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T u e s d ay, F e b r u a ry 18, 2025
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Trump begins firing FAA employees Move comes just weeks after fatal D.C. plane crash
Associated Press
ä Delta jet overturns at Toronto airport. PAGE 2A
WASHINGTON — The Trump administration has begun firing several hundred Federal Aviation Administration employees, upending staff on a busy air travel weekend and just weeks after a January fatal midair collision at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport. Probationary workers were targeted in late night emails Friday notifying them they had been fired, David Spero, president of the Professional Aviation Safety Specialists union, said in a statement. The impacted workers include personnel hired for FAA radar,
landing and navigational aid maintenance, one air traffic controller told The Associated Press. The air traffic controller was not authorized to talk to the media and spoke on condition of anonymity. The National Air Traffic Controllers Association said in a brief statement Monday it was “analyzing the effect of the reported federal employee terminations on aviation safety, the national airspace system and our members.” Other FAA employees who were fired were working on an urgent
BY TARA COPP
and classified early warning radar system the Air Force had announced in 2023 for Hawaii to detect incoming cruise missiles, through a program that was in part funded by the Department of Defense. It’s one of several programs that the FAA’s National Defense Program manages that involve radars providing longer-range detection around the country’s borders. Due to the nature of their work, staff in that office typically provide an extensive knowledge transfer before retiring to make sure no institutional knowledge is lost, said Charles Spitzer-Stadt-
ASSOCIATED PRESS PHOTO By JOSE LUIS MAGANA
An American Airlines jet takes off from Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport on Feb. 6 as salvage crews work on recovering wreckage from a deadly midair collision on Jan. 29. ä See FAA, page 5A
ON THE BENCH
Possible campaign violations probed State Senate race won by Myers BY CLAIRE TAYLOR
Staff writer
An investigation is underway into possible campaign violations leading into the Saturday state Senate election in Lafayette Parish. State Rep. Brach Myers, who defeated Broussard City Council member Jesse Regan for the District 23 seat, said Sunday he spoke with investigators with the Lafayette Parish Sheriff’s Office Myers about three weeks ago regarding potential state and federal campaign laws being broken. Myers said there is an open investigation. His complaint is that someone set up one or more fake organizations, one example being Lady Democrats of Lafayette, and sent campaign paraphernalia to registered Republican voters saying the Lady Democrats had endorsed Myers. Myers said polls before the fake endorsement showed him well ahead of Regan. His lead shrank, he said, after the false endorsement. Complete but unofficial results from the election show Myers defeated Regan, both Republicans,
ABOVE: Newly sworn-in Judge Roya Boustany speaks to children from Cathedral-Carmel School after her investiture ceremony at Lafayette City Court on Monday. Boustany was elected to fill the seat previously held by the late Judge Jules Edwards III. RIGHT: Boustany takes the oath of office while her husband, Alfred, holds the Bible during Monday’s swearing-in. STAFF PHOTOS By BRAD KEMP
ä See CAMPAIGN, page 4A
Lawsuit challenges wording of ballot language for amendment Landry’s tax changes require revising state constitution
one more step: A March 29 vote of the people to approve revising the state constitution. But a law firm went to court in Baton Rouge on Monday to keep that question off the ballot, saying the wording is illegally slanted BY TYLER BRIDGES in favor of the proposition and Staff writer misrepresents what the proposed Gov. Jeff Landry and Louisiana changes would do. The lawsuit notes that state law legislators overhauled the state’s tax system in November, but for requires ballot language to be the full plan to take effect requires “simple, unbiased, concise, and
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easily understood.” Amidst the lengthy ballot language for Amendment 2 next month, voters are told that voting for it would “provide a permanent teacher salary increase.” “But there is no salary increase,” the lawsuit says, “only the extension of an existing stipend that has been in place for several years. No teacher will be paid any more than they currently are due to this potential amendment, and some
teachers may be paid less.” Landry takes issue with the thinking behind the lawsuit. “This lawsuit attempts to deny citizens their right to vote to grant teachers a permanent pay raise, lower income taxes for seniors, reduce the maximum income tax rate, and limit the growth of state government,” he said in a statement. “Amendment 2 was thoroughly debated and passed by a bipartisan supermajority of both
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houses of the Legislature. I am confident that voters across Louisiana will see through this political charade and pass Amendment 2 overwhelmingly on March 29.” The lawsuit was filed by Most & Associates, a New Orleans firm. William Most declined to identify who is behind the lawsuit, which lists three citizens as filing it. They are the Rev. Willie Calhoun Jr., a
ä See LAWSUIT, page 4A
100TH yEAR, NO. 233