BORDEN SLICED, SHREDDED, OR CHUNK CHEESE 8-12 OZ
$1
79
NABISCO TRISCUITS OR WHEAT THINS 7-13 OZ
$2
EA
99
ZAPP’S POTATO CHIPS 8 OZ
EA
81% LEAN GROUND CHUCK
METAIRIE 504-885-5565 | RIVER RIDGE 504-737-8146 GARDEN DISTRICT 504-262-6017 | CHALMETTE 504-262-0750 BELLE CHASSE 504-393-1012
$399
PRICES VALID 2/26/25 - 3/2/25
$199
EA
SEEDLESS WHITE GRAPES
$229
LB
LB
TODAY’S PARADES maps, 2B
ALLA BULLETIN INSIDE TODAY
WEST BANK: Nandi, 6 p.m. l UPTOWN: Druids, 6:15 p.m. l Alla, 7 p.m.
N O L A.C O M
|
W e d n e s d ay, F e b r u a ry 26, 2025
$2.00X
Budget bill stakes high for the state La. has one of highest per-capita percentages of residents on Medicaid BY MARK BALLARD Staff writer
WOMEN AT WORK The Mystic Krewe of Femme Fatale parades Tuesday on the Uptown route in New Orleans to the theme ‘I’m Every Woman.’ Founded in 2013, the parade is composed of female riders that toss collectible hand-decorated compact mirrors that are meant to symbolize ‘a constant inward and outward reflection.’
CARNIVAL
2025
INSIDE, 1B NOLA.COM
WASHINGTON — As Republicans look to cut more than a trillion dollars out of the federal budget, some state leaders and health care officials worry that steep cuts to Medicaid could be on the table, which could blow a hole in the state budget and cause deep cuts in services to the 1.6 million Louisiana residents on the program. “The Medicaid cuts that are being discussed by think tanks and in Washington, without a doubt, would harm our ability to provide lifesaving care for Medicaid patients across Louisiana,” said Ryan Cross, vice president for government affairs at the Franciscan Missionaries of Our Lady Health System, which operates seven regional medical centers and urgent care centers scattered throughout Louisiana.
ä See BUDGET, page 5A
Jail mental health wing halfway complete Expansion will require more staff, sheriff says
STAFF PHOTOS By BRETT DUKE
BY JOSEPH CRANNEY Staff writer
Family members plead for inmate’s life body. For the most part he’s really the same guy, putting all his ducks in a row,” Smith said. “It’s basically making sure everybody else can handle what’s going on.” That image of calm belies a frenzy among Hoffman’s family and lawyers this week as they seek to stop the scheduled execution in federal court, while urging Landry to take a new look at Hoffman and his crime.
After years of legal battles, construction of a controversial 89-bed mental health wing at the Orleans Parish jail, with the site’s yellow construction booms visible from the interstate, is about halfway complete. Despite minor building delays, the facility is scheduled to open in July 2026. Hutson However, court papers filed by Sheriff Susan Hutson last week suggest that the project may have yet another uphill climb. The court action comes amid a competitive sheriff’s race as Hutson faces reelection.
ä See EXECUTION, page 4A
ä See JAIL, page 6A
Execution date nears for Hoffman
the Louisiana State Penitentiary at Angola where he can be watched full-time until he’s scheduled to be put to death March 18, said his son, Jessie BY JOHN SIMERMAN Smith. Staff writer A judge in St. Tammany ParJessie Hoffman’s demeanor ish set the date for Hoffman, hasn’t much changed since the 46, who is slated to become state numbered his days, say the first death row prisoner to be executed in Louisiana since relatives. Hoffman, who has spent well 2010, and the first using nitroover half his life on death row gen gas under legislation Gov. in Louisiana, was moved last Jeff Landry signed last year. week to an isolated area within Hoffman was convicted and
WEATHER HIGH 73 LOW 57 PAGE 8B
sentenced to die for the murder of a woman he kidnapped and raped on the night before Thanksgiving in 1996 before he killed her on a dock in remote St. Tammany Parish. He was 18 then. Now 46, Hoffman is “still the same, calm person” he’s become in prison, despite the specter that hangs over him, said Smith, who wasn’t yet born when the murder happened. “Knowing the day he’s going to die is no easy task for any-
Business ......................8A Commentary ................7B Nation-World ................2A Classified .....................9D Deaths .........................4B Opinion ........................6B Comics-Puzzles .....5D-8D Living............................1D Sports ..........................1C
12TH yEAR, NO. 198