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‘We’re very devastated’ Historic Nottoway a total loss after massive fire
BY HALEY MILLER Staff writer
Nottoway plantation owner Dan Dyess will consider rebuilding the Antebellum-era mansion in White Castle, once home to a wealthy sugar planter and 155 enslaved people, after a structure fire Thursday razed the main house. “We’re very devastated, we’re upset, we’re sad,” Dyess said Friday. “We put a lot of time, effort and money to developing this property.” The site will be evaluated in the next two weeks to determine the
feasibility of rebuilding, he said. Staff reported the fire around 2 p.m. Thursday after spotting smoke coming from the south wing. The mansion’s remains smoldered well into Friday afternoon. The property, renamed Nottoway Resort, served as an ornate reminder of Louisiana’s brutal history of chattel slavery and divided residents over its historic and aesthetic significance. It also boosted the economy in rural Iberville Parish, bringing in tourists and hosting events on its manicured grounds. “It stood as both a cautionary
monument and a testament to the importance of preserving history — even the painful parts — so that future generations can learn and grow from it,” Iberville Parish President Chris Daigle said in a statement Thursday. The State Fire Marshal’s Office began its investigation Friday morning. The cause remains undetermined. Iberville Parish municipal fire departments from Bayou Goula, White Castle and Plaquemine fought the fire for the first two to
STAFF PHOTO By HILARy SCHEINUK
Light smoke can be seen from a handful of active hot spots on Friday as crews remain on scene after a fire engulfed the historic Nottoway Resort ä See NOTTOWAY, page 4A on Thursday.
A MATTER OF DEGREES
2025 LEGISLATURE
Changes to EBR judicial districts proposed BY ALYSE PFEIL Staff writer
STAFF PHOTOS By MICHAEL JOHNSON
Jaydinn Sierra Holmes leads a line of graduates preparing to take the stage Friday during the LSU College of Art and Design commencement ceremony at the Maddox Field House.
LSU is celebrating its largest spring graduating class on record, with 5,431 students earning degrees this semester. This surpasses the previous record of 4,949 set in spring 2024.
Logan Scott Bass smiles after receiving his diploma during the LSU College of Art and Design commencement ceremony on Friday.
More than 30 years ago, judicial voting districts were set up in East Baton Rouge Parish to help settle a lawsuit over the lack of Black judges on the bench in Louisiana. Now, a bill moving through the Legislature could, for the first time, redraw those district lines. State lawmakers are considering a plan to redistrict the 19th Judicial District Court’s election sections, which serve as geographic boundaries for voting for judges. A new map could significantly alter the judiciary when parish residents vote for more than a dozen state district court judges next year. The 19th JDC covers East Baton Rouge Parish. Within that area, there are three election sections, also referred to as voting subdistricts. Each subdistrict gets to choose five of the court’s 15 judges, an arrangement that resulted from a legal settlement in the 1990s that aimed to protect Black voting rights. But some lawmakers argue the map of judicial voting districts drawn decades ago is woefully out of date and doesn’t reflect the current racial makeup of the parish. “The districts are, populationwise, very out of kilter,” Rep.
ä See DISTRICTS, page 4A
10 inmates escape from Orleans jail BY JOHN SIMERMAN, MARCO CARTOLANO and MISSY WILKINSON Staff writers
Ten inmates, including some accused of murder and other violent crimes, escaped from the Orleans Parish jail in the wee hours Friday morning, sparking a citywide manhunt and raising questions about security failures leading to the brazen breach.
WEATHER HIGH 93 LOW 74 PAGE 6A
Orleans Justice Center officials discovered that inmates were missing during a routine head count at 8:30 a.m. Friday, Sheriff Susan Hutson said during the first of three news conferences held Friday. Three jail workers have been suspended. Hutson and other jail officials said investigators suspect someone inside the Sheriff’s Office may have aided in the 1 a.m. es-
cape. They said it appeared the men pulled a cell door off its track and a toilet from a wall, escaping through a cut-out in the Sheetrock, which was reinforced with a grid of steel bars that appeared to have been unbolted from the outside. They took a flight of stairs down and left through a door on the jail “docks,” scaling an outer wall and
ä See ESCAPE, page 5A
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Orleans Parish Sheriff Susan Hutson speaks about inmates escaping from Orleans Justice Center at a news conference on Friday. STAFF PHOTO By BRETT DUKE
100TH yEAR, NO. 321