Louisiana’s #1 children’s hospital has a new name. 2I ✦ Saturday, February 8, 2025 ✦ nola.com ✦ The Times-Picayune
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The Times-Picayune ✦ nola.com ✦ Saturday, February 8, 2025 ✦ 3I
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S at u r d ay, F e b r u a ry 8, 2025
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SUPER BOWL PARADE 10 a.m. Saturday l Map 5A BULLETIN INSIDE TODAY ORLEANS PARISH SCHOOL BOARD
Kansas City Chiefs fan Patrick Bruna shows his team spirit on Bourbon Street on Friday.
FANATICAL STAFF PHOTOS By BRETT DUKE
Chris and Rachel Sack are enthusiastic about the Philadelphia Eagles as they roam along Canal Street on Friday.
FOLLOWERS Chiefs boosters excited to see shot at history
BY SAM KARLIN Staff writer
A sea of people clad in red pushed up against the barricades on Canal Street, waiting for a glimpse of their team leaving the Marriott Hotel. Wendell Winton, 67, craned his head. Winton, of Lenexa, Kansas, was dressed head to toe in Kansas City Chiefs red. He’s been a Chiefs fan his whole life, and he remembers the dark days. Fifty years between Super Bowl victories. Lengthy and frustrating playoff droughts. The days when, he said, “200 people”
Philly fans see similarities between Eagles, Saints
were in the stadium at home BY JOSEPH CRANNEY games. Then, all of the sudStaff writer den, a dynasty. Head Coach Andy Reid What does it look and sound walked out of the hotel. like when tens of thousands The crowd erupted. A of Philadelphia Eagles fans “Chiefs” chant broke visit New Orleans? out. Fans jostled for On a recent aftera look for 20 minutes, noon on Bourbon shouting at veteran reStreet, ahead of Sunceiver Deandre Hopday’s Super Bowl bekins, tight end Travis tween the Eagles and FEB. 9 Kelce and finally, star Kansas City Chiefs, it’s quarterback Patrick NEW ORLEANS a man in a gold chain Mahomes, who ignored stepping out of a hotel the noise as he boarded the and yelling, “Yo Philly!” to bus. a crowd of people in green Confidence is too underjerseys. “25th & Lehigh,” he said, stated for what Winton and a signal to his neighborhood ä See CHIEFS, page 4A back home and a common
Philly way of showing street cred. “Go birds!” another group of Eagles fans yelled at a local tour guide who they walked past on St. Philip Street. “Not me!” she replied, apparently not a fan. And it’s a local bartender who recalled a loud bunch wearing green and white who overran her bar one game day and made an obnoxious and drunken show of themselves. She is not looking forward to Sunday, she said, adding a profanity. Smoking outside downtown hotels, bopping around
ä See EAGLES, page 4A
Fans of the Chiefs and the Eagles walk Bourbon Street on Friday. STAFF PHOTO By SOPHIA GERMER
MORE ON THE SUPER BOWL INSIDE
WEATHER HIGH 80 LOW 65 PAGE 8A
ä Bay St. Louis getting overflow crowd. Page 4A ä Super Bowl program boosts St. Roch. Page 5A ä Big name acts playing private parties. Page 5A
ä Photos from activity on Radio Row. Page 6A ä NFL Man of the year community day held. Page 1B ä More game coverage in Sports. Page 1C
Business ......................5B Deaths .........................3B Opinion ........................6B Classified .....................5D Metro ...........................1B Sports ..........................1C Comics-Puzzles .....1D-4D Nation-World ................2A
Court asked to enforce deal Cantrell says she never signed the settlement
BY MARIE FAZIO Staff writer
Days after Mayor LaToya Cantrell reneged on a multimillion-dollar settlement agreement with the city’s public schools, the Orleans Parish School Board has gone to court to force the mayor to uphold her end of the deal. The board on Friday filed a motion in Orleans Civil District Court imploring a judge to enforce the settlement, announced on the steps of City Hall in November. The deal was designed to bring an end to the district’s 2019 lawsuit against the city, which alleges it withheld millions that should have gone to educating children. The city serves as tax collector for the public schools. In the pact, the city agreed to pay the district $20 million by April, as well as $7 million a year for the next decade, for a total of $90 million. It also agreed to stop charging a fee for tax collection, which officials estimated would result in another $11 million a year. The City Council allocated the first $10 million settlement payment in November, and the School Board drafted a cooperative endeavor agreement and sent it to the city attorney, who made changes. But this week, Cantrell asserted there was no deal after it was reported that her administration was late making an initial payment. The mayor is now arguing the cooperative endeavor agreement is invalid because she never signed it and because council members drafted it on her behalf without her consent. The news immediately sounded alarm bells, as district officials were counting on the $20 million lump sum to fund an unrelated budget gap, now believed to be about $50 million, which stemmed partially from a district accounting error. Board members have said they will find the money elsewhere if the city doesn’t come through, but school leaders have warned of possible cuts, including to after-school and summer learning programs. In a statement issued Feb. 1, the mayor said agreeing to the settlement would be fiscally irresponsible because the city has a lack of available cash, is facing possible
ä See COURT, page 5A
12TH yEAR, NO. 180