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NEW ORLEANS (WVUE) - “I mean it was throw me something mister and she was throwing ‘get out of free’ cards 15 times to gun cases,” says Rafael Goyeneche. The Metropolitan Crime Commission obtained and shared with FOX 8 the Magistrate Court transcripts of Orleans Assistant District Attorney Emily Maw refusing more than a dozen gun cases on Mardi Gras Day. The cases involve people arrested for illegally carrying guns during the carnival season. “These transcripts prove that she committed prosecutorial misconduct in my opinion. I don’t understand how she’s still employed because any prosecutor that did this should lose...

Surveillance cameras with the ability to measure a crowd’s “mood” and track the number of people by counting cell phone frequencies were deployed at the Lesbian and Gay Mardi Gras Parade on Saturday in Sydney, Australia. The CCTV technology from the Dynamic Crowd Measurement firm was used to monitor Oxford Street in Sydney as the city’s LGBTQ-themed Mardi Gras parade was held for the first time since 2019, having been cancelled for the past three years due to the Chinese coronavirus.

Today is Fat Tuesday: the day before Lent begins. Depending on where you hail from the day of debauchery is known as Mardi Gras, Carnevale, Carnival, Fasching. As we’ve discussed before, in Detroit it’s known as Paczki Day. There was a time not so long ago that if you didn’t live in Detroit or Chicago or another city with a sizable Poletown you would have never heard of the paczki. It was made just once a year and could only be snagged from authentic Polish bakeries such as Hamtramck’s New Palace, where people still wait in long lines for the...

Today is Fat Tuesday, the culmination of the famous season of Mardi Gras. Debauchery. Bacchanalia. Floats, costumes, beads and masks, and lots of drinking and partying. That’s what we think of when we hear the term Mardi Gras, or Fat Tuesday. There is a lot more behind it. Also called Shrove Tuesday, it marks the last day of the liturgical calendar before Lent begins. After Catholicism spread throughout Europe, many cultures celebrated the final day before Lent began in ways unique to that individual culture. Eggs, and milk were finished off in one day, giving rise to the term Fat...

A photo showing Ellie Kemper attending a ball believed to be linked to white supremacy has resurfaced, prompting critics to accuse the “Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt” star of racist behavior. Kemper, 41, became the subject of scrutiny on Tuesday when the image of her being named the queen of St. Louis’ Veiled Prophet Ball as a teen in 1999 started making the rounds online. The Veiled Prophet Ball is a secret fair originally formed in 1878 by elites to honor the ritual of Mardi Gras, and is reportedly associated with white supremacy.

Megan Boudreaux was feeling down three months ago after she learned that New Orleans wasn’t going to issue Mardi Gras parade permits for 2021 because of the pandemic. The annual holiday wouldn’t be the same, she said, without the elaborate floats made months in advance of Fat Tuesday’s 50-plus parades. “I decided, ‘Well, okay then, I’m going to decorate my house instead, pull some beads out of the attic and throw them at the neighbors,” said Boudreaux, 38, who works as an insurance agent in New Orleans.

Carnival Cruise Line has provided a major update that includes another delay for the new Mardi Gras cruise ship and cruises in February out of three homeports. This comes as the cruise line continues to work on making sure operations can resume safely in 2021. Mardi Gras Delayed Again The Mardi Gras will be delayed once again which will be a huge disappointment to those guests that were looking forward to the ship’s debut in February 2021 out of Port Canaveral. Carnival has said the ship will be delivered from the Meyer Turku shipyard in Finland later this month but...

This morning we had a post talking about the letter that State Rep. Danny McCormick (R-Shreveport) released to his colleagues and the public calling for an end to the economic shutdown Gov. John Bel Edwards is imposing on the state of Louisiana as a response to the Wuhan virus. As we noted Friday, the primary justification for the shutdown was to protect the state’s health care system from being overwhelmed by virus patients, and that justification is no longer valid, if it ever was, because it’s now unmistakably clear the system will not be overwhelmed. McCormick might have been the...

The political world would be a much better place if all public officials knew how to apologize for mistakes the way Louisiana Lt. Gov. Bill Nungesser did on Easter Day. CNN’s Wolf Blitzer was interviewing Nungesser about Louisiana’s unusually high incidence of the coronavirus, part of which probably was exacerbated by Mardi Gras celebrations in February. Nungesser was saying there was only one known case in the whole state by the time of Mardi Gras, but that had federal or medical guidance come sooner, officials certainly would have considered canceling Mardi Gras.

The Democrat doubled down on remarks he made last week defending his decision -- or lack thereof -- not to cancel February 25 Mardi Gras events. He conceded that the raucous partying scene "likely" contributed to the spread of the virus in the New Orleans area, where health experts now say the next coronavirus "hot spot" is emerging. Just one day prior to the city's Mardi Gras festivities, the president said "the coronavirus is very much under control" before going on to tout the day's stock market gains. Speaking on several Sunday morning TV news programs, Bel Edwards tried to...

