N O L A.C O M
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T h u r s d ay, F e b r u a ry 13, 2025
NEW ORLEANS CITY COUNCIL
Enforcing tent, tarp ban won’t be priority
City to focus on security during Carnival season
$2.00X
House releases budget
Johnson and Scalise pitch ‘one beautiful bill’ to advance President Trump’s agenda BY MARK BALLARD Staff writer
STAFF FILE PHOTO By DAVID GRUNFELD
City workers remove personal items left to mark spots along the Uptown parade route during Carnival season. BY KASEY BUBNASH Staff writer
The 2025 New Orleans Carnival season was set to be the year of the crackdown on the infamous “Krewe of Chad” and its overzealous parade route practices. But in the wake of the New Year’s Day terror attack on Bourbon Street, those plans have changed. Six months after the City Council approved its new set of rules aimed at limiting revelers’ early stakeouts along Mardi Gras parade routes as well as the use of certain parade gear, council members are expected to vote Thursday on a pair of measures indicating that the city’s focus has shifted to ensuring a strong se-
curity presence during the height of Carnival as opposed to enforcement of the new rules. City Council President JP Morrell, who authored the new Carnival rules banning tents, tarps and other supplies that often block public spaces and garner complaints at parades, plans to submit a resolution encouraging law enforcement to use their discretion when it comes to enforcing quality of life rules along the parade route. “The New Year’s attack has caused a shift in the law enforcement paradigm for the City’s public celebrations, including the 2025 carnival season,” the draft resolution states. “The City Council recognizes that law enforcement efforts for the 2025
carnival season may need to prioritize security over the enforcement of non-life-threatening quality of life concerns along the parade route.” The council is also set to consider a contract for up to $3.6 million between the city and the Orleans Parish Sheriff’s Office to beef up law enforcement staffing during Mardi Gras. If approved, the agreement will pay for an extra 225 deputies — plus 40 agents from the state Department of Public Safety and Corrections — to perform traffic enforcement duties throughout the French Quarter for the remainder of Mardi Gras season. The officers will bar vehicles
ä See BAN, page 4A
WASHINGTON — After weeks of negotiations between the warring factions of Republicans in Congress, the House’s two leaders — both from Louisiana — released Wednesday a federal budget that cuts taxes by $4.5 trillion and axes $1.5 trillion in spending. The 45-page budget resolution increases by $4 trillion the $36.1 trillion amount the government can borrow, and adds language that will allow energy companies to increase oil and gas production and close the border — all issues President Donald Trump cam- ä Scalise paigned on. says N.O. The name of House Budget Com- should host mittee Chair Jodey Arrington, the Super R-Texas, is on the spending blueprint, but it is the product of hours Bowl every of joint negotiations in which John- three years. son, from the northwest Louisiana PAGE 4A town of Benton, and Scalise, of Jefferson Parish, played key roles. But the plan still could be undone by restless Republicans who want even steeper cuts. And a deadline looms: If no budget or temporary extension passes by March 14, the government could shut down. The plan would require House committees to reduce the budgets for agencies they oversee by a total of $1.5 trillion. For example, the House Agriculture Committee would need to cut $230
ä See BUDGET, page 4A
ASSOCIATED PRESS PHOTO By J. SCOTT APPLEWHITE
Speaker of the House Mike Johnson, R-Benton, right, and Majority Leader Steve Scalise, R-Jefferson, speak with reporters on Tuesday.
Advocates press state for answers on $3 billion coastal project BY MIKE SMITH
Staff writer
Coastal advocates are pressing state officials for answers on the future of the $3 billion Mid-Barataria Sediment Diversion project, an unprecedented wetlands res-
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to move forward with the project, but Coastal Protection and Restoration Authority executive director Glenn Ledet instead focused his comments on other large-scale works on the books for the coming fiscal year. The Mid-Barataria project was
long seen as the linchpin of the state’s coastal master plan, intended to both build land and nourish other marsh-building projects in the region by mimicking the geological processes that created south Louisiana. Long a goal of coastal advocates and a range of
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toration plan years in the works but recently thrown into doubt because of opposition from Gov. Jeff Landry. Few of those answers emerged at a public hearing Tuesday on the state’s annual coastal plan. Advocates there urged the state
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scientists, the project took off because of fines and settlement dollars paid out after the 2010 BP oil spill. But it has been controversial from the start, largely because of
ä See COASTAL, page 4A
12TH yEAR, NO. 185