SHOULDER INJURY COULD SIDELINE SAINTS QB CARR FOR SEASON 1C THE
ACADIANA
ADVOCATE
T H E A C A D I A N A A D V O C AT E.C O M
|
S at u r d ay, a p r i l 12, 2025
Museums, libraries bracing for cuts
Trump administration targets cultural funding
$2.00X
Judge rules student is deportable Columbia University activist held at ICE facility in Jena
BY JOHN SIMERMAN Staff writer
STAFF PHOTO By SOPHIA GERMER
Students walk past masquerades by Sheku ‘Goldenfinger’ Fofanah, of Sierra Leone, while visiting an exhibit at the New Orleans Museum of Art on Tuesday. The grant that helped bring the exhibit to New Orleans is among those terminated last week by the National Endowment for the Humanities. BY JAN RISHER and JENNA ROSS
Staff writers
“It is a blow. In the last five years, we have reached every parish in the state. … This grant was terminated by the NEH, but it is the state of Louisiana that loses.” MIRANDA RESTOVIC, president and chief executive of the Louisiana Endowment for the Humanities
The email from the National Endowment for the Humanities came at 11:38 p.m. on April 2. It landed in Miranda Restovic’s spam folder. The message: A partnership that had lasted more than 50 years between the federal agency and the Louisiana Endowment for the Humanities had ended overnight. “NEH has reasonable cause to terminate your grant in light of the fact that the NEH is repurposing its funding allocations in a new direction in furtherance of the President’s agenda,” said the email, signed by Michael McDonald, the endowment’s acting chairman. For Restovic, president and chief executive of the Louisiana Endowment for the Humanities, which leads and funds arts and cultural initiatives across the state, it meant that $600,000, or 20% of its annual budget, was gone. “It is a blow,” said Restovic. “In the last
Greenstein to lead La. Health Department BY EMILY WOODRUFF Staff writer
Bruce Greenstein, a longtime public health official who led the Louisiana Department of Health more than a decade ago before resigning amid a contracting scandal, has been appointed by Gov. Jeff Landry to once again lead the agency. In announcing the appointment on Friday, Landry called Greenstein, who has served in several leadership roles at state and federal
ä See GREENSTEIN, page 5A
WEATHER HIGH 76 LOW 51 PAGE 6A
five years, we have reached every parish in the state. … This grant was terminated by the NEH, but it is the state of Louisiana that loses.” The Trump administration, aided by billionaire Elon Musk, is slashing federal spending in the name of removing bloat and waste. In recent days, Louisiana officials learned they are set to lose hundreds of millions of dollars in FEMA funding to protect against storms and tens of millions of dollars in funding for public health. The state’s farmers are dealing with the loss of some $350 million in agricultural programs and subsidies. Now, Louisiana’s museums, libraries and cultural organizations are grappling with — or bracing for — dramatic cuts as well. In addition to the Louisiana Endowment for the Humanities, an array of other institutions have been notified of cuts — including Tulane University, LSU, Southern University and the University of Louisiana at
ä See CUTS, page 5A
JENA — An immigration judge on Friday agreed with the Trump administration that Mahmoud Khalil, the Columbia University student activist and legal permanent resident who is accused of speaking out at the expense of U.S. foreign policy, is deportable. At a hearing inside the heavily secured Central Louisiana ICE Processing Center, Judge Jamee Comans found that the government had shown that Khalil can legally be expelled. However, the decision won’t immediately end Khalil’s stay in the Louisiana lockup, which has now Khalil run for a month. Comans set an April 23 deadline for his attorneys to prove their case for asylum or other relief that would enable him to remain in the U.S. If they fail, Khalil would be deported to Syria or Algeria, the judge said. Wearing prayer beads and a navy jumpsuit, Khalil spoke briefly in court, according to news accounts. He said there was “nothing more important than due process rights and fundamental fairness,” adding in reference to another statement in court, “Clearly what we witnessed today, neither of these principles were present.” The arrest of Khalil, 30, who was not charged with a crime, was followed by several others of noncitizen activists who are legally in the U.S. on visas. It’s viewed as a test case for the Trump administration’s power to deport protesters for their political views. Administration officials have said they are targeting supporters of Hamas for
ä See JUDGE, page 4A
STAFF PHOTO By CHRIS GRANGER
Sabrine Mohamad, right, a human rights attorney with the Southern Poverty Law Center, is consoled by Fatima Kahn as they and others gather outside the ICE detention center in Jena on Friday.
Lawmakers looking to avoid teacher pay cuts Funding sought to maintain stipends BY PATRICK WALL Staff writer
Just a few months ago, Louisiana’s teachers were basking in STAFF FILE PHOTO By JAVIER GALLEGOS praise for helping students lead the country in reading gains. Now Gov. Jeff Landry and state officials celebrated those same educators are staring Louisiana’s educational progress in January. Now, down a pay cut. teachers who helped achieve those gains could face a Annual $2,000 stipends that pay cut. teachers received for the past two
Business ......................3B Living............................5C Opinion ........................4B Classified .....................2B Metro ...........................1B Sports ..........................1C Comics-Puzzles .....7C-9C Nation-World ................2A
years are set to expire after this school year ends, as are $1,000 stipends for school support staff. Gov. Jeff Landry’s spending plan for next fiscal year does not include the stipends. This week, several state lawmakers said they won’t allow the state’s public school teachers — whose salaries lag the regional average by thousands of dollars — to endure a $2,000 pay cut when Louisiana’s education system is on the rise.
ä See TEACHER, page 4A
100TH yEAR, NO. 286