EXTENDED T HROUGH LA BOR
DAY
MUSEUM ADMIS SIO
N FOR
LOUISIANA RESIDENTS
OFF
*WITH STATE-I
SCAN TO BUY TICKETS NOW!
SSUED PHOTO ID. SOME RES TRIC TIONS APP VALID THROUG LY. H SEP TEMBER 7, 2026.
Reasons to believe good vibes surrounding Saints are real 1C
N O L A.C O M
|
S u n d ay, J u ly 26, 2026
$2.50X
INSIDE MORENO’S POLITICAL
‘CHESS GAME’ In her first six months, mayor seeks to balance New Orleans’ needs with fraught state ties
Up to 20% of students fail in transition to college
Support groups step up to counsel high school graduates at a make-or-break time BY MARIE FAZIO
Staff writer
STAFF PHOTOS By SOPHIA GERMER
Mayor Helena Moreno is interviewed by local media after a tour of Delgado Community College’s Maritime and Industrial Training Center in New Orleans earlier this month. BY TYLER BRIDGES Staff writer
New Orleans Mayor Helena Moreno glided through the packed assembly room at Berean Bible Church in Algiers on a recent Friday. She and other community leaders were honoring participants in a nonprofit program called Heroes of New Orleans that aims to put atrisk teenagers on the path to success. Several people stopped Moreno for a photo or a hug. One woman asked her about AI and ended the conversation by saying she had been nervous to talk with the mayor. Moreno smiled and patted her arm. If anyone should be nervous, it should be the mayor. During her first six months in office, Moreno has had to grapple with finding enough money for the city to pay its bills, fix broken streetlights and fill gaping potholes. She has had to worry about keeping residents safe and making progress on her other campaign promises. At the same time, Moreno has had to maintain a delicate balancing act with Ba-
WEATHER HIGH 95 LOW 79 PAGE 8B
Mayor Helena Moreno sits in a meeting with council members and staff at City Hall in New Orleans.
“We have to work as a coordinated, collaborative front, the executive branch and the City Council, to really deal with the issues the city is facing.” NEW ORLEANS MAyOR HELENA MORENO ton Rouge Republicans, led by Gov. Jeff Landry, who are aggressively injecting themselves into the city’s affairs, and her Democratic constituents, who expect her to strongly defend New Orleans’ interests. The Democratic mayor and six other local political leaders took the extraordinary step on Tuesday of
asking a special prosecutor to drop an Orleans Parish grand jury indictment against Attorney General Liz Murrill, a Republican, in an attempt by the officials to reset relations between the city and state. The controversies don’t seem to ruffle Moreno, 48. During several recent interviews over a two-week
period, where the mayor allowed The Times-Picayune to shadow her and attend meetings with her senior staff, Moreno was relentlessly optimistic, saying she is focused on avoiding distractions and on bettering the lives of New Orleans residents. Moreno favors an approachable and inclusive style that draws people in, but she also doesn’t hesitate to say no when necessary. “Everything in my background prepared me to be in this very seat,” said Moreno, a former WDSUTV reporter/anchor who spent a total of 15 years in the state House and on the City Council before winning the mayor’s race last year in the primary with 55% of the vote. “I had an understanding of what to do. I know my capability.” One of those capabilities, she believes, is to approach politics strategically, to minimize mistakes that result from ad hoc or improvised decisions. “I think through things I’m going to say or I will present,” Moreno said. “I am constantly thinking 20
ä See MORENO, page 7A
Skyi’ Lewis dialed the number of a high school graduate headed to the University of Louisiana at Lafayette this fall and rattled through a list of questions. “You got your confirmed hous- ä Group ing? A schedule? Can you send me helps a screenshot? Do you know the location of your courses and what time students they start? How are you getting to fight Lafayette?” ‘summer A recent alum of G.W. Carver High melt.’ School in New Orleans and a rising PAGE 14A sophomore at Colorado College, Lewis is familiar with the checklist of things that need to be completed before a student ever sets foot on campus. She’s also seen what happens when those logistics fall through the cracks. Up to 20% of students who are accepted into college and fully intend to enroll never make it to campus, according to national studies. In Louisiana, that could mean hundreds of students across
ä See TRANSITION, page 8A
Federal agents in New Orleans unraveling monkey torture ring Covington woman arrested in global probe
BY JAMES FINN Staff writer
Federal agents knocked on a door in Covington last summer, searching for a woman wanted for an unusual crime. Ariel Kornienko had been hiding a second life from her children and ailing mother. To hundreds of closely vetted visitors in secretive chat rooms, she was the “Baronness” — a leader in a dark underworld whose members draw delight from videos of live apes being burned, flayed and sexually tortured. In an interview with a U.S. Department of Homeland Security special agent that morning and in documents filed later in federal court, Kornienko laid out new revelations into the “monkey hate community” she had come to inhabit. The groups, which found a home on the encrypted website Telegram, had their own terminology
Business ......................1E Deaths .........................3B Nation-World................2A Classified ..................... 2F Living............................1D Opinion ........................6B Commentary ................7B Metro ...........................1B Sports ..........................1C
ä See RING, page 9A
13TH yEAR, NO. 348