The Saints' Jonathan Vilma tackles a Kansas City Chiefs' player

Saints players are expected to appeal NFL commissioner Roger Goodell’s suspensions in New York today, arguing that a year’s loss of salary is an unjust punishment.

Star linebacker Jonathan Vilma and defensive end Will Smith, along with former teammates Scott Fujita and Anthony Hargrove, will argue the bounty system the league accused New Orleans of using from 2009 to 2011 is a matter of money; that is, the payments were a violation of the collective bargaining agreement, and thus disciplinary action should fall under an arbitrator’s bailiwick, not Goodell’s.

Presumably, that would mean much less draconian discipline than that meted out by Goodell, who suspended Vilma for a season, Hargrove for eight games, and Smith and Fujita for four games. Many believe that Goodell hit the Saints organization so hard because of the growing mountain of lawsuits against the NFL from former players claiming that the league did little to protect them from life-threatening injuries over their careers. Observers say the punitive actions are a defense mechanism for the NFL in any future trials.

The hearing will be mediated by arbitrator Shyam Das, who made headlines this week when he was sacked from a similar role with Major League Baseball after he ruled in favor of Milwaukee Brewers outfielder Ryan Braun in an appeal of a positive drug test, a possible indication the appeal will go well for the Saints.

Supporters march downtown for National Tourism and Travel Week

New Orleans’ tourism industry – those that work in pretty much everything from restaurants and hotels to travel agencies – are joining together this week to support the city’s economic engine – tourism – which generates $5 billion in economic impact annually and welcomed 8.75 million visitors in 2011. The parade and rally unite members of the New Orleans City Council, hospitality industry leaders, front-line workers and supporters of one of the city’s most prosperous industries. New Orleans is one of several cities across the country organizing a travel event in support of National Travel and Tourism Week.

Travel and tourism is one of America’s largest industries, directly generating $124 billion in tax revenue for local, state and federal governments. One out of every nine jobs in the U.S. depends on travel or tourism.

The Mardi Gras-style parade features marching bands, mini-floats, Mardi Gras Indians, stilt walkers and more. Beginning at the Hotel Monteleone, the parade travels down Royal Street, turning on Toulouse Street then Chartres Street and ending at the Cabildo in Jackson Square for a press conference, where industry leaders discuss the power of travel and the major importance it has to the city.

As Jazz Fest visitors leave New Orleans to return to the daily grind, more than 40,000 visitors are headed into the city Tuesday for the International CTIA Wireless Convention at the Morial Convention Center. Over 1,000 exhibitors are expected to present their products and solutions.

The convention’s director, Rob Mesirow, said that the event is the largest show in North America for the wireless industry, representing 126 different countries.

The New Orleans Convention and Visitors Bureau said attendees are spread out at 57 hotels in the city; that’s almost every hotel in the CBD, Warehouse District, French Quarter and Uptown. “CTIA is the world’s most prominent technology convention and it’s important to New Orleans because it’s the largest convention that the city has ever hosted,” CVB Vice President Kelly Shultz said.

The international non-profit member organization has been in New Orleans a few times prior to 2005, when the show director said CTIA outgrew the city. But as CTIA has grown, so too has post-Katrina New Orleans.

“The technology now, because of the upgrades in this facility, makes it one of the most fiber-rich convention centers that we go to and we go to all the big ones,” Mesirow said.

The CVB’s Schultz stresses this is an important time for the city as more than 1,000 journalists are in town and will be tweeting and blogging about their experience in New Orleans. She’s hoping CTIA organizers will want to return after this year.

Tulane’s plans to rebuild an on-campus football stadium hit a major snag Saturday as City Council officials passed an ordinance requiring colleges to present to the City Planning Commission prior to breaking ground on any new large-scale projects.

The ordinance passed 4-2, with Councilman Jon Johnson and Councilwoman Cynthia Hedge-Morrell in opposition. Supporters of the ordinance believe that the rule is designed to give the community more time to evaluate the impact of major construction.

The ordinance prohibits “the construction or expansion to existing structures of any building or facility within college and university campuses that will result in a building or facility in excess of 250,000 square feet of gross floor area,” wording that, while intentionally vague, is intended to single out Tulane’s stadium plans.

A coalition of Tulane, Loyola, and Xavier officials strongly oppose the motion, saying that is an unfair and discriminatory reaction to neighborhood organizations that wield outsized influence.

A Florida man is charged with felony drunken driving and wildlife violations after police discovered a small monkey in his truck.

Largo Police say Eugene Carl Kotelman was speeding when they stopped him Thursday. He was driving on a suspended license and had been previously charged numerous times with driving on a suspended license and DUI.

Officers noticed a “small monkey” in Kotelman’s truck and released the primate to his friend.

After Kotelman was released on bond from the DUI charge, Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission officers charged him with possession of wildlife and two counts of violating fish and wildlife rules. They took custody of the monkey.

For the first time in five years, Cinco de Mayo falls on a weekend. That’s why DUI checkpoints and police patrols are increasing nationwide and task forces are setting up Friday night or even earlier.

Other methods will also be used in certain cities where stationary checkpoints are impractical or not allowed. In San Francisco, for example, police will hop on motorcycles for mobile Cinco de Mayo DUI patrols around the city, the online SFAppeal reports.

