Axios New Orleans

April 09, 2026
☕️ Hi, friends! It's Thursday.
Today's weather: Still glorious. Mostly sunny with a high of 74. Slight chance of rain.
🎂 Happy birthday to our Axios New Orleans member Keith Blancq!
🎧 Sounds like: "Year to Be Young 1994" by Stephen Wilson Jr., who performs tomorrow at Hogs for the Cause.
Today's newsletter is 886 words — a 3.5-minute read.
1 big thing: 🤠 Giddy up, y'all

New Orleans is hosting what organizers say is the biggest rodeo in Louisiana history this weekend.
Why it matters: The Angola Prison Rodeo, the state's most famous one, will be part of the festivities.
The big picture: The Hondo Rodeo Fest is at the Caesars Superdome tomorrow through Sunday.
- The three-day event has an invite-only rodeo with a $1 million purse, nightly concert series and a Western-themed street fest.
- Headliners include Jason Aldean, Lynyrd Skynyrd, Cody Johnson and Creed.
- The free street fest starts at noon each day in Champions Square.
Zoom in: The Angola Prison Rodeo component starts at 5pm nightly.
- Eight trusties will ride a bull and compete in other elements, says James Trawick, founder and CEO of the Hondo Rodeo.
- Half of their prize money will go to a statewide victims fund, Trawick tells us, with the rest supporting families of incarcerated people. The exact amount wasn't disclosed.
- For the main rodeo, 76 of the world's top champions will compete for the $1 million purse.
What he's saying: "If you've never been to a rodeo, this is the rodeo to come and experience," he says. "It's the Super Bowl of rodeos."
If you go: Tickets start at $35 for the Angola exhibition, rodeo and concerts.
2. 🤑 Recent biz developments
Amazon is reportedly in talks to buy Covington-based Globalstar, a $9 billion satellite telecom group, in a bid to compete with SpaceX's Starlink. (Financial Times🔒)
The One Canal Place office tower has a new owner — Skysoar Capital Partners, a New York-based investment group. (Fox 8)
- Canal Place also recently switched its parking manager from Premium Parking to an AI-enabled platform with Universal Parking. (Press release)
New York billionaire Michael Novogratz bought Check Point Charlie and the Motwani family's proposed Frenchmen Street hotel site. (The Times-Picayune🔒)
Associated Wholesale Grocers will invest $110 million to upgrade its distribution facility on the North Shore. (Press release)
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers awarded a $420 million construction contract to Pittman-Sealevel of St. Rose to improve the levee system in St. John and St. Charles parishes. (Press release)
3. 🤖 Americans want AI guardrails
Nearly two-thirds of Americans now use AI regularly and want stronger oversight, but are conflicted on how far regulation should go, according to a new national survey from AI governance nonprofit Fathom shared exclusively with Axios.
Why it matters: Americans are growing more comfortable with AI as Washington struggles to regulate it.
By the numbers: Nearly two-thirds of Americans use AI weekly or more, per the survey.
- 40% of respondents say they're excited about AI, while 23% say they're concerned. Another 35% feel both.
- 90% say it's important that AI products for kids should be verified as "safe" before they're used.
People also say they want policymakers to deliver guardrails while also keeping the U.S. dominant in AI.
- Respondents also strongly back workforce transition policies with support from the government, and say they trust independent experts and nonprofits more than politicians or tech companies to set guardrails.
What they're saying: "Child safety, corporate accountability, and verifiable standards are Americans' top priorities for a good future with AI," the study's authors write.
- "These priorities hold up across party lines, and even when the trade-offs are made explicit."
- Per the study, "the public wants governance and American leadership — and policymakers will have to design frameworks that reconcile the two."
4. Fully Dressed: 🏛️ Mifepristone ruling
🏛️ A federal judge ruled against Attorney General Liz Murrill and refused to block mail-orders for mifepristone, which can be used for abortions. (AP)
- The decision is only temporary while the challenge makes its way through the courts.
🎥 Fox News' Steve Doocy will be live in the French Quarter today for his "Morning Walk" segment. We're told he'll be talking with House Majority Leader Steve Scalise about Iran and the Republicans' latest energy agenda.
👨⚖️ A bill that would reduce the number of judges in Orleans Parish passed in the state Senate Tuesday and is now headed for the House. (WWL)
- Mayor Helena Moreno and council members JP Morrell, Eugene Green, Lesli Harris, Freddie King III, Matthew Willard and Aimee McCarron condemned the move.
🪖 A U.S. Army staff sergeant is trying to halt his wife's deportation after she was detained at Fort Polk. (AP)
🗣️ Voice your thoughts: The city has several surveys going...
5. 🌶️ Hot sauce in space
NASA got back to us after yesterday's story about hot sauce in space.
- The five brands on Artemis II are Tabasco, Sriracha, Cholula, Frank's RedHot and Heinz Hot Taco Sauce, according to Victoria Segovia, a public affairs specialist at Johnson Space Center in Houston.
- Personally, we'd swap Heinz Hot Taco Sauce for Crystal, but hey, we aren't rocket scientists.
The fine print: NASA says it doesn't endorse any of the brands.
🍴 What condiments would you bring to space?
🏝️ Carlie is dreaming of a cold drink and salty breezes.
🐣 Chelsea is on parental leave.
Tell a cowboy to subscribe.
Thanks to our editor Crystal Hill, who is reading about Miami, which leads the country in ICE arrests.
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