SHOULDER INJURY COULD SIDELINE SAINTS QB CARR FOR SEASON 1C
N O L A.C O M
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S at u r d ay, a p r i l 12, 2025
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Museums, libraries bracing for cuts
Trump administration targets cultural funding
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
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 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
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 removal, as well as antisemitic attacks in the U.S. Khalil’s attorneys and other supporters say he is being illegally detained for speech that is protected by the First Amendment. A Palestinian by ethnicity who was born in Syria, Khalil was active in campus
ä See JUDGE, page 4A
ä See CUTS, page 4A
Lawmakers looking to avoid teacher pay cuts — to endure a $2,000 pay cut when Louistaring down a pay cut. Funding sought to Annual $2,000 stipends that teachers siana’s education system is on the rise. maintain $2,000 stipends received for the past two years are set to “There’s just no way that we can dis-
expire after this school year ends, as are $1,000 stipends for school support staff. Gov. Jeff Landry’s spending plan for next Staff writer fiscal year does not include the stipends. This week, several state lawmakers Just a few months ago, Louisiana’s teachers were basking in praise for help- said they won’t allow the state’s public ing students lead the country in reading school teachers — whose salaries lag the gains. Now those same educators are regional average by thousands of dollars
BY PATRICK WALL
WEATHER HIGH 74 LOW 56 PAGE 8A
continue what they have received for the past two years,” said Rep. Jason Hughes, D-New Orleans, during a House budget hearing this week. “From my perspective, we have a moral obligation to ensure that, at a minimum,” educator pay remains
ä See TEACHER, page 5A
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.
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12TH yEAR, NO. 243