LSU BASEBALL CRUISES TO 13-1 WIN OVER SOUTHERN 1C
ADVOCATE THE
T H E A D V O C AT E.C O M
|
BATON ROUGE, LOUISIANA
W e d n e s d ay, F e b r u a ry 19, 2025
$2.00X
BR wants to draw more residents downtown
Doctors push back against vaccine rollback Policy shift draws criticism from Cassidy, health officials
BY EMILY WOODRUFF
Staff writer
Getting more people to live downtown is a major focus of Plan Baton Rouge III. STAFF FILE PHOTO By MICHAEL JOHNSON
Plan Baton Rouge III focused on population, activities BY TIMOTHY BOONE
Business editor
Downtown Baton Rouge has been transformed by two master plans for the area, which led to more than $3 billion in new investments across the central business district over the past two decades and construction of landmarks such as the Shaw Center for the Arts, the Hilton Baton Rouge Capitol Center, Rhorer Plaza and the Downtown Greenway. Now, a third master plan has been launched that officials said will focus on attracting more residents from all income levels to downtown and bringing more activity to the
riverfront. “Downtown Baton Rouge should be a place to live, play and work,” said Marty Engquist, a co-chair of a steering committee that will oversee the planning process. “We want to bring people here, and we want to give them a reason to come downtown, and I think this plan will develop that.” A news conference was held Tuesday morning in the Shaw Center to announce that Sasaki, an international planning group, has been selected to lead Plan Baton Rouge III. The planning process, which started Monday, will take 10 to
STAFF PHOTO By JAVIER GALLEGOS
From left, Josh Brooks, landscape architect and planner with Sasaki; Chris Meyer, CEO of the Baton Rouge Area Foundation; and Patrick D. Gremillion, CPA, talk after the kickoff news ä See RESIDENTS, page 4A conference for Plan Baton Rouge III on Tuesday.
Days after Louisiana’s top health official ordered to an end to mass vaccination efforts and promotions in the state, Louisiana doctors, New Orleans health officials and U.S. Sen. Bill Cassidy, R-Baton Rouge, are defending immunizations as a necessary medical intervention and say the decision comes with serious risks. A group of nine medical organizations representing thousands of Louisiana doctors said in a statement Monday that vaccines “should not be politicized.” The head of the New Orleans Health Department, meanwhile, said the city would continue its own vaccine promotion and distribution efforts, despite the state’s decision to withdraw its support. “We are looking to alternative ways to find resources so that we can fill the gap left by the state not supporting mass vaccination events as they have in the past,” said Dr. Jennifer Avegno. And Cassidy, a gastroenterologist, said the policy “ignores the reality of people’s lives.” The comments come after Dr. Ralph Abraham, Louisiana’s surgeon general, warned state employees in a memo to refrain from recommending that people “receive any and all vaccines” and instead to provide data about the reduced health risks that result from being vaccinated. The memo emphasized personal choice and said “conversations
ä See VACCINE, page 5A
St. George mayoral candidate Morgan drops out of race Morgan’s name will still appear In January, Morgan told The well funded opponent, I Interim Mayor yates now running unopposed tremely can see the writing on the wall. I on the March 29 ballot because Advocate he was “disillusioned”
BY PATRICK SLOAN-TURNER
unopposed. “Today I’m announcing that I’m Staff writer dropping out of the race for the Jim Morgan, one of two candi- mayor of St. George and will susdates running to be the first elect- pend all my campaign activities,” ed mayor of St. George, dropped Jim Morgan said in a statement. out of the race Tuesday — meaning “After a couple of weeks trying to Dustin Yates is set to take office mount a campaign against an ex-
WEATHER HIGH 45 LOW 27 PAGE 8B
want to continue to be a voice for solutions for St. George.” Morgan abruptly withdrew after The Advocate asked his campaign about a 1997 guilty plea to a misdemeanor charge of soliciting a prostitute. The crime happened in 1996, when Morgan, now 62, was 34, according to court records.
the deadline to remove a name has passed, a spokesperson for the Louisiana Secretary of State’s Office said. An Army veteran, Morgan currently serves as a board commissioner of the St. George Fire Protection District and declared his candidacy last month.
by the salaries proposed for St. George officials, which generated significant controversy in the weeks leading up to their adoption at a City Council meeting Jan. 14. Yates issued a statement reacting to Morgan’s exit from the race.
Business ......................3B Commentary ................7B Nation-World ................2A Classified .....................7D Deaths .........................4B Opinion ........................6B Comics-Puzzles .....4D-6D Living............................1D Sports ..........................1C
SAVE THE DATE 03.28.25
JAG-A-THON JAGUARS STAND UNITED SOUTHERN UNIVERSITY ATHLETIC DEPARTMENT Gojagsports.com
ä See ST. GEORGE, page 4A
100TH yEAR, NO. 234