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T u e s d ay, a p r i l 8, 2025
Security ramps up for French Quarter Festival
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Officials brace for loss of up to $86M La. Health Department funding part of DOGE cuts
BY EMILY WOODRUFF Staff writer
STAFF PHOTOS By CHRIS GRANGER
Tourists walk through a double layer of barricades installed around Jackson Square on Monday. The barriers are in preparation for the French Quarter Festival, which runs Thursday through Sunday.
Cantrell says plan includes consultants’ recommendations
The Louisiana Department of Health, which runs the state’s Medicaid program and scores of initiatives aimed at improving public health, may lose tens of millions of dollars in funding due to federal program cuts initiated by the Trump administration through its Department of Government Efficiency. According to DOGE’s public “wall of receipts,” which billionaire Elon Musk, who is leading the cost-cutting endeavor, has posted in an effort to show how he is reshaping federal spending, Louisiana is expected to lose at least $128.5 million in federal funding overall through the efforts of DOGE, with the largest share attributed to the Health Department. DOGE’s savings estimates have not always proven reliable, however, and Health Department spokesperson Emma Herrock said internal projections suggest the losses will not exceed $86 million.
ä See LOSS, page 3A
BY SOPHIE KASAKOVE Staff writer
Bourbon Street closures, waterfilled bollards and extra New Orleans police officers are among the ramped-up security measures the city will employ ahead of this weekend’s French Quarter Festival, in line with recommendations from consultants hired to help the city shore up its defenses. New Orleans Mayor LaToya Cantrell said Monday that her security plan incorporates suggestions from a team led by New York Police Chief William Bratton, whom the city commissioned after the deadly Jan. 1 attack on Bourbon Street to help it prevent future similar situations. The announcement comes days ahead of the festival and as officials have faced questions about their long-term plans to keep the French Quarter secure, as heightened federal security support in place for Super Bowl and Mardi Gras is not expected to persist through the busy
New bills target hemp-THC products BY MEGHAN FRIEDMANN
Mayor LaToya Cantrell looks on as Collin Arnold, director of the city’s Office of Homeland Security and Emergency Preparedness, explains what security measures his department has taken this week. spring and summer festival season. “We have implemented additional measures in terms of public safety, including enhanced security protocols, crowd management services and medical services that you
Staff writer
will see as you move around,” said Cantrell, who was joined by public safety leaders Monday. “We’re welcoming, we’re open for business and
The Legislature could be in store for more conflict over hemp-THC products during the coming legislative session. Lawmakers have filed bills to raise taxes on them and to add criminal penalties for selling to underage customers. Last year, a battle over how to regulate the products — and whether to ban them outright — stretched into the final days of the session.
ä See SECURITY, page 3A
ä See BILLS, page 3A
State aims to ban soda for SNAP recipients to reshape food policy led by personal choice and nutrition-based Nutrition legislation also push Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy health reform over public health care targets school food, Jr.Gov. Jeff Landry announced on so- programs. The soda ban is part of a sweeping seed oils cial media last week that the state will nutrition bill filed by state Sen. Patrick
request a federal waiver to prohibit the use of SNAP benefits for soft drinks. “Louisiana will lead the way in the Staff writer MAHA movement,” Landry posted, Louisiana is preparing to join a na- referring to Kennedy’s Make America tional effort bubbling up to ban soft Healthy Again initiative, the growing drink purchases under SNAP, the fed- movement championed by Kennedy, eral food assistance program for low- head of the U.S. Department of Health income residents, as part of a larger and Human Services, that focuses on
BY EMILY WOODRUFF
WEATHER HIGH 71 LOW 56 PAGE 6B
McMath, R-Covington, who also introduced separate legislation this session to remove fluoride from Louisiana’s drinking water. Senate Bill 14 would also ban ultraprocessed ingredients in public schools, such as those in shelf-stable
STAFF PHOTO By MICHAEL JOHNSON
Proposed legislation in Louisiana would ban soft drink purchases from the federal food assistance program for lowä See SODA, page 3A income residents.
Business ......................6A Commentary ................5B Nation-World................2A Classified .....................7D Deaths .........................3B Opinion ........................4B Comics-Puzzles .....3D-6D Living............................1D Sports ..........................1C
12TH yEAR, NO. 239