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La. congressional districts on Monday docket
census, it originally passed a map Black districts. ball, not a player,” state Attorney U.S. Supreme Court to weigh if race or much like the old one, with five But a second group of “non-Afri- General Liz Murrill said in a filing majority-White districts and one can Americans,” known as the Cal- to the Supreme Court. politics was the main factor in redrawing majority-Black district. The state and Robinson litigants lais litigants, then filed their own
BY MARK BALLARD Staff writer
WASHINGTON — The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday will hear oral arguments in the long-running, back-and-forth legal battle over whether Louisiana should have two majority-Black congressional districts. The justices will sort out incon-
sistent court rulings and issue a decision that will shape politics in Louisiana for years to come. It also could dictate how legislatures across the nation balance the often conflicting requirements of the Voting Rights Act and the Equal Protection Clause. When Louisiana was required to draw new U.S. House districts due to population changes in the 2020
A group of Black voters, known as the Robinson litigants, filed a legal challenge arguing the Voting Rights Act required two majorityBlack districts, because roughly a third of the state is Black and the districts could be configured to be compact while linking communities with similar interests. A federal judge agreed. Gov. Jeff Landry and the Legislature created a new map with two majority-
lawsuit, claiming the new map relies primarily on race and is an illegal gerrymander under the Equal Protection Clause of the Constitution. A special panel of three federal judges ruled in their favor. That has left Louisiana in a legal limbo that the state wants the Supreme Court to address. “To put the situation bluntly, the state is stuck in an endless game of ping-pong — and the state is the
are now on the same side in pressing for two Black-majority districts. The Callais litigants say they will lean on the special panel’s rulings in arguing their case. “We’ll be focusing on the threejudge district court’s well-supported factual findings that the second Black-majority district is neither
ä See DISTRICTS, page 4A
‘We’re a
community here’
Donaldsonville dreams of reviving baseball field and the return of an epicenter for new generations
STAFF PHOTO By BRETT DUKE
The Little Gypsy Power Plant is a gas power plant operated by Entergy in Montz.
Entergy’s power plans draw fight Coalition argues against utility’s market control BY SAM KARLIN Staff writer
like a distant mirage.
BY CHRISTOPHER CARTWRIGHT Staff writer
But in Donaldsonville — a town at
It was Feb. 25. Football season had ended. NCAA March Madness was an interminable time ahead. Facing Tennessee, the LSU men’s basketball team slid to 3-12 in conference play. Even the earliest-ever opening day for Major League Baseball shimmered
the nexus of the Mississippi River and Bayou Lafourche — baseball season came early. In a small ceremony that late February day, the city took ownership of a historic baseball field from Ascension Parish. ä See FIELD, page 5A
Swamp Sox coach Trae Ourso, center, walks with players Tre Brewer, left, and Carter Womack onto the field near the historic LaLa Regira Baseball Field in Donaldsonville. STAFF PHOTO By JAVIER GALLEGOS
Entergy Louisiana’s plans to procure billions of dollars worth of new gas-fired power is setting up a pivotal fight over the utility’s control over the electric market, with an unlikely coalition of opponents arguing that the company is set to heap huge costs on residents. Entergy is planning to deactivate a host of aging power plants built in the 1960s and 1970s in the coming years. At the same time, the company is courting power-hungry data centers that require new infrastructure to be built. And the state’s energy-intensive petrochemical sector is looking for new power sources, particularly renewables that make their products more attractive overseas. Those converging forces are creating what the Alliance for Affordable Energy, a consumer advocacy group, calls an “unprecedented inflection point” for the future of energy in Louisiana. And
ä See ENTERGY, page 4A
WEATHER HIGH 79 LOW 60 PAGE 6B
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100TH yEAR, NO. 267
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BATON ROUGE AREA OPERATIONS SUPERVISOR VICE CHAIRMAN SU SYSTEM BOARD OF SUPERVISORS VICE PRESIDENT SU HARDWOOD CLUB