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Report details orphan well effort Insider ties, no oversight alleged in document
BATON ROUGE, LOUISIANA
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T u e s d ay, M ay 20, 2025
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LSU President Tate heading to Rutgers
Interim leader set before nationwide search begins BY PATRICK WALL
Staff writer
BY PATRICK SLOAN-TURNER Staff writer
A new review has raised more questions about a $780,000 loan from a Baton Rouge company to a state official who helped oversee a program designed to plug abandoned oil wells. The loan — used to help Johnny Adams and his wife, East Baton Rouge Parish Metro Council member Laurie Adams, buy a house — was one of several “concerning” financial arrangements that led state government to terminate its agreement with the Louisiana Oilfield Restoration Association earlier this month, according to records. The 171-page report, done for the state natural resources department, states LORA misrepresented how it was spending money and how much it had. It found the company paid questionably high fees to separate companies that share the same ownership. It also details the $780,000 loan that LORA made — through Chromos Wealth Solutions, a company with the same owners as LORA and registered to the same address — to Johnny Adams, who has since resigned from his post as assistant commissioner of conservation. The report states Johnny and Laurie Adams used a “prohibited transaction” to provide collateral to secure the loan. And it says the loan did not include adequate terms to ensure repayment and the mortgage wasn’t filed in court as it should have been. John McLindon, an attorney representing the Adamses, said the report doesn’t prove any wrongdoing, arguing the money borrowed was properly secured by significant assets and didn’t have to be filed in court. “The vast majority of this report focuses and comments on LORA. The small portion of the report that discusses John Adams confirms
ä See REPORT, page 7A
STAFF FILE PHOTO By HILARy SCHEINUK
LSU President William Tate IV speaks on LSU Day at the State Capitol on April 23. Tate is leaving after four years at LSU.
LSU President William Tate IV is departing for Rutgers University in New Jersey, officials said Monday, a major shake-up that comes as Louisiana’s flagship public university celebrates record “LSU, its enrollment and research students, growth but faculty, also threats staff, and to its federal supporters funding. are all Ta t e t o o k the helm of incredible LSU in 2021, and becoming the inspirational. first Black You will president of that univer- forever stay sity or any in my heart.” in the Southeastern Con- WILLIAM TATE IV, LSU president ference. Last year, Tate received a threeyear contract extension and a raise. He would have earned a $500,000 bonus if he stayed on until his contract ended. After he steps down on June 30, LSU’s Vice President for Agriculture Matt Lee will serve as interim president while the university conducts a national search for a permanent president, LSU officials said. On Monday, Rutgers’ governing board appointed Tate as the public university’s new president beginning July 1. The board chair called Tate “a scholar, an innovator and a transformative force,” while New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy called him “the ideal leader and educator for the job.” “It’s an honor to be in this position,” Tate told the Rutgers board Monday, adding that he would not be there “if it was not for an opportunity at LSU.” In a statement shared by LSU, Tate said it was “a distinctly difficult decision” to leave the university he’s led for the past
ä See LSU, page 5A
Legislature considers bill to allow abortion drug lawsuits
Lawmakers seek to target medical providers BY ALYSE PFEIL Staff writer
Pregnant women in Louisiana and some of their family members
WEATHER HIGH 91 LOW 74 PAGE 6B
It’s part of a larger effort by antiabortion lawmakers to limit the use of drugs such as mifepristone and would be allowed to sue anyone misoprostol for abortions in Louiwho helps provide drugs meant siana. Supporters say the legislation to induce an abortion under a proposal being considered by the Leg- would provide more tools to pursue out-of-state doctors who prescribe islature.
drugs for abortion, which is illegal in Louisiana. But opponents are worried it could lead to messy litigation weaponized against pregnant or previously pregnant women. House Bill 575 would give the mother of an unborn child, the biological father and grandparents
Business ......................6A Commentary ................5B Nation-World ................2A Classified .....................6D Deaths .........................3B Opinion ........................4B Comics-Puzzles .....3D-5D Living............................1D Sports ..........................1C
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legal standing to file a civil lawsuit against “any person or entity who performs, causes, or substantially facilitates an abortion … regardless of whether the abortion resulted in the death of the unborn child.”
ä See ABORTION, page 7A
100TH yEAR, NO. 324