| By DREW BROACH | Deputy metro editor |
OLD CRIME, NEW EVIDENCE: Since Jason Williams was inaugurated district attorney in 2021, New Orleans prosecutors have set loose scores of long-serving prison inmates over convictions now deemed to be unjust. But Williams isn’t quite ready to do the same for Jerome “Skee” Smith, who was found guilty as a teen of killing bakery owner Bill Long Jr. in a 1985 murder that indelibly changed the Freret Street commercial corridor. Williams’ office has turned up new evidence that bolsters Smith’s alibi, but the victim's grandson is a homicide detective, and Long’s family wants none of it. LOSING STEAM: The U.S. Senate campaign of Gary Chambers Jr. began with a bang, with the candidate smoking marijuana in an online advertisement, a bold move that generated news coverage and campaign donations. But Chambers’ effort to be the leading Democratic challenger to the well-financed incumbent, Republican John Kennedy, appears to have lost steam: With less than two weeks before early voting begins, he hasn’t aired a single television spot, though such commercials are the most effective way to reach voters statewide. BITTER PILL: A chastened Cynthia Lee Sheng took her medicine Wednesday, telling the Jefferson Parish Council she won’t move forward on her administration’s overhaul of six community playgrounds “unless and until we have the community’s input.” The parish president faced a tsunami of opposition from infuriated parents at one playground last week, and the council was poised to wrest control of the process from her. Thanks for starting your Thursday with Morning Headlines. Catch the latest news all day on NOLA.com. D.B. | 