Judge blocks further sweeps of homeless camp in New Orleans ahead of Taylor Swift concerts

Associated Press/Report for America

A judge in Louisiana has temporarily blocked further efforts by state officials to clear homeless encampments in New Orleans. The push to relocate about 75 people living in tents beneath an overpass near the Superdome began in the days ahead of three Taylor Swift concerts that could draw 150,000 visitors to the stadium this weekend. Judge Lori Jupiter granted a temporary restraining order on Friday, ordering state law enforcement officials to not “destroy or dispose of the property of unhoused people without judicial process” and to notify people in the “state sanctioned camp” that they are “free to leave.”