CAM JORDAN’S BIG SEASON COULD BE COSTLY FOR SAINTS 1C
N O L A.C O M
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T h u r s d ay, J a n u a ry 15, 2026
Search for S&WB funding dogs city
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Landry headed to D.C. for Greenland talks
Governor’s invite to dogsledding event may be in peril BY MEGHAN FRIEDMANN Staff writer
STAFF PHOTOS By CHRIS GRANGER
A dog walker helps a pug maneuver over a sinking catch basin being consumed by the roots of an oak tree in New Orleans on Wednesday.
Repairs to drainage system could cost up to $240M BY BEN MYERS Staff writer
When the New Orleans Sewerage & Water Board took responsibility for the city’s “minor drainage” system one year ago, utility officials said $25 million was needed to properly maintain the catch basins, lateral drainage lines and small pipes that capture stormwater from the streets. City Hall, which had neglected the minor drainage system for three decades before transferring it to the S&WB, committed $19 million. Less than half that amount was actually received, and the S&WB fell far short of its goal of cleaning 20% of the system, which officials say is the industry standard per year. Now, with Mayor Helena Moreno’s newly installed administration demanding money from the S&WB to balance the city budget, it’s not clear how much funding for minor drainage will be available this year
Leaves clog a catch basin in New Orleans on Monday. and beyond. The S&WB has frozen a contract for the work until reliable funding is in place, although some inhouse personnel are still available. “We have a great program in place to establish what we need to meet the industry standard. We’re there. We just need the money,” said David Cappel, the S&WB drainage director, speaking at a board committee meeting on Wednesday. The limited funding was still enough to make some headway.
S&WB says it cleaned more than 9,000 catch basins and 94 miles of drainage lines last year, removing more than 5,000 tons of debris. But that translated to just 12% of the catch basins and 6% of the drainage lines, well below the 20% standard. Cappel said he saved $1.7 million by eliminating unnecessary construction managers on contract crews that worked on minor drainage under Cantrell’s public works department. The S&WB eventually wants to phase contractors out of minor drainage altogether, but that will require new specialized trucks needed to do the work. Only five of the nine trucks the S&WB received from Public Works were functional, Cappel said. Shifting to in-house labor will also require more equipment operators. Cappel said he’s spoken with potential recruits currently working for
ä See S&WB, page 4A
Gov. Jeff Landry is heading to Washington, D.C., for talks about President Donald Trump’s push to acquire Greenland, even as his invitation to the Arctic territory’s most prestigious dog sledding race may be in peril. Landry, Trump’s freshly tapped “special envoy” to Greenland, still plans to visit the country and has meetings ä Top Danish in Washington on Thursday official says and Friday, said Shane Guidry, ‘fundamental a businessman and close ally disagreement’ of the governor who said he went hunting with Landry on over Greenland remains with Wednesday morning. Kate Kelly, a spokesperson Trump. PAGE 3A for Landry, confirmed that he was headed to Washington to discuss Greenland and “state-specific issues.” The governor’s visit is set to take place one day after officials from Greenland and Denmark went to the White House to meet with Vice President
ä See LANDRY, page 4A
Cassidy and Murrill oppose abortion pills by mail BY EMILY WOODRUFF and ALYSE PFEIL Staff writers
A U.S. Senate hearing Wednesday placed Louisiana at the center of a national debate over abortion pills, highlighting a clash between Republican state officials seeking tighter restrictions and Democrats who say it is an effort to cut off one of the last remaining paths to abortion access for many women. Also on Wednesday, California Gov. Gavin Newsom denied Louisiana’s request to extradite a doctor who faces criminal charges in Louisiana for
ä See ABORTION, page 5A
Federal judge wants cooperation in Orleans sheriff transition Woodfork seeks documents for jail compliance
BY JOSEPH CRANNEY Staff writer
Just over three months since Michelle Woodfork was elected as the next Orleans Parish sheriff, what she hoped would be a “seamless” transition up to her May inauguration has devolved into arguments in court Wednesday, where Woodfork’s lawyer told a federal judge that outgoing Sheriff Susan Hutson has declined to turn over
WEATHER HIGH 53 LOW 38 PAGE 8B
a portion of documents that Woodfork’s transition team requested in October. U.S. Magistrate Michael North, who helps oversee the jail’s 13-year-old consent decree, called Hutson and Woodfork into court after John Litchfield, Woodfork’s attorney, notified the judge that Hutson missed a November deadline to produce the records. Woodfork’s team sent a sevenpage request for records pertaining to OPSO’s staffing, payroll, operations, jail population, building maintenance and contracts, among other items, on Oct. 29. The information is needed to gain a “comprehensive understanding”
of OPSO’s compliance with the consent decree, which mandates dozens of constitutional reforms at the jail, the transition team wrote to Hutson. North called the requests “reasonable” during Wednesday’s halfhour hearing, adding “they should have been responded to long before today.” Hutson’s attorney, OPSO Chief of Staff John Williams, told North on Wednesday that OPSO had, in fact, turned over “voluminous records,” if not all of the information Woodfork had requested. An OPSO spokesperson said
STAFF PHOTO By SOPHIA GERMER
Orleans Parish Sheriff-elect Michelle Woodfork attends the Inauguration ä See SHERIFF, page 4A Mass at the St. Louis Cathedral in New Orleans on Sunday.
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13TH yEAR, NO. 156