NBA DRAF T
Pelicans pick Oklahoma guard Fears, trade up for Maryland center Queen 1C
N O L A.C O M
|
T h u r s d ay, J u n e 26, 2025
CHAMPIONSHIP
CELEBRATION LSU baseball team honored for eighth title
$2.00X
Topgolf project dead River District developers scramble for replacement
BY ANTHONY McAULEY Staff writer
The Topgolf planned for the River District is dead after years of delays and the opening of a rival golf-entertainment complex 3 miles away, a major setback for the mixed-use development along the Mississippi River. River District Neighborhood Investors, the consortium chosen to turn a barren 47 acres of land owned by the Ernest N. Morial Convention Center into a new neighborhood packed with housing, offices and tourist attractions, confirmed this week that the $50 million driving range and entertainment complex won’t be built on the Tchoupitoulas Street parcel where “future home of Topgolf” signs have been hanging along chain-link fencing. A project six years in the making, Topgolf was supposed to anchor a chunk of the River District and provide a steady source of funding as developers pursued other projects on the site. Now, RDNI leaders are working to bring in a different tenant for approval by the Convention Center board, which has been growing frustrated about the pace of the overall project, according to two sources familiar with board members’ thinking.
ä See TOPGOLF, page 5A
STAFF PHOTOS By MICHAEL JOHNSON
LSU outfielder Josh Pearson carries the championship trophy during player introductions at the national championship celebration on Wednesday at Alex Box Stadium.
Jay Johnson lauded by players, fans for team’s success BY KOKI RILEY Staff writer
LSU has become accustomed to winning national championships over the last half-decade and change. Football started the run of success, winning its fourth title in 2019. Women’s basketball won its first-ever national championship in 2023, followed by gymnastics in 2024, which achieved the same feat. Men’s outdoor track won it all in 2021. But no LSU program has better exemplified this recent run of success than LSU baseball, especially after the Tigers won their second national championship in three years on Sunday, defeating Coastal Carolina 5-3 in Game 2 of the College World Series final. “I definitely still think it’s a little bit of a blur. I don’t think I’ve taken it all in yet,” senior outfielder Josh Pearson said. “I’ve been talking to
Push for local food in schools faces funding challenges in La. BY JOSIE ABUGOV Staff writer
LSU coach Jay Johnson thanks the fans during Wednesday’s
Over three decades after Duriel Harris left the Dallas Cowboys, the Texas native settled in Acadiana and became a cowboy in his own right. The former wide receiver bought two dozen Black Angus heifers in 2016, and since then, his Ville Platte operation has only grown. Last year, Harris Cattle Company had its best year yet, grossing nearly $400,000. His success is largely thanks to a market niche he found: a federal program that pays for schools to source food from local farms. After learning about the program, he started selling to schools in Alexandria, then Baton Rouge and St. Tammany Parish.
ä See CELEBRATION, page 5A championship celebration.
ä See FOOD, page 4A
Agents detain 47-year U.S. resident N.O. Iranian woman has no record
who arrived in three unmarked vehicles, a witness said. She was taken to Hancock County, Mississippi, where she spent a night in the local jail before being moved to BY JAMES FINN the South Louisiana ICE ProcessStaff writer ing Center in Basile. Kashanian came to the United An Iranian woman who has lived in the United States for 47 years States in 1978 on a student visa and and has no criminal record was eventually applied for asylum, but detained by federal agents Sunday her claim was denied. Federal offimorning as she gardened outside cials granted her a reprieve to stay her Lakeview home. in the country provided she follow Mandonna “Donna” Kashanian, the law and appear at regular im64, was handcuffed and placed migration appointments. Famin the back of a pickup by agents ily members say Kashanian never
WEATHER HIGH 90 LOW 77 PAGE 18D
missed one of those appointments and has never been accused of a crime. She remained in custody in Basile on Wednesday, according to federal records. Kashanian’s arrest highlights how President Donald Trump’s widening immigration crackdown is, in part, focusing on people who were long allowed to stay in the United States while their immigration cases unfolded, but who now face detention and possible remov-
PHOTO PROVIDED
Mandonna ‘Donna’ Kashanian prepares food in her kitchen in the Navarre neighborhood of New Orleans. She was detained outside her ä See DETAIN, page 4A home on Sunday.
Business ......................6A Commentary ................7B Nation-World................2A Classified .....................7D Deaths .........................3B Opinion ........................6B Comics-Puzzles .....3D-6D Living............................1D Sports ..........................1C
12TH yEAR, NO. 318