| By DREW BROACH | Deputy metro editor |
AIRPORT ACCIDENT: Jermani Thompson’s family was overwhelmed with sympathy calls and messages Wednesday after the 26-year-old baggage handler at Louis Armstrong International Airport got her hair entangled in the machinery of a belt loader, fatally injuring her. BIG APPLE TO BIG EASY: Struggling to shore up the embattled New Orleans Police Department, Mayor LaToya Cantrell’s administration is hiring the former No. 2 officer in the New York Police Department as a consultant for as long as six months. The City Council, meanwhile, had another suggestion: Accelerate plans to hire more civilian employees, so officers can get where they are urgently needed. DEM ERSTERS: Two New Orleans restaurants are in a friendly competition to source not only the best oysters they can find but to present the widest diversity of bivalves on their menus. Each offers a dozen or more varieties, representing the highest evolution of a new epoch for oyster lovers. (Want more local food and restaurant articles? Subscribe to our free Where NOLA Eats newsletter, emailed weekly.) Thanks for starting your Thursday with Morning Headlines. D.B. | 