City Council members passed a $1.8 billion budget they say prioritizes funding quality-of-life improvements, affordable housing projects, health initiatives and public safety efforts.

New projects

Charity Hospital: The $600 million redevelopment project is getting $10 million to add affordable housing.

• Yes, but: The funds may be delayed as the council fights with Tulane University, the project's anchor, writes The Times-Picayune's Ben Myers.

Six Flags: $5 million is going to Bayou Phoenix's plan to redevelop the old amusement park site. Demolition started last month but was halted due to permitting issues. Go deeper.

New grocery store: $2 million will go toward bringing a grocery store to New Orleans East.

Former Naval Support Activity Base: $1 million is going to remediate the blighted Bywater facility.

Winners

"The biggest winners from the 2025 budget are undoubtedly the kids of New Orleans," said council Vice President JP Morrell in a statement, citing full funding for NORD and expanded funding for STEM programming.

Others include:

Orleans Parish schools: The school board will get $20 million to help fill a budget hole caused by an accounting error. Go deeper.

Homeless initiative: An additional $10 million for the Office of Homeless Services and Strategy.

Help for crime victims: About $970,000 is going toward services and resources.

City employees: 2.5% pay raises are included in next year's budget. It's the final raise in a three-year plan to get to a 10% increase.

Losers

City departments got about $84 million less than they asked for, representing a 5% to 7% cut in their operations budget, writes Sophie Kasakove with The Times-Picayune.

• Gilbert Montaño, the city's chief administrative officer, said the cuts were necessary as federal pandemic aid ends and other costs increase, Kasakove writes.

Yes, but: The cuts were because the city overestimated for merit pay increases last year and they are "right-sizing how it should be done in 2025," council budget chair Joe Giarrusso tells Axios.

• Most departments spend 80 to 85% of their annual operations budget, so the cuts shouldn't feel "drastic," he said.

More losers and winners

The active and destructive 2024 Atlantic hurricane season ended last week after a puzzling yet profoundly damaging run.

• The season featured an early flareup of activity — then a long, mysterious pause before a backloaded blitz of storms that included two major hurricane U.S. landfalls.

Why it matters: Some of the season's storms bore the hallmarks of human-caused global warming, especially their rapid intensification and devastating amounts of rainfall.

Zoom in: The North Atlantic basin spun up 18 named storms. Eleven were hurricanes, including Helene, which alone caused more than 200 fatalities.

• Francine was the only one to hit Louisiana's shoreline, giving New Orleans-area officials a chance to test out new emergency management strategies.
• On July 1, the Atlantic saw its earliest Category 5 storm on record, with Hurricane Beryl.

Context: A typical Atlantic hurricane season features 14 named storms, seven hurricanes and three major hurricanes.

Keep reading

😢 Taysom Hill is out for the rest of the season with a torn ACL and injured knee. (NFL)

A woman is dead and five others injured after an explosion at their Avondale home. JPSO says a cement truck ran over a nearby gas line and broke it right before the fire. (WWL)

📆 It's Giving Tuesday. The Greater New Orleans Foundation has a lengthy list of local nonprofits for your consideration.

🍕 Forbidden Pizza is opening Thursday on Baronne Street in the CBD. (The Times-Picayune 🔒)

A community center in Florida/Desire recently got the region's first library vending machine.

Why it matters: The vending machine brings free books and DVDs to a neighborhood without a library.

How it works: Anyone with a library card can use the vending machine, the New Orleans Public Library says.

• It's stocked with over 200 borrowable items for children, teens and adults.
• The collection includes popular movies like Disney's "Encanto" and "Moana," plus bestselling novels like Silvia Moreno-Garcia's "Mexican Gothic" and Sarah J. Maas' "A Court of Thorns and Roses."

If you go: The vending machine is inside NORD's Multi-Service Center at 3250 Industry St.

Super Bowl LIX will honor the musical legacy of its host city during the pregame at the Caesars Superdome on Feb. 9.

Why it matters: The NFL got pushback from New Orleans music fans earlier this year when it announced Kendrick Lamar as the game's halftime performer instead of someone locally grown.

Zoom in: Jon Batiste will perform the national anthem.

• Trombone Shorty will pair up with Lafayette native Lauren Daigle for "America the Beautiful."
• And Ledisi will perform "Lift Every Voice and Sing."

"I think that there is enough credit to go around when you think about results. ... And when you see success, everyone wants to join in and why not? ... Quite frankly, we need all that we can get because we cannot do it alone."

Zoom in: Law enforcement authorities said yesterday they plan to re-evaluate their plans ahead of the Sugar Bowl and New Year's Eve after the weekend's violence.

• They also urge gun-owners to get a free biometric gun safe if there are children in the house.