The United States has now become the world leader in a rather unfortunate category with the largest number of coronavirus victims. This is due to the vast expansion of tests that have been made available in the United States. In contrast, the reports out of China cannot be trusted. As of Saturday, March 28, there were 121,117 confirmed cases and 2,010 deaths associated with the coronavirus in the United States. The area with the fifth-highest total of deaths in the country is New Orleans, which leads the nation in fatalities per capita. Questions are being raised about why New Orleans...

New Orleans is quickly becoming a hotspot for the coronavirus, and the city's jam-packed Mardi Gras season could be the reason why, according to medical experts. More than a million revelers crowded into the city's famed French Quarter and other neighborhoods over several weeks to celebrate the costumed gathering, the culmination of the Carnival celebration. The Mardi Gras season ran from Jan. 6 to Feb. 25, or Fat Tuesday. In the weeks after, the coronavirus pandemic has spread across the United States, overwhelming hospitals in some cities and prompting lockdowns of several urban areas. The "Big Easy" -- one of...

I went to a 'Fat Tuesday Potluck' last week, and one young lady brought Shrimp Etouffee, which I had never had. Instead of rice, she served it over grits, and I was in Heaven. Here is Chef John's recipe, thoughtfully adapted to frozen shrimp because it's all that many of us can procure: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vx1yprdgs80We're coming up on Asparagus Time, and I'm looking for new ways to use it. We can get it nearly all year now, but find the nice big ones in Summer. We usually put it on a baking sheet, drizzle with olive oil, salt and pepper, and...

Here we are – Fat Tuesday, Carnevale, Shrove Tuesday. The final debauchery prior to the Lenten season of penitence and prayer, mortifying the flesh, repentance of sins and almsgiving. So…laissez les bon temps rouler! Back in the day we’d always celebrate at Fishbones Rhythm Kitchen in downtown Detroit where they had the best catfish beignets, oysters Rockefeller, crayfish étouffée and Jambalaya this side of New Orleans.And one year we actually went to New Orleans for the last few days of Mardi Gras, it was crazy and fun and exhausting. It’s the sort of thing you should only do once and...

The man was fatally injured Saturday evening as the popular Krewe of Endymion was rolling, New Orleans police said in a statement. He was pronounced dead at the scene, and the Orleans Parish Coroner’s Office was to release his name and cause of death after completing an autopsy and notifying his family. The remainder of Endymion’s parade was scrapped Saturday evening. Police said 13 floats had already gone ahead when the accident occurred with the 14th float in the formation. Remaining floats that followed, along with marching groups, were diverted from the accident scene on Canal Street, a wide route...

As seen in a video shared online, there was an ” Epstein didn’t kill himself” float in New Orleans. The float depicts an “Epstein” character in an orange jumpsuit, while a woman behind him resembling Hillary Clinton holds something around his neck.

Did I tell you I’m having new countertops installed tomorrow? That means today the handyman is coming to tear out the sink and cooktop so – no kitchen for Fat Tuesday! And I’ve got to to pack up EVERYTHING.  I took inventory last night and was surprised how much crap I’ve managed to cram into the cupboards and drawers of what is a very modest sized kitchen.So as I need to get busy I leave you with this gem to process: AOC’s mother left New York for the comparative sanity of Florida precisely because of the high tax policy her...

(CNN) A car plowed into bicyclists and pedestrians on a street in New Orleans, killing two people and injuring six others as the city celebrates Mardi Gras festivities. A majority of the people struck Saturday night were on bicycles, but it's unclear how many, Police Chief Shaun Ferguson said. Of the people injured, three are in critical condition. The driver, Tashonty Toney, 32, was arrested and faces several charges, including two counts of vehicular homicide, hit and run, and reckless operation, the New Orleans Police Department tweeted. Toney was not injured and fled the scene, Ferguson said "We were able...

This has been a closely watched case in New Hampshire, both in terms of free speech and gender discrimination. (And I don’t mean “closely watched” just because it involves topless women.) Three Granite State ladies, Heidi Lilley, Kia Sinclair and Ginger Pierro, were arrested in 2016 for going topless at a local beach and refusing to cover up after other bathers complained. They were subsequently convicted of violating a local indecent exposure law. Their initial appeals were rejected and now the state’s highest court has agreed with the previous judges and declared that the conviction was not a violation...

Three people were fatally shot and several others were injured in three separate shootings in New Orleans on Tuesday amid Mardi Gras festivities, according to the New Orleans Police Department. The first shooting occurred in the French Quarter and was "steps away from where crowds watched the final Mardi Gras Day parades roll by," according to ABC News New Orleans affiliate WGNO. Deputy Superintendent Paul Noel told WGNO that one man was shot in the head and is in critical condition, and another man was shot in the leg and is stable. Both were transported by EMS to a local...