The Times-Picayune 10-11-2025

GAMEDAY: South Carolina at LSU l 6:45 p.m. l SECN 1C

N O L A.C O M

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S at u r d ay, O c t O b e r 11, 2025

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E LEC T ION DAY 2025

Big races expected to bring out voters

Mayor, City Council, sheriff on ballot in N.O.

IMAGE PROVIDED By RULE JOy TRAMMEL + RUBIO

A rendering depicts the new design for the Omni Hotel on Convention Center Boulevard, which would be the largest hotel built in New Orleans since the 1970s if it goes through as planned.

Convention Center to unveil new hotel design Updated plan spares park, increases height

BY ANTHONY McAULEY Staff writer

Some New Orleans voters will cast their ballots in a council district race that’s different from the district where they’re currently located. In 2022, the council completed its 10year redrawing of its districts to reflect population shifts, and those new maps go into effect in January. Saturday’s ballot, however, will reflect the new boundaries, giving voters the chance to weigh in on who

Omni Hotels & Resorts and the Ernest N. Morial Convention Center are preparing to unveil a new design for their $590 million hotel, retooled after pushback from Warehouse District residents over plans to take over a public park. The long-discussed project is now in its final stages of design and permitting after years of debate over location, scale and financing. If all goes as planned, construction could begin next year. The proposal has drawn strong backing from Gov. Jeff Landry as well as local business and tourism leaders, who view the hotel as critical to New Orleans’ ability to attract major conventions and compete with cities such as Austin and Nashville. The changes come after a round of recent neighborhood outreach meetings conducted by Michael Smith, head of development at Dallas-based Omni’s parent company, TRT Holdings; JT Hannan, the center’s head of strategy; City Council member for the district Lesli Harris; and New Orleans developer Darryl Berger, a longtime partner with Omni who was assisting with community engagement in a private capacity and is not a partner in the venture, Smith said in a telephone interview Friday. The updated plan would no longer seek to take over the adjacent Mississippi River Heritage Park, a public green space that nearby residents

ä See VOTERS, page 4A

ä See HOTEL, page 4A

STAFF PHOTO By BRETT DUKE

Allen Whitehead delivers voting machines and signs to Harriet Tubman Charter School in Algiers on Friday in preparation for Saturday’s election. BY CHAD CALDER and BLAKE PATERSON Staff writers

It’s election day in and around New Orleans, and heavy turnout is likely in the city as residents cast votes for a new mayor, sheriff, assessor and criminal court clerk, along with a handful of City Council seats. In the suburban parishes, Slidell and Jean Lafitte will also choose new mayors. Polls will be open from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. To find your polling location, go to geauxvote.com.

Food aid continuing for now

BY MARK BALLARD Staff writer

WASHINGTON — The Supplemental Nutritional Assistance Program, commonly known as food stamps, will continue despite a government shutdown, officials say — as long as the standoff doesn’t last into November. The U.S. Department of Agriculture receives money for SNAP a month in advance, according to its shutdown plan. But most of the department’s staff was sent home, which will cause delays in processing applications and verifying benefits.

ä See FOOD, page 5A

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Early voting totals saw more than twice as many ballots cast as there were on election day eight years ago, the last time there was an open race for the Mayor’s Office. Total voter turnout for that election ended up at 32.2%. Robert Collins, a professor of urban studies and public policy at Dillard University, said that early voting totals and past election results suggest the city could see turnout over 40% when polls close. “I expect this to be the highest turnout election, certainly within the last few elections,” he said.

ä What’s on the ballot. PAGE 4A

Firings triggered by shutdown begin

reducing the size of the federal White House seeks to atgovernment. a court filing, the budget ofpressure Democrats ficeInsaid well over 4,000 employees

BY SEUNG MIN KIM and STEPHEN GROVES Associated Press

WASHINGTON — The White House budget office said Friday that mass firings of federal workers have started, an attempt by President Donald Trump’s administration to exert more pressure on Democratic lawmakers as the government shutdown dragged into a 10th day. Russ Vought, the director of the Office of Management and Budget, ASSOCIATED PRESS PHOTO By ALLISON ROBBERT said on the social media site X that U.S. Capitol Police monitor the perimeter of the Capitol on Thursday as the “RIFs have begun,” referring the government shutdown entered its ninth day. to reduction-in-force plans aimed

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would be fired, though it noted that the funding situation was “fluid and rapidly evolving.” The firings would hit the hardest at the departments of the Treasury, which would lose over 1,400 employees, and Vought Health and Human Services, with a loss of over 1,100. The Education Department and Housing and Urban Development each would lose over 400

ä See SHUTDOWN, page 5A

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