TODAY’S PARADES map, 2B WEST BANK: Music, 6 p.m.
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N O L A.C O M
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M o n d ay, F e b r u a ry 24, 2025
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Inmate dies ahead of scheduled execution Christopher Sepulvado was convicted of 1992 murder
BY JOHN SIMERMAN and MEGHAN FRIEDMANN Staff writers
STAFF PHOTO By CHRIS GRANGER
New Isle resident Wallace ‘Johnny’ Tamplet, 70, stands on his front porch on Tuesday. His neighborhood is the first-of-its-kind government effort to help people move to higher ground from Louisiana’s disappearing coastline.
Relocation anxieties New homes come with costs residents can’t afford
BY ALEX LUBBEN | Staff writer NEW ISLE — Just over two years ago, Wallace “Johnny” Tamplet moved into his new house with help from the government to escape the vanishing, flood-prone island where he’d lived for years. Already, the 70-year-old retired carpenter worries he won’t be able to afford to stay. “I’m getting ready to sell my truck so I can go down and get whole on my taxes and get everything up to date,” he said from his home in the newly built subdivision of New Isle, roughly 40 miles farther inland. “The first of next year, I have no idea what I’m going to do.” Tamplet’s relocation from Isle de Jean Charles in lower Terrebonne Parish was part of a first-of-its-kind government effort to help dozens of families move to higher ground from Louisiana’s disappearing coastline. Many of those families are members of the state-recognized Jean Charles Choctaw Nation. The state hoped it would serve as a model for future
they’re not sure they can afford, raising serious ques24 tions over the program’s 1 Lake New Orleans long-term viability. Raceland Salvador MAP 90 State officials who have AREA Lockport overseen the voluntary proGulf of Mexico 182 gram say they are sympaHouma thetic, but there are limits to “New Isle” Larose what they can do. They point resettlement Cut Off out that the homes were Existing location Montegut provided free of charge and levee 665 homeowners’ insurance is Chauvin Theriot 57 fully covered for five years. 55 Golden 5 miles They are hoping to hand Dulac Island Rd. Meadow 315 the project over to a sepa56 rate semi-governmental 1 agency that could help adMorganzaIsle de dress some of the concerns. Leeville to-the-Gulf Jean But the families will eventulevee Cocodrie Charles ally have to make it on their own, they say. Terrebonne Bay It may be a struggle due to Staff map their unique circumstances, and Tamplet is emblematic of the problem. By 2026, when most New Isle residents will begin After contracting pneumopaying their own homeowners’ insurance, the state nia in late 2023, which led to Office of Community Development estimates that the cascading health issues, he couldn’t afford his tax bill. average policy there will be $4,078. Wallace ‘Johnny’ His home was offered in a Tamplet’s is estimated to be around $4,500. tax sale, and a Nebraskabased company bought a lien on the property last June. If he can’t pay off the debt relocation efforts, expected and sea levels rise. But resito become increasingly nec- dents are finding that their essary as storms intensify new homes come with costs ä See RELOCATION, page 4A Thibodaux
Baton Rouge
Pope Francis in critical condition with early kidney failure BY NICOLE WINFIELD Associated Press
ROME — Pope Francis remains in critical condition and blood tests showed early kidney failure but he remains alert, responsive and attended Mass, the Vatican said, as the 88-year-old pontiff battles pneumonia and a complex lung infection. In a late update, the Vatican said Francis hadn’t had any more respiratory crises since Saturday night but was still receiving high flows of supplemental oxygen.
WEATHER HIGH 64 LOW 50 PAGE 6B
Some blood tests showed “initial, mild, kidney failure,” but doctors said it was under control. “The complexity of the clinical picture, and the necessary wait for drug therapies to provide some feedback, dictate that the prognosis remains guarded,” Francis’ doctors concluded. Prayers for Francis, meanwhile, poured in from around the world, from his native Argentina to the seat of Sunni Islam in Cairo to schoolchildren in Rome.
ä See POPE, page 7A
Pope Francis remains in critical condition and blood tests showed early kidney failure but he remains alert, responsive and attended Mass, the Vatican said, as the 88-year-old pontiff battles pneumonia and a complex lung infection. ASSOCIATED PRESS FILE PHOTO
Classified .....................7D Deaths .........................3B Nation-World ................2A Comics-Puzzles .....3D-6D Living............................1D Opinion ........................4B Commentary ................5B Metro ...........................1B Sports ..........................1C
Christopher Sepulvado, the 81-yearold death row prisoner who was scheduled to be executed on March 17 as Louisiana is set to resume executions after 15 years, is dead. Sepulvado died overnight at the Louisiana State Penitentiary at Angola, according to both his attorneys and state officials. He’d remained on death row for more than 30 years. His attorneys said doctors had recommended Sepulvado for hospice care days before DeSoto Parish District Attorney Charles Adams secured a judge’s signature this month on an execution warrant. Sepulvado was the oldest of the 57 people on death row in Louisiana. He was convicted in the 1992 murder of his 6-year-old stepson, Wesley Allen Mercer. In a statement, his attorneys described a steep decline in Sepulvado’s health and cognition, from COPD to
ä See INMATE, page 7A
Louisiana considers changes to civil service
Senator seeks improved government efficiency BY ALYSE PFEIL | Staff writer After Gov. Jeff Landry earlier this month attempted to remove civil service protections for hundreds of engineers and attorneys across state government, a broader effort to give Louisiana elected officials greater control over more than 35,000 workers in the civil service system could be underway. Some argue a system that was originally designed to reward competency and merit over political connections is falling woefully short, instead keeping employees in their jobs regardless of their performance. “We do not have a meritocracy, which is critical for providing a high level of service in an efficient and effective way,” said Sen. Jay Morris, RWest Monroe. “Civil servants work for the people of the state, and the people deserve a more efficient government.” Morris said he will likely bring back legislation that is similar to a proposal he championed last year to
ä See CHANGES, page 6A
12TH yEAR, NO. 196