By Bob Warren
Mondo soars: Something to take your mind off of COVID for a bit – Lafayette’s Mondo Duplantis soared to a gold medal today in the pole vault competition at the Tokyo Olympics. Mondo vaults for Sweden (I know, right?) but he’s as Louisiana as Louisiana can be. Congrats!
No shirt, no shoes, no vaccine…: Now, back to COVID. Sorry. The number of restaurants and bars in New Orleans requiring proof of vaccination for customers is growing. From Cowbell to La Boca to Tipitina’s, you’ll have to show documentation at these places. More in COVID: - Masking will be mandatory come Wednesday. Gov. John Bel Edwards issued a new order in the face of skyrocketing COVID cases and lagging vaccination rates. The order expires Sept. 1 but could always be extended. Here's the story in case you missed it.
- One of the reasons we have to mask up again is because Louisiana’s hospitals are sagging under the strain as more COVID patients than ever before require hospitalization, Emily Woodruff reports.
- We'll host the governor in a virtual town hall meeting Wednesday. Got a question you wanna ask him?
‘Begging God . . .’: A survivor of the deadly Seacor Power disaster described the treacherous hours bobbing in rough water after the vessel capsized in the Gulf of Mexico. “You’re getting beat up, and you’re just begging God to please calm the seas,” Dwayne Lewis testified during a Coast Guard hearing in Houma Monday. The hearing is expected to continue for the next two weeks.
Rethinking beads: A parade that doesn't shower the crowd with plastic beads? Our Mardi Gras guy Doug MacCash has the story of the Krewe of Harmonia, which hopes to parade next year and will prohibit riders from tossing plastic beads.
Also in the news: It's the Jameis Winston-Taysom Hill show at Saints training camp. The Pelicans' first day of free agency was a busy one. And look for rain today - and, of course, the street flooding that lurks behind every storm. All this and much more in today’s Lunch Line. Thanks for taking a break with us. BW
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