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W e d n e s d ay, F e b r u a ry 12, 2025
“I am excited to join the New Orleans Saints and deeply appreciate the faith that Mrs. (Gayle) Benson and the entire Saints organization have placed in me.” KELLEN MOORE, newly hired Saints head coach
Saints hire Moore Philadelphia offensive coordinator considered one of NFL’s brightest young offensive minds
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High court to rule on La. congressional districts March 24 hearing to address majority-Black districts
BY MARK BALLARD Staff writer
New Orleans was the last of seven teams to fill a head coaching vacancy this offseason. The process dragged on for 99 days, as several candidates either accepted another job or withdrew their name from consideration, but within the last few weeks, the Saints zeroed in on Moore as their primary target. “At the start of the interview process, it was important to find a head coach who was the right fit for the New Orleans Saints organization,”
WASHINGTON – The U.S. Supreme Court scheduled a March 24 hearing to determine whether Louisiana will have one or two majority-Black congressional districts. The high court is being asked to sort out two competing lines of legal thought about how to account for race and politics when state legislatures adjust voting district lines every 10 years to better match population shifts. Two different federal courts — one in Baton Rouge and one based in Monroe — came to conflicting conclusions when interpreting the standards legislators used to draw the districts. Louisiana has six representatives in the U.S. House. “If there’s a problem, then the problem is with the jurisprudence on this sub“If there’s a ject, and the United States problem, then Supreme Court will be in a position to fix it,” state Atthe problem torney General Liz Murrill is with the said Tuesday. jurisprudence In 2022, the Legislature approved a map with five on this subject, majority-White districts and and the United one majority-Black district, States Supreme as the state had for years. Court will be But the U.S. Census showed in a position to the state’s Black population fix it.” now accounts for roughly a third of the state’s 4.6 million LIZ MURRILL, residents. La. attorney general Several groups of Black voters legally challenged the Legislature’s first map. They argued that the census numbers indicated two of the congressional districts needed to be composed in such a way that Black candidates have chance of succeeding in a state with a history of Whites not voting for Black congressional candidates. The federal court in Baton Rouge found that the 2022 map had violated the dictates of Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act of 1965, which requires minorities to have an equal say in elections, and ordered the state back to the drawing board. In one of his first acts after being sworn in as
ä See MOORE, page 6A
ä See COURT, page 7A
STAFF PHOTO By DAVID GRUNFELD
Philadelphia Eagles offensive coordinator Kellen Moore smiles before the start of Super Bowl LIX on Sunday. BY LUKE JOHNSON and MATTHEW PARAS Staff writers
When the New Orleans Saints last changed the trajectory of their franchise, they tabbed a young offensive mind with NFC East roots to lead them out of the cellar. Perhaps they’re trying to rekindle the spark of the Sean Payton era: The Saints officially named Kellen Moore their 12th head coach in franchise history. “I am excited to join the New Or-
leans Saints and deeply appreciate the faith that Mrs. (Gayle) Benson and the entire Saints organization have placed in me,” Moore said in a statement. “I look forward to embracing the challenges ahead and am eager to get started. I would also like to thank the Philadelphia Eagles for an incredible 2024 season. I’m excited to begin this new chapter.” This marks the end of a monthslong search that began when the Saints fired former head coach Dennis Allen on Nov. 4 after the team’s seventh consecutive loss.
Government efficiency task force temporarily pauses meetings Questions raised about panel’s secret sessions BY TYLER BRIDGES
ing will temporarily suspend its work because of questions about whether the group must hold its A task force that had begun sessions in public. Steve Orlando, a business owner meeting secretly to eliminate wasteful state government spend- who chairs the Fiscal Responsibil-
Staff writer
WEATHER HIGH 78 LOW 63 PAGE 6B
ity Program, cited news reports for his decision, writing to legislative leaders on Monday that “the media has attempted to complicate our process by framing our informal meetings under public meetings laws.” Orlando’s letter comes a week
after The Times-Picayune | The Advocate first reported that the group had been meeting privately. In a second news story last week, the newspaper quoted Gov. Jeff Landry saying the group would keep meeting privately even though experts in this area
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of state law said the task force is clearly subject to public meetings requirements. Landry created the commission in December through an executive order.
ä See MEETINGS, page 6A
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