HERE’S OUR GUIDE TO DOZENS OF NEW ORLEANS-AREA KING CAKES CARNIVAL FORECAST SATURDAy 74 65
TODAY’S PARADES maps, 2B
WEST BANK: NOMTOC, 10:45 a.m. l UPTOWN: Iris, 11 a.m. l Tucks, Noon l MID-CITY: Endymion, 4 p.m. l KENNER: Isis, 6 p.m.
IRIS, TUCKS, ENDYMION BULLETINS INSIDE TODAY
SUNDAy 76 55 MONDAy 68 54 TUESDAy 71 59 N O L A.C O M
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S at u r d ay, F e b r u a ry 14, 2026
$2.00X
LIGHT UP THE NIGHT
ELECTION 2026
Qualifying for spring primary elections ends Senate race sparks fiery comments
BY ALYSE PFEIL Staff writer
HERMES: The Krewe of Hermes rolls Friday on the Uptown parade route in New Orleans.
STAFF PHOTOS By SOPHIA GERMER
D’ETAT: The Krewe d’Etat parades Friday on the Uptown parade route in New Orleans.
If there were any doubts that this year’s Republican primary election for U.S. Senate is going to be a slugfest, the final day of candidate qualifying on Friday dispelled them. As U.S. Rep. Julia Letlow, R-Baton Rouge, arrived at the Louisiana Secretary of State’s Office in Baton Rouge on Friday to sign up to run, she had to walk past a van with a giant billboard on its side blasting “Liberal Letlow.” The ad, which accused Letlow of trading hundreds of stocks “like her pal Nancy Pelosi” and calling her a “champion of DEI policy” said it was paid for by the campaign of incumbent Sen. Bill Cassidy, R-Baton Rouge. The attack ads highlight how ferociously Cassidy, Letlow and Treasurer John Fleming are battling for the mantle of “most conservative” as they seek the GOP nomination in Louisiana’s new closed party primary elections.
ä See ELECTION, page 5A
CARNIVAL
2026
LSU football legend Billy Cannon pardoned
INSIDE, 3B NOLA.COM
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You’re either a Chad or you’re not Rules attempt to quash territorial behavior along parade routes
BY KASEY BUBNASH
Parade tailgating is a time-honored tradition BY DOUG MacCASH Staff writer
It was about a week before Fat Tuesday in 2013 when then-Gambit editor Kevin Allman snapped the photo that would go on to define territorial behavior on Mardi Gras parade routes. There were still days to go until Mid-City’s Endymion parade, and much of the Orleans Avenue neutral ground had already been divvied up into squares, with brightly colored spray paint used to label the names of those hoping to save prime real estate. “KREWE OF CHAD” was scrawled inside one particularly gigantic green square. Long bothered by the efforts to claim front-row spots for Endymion, Allman took a photo and wrote the first of many snarky Gambit articles poking fun at what he dubbed “the Krewe of Chad.” He quickly realized he
The tarp and ladder tribes have arrived and have set up camp on the neutral grounds along New Orleans’ Mardi Gras parade routes. They’ve collapsed into camp chairs, relaxing after erecting a forest of viewing ladders. Their young ones scurry on the grass and in the blocked street, taking turns heaving rubber footballs as if they were Drew Brees. The parade squatters got there early, stocked with provisions such as fried chicken, king cake, beer, whiskey and those tiny muffulettas. They’re not going anywhere until after Fat Tuesday. To some, staking out territories along the routes is a selfish appropriation of public space. To the tarp and ladder people, it’s a wholesome, family-oriented tradition — the only way to comfortably see the parades without living near the route. What, they ask, are they doing wrong?
ä See RULES, page 3A
ä See TRADITION, page 3A
Staff writer
Trump acts on 1980s counterfeiting conviction
BY MARK BALLARD Staff writer
WASHINGTON — The family of the late LSU football legend Billy Cannon didn’t ask for it, but they’re delighted that President Donald Trump pardoned him for his 1980s counterfeiting conviction. His daughter, Bunnie Cannon, said the White House phone call came Cannon out of the blue Thursday night. “My mom and sisters and brother were ecstatic,” Cannon said. Her mother and four siblings were aware that some friends had reached out to the Trump White House, she said, but the family had never asked for a pardon.
ä See PARDONED, page 5A
WEATHER HIGH 74 LOW 65 PAGE 6C
Business ......................5B Deaths .........................4B Opinion ........................6B Classified .....................5D Metro ...........................1B Sports ..........................1C Comics-Puzzles .....1D-4D Nation-World................2A
13TH yEAR, NO. 186