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Yates elected St. George mayor
Home-rule charter rejected; District 4 seat will go to runoff
La. voters reject all four amendments Constitutional changes were supported by Gov. Jeff Landry
BY ALYSE PFEIL | Staff writer Louisiana voters soundly rejected all four proposed amendments to the state constitution on Saturday, shutting the door on changes to courts, government finances, teacher pay increases, juvenile crime, and elections for judicial seats. With nearly 100% of the precincts INSIDE in, all four amendments had received less than 40% of the vote. ä See election The defeat of Amendment 2, a results in the sprawling revision of the section of Baton Rouge the constitution that deals with state taxes and budgeting, was a loss for area. PAGE 7A Gov. Jeff Landry, who had stumped across the state in support of the change. He couched it as part of his larger effort to make Louisiana’s tax system more attractive to business investment. Its failure also means teachers will likely not get a planned pay raise, and it may disrupt state lawmakers’ plans for the state budget they will soon need to craft for the upcoming fiscal year. With the failure of Amendment 3, Louisiana will
ä See AMENDMENTS, page 6A STAFF PHOTO By HILARy SCHEINUK
St. George mayor-elect Dustin yates, center, greets Andrew Murrell before addressing supporters during an election night party for elected officials for the city of St. George at the Renaissance Hotel in Baton Rouge on Saturday. BY PATRICK SLOAN-TURNER Staff writer
In a landslide victory, voters affirmed Dustin Yates’ leadership Saturday night, electing the interim mayor to steer St. George for the next four years. Yates defeated fellow Republican Jim Morgan by a margin of 30 percentage points, securing 65% of the vote over Morgan’s 35%. “Here we are today, a day that we never thought would ever come,” Yates told supporters. “A day where I stand in front of you as the first elected mayor for the city of
St. George.” However, voters rejected the home-rule charter he and other established St. George leaders supported, leaving key questions about how the city will operate unanswered. Appointed by Gov. Jeff Landry last year, Yates campaigned on the importance of his continued leadership as the key to building St. George’s future. He has spent the past 11 years as chief administrative officer for the St. George Fire Department, and is the leader of a group of established candidates in the city of roughly 86,000 people.
Yates’ opponent, Jim Morgan, garnered endorsements from firefighter unions in both St. George and Baton Rouge shortly after qualifying but also saw his campaign swiftly face obstacles. Morgan announced he would be dropping out of the race after The Advocate asked him about a prostitution charge to which he pleaded guilty in 1997. But a week later, the candidate changed his mind and resurrected his campaign, blaming his opponent for the bad press. Morgan’s messaging leaned on
ä See MAYOR, page 6A
STAFF PHOTO By JAVIER GALLEGOS
Voting clerk Will Clancy opens the curtain for Charlotte, 4, to join her mother, Megan Gibbens, in the voting booth as she reaches out to grab her hand at East Baton Rouge Parish Library on Saturday.
New census estimates show small gains in capital region But statewide, job growth far behind national average
Donaldsonville and an appeal to the state treasurer to update Livingston Parish’s population numbers, newly released census estimates add to the optimism for the capital region’s future. Data released March 13 by the BY CHRISTOPHER CARTWRIGHT U.S. Census Bureau shows a popuStaff writer lation increase across the capital On the heels of an announced region from July 2023 to July 2024. The bureau estimated population $5 billion Hyundai investment in
WEATHER HIGH 86 LOW 68 PAGE 8B
gains in East Baton Rouge Parish for the first time in years. Livingston and Ascension parishes continued their trend of adding residents, with Livingston growing by around 1.5% to an estimated 152,886 people, and an estimated 1.2% increase for Ascension. Officials and those involved in the region’s business community are excited. However, the data
also shows that nearly two-thirds of Louisiana parishes saw a population decline. Allison Plyer, chief demographer for New Orleans-based nonprofit The Data Center, cautioned that the state has been losing population in recent years and that the bureau’s recent methodological changes might account for the estimated growth.
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“One year does not make a trend,” she said. “The recent estimates are very much subject to change, and … if they are accurate, what the conclusion is is that the growth is entirely due to international immigration, which is very likely to be greatly diminished in the next set of estimates.”
ä See CENSUS, page 8A
100TH yEAR, NO. 273