| By Drew Broach | Deputy metro editor
MASK MISMASH: A federal judge's decision to throw out a mask requirement on public transportation did away with the last major vestige of federal pandemic rules and led to a mishmash of new locally created rules that reflected the country's division over how to battle the coronavirus. Louis Armstrong International Airport, major airlines and the New Orleans Regional Transit Authority ditched their mask requirements, but Ochsner Health System and LCMC Health, the dominant hospital operators in the New Orleans area, are keeping theirs for now.
OFFSIDES: With little debate, the Louisiana Senate on Tuesday evening voted 29-6 to prohibit transgender girls from competing on school sports teams that match their gender identity. A similar bill sailed through the Legislature in 2021 but was vetoed by Gov. John Bel Edwards, who called it mean-spirited and said it could carry economic consequences, including the possible loss of the 2022 NCAA Final Four basketball tournament in New Orleans.
ON PAR: Some of the world's top golfers are in town this week for the Zurich Classic tournament at the TPC Louisiana course near Avondale. Here's whom the oddsmakers favor, and here's who headlined Tuesday's Zurich Classic Celebrity Shootout.
Thanks for starting your Wednesday with us. Check NOLA.com for more news throughout the day. D.B. | 
