YULETIDE SURGE: COVID-19 cases are rising rapidly in Louisiana in the runup to Christmas, especially in the New Orleans area. Should Gov. John Bel Edwards reinstate Louisiana's mask mandate. Here's what his public health advisers say. President Joe Biden's administration plans to provide 500 million free rapid tests for Americans, increase support for hospitals under strain and redouble vaccination and boosting efforts.
THE SEVERANCE SEASON: With 870 people about to lose their jobs at the Phillips 66 oil refinery at Alliance, the union members among them will vote next week on their severance package. Houston-based Phillips 66 has abandoned plans to try to sell the refinery, after Hurricane Ida flooding made it too costly to repair, and instead expects to convert the property to an oil storage site employing only about 30 people.
RE-ROUTED: Trying to make sense of the Mardi Gras season parade route changes that New Orleans Mayor LaToya Cantrell announced Tuesday? We've got maps showing the new routes Uptown and for Endymion, Zulu and Rex, and Cantrell's explanation for the "shared sacrifice."
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Members of the United Steelworkers union at the soon-to-be-shuttered Phillips 66 Alliance Refinery in Plaquemines Parish will vote next week on a severance package as hundreds of employees prepare to lose their jobs early next year. Read more
The Zulu parade will skip Canal Street next year. Endymion will forgo a jog over to St. Charles Avenue and Magazine Street has been pruned from all Uptown Mardi Gras parade routes in 2022. Read more