“We can ride right up to the driver’s window and check for any signs of alcohol or drug impairment,” a San Francisco traffic cop told SFAppeal. “There are a lot of motorcycles on the road, and you would be amazed at how many people do not notice us until they hear the sirens.”

DUI checkpoints reduce drunken-driving crashes by about 20%, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Most DUI checkpoints – Cinco de Mayo checkpoints included – are conducted at night. That makes sense, as the rate of drunken-driving fatalities is about four times higher at night than during the day, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. Further, more than 30% of fatal crashes on weekends involve drunken drivers.

A California man has sued BMW North America and a motorcycle-seat maker after a four-hour round-trip ride on his 1993 BMW bike with a “ridge-like” seat apparently gave him “a severe case of priapism (a persistent, lasting erection)” that’s lasted 20 months and counting.

The product liability lawsuit is against BMW and aftermarket seatmaker Corbin-Pacific. Henry Wolf and his lawyer Vernon Bradley filed suit in California Superior Court last Thursday.

The Wolf v. BMW lawsuit alleges that Wolf has continued to suffer the erection problem since the September 2010 ride — and, as we know from Viagra ads, anything past four hours is a problem. The lawsuit for emotional distress says Wolf is “now is unable to engage in sexual activity, which is causing him substantial emotional and mental anguish.”

According to the lawsuit, Wolf wants compensation from BMW and Corbin for lost wages, medical expenses, emotional distress and “general damage.”

Terrance "Trombone Shorty" Osborne graces the 2012 Jazz Fest poster

In its humble beginnings, the festival featured only a handful of acts and drew only about 350 people to Congo Square. Now, more than 40 years later, a gigantic crowd packs the Fair Grounds Race Course. In recent years, the festival has drawn nearly 400,000 visitors over the course of the two weekends.

Proceeds from the festival benefit the nonprofit New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Foundation, which works to fulfill the festival’s grass-roots mission to stimulate the music culture in Louisiana and reinvest in the community with music education programs, said Don Marshall, the foundation’s director. The festival’s growth has allowed the foundation to provide $500,000 in grants each year to other nonprofit organizations supporting the arts, as well as to writers, artists, photographers, filmmakers and education programs.

“I haven’t seen another model like this anywhere,” Marshall said. “This festival has grown to the point where we’re able to generate revenue that allows us to establish free music education programs, housing initiatives and lecture series. One of the best things we do is the grant program.”

The foundation is also set to begin in November renovating a 12,500-square-foot funeral home purchased four years ago and turn it into a music school. The building, located in the city’s historic Treme neighborhood, is in the same block as the foundation’s headquarters.

When the $8.5 million renovation is complete, it will be home to the Heritage School of Music, which is currently housed at Dillard University. The school, including seven classrooms and a 200-seat performance hall, is expected to open at its new location in the fall of 2013, Marshall said.

“At no time did any of our players ever cross the white line to intentionally hurt another player,” Vitt told reporters Tuesday during a pre-draft news conference. Vitt, who has been suspended six games for his role in the program, added that he was passionate about “player safety and making this a better league for player safety … I’m serving a six-game suspension for the spoken word, not the clenched fist. I am on board with NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell.”

Coach Sean Payton is receiving a season-long suspension without pay, an unprecedented penalty for a NFL team. General manager Mickey Loomis was banned eight games for his role in the program. The NFL also suspended former Saints defensive coordinator Gregg Williams indefinitely for his creation of the Saints bounty systems and the team was fined $500,000 and docked second-round draft picks this year and in 2013.

“I have not talked to Sean in a week and a half … It’s the longest I’ve gone not talking to Sean in 10 years,” Vitt said. “Sean’s my friend. Sean’s our leader here, and I can’t take Sean Payton’s place … There’s not a player, administrator or anybody in this building that doesn’t talk about Sean and ask about Sean on a daily basis.

“We’ve got to move forward. It is what it is right now, and there’s nothing we can do about it.”

New Orleans festivals are as strong as they’ve ever been, and their growth shows no signs of stopping. Take French Quarter Festival, for instance, which took place in mid-April. It started almost 30 years ago as a small festival for locals. But in recent years it has blossomed into a roughly $300 million moneymaker for the city. It brings in some 500,000 music fans each year, as does the upcoming New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Fest.

Jazz Fest spans two weekends, April 27-29 and May 3-6, at the Fair Grounds racing track, followed by New Orleans Cajun-Zydeco Festival in June, Essence Music Festival in July, Satchmo Summerfest in August and the Voodoo Music Experience in October. There are countless other festivals throughout south Louisiana packed between the months of April and October.

“We’re just experiencing good times,” said Troy “Trombone Shorty” Andrews, who worked on an album with Rebirth Brass Band that just won a Grammy, the first ever such accolade for a New Orleans-style brass band. “For New Orleans, the music is the heartbeat of everything,” Andrews said. “Now that we’re on the path to becoming stronger again, everything is just looking beautiful for us. It’s wonderful. I’m happy to be in New Orleans. I’m happy to be from here and be a New Orleans musician.” Both Trombone Shorty and Rebirth Brass Band are set to play at JazzFest.