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S u n d ay, F e b r u a ry 9, 2025
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USAID cuts may hit La. rice farmers Impact of changes remains unclear
BY STEPHEN MARCANTEL | Staff writer In all his years attending agriculture conferences and meetings, Michael Fruge said he’s never heard the U.S. Agency for International Development discussed. But that is not for its lack of importance to the industry. “They talk about Mexico because it changes,” said Fruge, a second-generation farmer and owner of Parish Rice in Eunice. “They talk about India because they put export bans on long-grain rice. But food aid has just been there. It just hasn’t been talked about because it’s just there.” President Donald Trump’s effort to dismantle USAID, which has been providing food aid since 1968, has changed that. Earlier this month, Trump and billionaire ally Elon Musk laid off thousands of USAID employees and shut down programs around the world as part of a sweeping freeze on foreign assistance. On Friday, a federal judge, in response to a last-minute lawsuit filed by two unions, issued a restraining order, temporarily blocking the administration’s plans to slash USAID’s 10,000-strong workforce to fewer than 300 people. However, the agency’s international aid programs, which provide billions of dollars to U.S. farms, are still on hold, and that could have consequences for Louisiana farmers. The state’s rice farmers, in particular, play a significant role in producing food for such aid programs as Food for Peace and McGovern-Dole International Food for Education and Child Nutrition. From ports in Houston and New Orleans, Louisiana-grown rice is shipped across the globe to places like Haiti, Iraq and Ukraine. USAID is one of the top 10 purchasers of rice in the nation, said USA Rice Federation’s Michael Klein. In 2024, the agency purchased more than $126 million worth of U.S.-produced
STAFF PHOTOS By LESLIE WESTBROOK
Edna Nixon talks about the burial of her late husband Joseph Oleghe at Serenity Memorial Gardens cemetery in Scott on Wednesday.
A grave situation Kevin Menard’s Lafayette cemetery voted down by parish
BY MEGAN WYATT | Staff writer After Edna Nixon’s husband died of heart failure in June, she struggled to pay for a proper funeral and burial. The funeral director suggested a burial option at a new cemetery that would be about $2,000 cheaper than the established cemetery she had in mind. Joseph Oleghe would be the first person to be buried at Serenity Gardens Cemetery. Now, about seven months later, there are just five gravesites at the rear of the wooded pasture between Willow Street and Interstate 10 near Scott. The property, with its gravel road and muddy field, looks more like a construction site than a cemetery. Nixon visits several times each week, often spending hours at a time at her husband’s resting place. It was during one of those visits she learned
to stop work, he continued burials. Menard’s plan for the property was denied by the Lafayette Parish Planning Commission in November, and the Lafayette Parish Council upheld that decision this week. Menard can appeal to the 15th Judicial District Court, which he said he intends to do. “I feel some type of way,” Nixon said. “I would rather just move my husband.” Menard told the Parish Council on An informational sign is seen at Tuesday that he obtained the necesSerenity Memorial Gardens cemetery sary permit from the state to start a cemetery and was unaware of local on Wednesday. guidelines. of problems plaguing the cemetery. Neil Leboeuf, development manKevin Menard, a Grammy Award- ager of Lafayette Consolidated Govwinning musician who played with ernment’s Community Development Buckwheat Zydeco, didn’t get the lo- & Planning Department, said Mencal permits required to do work on ard did not obtain the required local the property. And even upon learning ä See CEMETERY, page 6A what was required and being ordered
ä See USAID, page 6A
New Orleans is ready for some football
LIX PREVIEW SUPER BOWL
H
EAGLES VS. CHIEFS 5:30 P.M. • FOX
UARy 9, 2025 S U N DAy, F E B R
After all the hoopla, parties and preparation, Super Bowl LIX is finally here
Keith Spera
ä Super Bowl LIX special section. ä Rod Walker’s A-Z guide to
New Orleans’ pre-Super Bowl scramble was like a last-minute, citywide house cleaning before company arrives. The disruption of January’s once-in-acentury snowstorm didn’t help. As hosts, we can only hope that our guests have so much fun that they don’t notice STAFF ILLUSTRATION By TANyA RAMIREZ
Are you ready for some football? At approximately 5:30 p.m. Sunday, either a Kansas City Chief or a Philadelphia Eagle will kick off Super Bowl LIX in the Caesars Superdome. The 11th Super Bowl hosted by New Orleans is finally at hand after years of planning and months of feverishly fixing up the French Quarter and downtown.
INSIDE
ä See FOOTBALL, page 4A PHIL ADELPHIA EA
WEATHER HIGH 82 LOW 65 PAGE 6B
GLES VS. K ANSAS
Eagles take aim at Chiefs’
CI T y CHIEF S • 5:3
0 P. M . S U N D Ay •
returns legendary run as big game
FOX
to New Orleans
Business ......................1E Deaths .........................3B Nation-World ................2A Classified .....................2B Living............................1D Opinion ........................4B Commentary ................5B Metro ...........................1B Sports ..........................1C
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