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Second Harvest cuts 14% of workforce Funding shortfall eliminates 25 jobs, agency says
BY STEPHEN MARCANTEL Staff writer
Second Harvest Food Bank, the largest anti-hunger organization in Louisiana, laid off several employees Thursday and has eliminated numerous positions as they
became vacant over the past few months. The organization as a whole has eliminated around 25 positions, or 14% of its workforce, including eight positions in Lafayette and Lake Charles, Second Harvest’s Chief Regional Officer Paul Scelfo
9.3 million-pound reduction in food for the organization. In March, the Trump administrasaid. The positions include truck tion cut about $1 billion from U.S. drivers, warehouse workers and Department of Agriculture promanagers. grams that helped organizations The job cuts reflect a significant like Second Harvest purchase decrease in funding for the orga- food. To make up for the shortfall, the nization since President Donald Trump took office. Those federal nonprofit has approved emergency spending cuts have translated to a spending to buy more food.
Those cuts come at a time when demand across the 23 parishes the organization has remained constant, forcing the organization to reorganize or scale back services, Scelfo said. “The decision we are making is like ‘Do we keep our mobile pantry?’ ” Scelfo said, “Do we keep
ä See CUTS, page 4A
Council eyes next step for new library
Texas firm renews push for water from Toledo Bend
Boulet would need authority to negotiate property lease BY CLAIRE TAYLOR Staff writer
STAFF FILE PHOTO By JILL PICKETT
Toledo Bend Reservoir, built in the 1960s as a joint project by Texas and Louisiana, is the fifth largest manmade lake in the nation.
Agency faces renewed opposition from those who live near lake BY DAVID J. MITCHELL
Staff writer
The agency overseeing the state’s share of the huge Toledo Bend Reservoir in centralwestern Louisiana is looking again at whether to sell water to private Texas investors — and is facing renewed opposition from people who live alongside or otherwise count on the lake’s waters. Built as a joint project by
Texas and Louisiana in the 1960s for hydroelectric power, water supply and recreation, the 186,000-acre reservoir created from damming the Sabine River is the fifth largest manmade lake in the nation, according to agency materials. Straddling the LouisianaTexas border, the jagged-edged reservoir has become a boating, fishing and camping spot rimmed with lakeside homes, but also remains an ample
source of water in an increasingly water-thirsty world. The controversy led Gov. Jeff Landry to weigh in last week in an attempt to offer assurances that any deal would get the close local and state scrutiny that’s been in the law for more than a decade. “There’s been some false reports on social media about selling Louisiana water out of
Toledo Bend Reservoir
TEX.
ä See WATER, page 4A
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The Lafayette Parish Council is expected to consider giving Mayor-President Monique Boulet the authority to negotiate a lease for property on Louisiana Avenue for the proposed Northeast Regional Library. An ordinance is expected to go to the council for preliminary approval on Aug. 5, Boulet said recently. It would be up for final council approval on Aug. 19. In April, Boulet announced she was interested in leasing land from Society of the Holy Family, a nonprofit religious organization based in New Orleans which owns the site of the former historic Black girls’ school, Holy Rosary Institute on Carmel Drive in Lafayette. The announcement took many by surprise. Lafayette Parish government in June 2024 bought 10 acres of land on Shadow Bluff Drive near Louisiana Avenue for $339,000 on which to build the new public library in an underserved part of north Lafayette. The decision on where to build the library and how large it should be was largely in the hands of the Lafayette Public Library Board until April, when Boulet advised the board that it was an advisory panel whose approval was not needed. Her rebuke was prompted when the board voted to indefinitely delay a decision on the size of the library
ä See LIBRARY, page 4A
Israeli strike kills dozens in Gaza as aid delivery remains chaotic Agencies warn of worsening starvation
health officials said. Dozens were killed while seeking food, even as Israel moved to ease restrictions on the entry of aid. Under mounting pressure over BY WAFAA SHURAFA the spiraling hunger crisis in Gaza, and SAMY MAGDY Israel said over the weekend that Associated Press the military would pause operaDEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza Strip — Israeli tions in Gaza City, Deir al-Balah strikes or gunfire killed at least 78 and Muwasi for 10 hours a day and Palestinians across the Gaza Strip designate secure routes for aid on Monday, including a pregnant delivery. International airdrops of woman whose baby was delivered aid have also resumed. after her death but also died, local Aid agencies say the new mea-
WEATHER HIGH 97 LOW 77 PAGE 6A
ä Two Israeli rights groups say Israel committing genocide in Gaza. PAGE 6A sures are not enough to counter worsening starvation in the territory. Martin Penner, a spokesperson for the U.N. food agency, told The Associated Press that all 55 of its aid trucks that entered on Sunday
ä See GAZA, page 4A
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Palestinians inspect the site struck by an Israeli bombardment in Muwasi, Khan younis, Gaza Strip, on Monday.
ASSOCIATED PRESS PHOTO By MARIAM DAGGA
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