ATTACK ON AUSTRALIAN HANUKKAH CELEBRATION KILLS AT LEAST 15 3A
Saints QB Shough takes the hits, but delivers comeback win over Panthers 1C
N O L A.C O M
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M o n d ay, d e c e M b e r 15, 2025
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Boost for public works not coming soon
A LIGHT IN THE DARK
2026 N.O. budget doesn’t fund Moreno campaign promise
BY JOSEPH CRANNEY Staff writer
STAFF PHOTOS By ENAN CHEDIAK
ABOVE: A man lights a candle on the menorah on Sunday during the Menorah Lighting ceremony at Spanish Plaza in New Orleans. The Hanukkah menorah signifies the miracle of oil that burned for eight days and is lit each night for eight nights.
Despite Mayor-elect Helena Moreno’s campaign promises to beef up city services, her proposed $1.6 billion budget for the city of New Orleans makes it clear that the beleaguered public works department next year will remain as depleted as ever. As a candidate, Moreno was consistent in her position that there was no bigger problem facing New Orleans than the deplorable condition of its streets Moreno and other infrastructure, and the city’s chronic failures in maintaining them. “And that’s why within my first 100 days of office, my main focus is to get our city services right and to get them back,” Moreno said during a televised debate in September. “Making sure that our street lights stay on, that our traffic lights stay on, that we get a real street maintenance program.” Moreno promised to hire 100 new city maintenance workers, a key step toward bringing New Orleans in line
ä See WORKS, page 5A
ABOVE LEFT: A man pins a rose to a small cardboard menorah in commemoration of survivors of antisemitism. ABOVE RIGHT: A mother and daughter huddle together in the cold during the ceremony.
Chief justice’s bid to reduce judges’ pay rejected Weimer says total compensation needs to be more transparent BY TYLER BRIDGES Staff writer
Chief Justice John Weimer has lost another battle in his lonely crusade to hold down judicial pay. A state entity known as the Judicial Compensation Commission rejected Weimer’s arguments last week, instead voting overwhelmingly to recommend
WEATHER HIGH 47 LOW 38 PAGE 6B
a pay raise of at least $25,000 next year for judges. Louisiana Supreme Court judges currently earn $195,000 per year, while trial judges make $176,000. It marked the latest defeat for Weimer in his yearslong effort to save taxpayers money by paying judges less. Weimer’s campaign has won him few fans among judges or among the other six justices of Weimer the state Supreme Court. But he is offering no sign that he’s giving up, even though other judges say he is tilting at windmills, and the amount of money at stake is equivalent to pennies
in the overall state budget. “The pennies become dollars, and the dollars become millions over a period of time,” Weimer told members of the compensation committee, in countering the judges’ view. In an interview afterward, Weimer said, “I’m attempting to apply the disinfectant of sunshine on how judges are being paid beyond their salaries so the public can have a true picture.” Weimer’s role as chief justice — a position he has held since January 2021 as the longestserving member on the high court — means he’s the top judge
Lessons Moreno can learn from Roemer Governor’s 1980s transition met with immediate budget crisis
BY TYLER BRIDGES Staff writer
in Louisiana. So critics are loath to speak out against him. But other judges and justices do challenge him in public meetings. “Why not have a judiciary that is paid a just compensation?” associate Supreme Court Justice John Michael Guidry told the compensation commission in asking them to reject Weimer’s frugal view. “Judges are not coming here trying to get anything other than something that’s a livable, affordable wage for what they do. They could be making a whole lot more money in the private practice of law.”
A budget deficit that suddenly materialized. Complaints that his predecessor hid the problem. An unappetizing set of choices to balance the budget by either cutting government benefits or raising taxes and fees — or some combination of the two. Warnings that the government would run out of money without immediate action. That’s the dire situation that Buddy Roemer inherited when he was elected governor in 1987. The steps he took to stop the financial hemorrhaging in Louisiana hold lessons today, because Mayor-elect Helena Moreno is grappling with a similar situation now in New Orleans.
ä See PAY, page 3A
ä See LESSONS, page 5A
Classified .....................7D Deaths .........................3B Nation-World................2A Comics-Puzzles .....3D-6D Living............................1D Opinion ........................4B Commentary ................5B Metro ...........................1B Sports ..........................1C
13TH yEAR, NO. 125