January 12, 2026

GNO, Inc. Sunday Night Highlight – Adulation & Inauguration 🥇🙌

Adulation: Louisiana Double-Platinum 🥇

Louisiana closed 2025 with a rare national distinction, earning Business Facilities’ “Platinum Deal of the Year” for the second consecutive year – becoming the first state in the USA to achieve back-to-back top honors.

This year’s Platinum award recognized Hyundai Steel’s nearly $6 billion ultra-low-carbon steel mill planned for Ascension Parish, named the nation’s most significant economic development project of 2025. The win follows Louisiana’s 2024 Platinum recognition for Meta’s AI data center, underscoring the growing scale and prominence of projects choosing the state.

The Hyundai Steel investment will anchor development at the RiverPlex MegaPark in Donaldsonville and is expected to generate more than 5,400 job opportunities across construction, operations, and supply chains. “This year, we are setting a new standard for the nation, and that starts with the unprecedented back-to-back Platinum Deal of the Year wins,” Governor Jeff Landry said. “Louisiana is a force in the industries that power America’s economy. Our workforce, our business climate, and our commitment to growth are giving companies every reason to invest here with confidence. Louisiana is rising to meet the moment, and the nation is taking notice.”

You can read more about Louisiana’s “double-platinum” here.

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Inauguration: Mayor Helena Moreno 🙌

Tomorrow is a big day for New Orleans, as the city prepares for a change in leadership with the inauguration of a new mayor and city council at 9:00 a.m. Helena Moreno will take the oath of office as the 63rd Mayor of New Orleans, along with several current and new city council members. The theme is “All in For New Orleans.”

More than two decades ago, Moreno chose New Orleans as her home, building a life here and serving first as a state representative and then for two terms as an at-large city councilmember. She’s known as an execution-focused leader with a track record of navigating complex issues and delivering results. This Friday, Mayor-Elect Moreno announced her 100-day priorities, including:

Infrastructure that will start with coordinated streetlight repairs, launching the Infrastructure Coordination Council, and rebuilding in-house capacity for street and sidewalk work. Public safety efforts will center on reorganizing emergency preparedness, preparing for Mardi Gras, strengthening coordination among criminal justice agencies, reviewing 911 operations, and assessing the Real Time Crime Center.
Health and Human Services priorities include expanding access to food and health care, improving maternal and child health services, strengthening youth supports, expanding homelessness outreach and response, and launching new community health planning processes in every council district.
Economic development initiatives over the first 100 days include a business concierge pilot, efforts to streamline permitting, targeted corridor improvement projects, small-business and entrepreneurship initiatives, a workforce strategy, and steps toward establishing a permanent city presence in New Orleans East.
Housing priorities include accelerating affordable housing projects, clearing long-blighted sites, improving the Housing Trust Fund process, strengthening enforcement—particularly for short-term rentals—and creating a cross-agency structure to coordinate housing strategy and resources.
The administration also plans to evaluate city-owned properties for return to commerce, launch a lighting safety plan in New Orleans East, and identify the location for a City Hall annex.

“The city of New Orleans embraced me, coming in as a young journalist,” Moreno said. “And I learned that this city – it will love you back if you love it.”