DIDDY ACQUITTED OF RACKETEERING, CONVICTED ON PROSTITUTION COUNTS 2A
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La. schools brace for possible cuts Trump administration withholds $7B nationally
BY PATRICK WALL
Staff writer
Louisiana schools are bracing for potentially painful cuts, including to after-school programs and teacher training, after the Trump administration said this week that it is withholding nearly $7 billion in education grants. About 22,000 Louisiana students attend summer and after-school programs funded by the grants, advocates said. The federal money, which Congress approved earlier this year, also pays for programs for summer learning, migrant students, English learners, adult literacy, arts and science education
and violence prevention in schools across the country. Schools had expected to receive the money on July 1, as required by federal law, which would allow them to plan and budget for the fall. Instead, the U.S. Department of Education told states in a brief memo Monday that it would not release the funds until it had reviewed the grant programs, adding that funding decisions for the upcoming school year have not yet been made. Louisiana could lose out on more than $109 million, or about 14% of its federal K-12 education funding, if the Trump administration does not restore the grant money,
according to an estimate by the Learning Policy Institute, which conducts education research. A Louisiana Department of Education spokesperson said the agency is still reviewing the funding amounts and could not immediately confirm that figure. The indefinite funding freeze, which comes as schools finalize spending plans and staffing for next school year, has caused confusion and left school leaders in limbo as they prepare for the possibility of big budget gaps and disruptive program cuts. “It really caught us all off guard,”
STAFF FILE PHOTO By HILARy SCHEINUK
Louisiana schools are bracing for potentially painful cuts after the Trump administration said this week that it is withholding nearly $7 billion in ä See SCHOOLS, page 4A education grants.
Market Street Power Plant music venue plan revived
Spending bill could boost La. federal funds Oil, gas money for coastal projects may increase
BY MIKE SMITH Staff writer
STAFF PHOTO By DAVID GRUNFELD
A Mardi Gras float featuring a giant alligator head sits in a Kern Studios parking lot near the Market Street Power Plant on Tuesday. The long-abandoned plant is a prominent relic along the Mississippi River.
5,000-seat indoor arena proposed for riverfront property BY ANTHONY McAULEY Staff writer
The owners of the Market Street Power Plant have revived a plan to turn the riverfront property into a midsized New Orleans music venue, a project that could offer a needed boost to the River District neighborhood taking shape near the Ernest N. Morial Convention Center. ASM Global, the multinational venue-management firm that runs the Caesars Superdome, has a “verbal agreement” with the former power plant’s owners to lease and then operate a 5,000-seat indoor arena once it is built there, Doug Thornton, head of North American venues for ASM, said in an interview last week. And BRG Hospitality, the New Orleansbased restaurant company formerly known as Besh Restaurant Group, has also been developing plans for various food offerings at the site, ac-
WEATHER HIGH 94 LOW 78 PAGE 8B
RENDERING PROVIDED By MARKET STREET POWER PLANT OWNERS GROUP
A 2022 rendering shows what a conversion of the Market Street Power Plant might look like.
cording to BRG co-founder Octavio Cypress Equities haven’t been finalMantilla. ized. No timeline has been shared Agreements between the firms publicly, and Thornton cautioned and property owners Louis Lauriä See VENUE, page 4A cella, Brian Gibbs and Dallas-based
A measure that would increase the amount of money Louisiana receives from offshore oil and gas production has survived the Senate version of the One Big Beautiful Bill making its way toward a final vote in Congress, potentially boosting federal funds dedicated to the state’s coastal protection and restoration plans. While the larger bill has fueled the country’s divisions, leading to warnings over its projected ballooning of the deficit and its cuts to programs like Medicaid, the little-known change in offshore revenue disINSIDE bursements marks a victory in Louisiana’s yearslong efforts on the issue. Louisiana’s congressional delegation has led a charge to increase the state’s share of revenue collected by the federal government from offshore production. The additional money would help address a steep decline in coastal protection funds in the coming years as House Speaker Mike billions flowing to the Johnson, R-Benton state from the 2010 BP Deepwater Hori- ä GOP leaders in the zon oil spill settlement House are working to win over holdouts and pass expire. The Trump adminis- Trump’s spending bill. tration’s cost-cutting Page 5A and intent to shift more of the burden onto states has sounded an additional alarm for coastal Louisiana parishes, which have relied heavily on FEMA and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to either proactively prevent or respond to flooding and intensifying storms. The provision included in the One Big Beautiful Bill changes aspects of what is known as GOMESA, or the Gulf of Mexico Energy Security Act. The change could mean up to around $50 million per year extra for Louisiana over a decade. That amount falls far short of what is needed for Louisiana’s coastal protection and its efforts to address the state’s land loss crisis, but it is progress nonetheless. Longer term, state officials want to see the amount increased further
Business ......................6A Commentary ................7B Nation-World................2A Classified .....................7D Deaths .........................4B Opinion ........................6B Comics-Puzzles .....3D-6D Living............................1D Sports ..........................1C
ä See BILL, page 4A
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