| By Drew Broach | Deputy metro editor
800-POUND GORILLA: The Atlantic Basin hurricane season starts June 1, and the Gulf of Mexico is already warmer than average. Even more worrying is a current of warm tropical water that is creeping unusually far into the Gulf, with the power to turn tropical storms into monster hurricanes. It’s called the Loop Current, and it’s the 800-pound gorilla of Gulf hurricane risks. This year, the Loop Current looks remarkably similar to the way it did in 2005, the year Hurricane Katrina crossed the Loop Current before devastating New Orleans.
FAMILY AFFAIR: When a pipe burst last year at the Pentagon Barracks, the state-owned apartment complex where many Louisiana legislators stay during their lawmaking sessions in Baton Rouge, the agency that oversees the historic structure set about hiring a state-approved contractor to fix the three damaged units. But House Speaker Clay Schexnayder insisted on a more comprehensive remodel of the two apartments he uses there. He ditched the state’s contractor and brought in a new company to do the work, one owned by his two stepsons but not one approved by the state. And his wife, Phoebe, requested new appliances from a retailer where she works as a bookkeeper.
SECRET GARDENS: Ralph Mason and Kris Butera gave up Washington D.C. five years ago to devote themselves full-time to a Creole cottage in Faubourg Marigny, one with a history so rich that it sports a bronze historical plaque. The cottage’s yellow and brick, old-world façade, its 200-year-old pantile roof and its unique, five-sided stucco frame are so well-known that tall-tale buggy drivers stop at its door. Few people get to view the cottage’s restored insides, but the couple will show off their prized courtyard May 28, as part of the Patio Planters' Secret Gardens of the Vieux Carré tour.
Thanks for starting your Thursday with us. Check out NOLA.com for more news throughout the day. D.B. | 
