MEMORIAL DAY
REMEMBER & HONOR HONORING THE FALLEN: WHAT IS MEMORIAL DAy AND HOW HAS IT EVOLVED? 1D
N O L A.C O M
|
M o n d ay, M ay 26, 2025
$2.00X
AN AMERICAN
JOURNEY
3 women arrested in connection with N.O. jailbreak 2 accused of driving escapee across state line
BY KASEY BUBNASH and JOHN SIMERMAN Staff writers
STAFF PHOTO By CHRIS GRANGER
The National WWII Museum President and CEO Stephen Watson stands in front of a wall filled with the faces of Medal of Honor recipients on Thursday.
National WWII Museum CEO Stephen Watson reflects on 25th anniversary of one of New Orleans’ most prominent attractions
ä See WATSON, page 6A
Bill to revert cases, create parole committees fails STAFF FILE PHOTO By CHRIS GRANGER
foster homes beNumber of those aging out around fore living in a Natchigroup home until of system highest in 2024 toches she turned 18. She left with
Every year, more than 100 18-year-olds age out of Louisiana’s foster care system, meaning they have no permanent home or source of care, and they often face devastating challenges. Samantha Morris-LaCour, 26, bounced
WEATHER HIGH 91 LOW 77 PAGE 6B
no support system, and a relationship that brought on abuse and sex trafficking defined early adultDoucet hood for her, she said. Mikey Doucet, 36, was no stranger to couch surfing, beginning when he was a child in west Louisiana. One word
BY MEGHAN FRIEDMANN | Staff writer
he uses to describe his foster experience: “traumatic.” Keionna Johnson, 25, believes she would have taken her own life if she hadn’t found help in Hammond. Now, the former foster child works for two state groups that work with children in the system “to give them hope.” The 200 18-year-olds who aged out of foster care in 2024 marked the
Lawmakers in Louisiana have, for several years, been grappling with how to deal with an unusual portion of the state’s prison population: inmates who were convicted by nonunanimous jury verdicts. Such verdicts were banned in Louisiana in 2018, and the U.S. Supreme Court later ruled them unconstitutional. But the court didn’t apply the decision retroactively, leaving it up to Louisiana to determine how to handle old cases. A proposal in this legislative session — Senate Bill 218, by Sen. Royce DuplesDuplessis sis, D-New Orleans — aimed to address that problem. It would have allowed prisoners convicted by split juries to apply to have their cases set back to pretrial status. From there, district attorneys could decide whether to hold a new trial, cut a plea deal or dismiss a case. But the bill died in the Senate on Wednesday on a vote of 26-9. The vote fell along
ä See FOSTER, page 7A
ä See DIVIDE, page 7A
Stephen Watson, right, chief operating officer for The National World War II Museum, gets a hug from his son, Matthew, then 6, after his father, who is originally from Scotland, was made a U.S. citizen at a naturalization ceremony at the museum in New Orleans on July 3, 2015.
Safety net expanding for older Louisiana foster youths BY CLAIRE GRUNEWALD | Staff writer
ä See JAILBREAK, page 6A
Split-jury verdicts continue to divide Legislature
BY KEITH SPERA | Staff writer Stephen Watson ran to America. Thirty-one years ago, he was a member of the University of Aberdeen’s track team in his native Scotland. A chance encounter led to an unsolicited athletic scholarship from Nicholls State University in Thibodaux. So at age 19, Watson boarded a plane for the first time to fly from Glasgow to Washington, D.C., then New Orleans. He arrived in Thibodaux on Aug. 14, 1994. With that, his life was set on an entirely different and unexpected course. It eventually made him not only a naturalized American citizen, but a caretaker of one of the greatest chapters in American history. Since 2017, Watson has served as president and CEO of The National WWII Museum, one of New Orleans’ most prominent and popular attractions. Over the next two weeks, the museum celebrates its 25th anniversary. Following Monday’s Memorial Day commemoration, the American Spirit Awards on Thursday and Friday honor businessman “Boysie” Bollinger, World War II veteran C.
At least three more women who are accused of helping one of 10 inmates who escaped the New Orleans jail earlier this month were arrested over the weekend and at least two now face million-dollar bonds. Patricia Vanburen, 18, and Tyshanea Randolph, 27, were arrested on Saturday and booked into the Plaquemines Parish jail on counts of accessories after the fact. They appeared the following afternoon before Magistrate Commissioner Jonathan Friedman during an Orleans Parish Criminal District Court court session via Zoom, where their bails were set at $1 million. Vanburen and Randolph are accused of driving escapee Lenton Vanburen Jr. from Louisiana to a family member’s house in Mississippi, according to court documents. Lenton Vanburen’s 28-year-old sister, Lenika Vanburen, was also booked Friday in Jefferson Parish on a fugitive count and several traffic violations. Investigators said in court documents that Lenton Vanburen called Lenika Vanburen and another sister from
Classified .....................7D Deaths .........................3B Nation-World................2A Comics-Puzzles .....3D-6D Living............................1D Opinion ........................4B Commentary ................5B Metro ...........................1B Sports ..........................1C
12TH yEAR, NO. 287