TODAY’S PARADES maps, 2B
UPTOWN: Proteus, 5:15 p.m. l Orpheus, 6 p.m. METAIRIE: Centurions, 6 p.m. l Atlas, 7 p.m.
N O L A.C O M
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M o n d ay, F e b r u a ry 16, 2026
$2.00X
PROTEUS, ORPHEUS BULLETINS INSIDE TODAY
ELECTION 2026
ROLL CALL
La.’s two biggest races lack major Democrat
CARNIVAL 2026 INSIDE, 4A, 1B
NOLA.COM
STAFF PHOTO By CHRIS GRANGER
BACCHUS: Actor Patrick Warburton reigns as Bacchus LVII on Sunday as the krewe celebrates America’s 250th birthday.
U.S. Senate, 5th District contests reveal party’s weakness in state
BY TYLER BRIDGES Staff writer
Republicans are fielding candidates with winning records at the ballot box for the U.S. Senate and the 5th Congressional District, the two marquee political races this year. Louisiana’s Democrats? Not at all. It’s the latest sign of Democrats’ weakness in the Bayou State, where Republicans hold all the statewide elected offices and two-thirds of the seats in the state House and Senate. Former Gov. John Bel Edwards, state Sen. Jay Luneau, state Sen. Gary Carter, former U.S. Rep. Chris John and former Senate candidate Luke Mixon all took a pass when Louisiana Democratic Party Chair Randal Gaines asked them to consider running for the U.S. Senate seat. The three-day qualifying period for this year’s elections ended Friday. Gaines also couldn’t recruit state Sen. Katrina Jackson of Monroe to run for the 5th Congressional District, which stretches from Baton Rouge to Monroe. Jackson said that, after praying on it, she decided it didn’t present a good opportunity for her. “They are worried about risking their political capital on a race that won’t produce a likely win,” Gaines said Friday. “We can’t coerce anyone to run.”
ä See RACES, page 5A
ABOVE: Mardi Gras art mimics life as former Saints quarterback Drew Brees, left, looks like the float statue that he was riding next to during the Krewe of Bacchus parade in New Orleans on Sunday. STAFF PHOTO By CHRIS GRANGER
LEFT: The Krewe of Athena rolls with 700 members on 26 floats along Veterans Memorial Boulevard in Metairie on Sunday to the theme ‘It’s About Time.’
Ankle monitor program has had multiple problems
STAFF PHOTO By DAVID GRUNFELD
BY MISSY WILKINSON
students with disabilities that required the cameras to start rolling this month. Act 479, which the state Legislature passed in 2025, requires public schools to put at least one camera in each classroom BY ELYSE CARMOSINO where most students receive Staff writer special education services for Cameras will now record at least half of the day. Feb. 1 what happens in special edu- was the deadline for school discation classrooms in public tricts to install the devices. schools across Louisiana unFamilies will be able to reder a new law meant to protect quest footage if they believe
WEATHER HIGH 69 LOW 54 PAGE 6B
their child has been abused or neglected while in the school’s care. The push for classroom cameras began after a St. Tammany Parish parent said her nonverbal 5-year-old son was verbally and physically abused by school staffers. The family sued the school district and worked with lawmakers to introduce legislation in 2022 requiring districts to install cameras in special edu-
Staff writer
cation classrooms if a parent requested them. However, some parents said their requests were denied or schools took longer to respond than the legislation allowed, said Ashley McReynolds, program director at The Arc of Louisiana, an organization that advocates for people with disabilities. Now, the new law requires
Before dawn on Jan. 22, a young man was standing outside in Village de l’Est when a juvenile approached from behind and shot him multiple times in the back, New Orleans police said. The young suspect wore an electronic ankle monitor issued by the Office of Juvenile Justice, but the battery had died four days earlier, said Matt Dennis, a veteran New Orleans bail bondsman who said he helped police in the case. It’s uncertain if the judge who assigned the ankle monitor had been notified it was deactivated. The juvenile suspect was arrested six days later on a count of aggravated battery, according to a New Orleans Police Department spokesperson who would not confirm his name or information about an ankle monitor.
ä See CAMERAS, page 6A
ä See PROBE, page 7A
Cameras now recording in La. special ed classes State funds helped schools install devices
AG calls for probe of Juvenile Court judges
Classified .....................7D Deaths .........................3B Nation-World................2A Comics-Puzzles .....3D-6D Living............................1D Opinion ........................4B Commentary ................5B Metro ...........................1B Sports ..........................1C
13TH yEAR, NO. 188