| BY MIKE SMITH | STAFF WRITER |
Changing course: New Orleans Mayor LaToya Cantrell has canceled her upcoming trip to Singapore amid a torrent of criticism about her travel abroad. Cantrell's spokesperson Gregory Joseph said the mayor was staying home to "embed herself with the NOPD so she can witness firsthand what our officers need in order to increase public safety." Airport connections: Officials at Louis Armstrong New Orleans International Airport want to build a roughly $85 million connector road to whisk passengers from a potential Amtrak train station on the south side of its footprint to the gleaming new terminal on the north side. Yet, as the airport pursues one transportation link, another is bogged down in construction delays. The state-managed Interstate 10 flyover project’s opening date has been pushed back from November to early 2023. Monkeypox concerns: Even as Louisiana receives thousands of doses of the monkeypox vaccines, officials say it’s likely not enough to ward off further spread of infection with the approach of the Southern Decadence Festival, the annual LGBTQ celebration that typically draws 250,000 people to the French Quarter over Labor Day weekend. Abortion ruling: A Louisiana appeals court has ruled the state’s strict ban on abortion must be reinstated as the ongoing legal challenge to the ban plays out, delivering a blow to abortion advocates after they won a favorable ruling in district court. Cheers: Jewel of the South, the French Quarter tavern opened in 2019 in a Creole townhouse dating to the 1830s, has won a major award. Check it out. Thanks for reading. Stay tuned to NOLA.com for all the latest updates. MS | 