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Nuns vacate historic Uptown monastery
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Firm to manage street repairs
N.O. looks to complete federally-funded program BY SOPHIE KASAKOVE Staff writer
STAFF PHOTOS By CHRIS GRANGER
Sister Charlene Toups stands on the walkway outside St. Clareās Monastery on Feb. 25.
Future unclear for valuable property in pricey neighborhood BY STEPHANIE RIEGEL Staff writer
After more than a century, the Poor Clares, an order of Roman Catholic nuns, have moved out of their historic monastery in the 700 block of Henry Clay Avenue near Audubon Park, leaving vacant an entire city block in the heart of one of Uptownās priciest neighborhoods. Just four nuns, all in their 80s, had been living in St. Clareās Monastery, as the nearly 2-acre property is formally known. It stands behind a brick wall and encompasses the entire block bounded by Henry Clay, Magazine, Constance and Calhoun streets. Given their advanced age and dwindling numbers, maintaining the buildings and sprawling grounds was simply too much for the nuns to manage, said Sister Charlene Toups, who leads the order. āWe do our own work and are pretty self-sustaining,ā said Toups, a New Orleans native who joined the order in 1966 after dropping out of college. āBut weāre older now and itās hard for us to climb up and down ladders to change light bulbs and tend to the gardening.ā The nuns are working to sell the property to a local developer and hope to finalize a deal soon, said
Faced with delays and cost overruns on repairs to hundreds of New Orleans streets, Mayor LaToya Cantrell and top city ofļ¬cials say they have a plan to rush one of the administrationās signature projects to the ļ¬nish line. City Hall aims to lock in contractors to ļ¬nish all of the work in the queue for its $1.7 billion Federal Emergency Management Agency-funded roadwork program, called the Joint Infrastructure Recovery Request, by May. The city has hired Boston-based consulting ļ¬rm CDM Smith to manage the projects in that program, which was designed to address long-standing water, sewerage and drainage issues across New Orleans. The goal, ofļ¬cials say, is to eliminate delays and get roads ļ¬nished quickly. CDM Smith has split
Ƥ See REPAIRS, page 5A
Trump pauses some tariffs One-month exemption granted for U.S. automakers
BY JOSH BOAK and ROB GILLIES
St. Clareās Monastery dates back to 1912 and was designated in 1979 as a historic landmark by the cityās Historic Districts Landmarks Commission. Toups, who declined to provide details, citing a nondisclosure agreement. They recently relocated to a house on Valmont Street about a mile from the monastery. The monastery dates to 1912 and includes a main three-story building with a chapel, ofļ¬ces, meeting rooms, dining space and an inļ¬rmary. The upper ļ¬oors of the building house dozens of bedrooms, most of which have been empty for years,
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and was designated in 1979 as a historic landmark by the cityās Historic Districts Landmarks Commission. The monastery grounds are extensive, and include a mortuary chapel, where members of the order are buried, and a garden shed. There are also two live oaks named St. Anthony and St. Roch, a grotto, a grassy labyrinth and benches for contemplation.
WASHINGTON ā President Donald Trump is granting a one-month exemption on his stiff new tariffs on imports from Mexico and Canada for U.S. automakers, as worries persist that the newly Ƥ Farmers, launched trade war could consumers brace crush domestic manufac- for tariffs. PAGE 4A turing. The pause comes after Trump spoke with leaders of the āBig 3ā automakers, Ford, General Motors and Stellantis, on Wednesday, according to White House press
Ƥ See MONASTERY, page 5A
Ƥ See TARIFFS, page 3A
Southern student died after being punched during hazing, sources say BY PATRICK SLOAN-TURNER and ANDREA GALLO Staff writers
Caleb Wilson, a 20-year-old Southern University student, died last week after being punched in the chest during a fraternity hazing ritual in which about 10 fraternity members hit pledges with their fists and objects, sources close to the criminal investigation into Wilsonās death said Wednesday. The Feb. 27 hazing incident took place at a warehouse off Greenwell Springs Road, according to multiple sources ā not at a local
WEATHER HIGH 64 LOW 51 PAGE 4C
park, as police said some of the fraternity members told them. One source said Wilson was not singled out, but he apparently āexperienced a medical episode as a result of being pledged.ā The source said 911 was never called and there was a lapse in time between Wilsonās medical episode and fraternity members bringing him to a hospital. Louisiana Secretary of Stateās Ofļ¬ce records show the warehouse is leased by Todd Smith, owner of California Hardwood Floors, and East Baton Rouge Parish Metro Council member Cleve Dunn Jr., owner of Runnerās Courier Ser-
vice. Smith is a member of Lambda Alpha Ques, according to the groupās website, which is a graduate chapter of Omega Psi Phi ā the fraternity under criminal investigation by police and an administrative probe by Southern University. He told local TV station WAFB that his son is a member of Omega Psi Phi. On Feb. 27, Baton Rouge authorities said Wilson was brought to a hospital āunconsciousā by people who found him that way at the North Sherwood Forest Park. Baton Rouge police officers were
STAFF PHOTO By JAVIER GALLEGOS
Corey Wilson, right, mourns alongside other grieving family members during a memorial for his son, Caleb Wilson, outside Southern Ƥ See HAZING, page 5A Universityās Smith-Brown Student Union on Wednesday.
Business ......................4A Commentary ................7B Nation-World ................2A Classified .....................7D Deaths .........................3B Opinion ........................6B Comics-Puzzles .....3D-6D Living............................1D Sports ..........................1C
12TH yEAR, NO. 206