Jason Saul

Next Media Animation, a Taiwanese media company known for their satirical animated videos mocking events in the news, has released a video poking fun at the travails of former New Orleans Mayor C. Ray Nagin, convicted this week of 20 counts of corruption — ranging from bribery to conspiracy.

Pierre the Pelican, eponymous mascot of the New Orleans Pelicans basketball team, suffered a broken beak during a pickup basketball game with other mascots and will undergo "surgery" later today, the team announced this afternoon in a press release.

The New Orleans Police Department will conduct a sobriety checkpoint Thursday night, the department announced in a press release.

The checkpoint, to be conducted by the NOPD's Traffic Division, is scheduled to begin at approximately 9 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 6, and last until about 5 a.m. the next morning. The NOPD says drivers encountering the checkpoint should only experience minimal delays, and should have proper documentation on them, including proof of insurance and a driver's license.

The lineup for the 2014 French Quarter Festival was announced Wednesday morning at a press conference in Jackson Square.

This year's Festival, billed by organizers as the "largest free music festival in the United States" features 188 musical acts over four days. This year's French Quarter Festival will take place April 10-13 on stages spread throughout the lower Quarter.

This is a preliminary schedule. A full schedule and lineup will be released in March.

French Quarter Festival 2014 Debuts

Many elections will be held Saturday, Feb. 1, including municipal primary elections for New Orleans mayor, city council and coroner.

Polls open at 7 a.m. and close at 8 p.m.

You can find information on the races in your area, including polling precincts and sample ballots, on the Louisiana Secretary of State's website:

Click here for the full website.

The City of New Orleans has extended the deadline for paying 2014 property taxes to Friday, Feb. 7 due to the closure of City Hall as a result of the winter storm that shut down much of the region this week.

Property owners can make payments in several ways, including in-person, by mail and online:

In person:

Bureau of the Treasury
City Hall, Room 1W40

The City will provide a drop-off lane at the Perdido St. entrance to City Hall on Friday, Jan. 31 and Friday, Feb. 7.

Find real-time traffic updates, links to live traffic cameras, and much more in this interactive application from the Louisiana Department of Transportation and Development.

Louisiana State Police say motorists should not expect to see Interstate 10 reopened before Thursday.

Capt. Doug Cain says the state's major east-west thoroughfare remains closed between the Jefferson/Orleans parish line through Lafayette.

Cain says the concern is that temperatures won't warm up enough to thaw bridges along the highway like the Bonnet Carré Spillway, four miles at LaPlace and Interstate 55 over Manchac.

The Times-Picayune reports Cain also couldn't say when Interstate 12 might reopen.

The City of New Orleans and the metro region have begun to emerge from the winter storm that forced a near-complete shutdown of everything from airports to roads to restaurants, according to a city press conference held Wednesday morning.

Officials say we’re not out of the woods just yet, as dangerous winter weather continues to grip the region and already-freezing or near-freezing temperatures are expected to plunge again this evening.

The GOES-East satellite (a joint project of NASA and NOAA) captured this photo of the winter storm that hammered the South yesterday.

The National Weather Service has canceled the Winter Storm Warning for the New Orleans region as the storm moves offshore, but a Hard Freeze Warning is in effect. Temperatures are forecasted to warm into the mid- to upper-30s today, with hints of sunshine, but will quickly plummet after nightfall.

(h/t @ejimbo_com)