancon As Phyllis Melancon drives down said. “That’s it.” Leeville is at the forefront of LouiLa. 1 toward the Gulf of Mexico, her husband Timmy points to where lost siana’s coastal land loss crisis, which landmarks used to be: a bait shop, a has robbed the state of land the size chapel, their family home. of Delaware over the past century — For the couple in their late 60s, mar- among the highest rates in the world. ried when they were 14 and 15, each In 2021, Ida destroyed what was left site evokes stories of family members ä See LEEVILLE, page 4A and old friends in the town of Leeville,
Staff writer
WEATHER HIGH 77 LOW 62 PAGE 8A
PHOTO BY BRAD WEIMER
Workers and volunteers unload oyster shells to build a reef on Monday in Leeville.
Business ......................3D Commentary ................5B Nation-World................2A Classified .....................8D Deaths .........................3B Opinion ........................4B Comics-Puzzles .....4D-7D Living............................1D Sports ..........................1C
Nearly seven years ago, veteran public works executive Ghassan Korban was tapped to lead a New Orleans Sewerage & Water Board hobbled by drainage failures, century-old infrastructure, billing inaccuracies and widespread public distrust. In May, Korban will leave behind an agency that is still challenged but in better condition than when he found it, he said in a recent interview. Among his accomplishments are two infrastructure projects to supply reliable power to Korban drainage pumps and installation of smart meters he says will eliminate problems with water billing. Korban will resign on May 2 after nearly 40 years of public service and return to Milwaukee to be with his family. The agency will launch a national search for his replacement, officials said Monday. “When I first took over, this
ä See KORBAN, page 4A
Trump pauses tariffs
Mexico, Canada to boost border efforts BY JOSH BOAK, ROB GILLIES and FABIOLA SÁNCHEZ Associated Press
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump on Monday agreed to a 30-day pause on his tariff threats against Mexico and Canada as America’s two largest trading partners took steps to appease his concerns about border security and drug trafficking. The pauses provide a cool-down period after a tumultuous few days that put North America on the cusp of a trade war that risked crushing economic growth, causing prices to soar and ending two
ä See TARIFFS, page 5A
12TH YEAR, NO. 176