NOLA Business Insider: ‘Recycling’ New Orleans’ shopping malls |

Welcome to a new week and a new edition of NOLA Business Insider. Today, a look at how local malls are changing, a check-in on the struggle to find workers and a look at how Gov. John Bel Edwards, a Democrat, is managing through the prevailing conservative winds sweeping the south.

Also in today’s mix are two business stories with some football flair. Saints General Manager Mickey Loomis has a side gig in the restaurant business — and plans to transform an old haunt in Old Metairie. Meanwhile, Jeff Duncan looks at what the blockbuster $4.65 billion sale of the Denver Broncos might mean for the Saints down the line. 

MALL MAKEOVERS: Deal talks on the Esplanade Mall in Kenner have put the focus back on the old standbys of retailing: suburban shopping malls. There’s lots happening in the malls dotting the area, and Chad Calder has the details on the various states of change.

BLUE STATE, RED STATE: In many Republican-controlled states, hot-button culture war issues are flying into the law books. But political reporter Tyler Bridges explains that Louisiana’s moderate Republicans in the legislature and Democratic Gov. John Bel Edwards largely kept proposed legislation on critical race theory, “don’t say gay” rules and other hot-button topics from becoming law.

JOB ANYONE? The Louisiana unemployment rate is 3.8%, the lowest since before the Great Recession. But business owners can’t get enough workers to fill jobs. Here are some of the ways they’re trying to attract new employees.

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