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W e d n e s d ay, a p r i l 30, 2025
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FBI pushes back on reports of Iraq arrest Agency continues to believe Bourbon Street attacker acted alone BY SAM KARLIN and MISSY WILKINSON Staff writers
STAFF PHOTOS By LESLIE WESTBROOK
Lafayette Parish Mayor-President Monique Boulet speaks Tuesday at City Hall in Lafayette about the future site of the Northeast Regional branch of the Lafayette Public Library. A new proposal would put the facility on Louisiana Avenue near the Holy Rosary Institute building, which is undergoing major repairs and renovation, and the Holy Family Apartments.
Holy Rosary site eyed for Lafayette library
Boulet’s proposal for new Northeast Regional branch needs approval from Parish Council
BY CLAIRE TAYLOR Staff writer
The proposed Northeast Regional Library in Lafayette could be built at a different site. Lafayette Parish Mayor-President Monique Boulet announced Tuesday the parish signed a letter of intent last week and is drawing up a lease with Society of the Holy Family, a nonprofit religious organization based in New Orleans which owns the site of the former historic Black girls’ school, Holy Rosary Institute. The deal, which still needs approval by the Lafayette Parish Council, would include leasing about 4 acres near the corner of Louisiana Avenue and Carmel Vacant property on Louisiana Avenue is being proposed as the building site for the Drive for $1 a year for 99 years on which Northeast Regional branch of the Lafayette Public Library. to build the library. The move comes about three years after the library board rejected a proposal allowed only for the purchase of prop- siana Avenue, purchased in 2024 for $339,000, to build the new library. to lease 5 acres of land from Holy Ro- erty, not for leasing it. The parish already owns 6 acres of sary Redevelopment for $1 a year for 30 ä See LIBRARY, page 4A years because the request for proposals land on Shadow Bluff Drive off Loui-
WEATHER HIGH 84 LOW 71 PAGE 6B
The FBI said Tuesday that it continues to believe that the man who rammed a truck into revelers on Bourbon Street on New Year’s Day acted alone, despite new reports that Iraqi officials arrested an alleged ISIS member overseas for allegedly inciting the attack. “The FBI’s investigation into the New Year’s Day terrorist attack in New Orleans remains active and ongoing,” the agency said in a statement. “While we continue to work with our law enforcement partners, both in the U.S. and internationally, based on the information to date, we continue to believe that Shamsud Din-Jabbar acted alone in carrying out the attack on Bourbon Street.” Al Arabiya News, a Saudi state-owned international Arabic news channel, reported over the weekend that Iraqi authorities arrested a suspect “for inciting the January 2025 truck attack in the United States.” They cited Iraq’s Supreme Judicial Council as the source of the information about the arrest, and said it came after a request from Washington to help with the investigation.
ä See ATTACKER, page 4A
$17.5B La. LNG facility gets final approval BY TIMOTHY BOONE Business editor
Woodside Energy has made a final investment decision to build a $17.5 billion liquefied natural gas production and export facility in Calcasieu Parish, which state officials said is the largest foreign investment in Louisiana history. Construction of the Louisiana LNG facility has been underway for three years. It will be located on a 1,200-acre site on the west bank of the Calcasieu River south of Lake Charles and is slated to produce 16.5 million tons per year of LNG. It is expected to create 500 to 1,000 permanent jobs and 8,000 construction jobs. Gov. Jeff Landry referred to the “long and winding road” that it took to make the export facility a reality during a news conference Tuesday announcing the project.
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ä See LNG, page 4A
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