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Fight over Medicaid has huge stakes for Louisiana Congress to determine program’s future over the next few weeks
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‘He was a pope among the people’ Mighty and meek say farewell to Francis during Vatican funeral, last popemobile ride
BY MARK BALLARD | Staff writer WASHINGTON — The future of Medicaid will be determined over the next few weeks after months of speculation over how potential cuts could affect Louisiana. House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-Benton, and President Donald Trump are trying to pass “one big, beautiful bill” that will achieve Trump’s priorities like extending his 2017 tax cuts, tougher border security, more defense spending and exemptJohnson ing tips from taxation. To help pay for it, Republicans in the House want to cut the federal budget by $1.5 trillion — and the committee that oversees Medicaid has been tasked with eliminating $880 billion. That has raised alarm among doctors, hospitals and state Trump budget officials, who fear reductions to Medicaid could leave low-income Americans without health insurance or blow holes in state budgets. Medicaid is a state-federal program that provides health insurance to 83 million
ä See MEDICAID, page 16A ASSOCIATED PRESS PHOTO By EVAN VUCCI
St. George school bills find little initial opposition Toughest step will be parish, state approval BY CHARLES LUSSIER | Staff writer Legislation to create a school district to match the new city of St. George is off to the races and has met little initial opposition. It is a notable contrast to the immediate fierce battles that similar proposals faced in 2012 and 2013, when the new district was to be called the Southeast Baton Rouge Community School System. The city of St. George, of course, is now a reality after a bitter, yearslong incorporation effort. Supporters have returned to the Legislature to finish what they considered unfinished business
The coffin of Pope Francis is carried into St Peter’s Square for his funeral at the Vatican on Saturday. World leaders and rank-and-file Catholic faithful have said farewell to Pope Francis in a funeral that highlighted his concern for people on the peripheries and reflected his wish to be remembered as a simple pastor.
ä Faithful celebrate the pope’s life.
BY NICOLE WINFIELD and COLLEEN BARRY
PAGE 6A
Associated Press
VATICAN CITY — World leaders and rank-and-file Catholic faithful bade farewell to Pope Francis in a funeral Saturday that highlighted his concern for people on the peripheries and reflected his wish to be remembered as a simple pastor. Though presidents and princes attended the Mass in St. Peter’s Square, prisoners and migrants welcomed Francis’ coffin at his final resting place in a basilica across town. According to Vatican estimates, 250,000 people flocked to the funeral Mass at the Vatican and 150,000 more lined the motorcade route through downtown Rome to witness the first funeral procession for a pope in a century. They clapped and cheered “Papa Francesco” as his simple wooden coffin traveled aboard a modified popemobile to St. Mary Major Basilica,
31/ 2 miles away. As bells tolled, the pallbearers brought the coffin past several dozen migrants, prisoners and homeless people holding white roses outside the basilica. Once inside, the pallbearers stopped in front of the icon of the Virgin Mary that Francis loved. Four children deposited the roses at the foot of the altar before cardinals performed the burial rite at his tomb in a nearby niche. “I’m so sorry that we’ve lost him,” said Mohammed Abdallah, a 35-yearold migrant from Sudan who was one of the people who welcomed Francis to his final resting place. “Francis helped so many people, refugees like us, and ASSOCIATED PRESS FILE PHOTO many other people in the world.”
Pope Francis died on Monday at age 88.
ä See FRANCIS, page 4A
ä See ST. GEORGE, page 12A
WEATHER HIGH 90 LOW 66 PAGE 8B
Business ......................1E Deaths .........................3B Opinion ........................6B Classified ..................... 3F Living............................1D Nation-World................2A Commentary ................7B Metro ...........................1B Sports ..........................1C
100TH yEAR, NO. 301