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99
EA
FRESH LEMONS
RED OR GOLD POTATOES
2 LB BAG
$2
49
5 LB BAG
$299
EA
EA
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$649
$589
$249
128OZ
PRICES VALID 2/18/26 - 2/24/26
EA
SELECTED 1LB
SELECTED 18.02-24.5OZ
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EA
H
N O L A.C O M
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W e d n e s d ay, F e b r u a ry 18, 2026
$2.00X
LIKE NOWHERE ELSE
REV. JESSE JACKSON OCT. 8, 1941 — FEB. 17, 2026
On Mardi Gras, bands play, parades roll and a Black Masking Indian’s mom gets a first look
BY JENNA ROSS Staff writer
Before sunrise Tuesday, people clad in glitter, masks and papiermâché lined up outside Tipitina’s. Inside, dozens of strands of beads, some of them blinking, had been draped around the bust of Henry Roeland Byrd, better known as Professor Longhair, creating a mound so high it reached his nose. His fellow New Orleanians had joined him Uptown to celebrate Mardi Gras morning as only this city can, with a mashup of traditions and musical genres, old-time costumes and newly scrawled political messages, Folgers coffee and Irish whiskey. Just before 6 a.m., Big Chief Juan Pardo took stage clad in CARNIVAL the red plumes and clutching a tambourine. INSIDE, “Good morn4A, 5A, 8A, ing!” someone 9A, 1B shouted. NOLA.COM Before the Zulu and Rex parades rolled, before the Baby Dolls sauntered, before the Black Masking Indians faced off, they listened as Pardo and his band sang about Mardi Gras morning. Some folks had woken up early. Others had not yet been home. A trio of friends nabbed just a few hours of sleep. Though she lives in Los Angeles now, New Orleans native Keya Clark, 40, returns each year for Mardi Gras. “I love walking on St. Charles,” she said, “and seeing everybody that I know.” She and her friends liked the idea of starting the day with a Mardi Gras Indian big chief and had heard that at a bar nearby,
ASSOCIATED PRESS FILE PHOTO
The Rev. Jesse Jackson addresses the crowd at the 2016 Democratic National Convention.
‘A servant leader’
2026
Jesse Jackson, who led the Civil Rights Movement for decades after King, dies
BY SOPHIA TAREEN Associated Press
STAFF PHOTO By CHRIS GRANGER
ä See MARDI GRAS, page 11A H. Merritt Lane III, Rex, king of Carnival, makes his way down Napoleon Avenue on Tuesday.
STAFF PHOTO By BRETT DUKE
Zulu King Ronald Tassin toasts at Gallier Hall as the Zulu parade rolls through downtown on Tuesday.
STAFF PHOTO By ENAN CHEDIAK
Krewe of Argus King David Haydel Jr. throws beads on Veterans Boulevard in Metairie on Tuesday.
WEATHER HIGH 77 LOW 66 PAGE 12A
Business ......................3B Commentary ................7B Nation-World................2A Classified .....................9D Deaths .........................4B Opinion ........................6B Comics-Puzzles .....5D-8D Living............................1D Sports ..........................1C
CHICAGO — The Rev. Jesse L. Jackson, a protege of Martin Luther King Jr. and two-time presidential candidate who led the Civil Rights Movement for decades after the revered leader’s assassination, died Tuesday. He was 84. As a young organizer in Chicago, Jackson was called to meet with King at the Lorraine Motel in Memphis, Tennessee, shortly before King was killed, and he publicly positioned himself thereafter as King’s successor. Santita Jackson confirmed that her father, who had a rare neurological disorder, died at home in Chicago, surrounded by family. Jackson led a lifetime of crusades in the United States and abroad, advocating for the poor and underrepresented on issues, including voting rights, job opportunities, education and health care. He scored diplomatic victories with world leaders, and through his Rainbow/PUSH Coalition, he channeled cries for Black pride and self-determination into corporate boardrooms, pressuring executives to make America a more open and equitable society. And when he declared, “I am Somebody,” in a poem he often repeated, he sought to reach people of all colors. “I may be poor, but I am Somebody; I may be young; but I am Somebody; I may be on welfare, but I am Somebody,” Jackson intoned. It was a message he took literally and personally, having risen from obscurity in the segregated South
ä See JACKSON, page 6A
13TH yEAR, NO. 190