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T u e s d ay, M a r c h 18, 2025
Last-minute filings seek to stop execution Lawyers for Hoffman lodge challenges in state, federal courts
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Audit finds worsening prenatal care in Louisiana Report details lack of doctors, transportation issues
BY EMILY WOODRUFF Staff writer
A state audit found that pregnant Medicaid patients in Louisiana often struggle to access prenatal and postpartum care because there aren’t enough nearby doctors who accept the government-funded health insurance, provider lists are frequently inaccurate and many people lack reliable transportation, especially in rural areas. The report, released Monday by the Louisiana Legislative Auditor‘s Office, reviewed the state Health Department’s efforts to improve maternal health — an area where Louisiana has long ranked among the worst in the nation. Despite increased attention and funding, the share of pregnant women in the state who did not receive first-trimester prenatal care rose from 22.5% in 2018 to nearly 26% in 2023. Medicaid patients were most affected, with 3 out of 4 missing timely care. The majority of new babies in Louisiana, 63.5%, are born to women insured by Medicaid. The audit found that the Louisiana Department of Health spent nearly $400 million on maternal health reform through the Managed Care Incentive Payment program from February 2020 to March 2024, but some initiatives were duplicative or lacked measurable outcomes. “A lot of money is being put toward it, but there aren’t a lot of measurable outcomes or new things being created,” said Chris Magee, a data analytics manager at the Auditor’s Office.
ä See AUDIT, page 7A
PHOTO PROVIDED By JESSIE HOFFMAN JR.’S LEGAL TEAM
Observers sitting outside the new execution chamber at the Louisiana State Penitentiary at Angola will witness the execution. BY MEGHAN FRIEDMANN and JOHN SIMERMAN Staff writers
Mary ‘Molly’ Elliott was kidnapped, raped and fatally shot in St. Tammany Parish in 1996.
The legal team for death row inmate Jessie Hoffman Jr. has filed a flurry of last-minute court challenges in hopes of stopping the death row inmate from becoming the first person in Louisiana to be executed by nitrogen gas on Tuesday night as scheduled. Hoffman’s attorneys filed challenges in both state and federal courts on Monday as they sought a judge willing to stop the first Louisiana execution in 15 years. A state judge in East Baton Rouge’s 19th Judicial District Court and a federal judge in New
Orleans will consider two of those challenges Tuesday morning, just hours ahead of the scheduled execution, which is required to happen between 6 p.m. and 9 p.m. Hoffman is on death row for the 1996 abduction, rape and murder of Mary “Molly” Elliott in rural St. Tammany Parish. An attorney for Hoffman on Monday filed a request for an injunction in state court that would stop the execution on the grounds that it would violate Louisiana’s religious freedom laws. Hoffman is a practicing Buddhist. His lawyers have argued that killing him using nitrogen gas
Jessie Hoffman Jr. was sentenced to death in 1998 after being found guilty of Elliott’s ä See EXECUTION, page 4A murder.
Tulane overhauls diversity office Move comes amid Trump threats to higher education funding BY MARIE FAZIO Staff writer
Tulane University will overhaul its diversity, equity and inclusion office, university officials said last week, as President Donald Trump’s administration targets diversity programs at schools and colleges. The shift is a far cry from Tulane’s investment in diversity a few years ago, when the majorityWhite institution pledged millions each year to better support students of color. Now, those efforts could jeopardize the university’s $320 million in annual federal funding, Tulane leaders wrote in a letter to the school community Thursday. “This vital funding is now at risk,” said the letter from Tulane President Michael Fitts and two
ä See TULANE, page 7A
Trump team urges more cuts to NOAA Move could impact National Weather Service
BY JOSIE ABUGOV Staff writer
When Chris Franklin and other meteorologists at WWL Louisiana broadcast vital weather forecasts, they don’t do it alone. They are in ongoing communication with National Weather Service forecasters. Franklin said there’s an active chat 24 hours a day, and before severe weather — like the strong line of thunderstorms that roared through the re-
WEATHER HIGH 76 LOW 63 PAGE 6B
gion on Saturday — the conversation ramps up, adding video calls. “We pick their brains as almost coworkers in forecasting daily weather,” Franklin said. “Those are the folks that are issuing those watches and warnings, so when we’re on air talking about a tornado warning, talking about a severe thunderstorm warning or flooding, this is coming from the National Weather Service.” The importance of weather service forecasts in keeping residents safe has raised concerns about what might happen if the Trump administration follows through on plans for deeper cuts to its parent agency, the National
Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. Recent reports indicated that NOAA was preparing to lay off more than 1,000 workers, adding to around 1,300 NOAA layoffs in recent weeks. Before the cuts, NOAA, part of the U.S. Department of Commerce, employed some 12,000 people across six departments. The weather service, which includes the National Hurricane Center based in Miami, employs around 4,700 people, according to the agency. The first round of cuts targeted probationary employees in their positions
PHOTO PROVIDED By THE U.S. AIR FORCE
Members of the 403rd Aircraft Maintenance Squadron at Keesler Air Force Base in Biloxi, Miss., tend to a WC-130J ä See NOAA, page 5A assigned to the hurricane hunters.
Business ......................6A Commentary ................5B Nation-World ................2A Classified .....................7D Deaths .........................2B Opinion ........................4B Comics-Puzzles .....3D-6D Living............................1D Sports ..........................1C
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