Embattled Public Service Commissioner Jay Blossman of St. Tammany Parish has pulled out of his re-election bid, saying he wants to spend more time with his family. Blossman, who was first elected to the PSC 12 years ago, faced a tough re-election fight on the heels of revelations that he used his office stationery to promote a business venture owned by the son of a friend and supporter. Even more recently, he was the subject of a report by WWL-TV’s Lee Zurik for accepting thousands of dollars in campaign contributions from Entergy employees — after promising not to accept any utility contributions during his first campaign in 1996.

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You can’t trust what you find on the Internets. For example, I don’t believe these pictures are from Eli Manning’s wedding reception. But I enjoyed them anyway.

Samantha Brown visits New Orleans on tonight’s episode (Thursday, July 17) of Passport To Great Weekends airing at 9 pm CST on the Travel Channel. Check out this episode to see if very very perky Samantha Brown picks the right spots or ends up amongst the tourist wide eyed on Bourbon St. According to Brown’s press page the host may be spotted listening to jazz in the Faubourg Marigny, dancing and bowling at Rock ‘n’ Bowl, taking a back water bayou trip and helping rebuild homes. After you watch, post comments on what you think of the show here. Did anyone happen to spot Samantha Brown filming in NOLA?

Katy Reckdahl’s account in today’s T-P of a harrowing incident involving an unidentified, irate New Orleans policewoman brandishing a gun and hurling vulgarities outside a Treme daycare center — sending kids and parents scurrying for cover — is yet another example of how out-of-whack NOPD is these days. Read the story to get all the details, which Katy (a former Gambit Weekly writer) does a fabulous job of gathering and reporting. Hopefully, the story’s front-page treatment will put some pressure on NOPD brass to identify and discipline the offending officers — both the gun-waving  woman and the male investigating officer who swept the incident under the rug. The incident also provides further proof of why NOPD needs a civilian monitor. (See, Gambit commentaries here, here and here, just to name a few.)