A State Trooper vehicle drives down Bourbon Street in the French Quarter on March 15, 2020 in New Orleans, Louisiana. The state government has placed a ban on large public gatherings and postponed the April 4 primary until June 20 due to the coronavirus (COVID-19). (Photo by Chris Graythen/Getty Images)
New Orleans police cleared the city's famous Bourbon Street over the weekend to stem the spread of coronavirus.
Officers attempted to disperse crowds by driving slowly down the street, still crowded with revelers in spite of the pandemic ripping across the U.S. and the world.
"Large groups of people are prohibited from congregating together. Your actions are jeopardizing public health. We are directing you to clear the streets and go home or back to your hotel," an officer can be heard announcing in a video uploaded to Twitter on Sunday night, and retweeted by the New Orleans Police Department.
The action came on the heels of an executive order by Louisiana Gov. John Bel Edwards, banning gatherings of 250 people or more across the state and shutting down schools. The Pelican State reported on Saturday its first fatality from COVID-19, the respiratory disease caused by the novel coronavirus.
The first victim of the virus was a 58-year-old New Orleans resident with underlying health conditions. The city has since reported another death, a 53-year-old patient, also with underlying medical conditions, who New Orleans Mayor LaToya Cantrell called a personal friend.
"The news this morning of a second death in New Orleans is deeply heartbreaking to me, personally — and is additional tragic news for the people of our City. The patient in this instance was a friend of mine, but every one of those impacted by this outbreak is someone's friend, someone's loved one," she wrote on Facebook on Sunday morning.
Louisiana's tally of reported COVID-19 cases more than tripled over the weekend to 114 on Monday morning — from 33 presumptive positive cases across the state as of Friday morning. Of those, 79 cases are in New Orleans, the state's most populous city. The Louisiana Department of Health reported 302 total tests completed as of Monday morning.
Louisiana has joined other states in implementing extreme measures to stem the spread of the novel coronavirus, a disease that spread from Wuhan, China to close to 150 countries across the globe. It has killed 41 and sickened more than 1,600 in the U.S. so far as of Friday, according to the CDC. The Pelican State also became the first state in the nation, according to the New York Times, to postpone its presidential primary, out of an abundance of caution for elderly poll workers who are "among the most vulnerable to this virus," Gov. Edwards said in a statement. The election was originally scheduled for April 4, but has been postponed by more than two months. Georgia has since followed suit, and other states are reportedly considering similar action.
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On this episode of Cheddar Innovates: CEO of HereAfter AI discusses how artificial intelligence can be used to preserve family history and stories, and allow you to 'talk' to loved ones that have passed; Creator of the board game 'Travel Explore Discover' explains how she came up with the idea for this informative and educational board game, and how she's using the proceeds to give back to her community; Cheddar gets a look at Curiosity Stream's 'The Humboldt Current.'
According to the Federal Reserve, the investment gap between Black and white Americans has remained substantial, with only 34 percent of Black households joining in on the historic rise in the markets. Stacey Tisdale, the first Black woman to have reported from the NYSE and the CEO and president of Mind Money Media Inc., said that the data might not be as disheartening as it seems. "I think that number is very deceiving. That Federal Reserve study is actually from 2019, and it's very important that we all look beneath that number and look beneath the surface because there is nothing short of an investing revolution going on in the Black community," Tisdale said.
James Vlahos, Co-Founder and CEO of HereAfter AI, joins Cheddar Innovates to discuss how artificial intelligence can be used to preserve family history and stories, and allow you to 'talk' to loved ones that have passed.
Ava Rathenberg, Creator of the board game 'Travel Explore Discover,' joins Cheddar Innovates to discuss how she came up with the idea for this informative and educational board game, and how she's using the proceeds to give back to her community.
An award-winning performance by the LSU Tiger Girls dance team is going viral on TikTok, but like many other viral tiktoks, this one had a larger story to tell. The story goes back to 2021 when for the first time in 22 years, the LSU dance team was informed it could not compete at Universal Dance Association Nationals. The team made their anticipated return to UDA Nationals this year with a performance that delivered a strong and clear message to their university. The LSU Tiger Girls walked away from the competition with their first national championship title in 12 years, redemption against the university that held them back, and of course- millions of new fans and friends on TikTok.
Solid-state battery maker Factorial Energy recently raised $200 million in a Series D round led by Mercedes-Benz and Stellantis. Factorial says the funding will be used to accelerate commercial production and deployment of its solid-state battery technology, which the company says is safer, and offers up to 50% more driving range than current lithium-ion technology. Factorial also has joint development agreements (announced in late 2021) with Mercedes-Benz, Stellantis, and Hyundai, three of the top 10 global automotive manufacturers, to commercialize its batteries. Factorial CEO Siyu Huang joined Cheddar News' Closing Bell to discuss.
Former Dolphins coach Brian Flores filed a lawsuit against the NFL over racial discrimination, exposing a long-running problem the NFL has had with diversity in its top coaching and management positions. Eric Mitchell, the president and CEO of public relations and communications company LifeFlip Media, joined Cheddar News to delve into the scandal rocking the pro football world just before the Super Bowl. "There is a problem. If you look at who owns teams in the NFL, it's right, it's a good old boys club, it's a bunch of old white guys," he said. "So, it's exposing something that's been around for ages and now that we're sitting in 2022 has come up."
This April, Madison Square Garden will be hosting the first-ever women's boxing match to headline at the arena in its 140 years of history in boxing. Undisputed lightweight champion, Katie Taylor, and seven-division champion, Amanda Serrano, will go head-to-head for a career-high guaranteed seven-figure purse for both of them. The pair joined Cheddar News to talk about the upcoming "fight of their lives." "I mean, this is the first step I believe," said Serrano. "Unheard of, two women headlining the Garden, we get in the biggest paydays of our career, I hope it continues to break down barriers."
