👻 Get spooked

It's Friday, Friday. Gotta get down on Friday.

Today's weather: High in the low 80s. Storms should clear out by Sunday evening.

🎧 Sounds like: "Chiquilla, Chiquilla" by La Gran Banda, a Qué Pasa Fest headliner. More things to do this weekend.

🗳️ Situational awareness: Monday is Louisiana's deadline to register in-person to vote in the upcoming presidential election. Our voter guide.

Today's newsletter is 745 words — a 3-minute read.

If you're asking us, New Orleans is the best place to celebrate Halloween. We've got spooky stories galore, and we might be the best place in the country (maybe even the world) for costumes.

• Here are our favorite ways to celebrate.

👻 Get spooked at a haunted house, like The Mortuary or New Orleans Nightmare.

🎃 Find a perfect pumpkin. There are plenty of locally owned spots to pick up a pumpkin for painting, carving or just hanging out on your porch.

🦁 Be a party animal at Boo at the Zoo, Ghosts in the Oaks and Boo Carré, which all have family-friendly fun.

☠️ Snap a selfie at the Skeleton House.

🍬 Go trick-or-treating. If going door-to-door isn't your jam, try trunk-or-treating in Lafreniere Park.

🐩 Show off your perfect pooch at Dat Dog's Howl-o-weenie dog costume contest.

🎉 Head to Krewe of Boo. The Halloween parade rolls at 6:30pm on Oct. 19.

• We're riding this year, so start making your signs for Axios swag.

🧛 Hear a spooky story on a ghost tour.

🍻 Leave the kids at home and find a party. Check out City Park's Brews and Boos, the Rocky Horror Striptease Show at the AllWays Lounge, GrrlSpot's Halloween party, or the WYES fundraiser that honors Morgus the Magnificent.

Share with your ghostly friends

👋 Chelsea here. Mahony's Po-Boys has reopened on Magazine Street under Robért LeBlanc, the restaurateur behind local favorites like The Chloe and Sylvain, and his team has brought some new energy to the casual Uptown neighborhood standard.

Why it matters: The poboy shop has been around since 2008.

Dig in: During a Wednesday night preview, Tristan Ferchl, who's now running the bar, told me the new team's goal is just to dress things up a little.

• Take, for example, the R&R, one of two cocktails he designed to become mainstays at Mahony's bar. With its mix of rye whiskey and root beer, and a dash of Angostura bitters and grenadine, it's a clever nod to the classic New Orleans pairing of a poboy and Barq's.

The new food menu is focused more tightly on poboys than its predecessor, though I'd go back for the vegetarian mushroom boudin balls I sampled this week.

• As for those poboys, Mahony's still has the usual staples like fried seafood and cold cuts, but new options include a White Castle-styled version with diced onions and American cheese, and crispy chicken thighs and Buffalo pimento cheese.

See the new menu

🧠 Dillard and UNO alumnus Jericho Brown won a MacArthur "genius grant." (Axios Atlanta)

🪧 Striking dockworkers say they'll return to work after reaching a tentative deal with the United States Maritime Alliance. (Axios)

💐 Richard Simmons' public memorial at the St. Louis Cathedral is tomorrow. Doors open at 10am for Mass at 11am. A "Sweatin' to the Oldies" workout will follow, with a second-line to close the event. (Obituary and details)

🧑‍🍳 Chef Gordon Ramsay is in town filming for a new season of "Kitchen Nightmares," but he's having some dreamy meals, too. We've spotted him in social media posts at L'il Dizzy's, Brennan's, Acamaya and Morrow Steak.

🚲 Hurricane Francine took out at least 80 Blue Bikes as the program's number of operational bikes dwindles. City officials hope the fleet grows soon. (WWNO)

Kaitlyn Joshua, a Baton Rouge woman, was named one of Glamour magazine's Women of the Year for her abortion activism. (Glamour)

Instagram Teen Accounts have automatic protections for who can contact teens and the content they can see. Plus, only parents can approve safety setting changes for teens under 16.

What this means: Built-in protections for teens, and peace of mind for parents.

Learn more.

LSU has the first of two bye weeks this season, but we've got the rest of this weekend's matchups.

🌊 The Tulane University Green Wave is in Birmingham to play UAB. Kickoff is at noon tomorrow.

• Watch on ESPN+.

🐆 The Southern Jaguars host Nicholls State in Baton Rouge at 6pm tomorrow.

• Stream the game.

⚜️ The New Orleans Saints travel to Arrowhead Stadium to play the Kansas City Chiefs. Kickoff is at 7:15pm Monday.

• Watch on ESPN, or WDSU in New Orleans.
• And yeah, Taylor Swift is expected to be there. Go deeper.

Nearly half of Louisianans reported feeling lonely in the latest vibe check from the U.S. Census Bureau.

Why it matters: Feelings of isolation and loneliness are a real public health threat — so much so that Surgeon General Vivek Murthy last year issued an advisory on the matter.

Driving the news: In the newest Household Pulse Survey, 40.8% of Louisiana's adults said they experienced feelings of loneliness at least sometimes.

• The national average is 40.3%.

Go deeper to see what may be contributing

Instagram is launching Teen Accounts, with built-in protections limiting who can contact teens and the content they can see. Plus, only parents can approve safety setting changes for teens under 16.

The impact: More protections for teens, and peace of mind for parents.

Learn more.

👻 Carlie is working on her costume for Krewe of Boo and crossing her fingers for good weather.

☠️ Chelsea should probably admit that she just can't keep a fiddle leaf fig tree alive.

Tell a genius to subscribe.

Thanks to our editor Jen Ashley, whose own genius grant must have gotten lost in the mail.