SATURDAY, APRIL 12 10 A.M. – 12:30 P.M. SYDNEY AND WALDA BESTHOFF SCULPTURE GARDEN
N O L A.C O M
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S at u r d ay, a p r i l 5, 2025
Jury orders Chevron to pay $745 million
Money to restore area of coastal wetlands
$2.00X
Tariffs may affect parade throws Mardi Gras krewes could face increased prices
BY DOUG MacCASH Staff writer
The new tariffs announced by President Donald Trump on Wednesday could affect the prices and availability of everything from automobiles to whiskey, including imports particularly close to the hearts of New Orleanians. The masked riders in future Carnival parades may have to pay significantly more for the beads and baubles ä Markets they toss, according to krewe plunge for captains. That means the crowds second day. along the curbs may catch sigPAGE 3A nificantly less. China, the source of most parade throws, was the target of some of the highest import duties. On Wednesday, Trump added a 34% tariff to the 20% already in place, a move that may cause the cost of Krewe d’Etat blinking beads, Iris sunglasses and King Arthur holy grails to soar. The new import tax “is definitely going to affect prices, no question,” said Krewe of Freret parade
ä See THROWS, page 4A STAFF FILE PHOTO By MARK SCHLEIFSTEIN
Oilfield and navigation canals cut through wetlands on the the west bank of Plaquemines Parish.
La. shrimpers praise tariffs
BY ALEX LUBBEN
Staff writer
A Plaquemines Parish jury ordered Chevron to pay $745 million in damages on Friday to restore an area of Louisiana coastal wetlands, a landmark verdict likely to have wider implications on dozens of other similar lawsuits. The case was the first to go to trial among 41 parish lawsuits against oil companies seeking to hold them accountable for coastal damage. The verdict may influence how other cases proceed as Louisiana struggles to find badly needed money to address its accelerating land loss crisis in the years ahead. While coastal advocates welcomed the verdict as fair and a boost for wetlands restoration, oil and other business groups in Louisiana harshly condemned it, arguing it will harm the state’s economy in the long run. The total cost could be more than $1 billion once interest is calculated.
After struggling to compete with imports, advocates optimistic BY JOSIE ABUGOV Staff writer
STAFF PHOTO By SOPHIA GERMER
Attorney John H. Carmouche, front row second from right, and his team pose at the Plaquemines Parish Courthouse on Friday.
Gov. Jeff Landry’s administration ney General Liz Murrill, who called has been largely supportive of the oil the verdict “fair” and thanked jurors and gas industry, but it intervened for their work. in the case on Plaquemines’ behalf The verdict was the culmination of opposing Chevron. Landry’s spokesä See JURY, page 5A person referred questions to Attor-
After decades of plunging prices and a dwindling workforce, Louisiana shrimpers are cheering President Donald Trump’s tariffs on countries supplying the U.S. with almost all of its shrimp. The coastal industry has for years struggled to compete against cheap foreign imports and a pattern of fraudulent mislabeling at seafood restaurants. But shrimpers and advocates feel renewed optimism in Trump’s “liberation day” tariffs announced Wednesday. The shrimp industry’s reaction was one of the
ä See SHRIMPERS, page 4A
N.O. schools look to end special education consent judgment BY MARIE FAZIO Staff writer
Fifteen years after a group of New Orleans public school students sued the state Department of Education for failing to provide special education services — a lawsuit that resulted in longstanding court oversight for pub-
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lic schools in New Orleans — the department and the Orleans Parish School Board say they’re ready to handle things on their own. In February, the School Board and the state Department of Education asked U.S. District Court Judge Jay Zainey to end a consent judgment that since 2015 has required increased oversight of
special education services in New Orleans, including regular reports from an independent monitor to determine whether schools were following the law. Of the 44,000 students who attend New Orleans public schools, about 14% of K-8th grade students and 12% of high school students have a disability. Under federal
law, public schools must provide students with special education services that meet their individual needs. Charter schools receive state and federal dollars and are required to provide the same services. But advocates have said independent charter schools — smaller than a traditional school district — have
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struggled to provide those services because they are often difficult to procure and expensive to offer on a smaller scale. Special education advocates argued in a motion last week that not enough improvement has been made since they brought the
ä See SCHOOLS, page 5A
12TH yEAR, NO. 236