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T u e s d ay, M ay 13, 2025
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Tech lab set for blighted naval station
Teacher stipends included in House budget Funds also allocated for private education grants BY ELYSE CARMOSINO, PATRICK WALL and MEGHAN FRIEDMANN Staff writers
STAFF PHOTO By HILARy SCHEINUK
With a rendering behind him, David Belt speaks during a news conference at the State Capitol on Monday to announce a $50 million investment in the Newlab New Orleans ‘innovation hub’ at the former Navy base in New Orleans.
Louisiana would spend nearly $200 million on one-time pay stipends for public ä Jefferson school teachers and other school School Board OKs employees next school year under $1,500 a proposed budget stipends for advanced by the teachers. House AppropriaPAGE 1B tions Committee on Monday, essentially keeping educator pay flat as lawmakers explore ways to fund long-term raises. The spending plan, which the full House is expected to vote on Thursday, also includes $93.5 million that Gov. Jeff Landry requested for a new education program, called LA GATOR, that gives families tax dollars to pay for private school tuition and homeschooling expenses. It cuts $30 million that had been allocated for student tutoring. For the third year in a row, certified teachers would get $2,000 and other school personnel would receive $1,000 under the proposed
ä See STIPENDS, page 5A
Incubator startup a $50 million public-private partnership BY BLAKE PATERSON
Staff writer
A Brooklyn, New York-based startup incubator is planning a major innovation hub at the blighted former U.S. naval station in New Orleans, a project aimed at attracting and growing companies focused on energy efficiency, carbon management and port infrastructure. Newlab, which has created startup incubators focused on industrial technology and “deep
tech” in Detroit and New York, and is set to expand to Saudi Arabia, said Monday it would be coming to New Orleans through a partnership with the city, Shell Oil, Louisiana Economic Development, LSU and Greater New Orleans, Inc. The $50 million public-private partnership, called Newlab New Orleans, will consist of laboratory space and advanced machinery that startups can use as they
ä See NEWLAB, page 4A
Foster numbers hit record highs in La. STAFF FILE PHOTO By BRETT DUKE
An abandoned former naval base in the Bywater neighborhood is the site of the planned 30,000-square-foot Newlab.
Some parishes have zero homes to place children
BY CLAIRE GRUNEWALD Staff writer
‘Emperor of crawfish’ Al Scramuzza dies at 97 Seafood City owner known for his iconic commercials
BY JOHN POPE
Contributing writer Al Scramuzza, a plain-spoken man whose endearingly hokey commercials for his Gentilly seafood store vaulted him into the pantheon of pitchmen, died Sunday at his Metairie home. He was 97. Scramuzza, who took credit for making crawfish popular in New Orleans, sold mudbugs and other seafood on North Broad Street for
WEATHER HIGH 86 LOW 72 PAGE 6B
43 years. He promoted his business, Seafood City, with a series of commercials that he wrote, produced and directed himself. In one spot, Scramuzza, wearing a white medical coat, was scrutinizing crawfish with a stethoscope to determine whether they were healthy. Others featured him, again in the white coat, prescribing crawfish and other seafood to help people recover from falls, depression and infertility. Each ad ended with Scramuzza, surrounded by employees, announcing the address — 1826 N. Broad — and waving. “I always had plenty confidence”
ä See SCRAMUZZA, page 4A
STAFF FILE PHOTO By SOPHIA GERMER
Al Scramuzza, who took credit for making crawfish popular in New Orleans, sold mudbugs and other seafood on North Broad Street for 43 years. He died Sunday at 97.
Business ......................6A Commentary ................5B Nation-World................2A Classified .....................7D Deaths .........................3B Opinion ........................4B Comics-Puzzles .....3D-6D Living............................1D Sports ..........................1C
On a recent Tuesday afternoon in Watson, Rebecca Braun was working her shift at a donation center when she received a call from the state Department of Children and Family Services: A 14-year-old girl needed a place to stay for the night. Braun, who currently fosters seven children at her Livingston Parish home, can’t bring herself to say no. The Louisiana woman has fostered nearly 100 children — from teenagers to a newborn baby she picked up from a Walmart. The parish consistently has some of the highest numbers of children entering foster care in the state. At one point this year, it had more than 220 foster children but only 21 certified foster homes. Braun’s is one of them.
ä See NUMBERS, page 5A
12TH yEAR, NO. 274