| Good Morning, Two weeks after an historic hurricane, Louisiana today is bracing for another tropical system. Nicholas was a minimal hurricane just before making landfall in Texas early this morning. It will pummel Houston and southeast Texas today. The storm, hopefully a tropical depression by then, is expected to cross the Sabine River early Wednesday morning and dump up to 15 inches of rain during its travel between Interstate 10 and U.S. Hwy. 190 through Acadiana before gradually heading north. Southeast Louisiana can expect rain today into Thursday. Still in the recovery phase from Hurricane Ida – with tens of thousands of damaged roofs still without protective blue tarps and debris still clogging waterways – Louisiana expects the heavy rains and modest winds to take a greater toll than would normally be the case. State taxpayers have spent about $160 million, so far, on the immediate response to Ida’s damage. The money went for equipment, such as generators for hospitals and tarps for roofs, emergency workers, and to deliver gasoline to the southeast part of the state where damaged electric lines led to long lines for fuel. Expenses are expected to rise quickly, into the billions with federal aid, as repairs are made and necessities are added to the costs. The U.S. Department of Agriculture is expected to green light D-SNAP this week and give food stamps to households whose incomes are too high to qualify. The disaster-related rules will allow storm damage expenses, thus qualifying many families – about $680 to buy groceries for a family of four. Up to 150,000 households are expected to apply. Ida also caused Gov. John Bel Edwards to approve a request by Secretary of State Kyle Ardoin to push back the Oct. 9 primary until Nov. 13 and the Nov. 13 runoff to Dec. 11. The October, now November, ballot includes primaries for New Orleans mayor, sheriff, assessor, and several other municipal seats along with the entire City Council, plus a slew of local initiatives elsewhere in the state, such as renewal of the property tax millage that funds Baton Rouge’s bus system. The ballot also includes four Constitutional amendments. The December general election would include runoffs among the top vote getters. LSU’s first home game of the year on Saturday allowed unlimited seating. But fans had to show they had been vaccinated or tested negative for COVID before being allowed into Tiger stadium. Things didn’t go easily and enforcement wasn’t universal. In an attempt to reduce the size of lines at the gates, the school also allowed fans to show their vaccine cards or test status earlier in the day at any of a dozen locations around campus in exchange for a wristband so ticket-takers know who is clear to enter. As kickoff got closer not everyone was screened before allowing entry. As always, check throughout the day for the latest Louisiana political news at theadvocate.com/politics or NOLA.com/politics and on Twitter at @MarkBallardCNB, @tegbridges, @samkarlin, @blakepater, @WillSentell. Here are a dozen articles, commentaries and editorials that will catch you up for the week to come. One last item: Thank you to our subscribers. Your support means a great deal to us. If you're not yet a subscriber, we’ve got a special offer you can check out here. – Mark Ballard | 
