PANTHERS AT SAINTS • 3:25 P.M. • FOX 1C KARR DOMINATES ST. AUGUSTINE FOR EIGHTH FOOTBALL STATE TITLE 8C
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S u n d ay, d e c e m b e r 14, 2025
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Few with criminal records netted in La. sweeps Only 10% so far, government stats show
STAFF PHOTO By DAVID GRUNFELD
A bicyclist rides through unfinished roadwork on Plum Street on Friday. The Cantrell administration is set to issue stop-work orders on citywide road projects, some of which have languished for months and others that recently broke ground, despite funding uncertainties.
“I’m really, really concerned about it,” said District A council memberelect Aimee McCarron, who attended the meeting. “We’re in this situation of severe unknowns, that streets could be torn up for six, seven, eight, nine, 10 months.” The Cantrell administration declined to make anyone available for an interview and did not respond to requests for information about specific projects. The roads program — technically known as the Joint Infrastructure
ä See ROADS, page 8A
ä See SWEEPS, page 12A
Funding uncertainties mean New Orleans may shut down current road projects citywide
Staff writer
New Orleans is preparing to pump the brakes on citywide road projects with a spending deadline for a $1.7 billion federal grant looming at the end of the year, meaning dozens of city blocks in construction could be stuck in limbo when Mayor-elect Helena Moreno takes office next year. The city could forfeit around $500 million if the Federal Emergency Management Agency doesn’t extend the deadline. Mayor LaToya Cantrell’s administration requested
the extension in August, but there’s no telling when a decision might come. The Cantrell administration will soon issue stop-work orders, according to a document city officials shared with incoming Moreno administration officials and others on Wednesday. The situation has rankled leaders of a city that has long struggled with cracked and crumbling roads and whose residents and business owners have been subjected to excavators, closed streets and limited foot traffic for years as work continued.
Staff writer
Like their predecessors in Chicago and North Carolina, the federal government’s south Louisiana immigration sweeps set out to arrest violent criminals. Since the operation started, officials have touted arrests of “murderers, rapists and pedophiles.” But by the government’s own count, fewer than 10% of people captured in the sweeps launched the first week of December around New Orleans have criminal histories of any kind. On Thursday, eight days into the operation, the Department of Homeland Security issued the first comprehensive tally of people the sweeps have captured, saying 250 people had been arrested across Louisiana. Some details — including the geographic spread of where arrests were made — remain unclear. But so far, the operation’s targets appear to be grouped in two main categories. The smallest, but most visible, group includes the 23 people who DHS says have criminal records — less than a tenth of the overall number of detainees, based on the agency’s arrest figures. Those with criminal histories have convictions or arrests on charges that range from armed robbery to aggravated kidnapping, along with less severe offenses like driving under the influence and public urination. The other group comprises far more detainees — dozens, according to immigration attorneys representing them — who are accused of no violations aside from living in the country without permanent authorization to do so, such as a green card or U.S. citizenship.
‘IT’S NOT JUST AN INCONVENIENCE’
BY BEN MYERS
BY JAMES FINN
Irvin Mayfield tries for fresh start with new bar After time in prison, trumpeter wants a second chance
Bourbon Street in early December when they were offered free tickets to the new, all-ages music venue upstairs. They accepted even though they’d never heard of the venue, Mayfield’s 208, or its proprietor, BY KEITH SPERA Irvin Mayfield. Staff writer Perched on barstools not far In New Orleans for a massive from the small corner stage, they marine industry convention, Sue were blown away as Mayfield alHilger and her son were dining at ternated guitar, trumpet, piano Felix’s Restaurant & Oyster Bar on and banjo while bantering with his
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band and audience. For two hours, he played and sang jazz standards, original compositions, Steely Dan and Santana covers, and Jimi Hendrix’s “Little Wing.” “You can feel the emotion in his music,” gushed Hilger, who started posting about Mayfield’s performance even before it was over. “He lives it and loves it.” Alex Hilger, a software company
PHOTO By CHRIS GRANGER
ä See MAYFIELD, page 6A
Business ...................... 1F Deaths .........................3B Nation-World................2A Classified .....................2G Living............................1E Opinion ........................6B Commentary ................7B Metro ...........................1B Sports ..........................1C
13TH yEAR, NO. 124
© D. YURMAN 2025
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Trumpet players Irvin Mayfield, right, and Kermit Ruffins play at Mayfield’s 208 on Bourbon Street in New Orleans on Dec. 2.
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