| BY CHAD CALDER | Staff writer |
Good morning and thanks for joining us. Here are some of today's top headlines. Unpaid bills: New Orleans has decades of unpaid legal judgments owed to people who have been hit by city vehicles, injured themselves on public property or otherwise had reason to sue the city. Now, the City Council is taking steps to start paying down the roughly $30 million it owes. James Finn has the story. Short-term rentals: For the first time since it began considering exceptions to New Orleans' short-term rental limits, the City Council rejected one on Thursday, bringing its record to 44-1. That's a quite a ways off from the guidance of city planners, who have favored granting only about a third. Ben Myers sorts it all out. Vappie speaks: In his first public comments since being indicted by a federal grand jury last month, retired New Orleans police officer Jeffrey Vappie said he has no regrets about his career, which included time as Mayor LaToya Cantrell's bodyguard. An alleged romance between Vappie and the mayor is at the heart of the charges against him. Sophie Kasakove has more. Check back for more news, entertainment and sports from The Times-Picayune. Chad | 