N O L A.C O M
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M o n d ay, S e p t e M b e r 8, 2025
$2.00X
ELECTION 2025 C A R D I N A L S
20
NEW ORLEANS MAyOR
S A I N T S
13
SO CLOSE
Candidates carve out differences on public safety Facial recognition, Bourbon Street issues divide them
BY JOHN SIMERMAN | Staff writer
STAFF PHOTO By DAVID GRUNFELD
Cardinals safety Jalen Thompson, right, strips the ball from Saints tight end Juwan Johnson, denying a touchdown, during the second half of Sunday’s game at the Caesars Superdome. Oh, what could have been. The New Orleans Saints nearly pulled off an improbable comeback against the Arizona Cardinals in the first game of the Kellen Moore era, but Johnson couldn’t hang onto a circus catch from Spencer Rattler in the end zone in the final 5 seconds, and the Saints fell 20-13. There was some good — Alvin Kamara scored the Saints’ 1,000th touchdown in the Superdome. Some bad — what happened to those timeouts at the end of the first half? And a lot of in-between. Ultimately, a young Saints team is 0-1 with the San Francisco 49ers coming to town next Sunday.
The next mayor of New Orleans will chart a new era for public safety in the city — and perhaps dictate their political fortunes in the process. Among the major early decisions to be made: Just who will lead a shrunken New Orleans Police Department in the transition away from federal court oversight after 13 years. The mayoral race Moreno comes with the city’s residents at their safest in years when it comes to robberies, gunfire and killing, crime data shows. But that hasn’t erased several pressing safety concerns in a tumultuous year. Duplessis The Jan. 1 vehicle massacre on Bourbon Street revealed a city ill-prepared for terror. Yet most of the year has passed with elected leaders noncommittal over just how far to go to gird one of the country’s most Thomas famous party strips. The Project NOLA network of crime cameras and its use by area law enforcement, meanwhile, have thrust New Orleans to the forefront of debate over artificial intelligence in government hands.
ä See CANDIDATES, page 5A
ä SEE COMPLETE COVERAGE OF THE SAINTS GAME. PAGE 1C
Who Dat Nation tailgating underway Saints fans blend die-hard devotion, good times and a tribute to a terribly sad memory
New rules snarl COVID vaccine access in Louisiana Pharmacies, doctors, patients left navigating confusion
BY DOUG MacCASH | Staff writer
BY EMILY WOODRUFF | Staff writer
It was two hours until game time on Sunday and the subtribes of Who Dat Nation had established small villages from the western reaches of the Poydras Street neutral ground to the parking lots of the Central Business District. Charcoal smoke, thunderous music and the fragrance of hops rose into the clear blue sky above the pop-up pavilions, canvas chairs and generator-powered big-screen TVs. Yes, tailgating was underway for the first time in the 2025-26 season, and despite widespread
Louisiana is heading into respiratory virus season on the downswing from a busy summer of COVID-19, when wastewater samples showed some of the nation’s highest virus levels. But health officials caution that COVID-19 is unusual: Unlike flu or RSV, it typically peaks twice, once in summer and again around January. That makes fall an ideal time to get a vaccine, especially because newly formulated shots protect against the latest strain. But this year, new federal recommendations are complicating access. Few drugstores are carrying the vaccine in Louisiana right now, and patients are currently unable to walk in and get a shot, even if they qualify under the new rules.
STAFF PHOTO By DOUG MacCASH
A tailgate second-line memorializes 21-year-old Hubert Gauthreaux III, who was one of the 14 victims of a Jan. 1st terrorist attack on Bourbon Street, and his grandparents Hubert Gauthreaux, 75, and Victoria Gauthreaux, 72, who ä See FANS, page 3A were killed in February by an impaired driver.
ä See RULES, page 4A
WEATHER HIGH 88 LOW 73 PAGE 6B
Classified .....................7D Deaths .........................3B Nation-World................2A Comics-Puzzles .....3D-6D Living............................1D Opinion ........................4B Commentary ................5B Metro ...........................1B Sports ..........................1C
13TH yEAR, NO. 27