Everyone has a favorite poboy. We're highlighting several delicious ones we ate recently.

• This list isn't all encompassing. Hit reply to tell us where else we should go.

🍤 Parkway: You can't go wrong at Parkway Bakery. Roast beef, shrimp, oyster — they are all well-executed here.

🦪 Domilise's: Get the half-and-half oyster and shrimp poboy, and don't forget your curly wedge fries and a bottle of Barq's.

🦞 Russell's Short Stop Cafe: This old-school restaurant in Metairie has 30+ poboys on the menu. The fried crawfish tail poboy is an unusual but tasty option.

🧀 Verti Mart: The All That Jazz poboy is stuffed with grilled ham, grilled turkey, grilled mushrooms, two kinds of cheese, slices of tomato, grilled shrimp and Verti Mart's mustardy Wow Sauce.

🦐 Liuzza's by the Track: The BBQ shrimp poboy is overstuffed with shrimp, and the savory butter sauce gets a little tang from dill pickle slices and a squeeze of fresh lemon.

🐷 Walker's BBQ: You can get the Jazz Fest favorite cochon de lait poboy all year at its creator's restaurant, Walker's BBQ. The pork practically melts in your mouth.

🌶️ Banh Mi Boys: The bang bang shrimp banh mi is filled with fried shrimp that have been tossed in a sweet Thai chili glaze and then topped with cucumbers, pickled carrots and daikon radish, cilantro and jalapeños.

🍄 Café Reconcile: The blackened portobello poboy is piled high with well-seasoned, meaty mushroom strips plus grilled bell peppers and onions, and fully dressed with lettuce, tomato, pickle and mayo.

Go deeper for the full list of 13 with photos

The pool boom is over, according to data from a Covington-based pool equipment distributor, and macroeconomic forces are largely to blame.

Why it matters: The factors cooling the broader economy are also drowning the pool business.

The big picture: Just 60,000 residential, in-ground pools will be constructed this year, one research firm estimates — half as many as in 2021.

• Covington's Pool Corp. says pool construction could be down as much as 20% from last year.

Where it stands: Higher-end pools with fancy waterfalls or decorative tiling are selling fine. It's demand for low-end pools that is slowing.

• One reason: High-end pool buyers tend to pay in cash. Lower-end pools are more likely to be financed, and high interest rates have made that less palatable.
• Pools are also more expensive. The average pool cost went from roughly $40,000 pre-pandemic to somewhere north of $65,000, estimates Garik Shmois, an analyst at Loop Capital.

Zoom in: Normally, new home construction is correlated with new pool construction.

• That's not the case anymore, Pool Corp. noted in its annual report (though they added this creates "more available backyards for swimming pools when economic conditions stabilize.")

Between the lines: The pandemic caused a one-off surge in pool demand when stuck-at-home residents leaned into upgrades as they were forced to forgo vacations.

Go deeper for more pool data

👀 LSU stars Livvy Dunne, Joe Burrow, Odell Beckham Jr. and Ja'Marr Chase were on the exclusive guest list for businessman Michael Rubin's Fourth of July White Party. Everyone's talking about it, but our invites must have gotten lost in the mail. (The Cut)

• We did go celebrity-spotting at Essence, though. (Photos)

🚰 More drinking water fountains are being built in New Orleans. The locations cater to the city's unhoused population. (WWNO)

🌊 A 26-foot-sea wall around a Plaquemines Parish LNG plant "highlights the irony" of "[guarding] against extreme weather that is their own doing," an environmental advocate says. (Washington Post)

Tessie Prevost, who was one of the three 6-year-old girls who integrated McDonogh 19 the same day Ruby Bridges integrated William Frantz Elementary, has died. The civil rights pioneer was 69. (WGNO)

Louisiana voters will get a crawfish-themed "I voted" sticker after casting their ballots this fall.

Why it matters: The state's voter stickers are highly sought-after selfie fodder with some even selling on eBay.

The big picture: Secretary of State Nancy Landry unveiled this year's "I voted" sticker yesterday with its creator, Shreveport artist William Joyce.

• The sticker has a cartoon crawfish named Mark de Ballot walking in a blue tuxedo jacket with a black top hat and spats.

Between the lines: The state started making custom "I voted" stickers in 2016, and four of the five have featured Louisiana animals.

By the numbers: Louisiana will print 3.5 million stickers for this year's elections at a cost of about $29,000, says Joel Watson, a spokesperson for Landry's office.

• Joyce volunteered his services for the sticker and was not paid, he added.

What's next: Louisianans head to the polls Nov. 5 for the presidential election.

Go deeper for more about the artist

The price of postage stamps will go up by 5 cents on Sunday.

Why it matters: The increase ties the record for the highest stamp hike ever.

• Costs to send a letter by certified mail and money order fees are also increasing.

By the numbers: The price of a First-Class Mail Forever stamp will increase from 68 cents to 73 cents.

• Rates for First Class Mail will increase by roughly 7.8%.

Flashback: The only other 5-cent increase happened in January 2019 when the price of a first-class stamp increased from 50 to 55 cents, according to USPS data.

• Most increases have been 2 to 3 cents.

Go deeper for future price increase expectations