| By KASEY BUBNASH | Staff writer |
Good morning and thanks for starting your week with us. Here are some of the day's top headlines. Where are the microgrids? Nine years ago, New Orleans officials sketched out a way to keep the lights on after hurricanes: by building “area microgrids,” through which a combination of solar arrays and battery storage would power a group of buildings, even when the rest of the electrical grid is offline. But in classic New Orleans fashion, the work still hasn't started. Sam Karlin took a look at the project's progress and its many obstacles. Sewage pollution: St. Tammany Parish is developing a pilot program that would allow officials to inspect some home septic systems on the northshore, about half of which don’t work properly and leak untreated sewage into St. Tammany’s waterways. Alex Lubben has more on what one official called the "baby step" toward addressing the parish's sewage pollution problem. 'Busy busy': Gorgeous weather and huge crowds were the defining characteristics of this year's French Quarter Festival, which closed out Sunday after four days of food, fun, music and sunshine. Tony McAuley took to the streets of the French Quarter to see how vendors and downtown businesses fared at this year's event. Thanks for reading, and check out all the latest news, sports and entertainment coverage from The Times-Picayune. Kasey | 