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BATON ROUGE, LOUISIANA
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W e d n e s d ay, J u n e 11, 2025
Blue Bayou to reopen under new name in 2026
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DA balks at request for cuts to budget Moore’s office submits plan calling for 158% increase
BY PATRICK SLOAN-TURNER
Staff writer
STAFF PHOTOS By HILARy SCHEINUK
Blue Bayou Water Park, located off Interstate 10 at Highland Road, did not open this summer.
Soak’n Fun will lease only water park, not Dixie Landin’
Facing mounting budget pressure, East Baton Rouge Parish Mayor-President Sid Edwards recently asked all city-parish departments to draft proposals with significant cuts in their 2026 budgets. But District Attorney Hillar Moore’s office has refused, saying it is already facing its own budget crisis. Instead Moore submitted a plan with for a 158% increase. “Let us be clear: the budget request enclosed does not adhere to proposed 6% or 12% reduction targets,” District Attorney Hillar Moore replied in a letter Friday. “Instead, it reflects the unavoidable and pressing need to adequately fund the constitutionally mandated function of the East Baton Rouge Parish District Attorney’s Office.” Moore says state law mandates that parishes adequately fund their district attorneys. The mayor’s spokesperson, Falon Brown, said
ä See BUDGET, page 10A
2025 LEGISLATURE
BY ELLYN COUVILLION and TIMOTHY BOONE
Bill aimed at out-of-state abortion pill prescribers OK’d
Staff writers
Blue Bayou Water Park in Baton Rouge will reopen in May 2026 under new management and a new name — Soak’n Fun — it was announced Tuesday. The water park off Interstate 10 didn’t open this summer, and it was unclear what the future of the popular venue was, especially after its sister attraction, Dixie Landin’ Theme Park, was open for about a week. The new management company is Leisure Sports and Recreation, based in Mandeville, which also owns and operates the Gulf Islands Waterpark in Gulfport, Mississippi. Gulf Islands is celebrating its 20th anniversary this year. “The Soak’n Fun family of water parks is known for delivering clean and safe family fun,” the news release said. “We’re thrilled to bring the Soak’n Fun experience to Baton Rouge,” Glenn Haggerty, managing partner of Leisure Sports and Recreation,
BY ALYSE PFEIL Staff writer
Blue Bayou Water Park will reopen in 2026 as Soak’n Fun. said in the announcement. Like Blue Bayou, Gulf Islands is a regional attraction, also located off Interstate 10. It features a wave pool, waterslides and what it bills as a “water roller coaster.” Gulf Islands recently started courting Baton Rouge visitors after Blue Bayou announced it was not opening this year.
Leisure Sports and Recreation will be working this year in preparation for the new Soak’n Fun opening next year, it said. The company said further details will be announced later this year. It will not be leasing or operating
ä See BLUE, page 10A
A bill that aims to stop out-of-state doctors from prescribing abortion drugs like mifepristone or misoprostol to people in Louisiana passed the Legislature on Tuesday. Called the “Justice for Victims of Abortion Drug Dealers Act,” the legislation would allow pregnant women to sue those who illegally give them drugs for an abortion or try to perform an abortion on them. Rep. Julie Emerson, R-Carencro, a co-sponsor of the bill, said in Louisiana it’s already a crime to provide drugs to someone for an illegal abortion,
ä See ABORTION, page 11A
Fair Grounds racing season in peril Owner Churchill Downs says it plans to give up licenses at N.O. track
BY ANTHONY McAULEY and TYLER BRIDGES Staff writers
The upcoming horse racing season in New Orleans is in peril after the owner of the Fair Grounds Race Course & Slots said it plans to give up its racing and gambling licenses following a failed effort to get state legislators to agree to a subsidy to replace lost revenue from slots. William Carstanjen, the chief executive of Churchill Downs Inc., which has owned the historic track
WEATHER HIGH 90 LOW 77 PAGE 8B
for the past two decades, told the Louisiana State Racing Commission and state legislators in a letter dated June 9 that the company plans to relinquish its license to operate the track and its other 13 off-track betting operations at the oversight board’s next meeting. The commission’s executive director, Stephen Landry, said Tuesday that he’s seen the letter but the commissioners haven’t yet set a date for the meeting. He said they expect it will be held sometime within the next 30 days. He declined to comment further.
The stalemate leaves in doubt the upcoming season, which normally begins on Thanksgiving and runs through March. The Fair Grounds season is a critical part of the $2.5 billion Louisiana horse racing and breeding industry’s annual calendar, and includes the Louisiana Derby and the Risen Star Stakes, both high-purse races that are part of the “Road to the Kentucky Derby” series. At issue is the loss of tens of millions of dollars in revenue by
STAFF FILE PHOTO By SOPHIA GERMER
The Fair Grounds season includes the Louisiana Derby and the Risen Star Stakes, both high-purse races that are part of the ‘Road to the Kentucky ä See FAIR GROUNDS, page 8A Derby’ series.
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100TH yEAR, NO. 346