TROPICAL STORM: Bertha makes quiet landfall in St. Bernard 3A
N O L A.C O M
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T h u r s d ay, J u ly 23, 2026
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Council blasts S&WB before power shift
‘It’s not over’
Felony charges for Murrill dismissed amid pressure AG accuses New Orleans leaders of weaponizing grand jury Special prosecutor criticizes ‘extraordinary interference’
Members grill utility on cause of July 11 flooding BY JONI HESS Staff writer
New Orleans City Council members on Wednesday threw Sewerage & Water Board leaders on the defensive, days after the council’s president questioned whether the agency needs a top executive and as Hayman officials continue to investigate the cause of recent pump failures. In a tense exchange that has become the norm in recent months, members of the council’s Utility Committee questioned whether the
ä See S&WB, page 4A
JEFFERSON PARISH
$20M loan secured for sewer upgrades
STAFF PHOTO By JAVIER GALLEGOS
Gov. Jeff Landry begins to speak as Attorney General Liz Murrill gives a statement about the felony charges pressed against her from an Orleans Parish grand jury during a news conference in Baton Rouge on Wednesday. BY JOHN SIMERMAN Staff writer
Less than three weeks after an Orleans Parish grand jury handed up felony charges against Attorney General Liz Murrill, special prosecutor Laurie White dismissed the indictment Wednesday morning under pressure from the same elected New Orleans leaders who were Murrill’s purported victims. The decision to dismiss the 16-count indictment drew approval from Murrill and Gov. Jeff Landry, but little sign that it had ended a raging political drama. At an afternoon news conference, Landry and Murrill backed state and federal investigations into the origins of the grand jury probe. Landry said he supported a request by U.S. Rep. Clay Higgins for an FBI investigation, on top of a Louisiana State Police probe the governor ordered shortly after
Murrill’s July 2 indictment on counts of public intimidation and malfeasance in office. Landry went further on Wednesday, calling for Orleans Parish District Attorney Jason Williams to “have his law license ripped from him” for urging the New Orleans City Council to back an election for a citywide court clerk and appoint an interim. The council’s move prompted Murrill in May to warn Mayor Helena Moreno, Williams and five City Council members in letters that they were violating the law and risking their elected posts. The grand jury decided those letters amounted to crimes. Murrill blamed Williams — “He’s not a victim. He started all of this.” — and cast their relationship as deeply damaged by the indictment. Their two offices have collaborated in a partnership that Williams called “a hallmark of my adminis-
tration” in his letter to White on Tuesday. Murrill said Williams knew better as she accused city leaders of weaponizing the grand jury. “It’s not over,” she said. “That dismissal of that indictment today was not an effort to simply get us all back together to be friends again. First of all, you can’t be friends with somebody who wants to put you in jail for 80 years. So, you know, friendship is not really on the table.” Williams did not immediately respond to a request for comment Wednesday. The dismissal came amid mounting repercussions to New Orleans from Landry and state political leaders. Landry vetoed more than $33 million in state funding lawmakers intended to send to New Orleans, and Moreno withdrew a request for State Bond Commission approval of a $110 million bond sale,
ä See MURRILL, page 7A
Parish works to restore withdrawn bond rating BY LARA NICHOLSON Staff writer
Thanks to a workaround, Jefferson Parish officials will be able to borrow money to make important infrastructure upgrades, a year after the parish lost its bond rating for failing to turn in timely audits. The Jefferson Parish Council approved the private sale of a $20 million bond to the Louisiana Department of Environmental Quality, money that will fund upgrades to the parish’s aging sewer system. The deal allows the parish to tap into a
ä See BOND, page 4A
Big changes proposed for Mardi Gras parades, Krewe of Chad
meeting that evening. The proposals include moving events coordinator Anthony “BudFines would increase for parade crackdown Council The city’s official Mardi Gras or- start times for five parades and dy” Micheu, whom Morrell called
BY LAUREN WALCK, DOUG MacCASH and VICTOR ANDREWS
Calling himself the “Mardi Gras Grinch,” council member JP Morrell proposed a laundry list of changes — from new start times and Staff writers routes to stricter parking rules — at New rules to crack down on Wednesday’s Governmental Affairs Mardi Gras misbehavior are being Committee meeting. On Thursday, proposed at the New Orleans City those changes go to the full City Council, with $1,000 criminal fines Council for approval, ahead of the pitched for violating some of them. next Mayor’s Mardi Gras Advisory
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dinance already bans portable toilets and tents along parade routes, and chairs more than four hours before parade times. But new rules — recommended by the Mayor’s Mardi Gras Advisory subcommittee and the New Orleans Police Department, in partnership with krewes — take aim at making Carnival parades safer and swifter, with less congestion.
changing starting locations for two parades, with the goal of avoiding police overtime and having different routes on the same night. “We have to make some changes to simplify for public safety, as well as making sure we’re not doubling back after 1 or 2 o’clock in the morning with parades still being on the street,” said NOPD’s traffic commander and special
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the “other Grinch of Mardi Gras.” “We do have an accountability to our citizens to let the streets be reopened sooner rather than later,” Micheu said. On the Wednesday before Mardi Gras, which is Feb. 9, the Krewe of Druids would start at 5 p.m., compared to 6:15 p.m.
ä See MARDI GRAS, page 4A
13TH yEAR, NO. 345