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T u e s d ay, M ay 20, 2025
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“It may drag into next month. To be honest with you, it may drag into July. But we’re hoping to make some headway sooner rather than later.” BRIAN FAIR, U.S. deputy marshal
LSU president heading to Rutgers Interim leader set before search begins BY PATRICK WALL
Staff writer
Louisiana State Police troopers transport a recaptured inmate after Friday’s jailbreak.
MANHUNT
PHOTO PROVIDED By LOUISIANA STATE POLICE
More than 200 law enforcement personnel from local, state and federal agencies join intricate investigation BY JULIA GUILBEAU
ä Fourth escapee recaptured. PAGE 4A
As a small army of law enforcement agents nabbed their fourth New Orleans jail escapee on Monday, a federal official warned it could take months to round all five remaining men up — an outcome that an expert said is almost all but certain. After 10 New Orleans inmates broke out in a blockbuster escape, officials from at least eight local, state and federal agencies have joined in an intricate investigation focused on sifting through tips from the public, following those leads and interviewing friends and family of missing inmates, several of whom were jailed for violent crimes, officials said. Authorities made some headway Monday evening, recapturing Gary C. Price,
the 21-year-old charged in May with attempted murder, after tracking him down in New Orleans East. But Antoine Massey, Lenton Vanburen, Jermaine Donald, Leo Tate, Derrick Groves and Corey Boyd are still at large. “It may drag into next month. To be honest with you, it may drag into July,” said U.S. Deputy Marshal Brian Fair. “But we’re hoping to make some headway sooner rather than later.” More than 200 law enforcement personnel have joined in the manhunt, which is now being led by Louisiana State Police. Among the other agencies involved are the FBI, the New Orleans Police Department, U.S. Department of Homeland
Staff writer
Security Investigations, U.S. Marshals Service, Orleans Parish Sheriff’s Office, Orleans Parish Levee Board Police and New Orleans Harbor Police. Fair said that authorities remain confident that all of the prisoners still on the run will be recaptured. History is in their favor. In the U.S., the vast majority of escaped inmates are recaptured quickly, according to one study. More than 90% of escapees are returned to jail within a year. Of those returned inmates, 82% were recaptured within a week, according to Bryce Peterson, a senior scientist at CNA’s Center for Justice Research and Innovation who co-authored a 2023 study on escapes and recaptures.
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 enrollment and research growth but also threats to its federal funding. Tate took the helm of LSU in 2021, becoming the first Black president of that university or any in the Southeastern Conference. Last year, Tate received a three-year 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 four years. He previously was the provost at the University of South Carolina for less than a year.
ä See LSU, page 5A
ä See MANHUNT, page 4A
DA says fearful lawyers have fled state BY JOSEPH CRANNEY
Staff writer
Williams
Two Orleans Parish attorneys who helped secure recent convictions against an escapee from the Orleans Parish jail have fled the state along with their families, fearing for their safety after last week’s jailbreak, District Attorney Jason Williams said Monday. As a manhunt for seven of the escaped prisoners entered its fourth day — and one man, Gary Price, was recaptured late Monday — Williams said he was “personally afraid” for his own safety. Williams tried the
second-degree murder case against escapee Derrick Groves in October, along with the two other lawyers who left Louisiana over the weekend. “We were asking for a life sentence for this man,” Williams said during a news conference. “And he is now at large.” Williams declined to identify the lawyers who fled, their rank or say if they’ve been given police protection. Groves’ case was a gang-related double killing that had to be retried twice. Before he and nine
ä See LAWYERS, page 4A
STAFF FILE PHOTO By HILARy SCHEINUK
LSU President William F. Tate IV speaks on LSU Day at the State Capitol on April 23. Tate is leaving after four years at LSU.
Archdiocese OKs deal to continue production of Clarion Herald BY STEPHANIE RIEGEL Staff writer
The Archdiocese of New Orleans has finalized a deal with a Wisconsin company that will take over printing and publishing The Clarion Herald, ensuring a future for the Catholic newspaper nearly a year after local pastors voted to stop funding it. LPi, a 52-year-old company that prints church bulletins for 5,200
WEATHER HIGH 90 LOW 77 PAGE 6B
Catholic parishes around the country and newsletters for some 900 charitable nonprofit organizations, will take over publication of the local archdiocesan newspaper beginning in July. The move comes nearly a year after a committee of local Catholic pastors voted to eliminate the two main sources of funding for the newspaper, both of which come directly from parish coffers: 1% of weekly collections and a $15 fee
assessed to each Catholic school family in the archdiocese. Together, those sources made up about half of the $1 million annual budget of the Clarion Herald, which has been the official Catholic newspaper for the city’s 500,000 faithful since the 1960s. Under the terms of the arrangement, LPi will print the paper at no cost to the archdiocese, covering the expense through the sale of ads and taking a commission.
The archdiocese will continue to own the paper and will provide the editorial content. “It will be a lot of the same content — very local and focused on formation as well as local news and features,” said archdiocese spokesperson Sarah McDonald. While the arrangement will keep the Clarion Herald alive, the new version of the publication will be different. For one thing, the size of the publication will shrink from
Business ......................6A Commentary ................5B Nation-World................2A Classified .....................7D Deaths .........................3B Opinion ........................4B Comics-Puzzles .....3D-6D Living............................1D Sports ..........................1C
that of a tabloid newspaper to that of a newsletter or bulletin, roughly 8.5 inches by 11 inches, though the page count will remain at 24. Also, The Kids Clarion section of the paper will no longer be available in the print edition, though it will appear in a new digital version that the archdiocese hopes to grow through LPi’s online platform. The biweekly circulation,
ä See PRODUCTION, page 5A
12TH yEAR, NO. 281