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Hyundai plans to build $5.8B steel mill in La.
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Judge won’t drop lawsuit against former library chair BY CLAIRE TAYLOR
Staff writer
ASSOCIATED PRESS PHOTO
President Donald Trump, flanked by House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-Benton, left, and Gov. Jeff Landry, speaks in the Roosevelt Room of the White House on Monday.
Landry joins Trump at White House to announce project BY ALYSE PFEIL, STEPHANIE RIEGEL and DAVID MITCHELL
Kia Plant in West Point, Georgia — and other U.S. 190 automakers. 12 Baton Hyundai Steel CompaStaff writers Rouge ny plans to import an estimated 3.6 million tons Flanked by Gov. Jeff 55 Site of of iron ore and produce Landry and U.S. House 61 Lake Hyundai 10 2.7 million metric tons of Speaker Mike Johnson, Maurepas 1 plant Lake steel annually, according President Donald Trump Pontchartrain Ascension to the LED news release. on Monday trumpeted St. John The Donaldsonville site carmaker Hyundai’s an- Iber ville attracted the carmaker nouncement that it will 10 Donaldsonville New because of the state’s build its first U.S. steel Orleans St. James cheap natural gas and mill in Louisiana, bringMississippi electricity, both of which ing billions of dollars in St. Charles Assumption River Jefferson could be used to power investment and thouLafourche 90 the plant, and because of sands of jobs. Staff map easy access to shipping, Hyundai Motor Group, rail lines and a state highwhich also owns Kia Corp., will invest $5.8 billion in a nouncement says. way route that connects to Interstate new manufacturing facility on a “Money is pouring in, and we want 10, sources have said previously. 1,700-acre site in Donaldsonville at to keep it that way,” Trump said durThe Port of South Louisiana and the RiverPlex MegaPark on the west ing a news conference at the White Hyundai are partnering to build a bank of the Mississippi River in As- House. deep water dock on Ascension ParThe facility, plans for which were ish’s west bank for steel and matecension Parish, according to a news release from Louisiana Economic first reported by The Advocate | The rials shipments, the LED announceTimes-Picayune in January, will ment said. Development. The “ultra-low carbon steel pro- supply car parts via rail and truck Steel mill construction could beduction plant” is expected to create to the company’s U.S. auto factories gin as early as 2026 and production more than 1,300 direct new jobs with — which include a Hyundai plant ä See STEEL, page 4A an average salary of $95,000, the an- in Montgomery, Alabama, and a East Baton Rouge
Livingston
Tangipahoa
St. Tammany
Controversial former Lafayette Public Library President Robert Judge lost an attempt to dismiss a federal First Amendment case against him for restricting free speech at meetings. U.S. District Court Judge Robert Summerhays, Western District of Louisiana in Lafayette, on Thursday dismissed a motion for summary judgment filed by Judge in a First Amendment case brought by Lynette Mejia and Melanie Brevis, founders of Lafayette Citizens Against Censorship. Brevis, speaking at a Jan. 9, 2023, Library Board meeting, had her microphone turned off and was escorted by off-duty La- Robert Judge fayette Parish sheriff’s deputies away from the speaker’s podium on Judge’s orders. As Library Board president, Judge had the library hire two law enforcement officers to stand guard during meetings, at times next to the Library Board facing the public in the audience and speakers. He also had the state’s disturbing the peace law posted on the meeting room door and the front library door. Mejia says in the lawsuit that those actions along with the treatment of Brevis caused her to self-censor her comments before the Library Board. Judge in his motion for summary judgment argued, among other things, that he had qualified immunity. The qualified immunity doctrine is designed to shield from civil liability government officials acting within their discretionary authority. Summerhays, in his decision, wrote that Mejia and Brevis established that Judge’s actions violated the First Amendment and his conduct was “objectively unreasonable in light of clearly established law.” A public body may restrict free speech in a
ä See JUDGE, page 4A
STAFF FILE PHOTO By CLAIRE TAyLOR
Deputies with the Lafayette Parish Sheriff’s Office, hired as security for Lafayette Parish Public Library Board meetings, tell speaker Melanie Brevis to sit down on the order of then-President Robert Judge on Jan. 9, 2023.
Trump officials texted Yemen war plans to journalist It was not immediately clear if tack on March 15, the U.S. began the “utmost confidence” in Waltz the magazine reported in Material contained Atlantic, a story posted online Monday. The the specifics of the military op- launching a series of airstrikes and the national security team. Trump told reporters, “I don’t National Security Council said the eration were classified, but they against Houthi targets in Yemen. operational details of text chain “appears to be authen- often are and at The National Security Coun- know anything about it. You’re tellforthcoming strikes tic.” the least are kept cil said in a statement that it was ing me about it for the first time.”
Trump told reporters he was not aware that the sensitive information had been shared, 21/2 hours after it was reported. Associated Press The material in the text chain WASHINGTON — Top national secu- “contained operational details rity officials for President Don- of forthcoming strikes on Iranald Trump, including Defense backed Houthi-rebels in Yemen, Secretary Pete Hegseth, texted including information about tarwar plans for upcoming military gets, weapons the U.S. would be strikes in Yemen to a group chat deploying, and attack sequencing,” in a secure messaging app that in- editor-in-chief Jeffrey Goldberg cluded the editor-in-chief for The reported.
BY TARA COPP, AAMER MADHANI and ERIC TUCKER
WEATHER HIGH 83 LOW 60 PAGE 6A
secure to protect service members and operational security. The U.S. has conducted airstrikes against the Houthis since Hegseth the militant group began targeting commercial and military vessels in the Red Sea in November 2023. Just two hours after Goldberg received the details of the at-
looking into how a journalist’s number was added to the chain in the Signal group chat, which included Tulsi Gabbard, Trump’s director of national intelligence, and Secretary of State Marco Rubio. Goldberg said he received the Signal invitation from Mike Waltz, Trump’s national security adviser, who was also in the group chat. In a statement late Monday, White House spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt said the president still has
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He added that The Atlantic was “not much of a magazine.” Government officials have used Signal for organizational correspondence, but it is not classified and can be hacked. Privacy and tech experts say the popular endto-end encrypted messaging and voice call app is more secure than conventional texting. The sharing of sensitive
ä See PLANS, page 4A
100TH yEAR, NO. 268