City offers a slate of activities for Martin Luther King Jr. Day

Martin Luther King Jr. Day this year falls on the slain civil rights leader’s actual birthday, Jan. 15. The Southern Christian Leadership Conference and other local nonprofits offer a variety of events to honor the transformative leader. A parade through Central City is the centerpiece of the New Orleans MLK Day. R.E.A.L. (Recreating the Environmental Ability to Live) has been hosting this event in New Orleans for 37 years.

Two people die in separate Central City shootings

Two deadly shootings were reported Saturday (Jan. 6)  in Central City, according to the New Orleans Police Department. A 27-year-old woman was killed Saturday evening in the 2700 block of Washington Avenue. Sixth District officers arrived at the scene at about 6:15 p.m. and found her on the sidewalk  with multiple gunshot wounds. She was declared dead at the scene.

King Cake Hub to celebrate Carnival season and its return to Zony Mash

Now that the holiday season is out of the way, Carnival season is fast approaching, and, of course, that means king cake. There’s no better spot to get your king cake fix than King Cake Hub, which offers a wide variety of king cakes in one place. This year, the Hub’s selection will include more than 70 cakes from local bakeries including Bittersweet, Breads on Oak, Brennan’s, Bywater Bakery, Caluda’s, Cannata’s, Caywood and Randazzo Bakery, District, Hi Do Bakery, Gracious, Joe Gambino’s Bakery, NOCCA, Sugar Love, Nolita, Mad Matter Bakery and Marguerite’s King Cakes. Several king cake-related sweets and other merchandise will also be available. 

King Cake Hub was founded in 2019 by Will and Jennifer Samuels. The couple got their first taste of the king cake business by selling their own king cake at their gelato shop, La Dolce NOLA, on Metairie Road.

Roadwork ahead: Lane closures on South Claiborne

Temporary lane closures are planned for South Claiborne Avenue from Louisiana Avenue to Third Street for the next six to eight months, as Sewerage & Water Board crews install a water main. The riverside traffic lanes next to the neutral ground will be closed beginning Tuesday (Jan. 2). Traffic will be reduced to two lanes, diverting some motorists to the parking lane. This traffic closure is expected to last until the summer of 2024.

Viewpoint: May the New Year restore hope in Ukraine and the Middle East

By Arnie Fielkow, guest columnist

As 2023 comes to an end, we all look forward to a New Year filled with much happiness, good health and fulfillment for ourselves and our family. Yet, while we in New Orleans  have largely enjoyed a year of peace, the same cannot be said for the citizens of our allied nations of Ukraine and Israel. Since February 2022 in Ukraine and Oct. 7 in Gaza, lives have been uprooted and terrible acts have been committed against innocent citizens. The atrocities committed by Palestinian terrorists against Israel on Oct.

When to put out your holiday trash, recycling and Christmas trees

Garbage truck hoppers and drivers get the day off on Christmas and New Year’s Day but will be working harder for the rest of the week. Not only do the celebrations generate more trash, but the pickup days are staggered and a Sunday pickup day is added to the schedule. For the next two weeks, residents with a Monday trash day need to bring their garbage bin to the curb on Tuesday. If your trash or recycling is normally picked up on Tuesday, it will be picked on Wednesday. And so on through the week, until the Saturday garbage is picked up on Sunday.

Viewpoint: Candidates line up to lead the state Democratic Party out of its doldrums

Qualifying for the March 2024 elections got off to a quick start yesterday at the Clerk’s Office, Criminal District Court.  Two attorneys, Dianne Alexander and LaKeisha Jefferson, signed up for open seats in First City Court and Civil District Court respectively. In addition 71 other contenders — including a number of fresh faces of the more progressive persuasion — qualified for Democratic and Republican parish and state committees. Ronald Coleman, president of the local NAACP, was first in line to qualify for re-election to the Orleans Parish Democratic Executive Committee. Yesterday’s turnout was higher than four years ago, when only 48 candidates qualified on the first day followed by 49 the second day and 114 the third and final day for the state political committees. With the poor showing in the fall elections, the Louisiana Democratic Party is clearly at a crossroads.