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BATON ROUGE, LOUISIANA
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M o n d ay, J u ly 14, 2025
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‘We just want people to know that we’re here ... we’re ready.’
Program aims to keep kids out of courts BY HALEY MILLER Staff writer
Gracie Bergeron, director of the Families In Need of Services program for West Baton Rouge, Iberville and Pointe Coupee parishes, keeps a manila folder in her cramped office across the street from the courthouse. The folder is full of success stories. She calls them “the happies.” “You just need that,” Bergeron said. “Sometimes, in this job, you see the ugly side of humanity.” Bergeron leads the 18th Ju-
dicial District Court program, which intervenes in cases of truancy, running away and other crimes that can only be committed by children. Instead of putting youth in courts and jails, the goal is to figure out what’s causing the behavior and get them connected to therapy or other resources that could help. Since the program started on the Westside in February 2023, the organization has managed the cases of hundreds of children. Area schools observed decreases in chronic absenteeism and improvements in the daily at-
Families In Need of Services Director Gracie Bergeron, left, and case manager Casey Cannon, right, stand with supervising Judge Elizabeth Engolio at the West Baton Rouge Parish Courthouse in Port Allen.
tendance rate since gaining support from the group. In December, West Baton Rouge Parish schools’ chronic absenteeism rate dropped by nearly half compared with the same month the year before — from 18.7% to 9.8%. “We’re able to refer kids for that program,” the district superintendent, Chandler Smith, said. “It’s helped tremendously.” Iberville Parish School Parish school district child welfare and attendance supervisor Brandie Blanchard, whose
STAFF PHOTO By JAVIER GALLEGOS
ä See KIDS, page 4A
FLASH FORWARD
BR woman recovering after being struck by lightning
Complex changes embedded in wide-ranging bill
BY QUINN COFFMAN Staff writer
It was just a short walk to the front door from the driveway. But Rebekah Prevost, a Baton Rouge mother living on a quiet street a couple blocks from Broadmoor High School in Baton Rouge, still wasn’t taking any risks. Fueled by past “close calls” with both hurricanes and tornadoes, Prevost said she has always felt a mix of “fear and fascination” for extreme weather. As her husband, Dale, pulled the family truck into the driveway on July 3, Prevost planned to run inside, leaving the groceries for him to carry. She said a short prayer under her breath for protection. That prayer was the last thing Prevost remembers. As she opened the truck door and stepped onto the rain-slickened concrete in her sandals, a bolt of lightning struck a tree in her front
ä See LIGHTNING, page 3A
BY MARK BALLARD Staff writer
STAFF PHOTO By MICHAEL JOHNSON
The trunk of a tree in the yard of Rebekah Prevost shows signs of a lightning strike that also hit Prevost. STAFF PHOTO By MICHAEL JOHNSON
Rebekah Prevost, left, and sister Samantha Reed have grown closer following Prevost’s recent near-death experience following a lightning strike in Baton Rouge.
Rebekah Prevost sits in the ambulance July 3 after being struck by lightning. PROVIDED PHOTO
Lake Charles mom training for trip to space Entergy worker a research astronaut candidate BY MEGAN WYATT
Staff writer
Jenee Fox was working out four years ago when an audiobook about spacesuits — and the differences among those made in America, Europe and Russia — piqued her attention. She had a casual interest in space exploration before, but the book ignited a new passion. Now, the Lake Charles power plant worker and mother has be-
WEATHER HIGH 93 LOW 76 PAGE 12A
How will Trump tax cuts affect state’s residents?
come an expert in spacesuit design and is training to be a research astronaut for a March 2029 flight. “This isn’t just my mission,” Fox said. “It’s for every child who’s ever looked up at the sky and dared to wonder, ‘What if?’ ” Fox, 35, was recently named an astronaut candidate by Titans Space Industries, a private space tourism company headed by veteran NASA astronaut Bill McArthur. She’s one
PROVIDED PHOTO
Jenee Fox performs a space flight simulation as she trains as an astronaut researcher ahead of a planned orbital flight with ä See SPACE, page 5A Titans Space in March 2029.
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WASHINGTON — After narrowly passing Congress without a single Democratic vote, the sweeping “One Big Beautiful Bill Act” signed into law July 4 codifies much of President Donald Trump’s agenda, like building a wall along the Mexican border. But mostly, the legislation is about tax cuts — about 50 different ones. House Speaker Mike Johnson, RBenton, says preventing existing tax breaks from expiring and adding new ones will energize the nation’s economy. “It’s going be jet fuel,” Johnson told “Fox News Sunday” and anybody else who asked. “Small business owners, entrepreneurs, risktakers, the people that provide the jobs, manufacturers, farmers get assistance here, and that will lift the economy.” “Waiters and waitresses with no tax on tips. We get rid of all taxes on overtime pay for blue-collar workers. It’s going to lower inflation, create higher wages for families,” added House Majority Leader Steve Scalise, R-Jefferson, in a video released on X. The rub for Democrats is that the new law pays for the tax cut’s drop in federal revenues — about $4.5 trillion over the next decade, according to the Congressional Budget Office — mostly with reductions in spending on Medicaid and food stamps. Republicans say the changes will protect those programs for those who truly need them. U.S. Rep. Troy Carter, D-New Orleans, points out that most of the tax benefits for working people expire in four years and include provisions that limit the breaks available to employees who work for tips, rely on overtime, or Social Security. “All they care about is making sure Trump doesn’t hurt their reelection campaigns and giving a handout to their wealthy donors,” Carter said.
ä See TAX CUTS, page 4A
101ST yEAR, NO. 14