SEE NEW ORLEANS-AREA ELECTION RESULTS 18A, 1B
N O L A.C O M
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S u n d ay, M ay 4, 2025
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SATURDAY @ JAZZ FEST
ROCK & AWE Pearl Jam performs a hits-heavy set for an enormous crowd in New Orleans
N.O. Catholics voice their hopes for next pope Conclave to select 267th pontiff begins this week in Rome BY STEPHANIE RIEGEL | Staff writer Cardinals from around the world will gather Tuesday at the Vatican to begin choosing a new pope, a process that will have wide-ranging implications for the future of the Roman Catholic Church and its 1.4 billion followers. Catholics in New Orleans, home to the second-oldest diocese in the U.S., have widely differing views on the legacy of Pope Francis, who died April 21, and the direction they want his successor to take the church. There are many who embraced his emphasis on mercy and inclusion over dogma and doctrine, while many others think he strayed too far from tradition in opening the 2,000-year-old institution to a greater acceptance of same-sex marriage, women’s participation in the
ä See POPE, page 7A STAFF PHOTOS By SOPHIA GERMER
Pearl Jam lead singer Eddie Vedder performs on the Festival Stage during the seventh day of the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival at the Fair Grounds in New Orleans on Saturday. It doesn’t rain on Pearl Jam at Jazz Fest. Earlier in the week, forecasts warned of possible thunderstorms right around the time the band was slated to headline the main Festival Stage on Saturday. But save a brief downpour just before noon, the festival stayed dry. If the Fair Grounds were a seesaw, it would have tilted sharply toward the Festival Stage, where Pearl Jam’s sea of humanity dwarfed the crowd at the Gentilly Stage at the opposite end. The Pearl Jam throng felt even bigger than Lil Keith Wayne’s last Saturday. Spera It felt bigger than the capped crowd of 40,000 that watched the Rolling Stones last year. For that big crowd, Pearl Jam delivered big-time. To watch all of Pearl Jam required missing a lot of good music. Ledisi, singing Nina Simone songs. Tems. Laufey. Kenny Wayne Shepherd teaming up with Bobby Rush for a cross-generational Louisiana blues summit.
ä See JAZZ FEST, page 10A
Lone mailman a lifeline in a small Louisiana town
Debate over privatizing Postal Service could affect state’s most rural routes BY JENNA ROSS | Staff writer
Clobis James Batiste, of the 9th Ward Black Hatchet Black Masking Indian tribe, sings on the festival grounds during the seventh day of the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival on Saturday.
INSIDE @ JAZZ FEST ä Jazz Fest weddings in the Gospel Tent unite music-loving couples. Page 1B
ä Chuck Blamphin has run the Fais Do-Do stage at Jazz Fest for 50 years. Page 1D
ä Sunday’s cubes. Page 10D
BRANCH — The white Jeep Wrangler sprinting down the gravel road, stirring up dust in the early morning light, bore no markings of the U.S. Postal Service. No lights, no logos. But everyone in this corner of Acadiana knew who was inside: Aleke Kanonu Jr., the only mail carrier in town. Kanonu covers 100 miles a day, a third of them dirt or gravel, delivering to more than 655 mailboxes, doorsteps and, pretty often, people’s hands. On a recent morning, as he turned into Marla Taylor’s long, curved driveway, Taylor approached him
ä See LIFELINE, page 11A
WEATHER HIGH 80 LOW 65
12TH yEAR, NO. 265
© D. YURMAN 2025
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Business ......................1E Deaths .........................3B Nation-World................2A Classified ..................... 2F Living............................1D Opinion ........................6B Commentary ................7B Metro ...........................1B Sports ..........................1C
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