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Hyundai plans to build $5.8B steel mill in La.
Bill would give EBR control of CATS Bus system resources, functions would transfer to city-parish
BY HALEY MILLER Staff writer
A new bill in the Louisiana Legislature would move Baton Rouge’s bus system under the control of the city-parish government, part of a wider push to centralize authority over independent agencies — from the library system to parks and recreation — with the mayor-president and East Baton Rouge Parish Metro Council. State Rep. Dixon McMakin, RBaton Rouge, wants to repeal the law that created the Capital Area Transit System and transfer CATS’ obligations, property, records and employees to the city-parish. The organization has its own independent board of commissioners appointed by the Metro Council. The board is responsible for hiring a CEO to oversee daily functions. “I’ve seen these siloed bureaucratic agencies just keep getting bigger and bigger, and the cityparish obviously not,” McMakin said. “So, the idea is, let’s put everything back together.” In a statement Monday, CATS said it strongly opposes efforts to hand control of the agency to the city-parish government. “We are concerned that this shift could result in a lack of the specialized attention CATS needs to continue its vital work,” the statement read. “Public transportation is not a onesize-fits-all issue, and local solutions
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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
“Money is pouring in, and we want to keep it that way,” Trump 190 said during a news conference 12 Baton Staff writers at the White House. Rouge The facility, plans for which were first reported by The AdFlanked by Gov. Jeff Landry 55 Site of and U.S. House Speaker Mike vocate | The Times-Picayune in 61 Lake Hyundai 10 Johnson, President Donald Trump January, will supply car parts Maurepas 1 plant Lake on Monday trumpeted carmaker via rail and truck to the comPontchartrain Ascension Hyundai’s announcement that it pany’s U.S. auto factories — St. John will build its first U.S. steel mill in Iber ville which include a Hyundai plant Louisiana, bringing billions of dolin Montgomery, Alabama, and a 10 Donaldsonville New Kia Plant in West Point, Georgia lars in investment and thousands Orleans St. James — and other U.S. automakers. of jobs. Mississippi Hyundai Steel Company plans Hyundai Motor Group, which St. Charles Assumption River Jefferson to import an estimated 3.6 milalso owns Kia Corp., will invest Lafourche 90 $5.8 billion in a new manufacturlion tons of iron ore and produce Staff map 2.7 million metric tons of steel ing facility on a 1,700-acre site in annually, according to the LED Donaldsonville at the RiverPlex MegaPark on the west bank of the MisThe “ultra-low carbon steel production news release. The Donaldsonville site attracted the sissippi River in Ascension Parish, ac- plant” is expected to create more than cording to a news release from Louisiana 1,300 direct new jobs with an average salä See STEEL, page 4A Economic Development. ary of $95,000, the announcement says. East Baton Rouge
Livingston
Tangipahoa
St. Tammany
ä See CATS, page 4A
Top Trump officials texted Yemen war plans to journalist BY TARA COPP, AAMER MADHANI and ERIC TUCKER Associated Press
WASHINGTON — Top national security officials for President Donald Trump, including Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, texted war plans for upcoming military strikes in Yemen to a group chat in
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a secure messaging app that included the editor-in-chief for The Atlantic, the magazine reported in a story posted online Monday. The National Security Council said the text chain “appears to be authentic.” Trump told reporters he was not aware that the sensitive information had been shared, 21/2 hours after it was reported.
The material in the text chain “contained operational details of forthcoming strikes on Iran-backed Houthi-rebels in Yemen, including information about targets, weapons the U.S. would be deploying, and attack sequencing,” editor-in-chief Jeffrey Goldberg reported. It was not immediately clear if the
specifics of the military operation were classified, but they often are and at the least are kept secure to protect service members and operational security. The U.S. has conducted airstrikes against the Houthis since the militant group began targeting commercial and military
ä See PLANS, page 4A Hegseth
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