HAPPY MARDI GRAS! TODAY’S PARADES
NEW ROADS: Lions Club, 8:30 a.m. l Community Center, 8:30 a.m.
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BATON ROUGE, LOUISIANA
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T u e s d ay, M a r c h 4, 2025
COURIR DES ENFANTS
$2.00X
Bus worker strike begins Baton Rouge riders scramble amid delays
BY HALEY MILLER Staff writer
STAFF PHOTOS By LESLIE WESTBROOK
The chase is on as children attempt to catch the chicken during the Courir des Enfants in Breaux Bridge on Monday.
Children get a chance to participate in a Cajun tradition at the annual Courir des Enfants, a Mardi Gras chicken run for children, hosted by the Teche Center for the Arts in Breaux Bridge on Monday.
MARDI GRAS 2025
Maria Daniels walked nearly a mile as the sun rose Monday morning to catch a bus on a different route than normal and make it to her eye doctor’s appointment. Her experience was similar to many others on day one of a Baton Rouge bus worker strike, which took effect after Capital Area Transit System and its union failed to reach a new contract. “I hope they come to an agreement real quick, because a lot of people are affected by this,” Daniels said. “Some people can’t go to work. You can’t go to work, you lose your house. So, it’s a big deal.” While union members picketed just outside, riders like Daniels waited in the bus terminal on Florida and North 22nd Street, watching the screens for service updates. The scene served as an early indicator of how the CATS strike — the first ever at the agency, according to the union — could disrupt the lives of Baton Rouge’s public transit users. “Especially if you don’t have a car and nobody will bring you around, you depend on the bus, your sole transportation,” Daniels said. The strike took one route out of service Monday, according to CATS, and caused
ä See STRIKE, page 4A
INSIDE, 1B
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Ruby-June Newland, 7, smiles proudly after catching a chicken on Monday.
La. braces for possible cuts to Medicaid
BY EMILY WOODRUFF
dysregulation disorder, a condition with severe outbursts. Now, obsessive-compulsive disorder is another possible issue. Despite it all, he recently transitioned The diagnoses for Hailey Bowen’s from a special-needs school to general 12-year-old son came one after another. First, it was severe ADHD. Then autism. education, helped with a Medicaid-funded Oppositional defiant disorder, marked by one-on-one aide. He’s earning good grades persistent defiance and hostility, came and learning to socialize, said Bowen, a next, then evolved into disruptive mood landscape architect in New Orleans. She
Staff writer
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imagines a day when he won’t need the aide, and can use the coping skills he’s learning at school to get a job as an adult. But with potential federal cuts to Medicaid looming, Bowen and her husband, a teacher, fear their son’s progress could unravel if he’s no longer eligible and can’t
ä See MEDICAID, page 4A
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happy
STAFF PHOTO By HILARy SCHEINUK
Union members picket in front of the Capital Area Transit System offices and main terminal on Monday.
100TH yEAR, NO. 247
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