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Senators request probe into Signal leak Call for investigation has bipartisan support
BY STEPHEN GROVES and AAMER MADHANI Associated Press
WASHINGTON — The top Republican and Democrat on the Senate Armed Services Committee requested an investigation Thursday into how national security officials used the Signal app to discuss military strikes, ensuring at least some bipartisan scrutiny on an episode President Donald Trump has dismissed as frivolous. Sen. Roger Wicker, the Republican chair of the committee, and Sen. Jack Reed, the top Democrat, signed onto a letter to the acting
inspector general at the Department of Defense for an inquiry into the potential “use of unclassified networks to discuss sensitive and classified information, as well as the sharing of such information with those who do not have proper clearance and need to know.” The senators’ assertion that classified information was potentially shared was notable, especially as Trump’s Republican administration has contended there was no classified information on the Signal chain that had included Jeffrey Goldberg, editor-in-chief of The Atlantic magazine. Across Washington, the Signal
leak presented a major test early in Trump’s second term on the federal government’s system of checks and balances meant to protect national security. Yet even as mechanisms for oversight and investigation sputtered to life, it was a halting effort as most Republicans seemed content to allow the controversy to blow over. Meanwhile, Democrats slammed the Signal chat as a reckless violation of secrecy that could have put service members in harm’s way. “This put pilots at risk because of sloppiness and carelessness,”
ASSOCIATED PRESS FILE PHOTO By BEN CURTIS
Roger Wicker, R-Miss., chair of the Senate Armed Services Committee, requested an investigation into the use of the Signal app by Trump ä See PROBE, page 4A administration national security officials.
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City, UL agree to swap land New fire station will be built on Cajundome Boulevard
BY CLAIRE TAYLOR
Staff writer PHOTO By PHILIP GOULD
Dense fog blankets the area as a protective metal canopy is constructed over the remaining façade of the Holy Rosary Institute on Wednesday. The protective covering will enable the completion of a full restoration of the historic academy located on Carmel Drive in Lafayette. The school was opened in 1913 as a Catholic boarding school for people of color. It closed in 1993.
Canadians canceling La. trips over Trump ‘He’s really hurting our tourism industry’ BY CLAIRE TAYLOR
Staff writer
Some Canadian tourists who had been planning to visit south Louisiana this fall appear to be canceling their trips because of the worsening relationship between the United States and Canada. President Donald Trump in early March imposed tariffs on Canadian goods entering the United States and has repeatedly said Canada should be America’s 51st state. Canada increased tariffs on U.S. goods in response. Canadian stores pulled American
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products from their shelves, and some leaders are calling on residents to boycott the United States. Canadians appear to be getting the message. A tour operator from New Brunswick was planning to bring three to four busloads of tourists to south Louisiana this fall for the Grand Réveil Acadien, the Great Acadian Awakening, Ray Trahan, one of the founders, said Wednesday. This week he said they aren’t coming at all. Louisiana hosts Grand Réveil Acadien every five years, in between the more expansive Congrès Mondial Acadien held in Canada. Grand Réveil Acadien is a statewide, nineday celebration of the language, music,
ä See CANADIANS, page 4A
Ray Trahan serves up jambalaya during the Grand Réveil Acadien fais do-do in 2022. Some Canadians have canceled plans to attend the event this fall. STAFF FILE PHOTO By BRAD KEMP
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Lafayette is exchanging property on Johnston Street that houses a 72-year-old fire station with universityowned land on Cajundome Boulevard to build a new fire station. Under a proposal, which the City Council agreed to on Tuesday, the city will become the owner of 2.37 acres of land owned by the University of Louisiana at Lafayette along Cajundome Boulevard, appraised at $1.03 million. Standing on Johnston Street looking down Cajundome Boulevard, the property is on the right past Blackham Coliseum and before Reinhardt Drive and the Cajundome. The university will take ownership of 1.023 acres of city-owned property on Johnston Street, appraised at $1.02 million, that currently houses Fire Station No. 5. The city will also give the university an abandoned portion of St. Julien Avenue to make up for the $12,400 difference between the two properties being exchanged. Adjacent landowners — the
ä See SWAP, page 4A
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