WHERE BUSINESS & CULTURE COLLIDE
MARCH 24-29
VISIT NOEW.ORG
N O L A.C O M
|
T u e s d ay, M a r c h 11, 2025
$2.00X
Cantrell defies council’s travel ban Mayor flies to Washington for national conference
BY JAMES FINN
The council on Feb. 27 temporarily banned Cantrell from traveling on city business after her adminisDays after the New Orleans City tration backed out of a high-profile Council barred Mayor LaToya settlement that was set to deliver Cantrell from traveling with tax- millions of dollars to New Orleans payer money, Cantrell is on an schools, arguing that the city’s fiofficial visit to Washington, D.C., nances were too dire to make good for a national mayors’ conference on that agreement. Council mem— a trip the City Council president bers responded with the travel slammed Monday as “patently un- moratorium, which they said would reduce frivolous spending. lawful.”
Staff writer
Cantrell’s trip to the Yale Mayors College Conference this week was “confirmed on the mayor’s office schedule well before the recent council ordinance,” a spokesperson for her office said in a statement. Cantrell was in Washington on Sunday evening, the spokesperson said. “This event offers a valuable opportunity for leaders to interact and share best practices related
to challenges facing metropolitan areas across America,” the statement said. Over her second mayoral term, during which Cantrell’s popularity plummeted amid a series of scandals, her frequent travel out- Cantrell side New Orleans has set up clashes with the City Council, whose members emerged as some of her loudest critics.
“President (Donald) Trump is fully aware of these problems, and I look forward to working with his administration to improve FEMA and the National Flood Insurance Program.” HOUSE MAJORITy LEADER STEVE SCALISE, R-Jefferson
Leaders wary of FEMA cuts
Her latest trip spurred furious pushback from the council’s president, JP Morrell, who authored the travel moratorium. In a letter to top administration officials Monday, Morrell called the journey “patently unlawful” and said it was cause for “dismay and extreme concern.” He argued that the ordinance approved unanimously on Feb. 27 was written to cover all official travel, including trips scheduled
ä See CANTRELL, page 5A
State’s oversight of Medicaid criticized
Audit questions spending for $2.4B program BY STEPHANIE RIEGEL Staff writer
The Louisiana Department of Health failed to properly oversee some $2.4 billion in Medicaid spending aimed at improving the health of the state’s neediest patients, according to a new report from the Louisiana Legislative Auditor’s Office. The report, released Monday, found that over the past five years, the state’s Managed Care Incentive Program, which turned to Ochsner Health and a consortium that includes LSU Health New Orleans, LCMC Health and Franciscan Missionaries of Our Lady Health System to run the program, spent more than half the money on administrative expenses and other costs that did not have a measurable impact on patient health outcomes. “The sole focus of this program was to improve the health outcomes of Medicaid beneficiaries but
ä See MEDICAID, page 5A STAFF FILE PHOTO By CHRIS GRANGER
Roofing contractors install a temporary roof on a home in New Orleans East in 2021 as part of a program overseen by the Federal Emergency Management Agency and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to help homeowners recover from the damage cause by Hurricane Ida. Since 2003, Louisiana has received nearly $47 billion from FEMA to recover from 28 disasters, according to a January Carnegie Endowment report.
Disaster agency under review by Trump administration BY MARK BALLARD Staff writer
WASHINGTON — The Federal Emergency Management Agency may not close entirely — as President Donald Trump says he’s open to — but it appears the disaster relief agency is in for rearranging. Trump created a FEMA Review Council, which will convene in April, to report on the agency’s strengths and failings and make recommendations for changes by summer. A U.S. House committee hearing last week floated several ideas — including letting states carry more of the disaster burden.
WEATHER HIGH 75 LOW 53 PAGE 6B
That would cause dramatic challenges for storm-prone Louisiana, which is particularly reliant on FEMA. Since 2003, Louisiana has received nearly $47 billion to recover from 28 disasters, according to a January Carnegie Endowment report. Meanwhile, Trump has cut FEMA’s budget and fired 200 probationary employees while trying to force out another 800 in an agency with about 17,000 workers. Some emergency officials and members of Congress worry that the cuts to what they think is an already understaffed agency will weaken responses for future disasters.
“I am deeply concerned about the Trump administration’s attack on FEMA and the dedicated public servants in emergency management at every level,” said Rep. Timothy Kennedy, D-N.Y. “The truth is that for decades, FEMA has come to the aid of the American public time and time again. And they have done so while being understaffed and underfunded.” Yet FEMA is unlikely to be shuttered entirely — the president would need Congress to do that. And Louisiana emergency leaders and members of its Congressional delegation
Education stipend program draws families
Nearly 14,000 have signed up BY PATRICK WALL
Staff writer
Nearly 14,000 eligible Louisiana families have signed up for the state’s new LA GATOR scholarship program since applications opened this month, according to new state data, suggesting that demand for the stipends will almost certainly exceed supply. The centerpiece of Gov. Jeff Landry’s education agenda, the new program will give tax dollars to eligible families to help pay for private-school tuition or approved expenses, such as tutoring,
ä See FEMA, page 4A
Business ......................6A Commentary ................5B Nation-World ................2A Classified .....................7D Deaths .........................3B Opinion ........................4B Comics-Puzzles .....3D-6D Living............................1D Sports ..........................1C
ä See EDUCATION, page 4A
12TH yEAR, NO. 211