SAVE $ 00 1
largest selection & lowest prices on wine, spirits & beer SAVE up $ 00 to 4
— ONLY —
14
$ 12 PACK 12 OZ
CELEBRATING OUR FIRST 65 YEARS
THC
LB
LB
Michelob Ultra or Yuengling Flight
— ONLY —
— ONLY —
99
23
$ 750 ML
8
— ONLY —
$ 99
99 750 ML SELECTED
Crown Royal or Bulleit Bourbon
Cupcake or Bogle Wine
visit rouses.com for more weekly ad specials!
32
$ 750 ML
— ONLY —
14
99
LIMIT 3
Traveller Whiskey
$ 750 ML
— ONLY —
99 6 PACK 12 OZ
Wheatley Vodka
1099
$
Urban South Driftee THC Seltzer
Prices good at all Lafayette, New Iberia and Youngsville stores July 30th - August 6th, 2025.
CAMP PREP Five areas UL coaches need to address 1C THE
ACADIANA
ADVOCATE
T H E A C A D I A N A A D V O C AT E.C O M
|
F r i d ay, au g u s t 1, 2025
$2.00X
Murrill asks Congress to intervene in abortion pill clash Attorney general seeks to bar states’ shield laws
BY MATTHEW ALBRIGHT and ALYSE PFEIL Staff writers
STAFF PHOTOS By BRAD BOWIE
Stakeholders break ground Wednesday on Hotel Lafayette at the site of the former Don’s Seafood and Steakhouse in downtown Lafayette.
BUILDING DOWNTOWN Construction begins on 83-room boutique hotel
BY ADAM DAIGLE
Acadiana business editor
Gus Rezende can recall vividly where he was when the owner of the popular Don’s Seafood and Steakhouse in downtown Lafayette was ready to sell his building. Rezende, a frequent patron at Don’s as his office at the time was across the street, was seated at Pamplona when he got a call from Ashby “Rocky” Landry Jr.’s real estate agent, Todd Trahan. “I’ll never forget it was March of 2020, right before the governor shut down all the businesses,” Rezende said. “Todd said, ‘Mr. Rocky is ready to sell, and you have one month to make a deal.’” The deal happened, and just over five years later, work on the site officially began. The ownership group led by Rezende, Ryan Pecot, BJ Crist and John Peterson joined elected officials and others in a groundbreaking Wednesday to kick off construction of the 83-room Hotel Lafayette to be built on the historic site. Rezende’s group had to line up investors on basically an abstract idea — the hotel project did not come into focus until later, after others fell through —
Louisiana Attorney General Liz Murrill and her Republican counterparts are asking Congress to prevent other states from passing laws that protect doctors who send abortion-inducing drugs to states that have banned them. Louisiana and some other states have criminalized the use of mifepristone and misoprostol for abortion. The drugs are now considered controlled dangerous substances in those states and can be prescribed only for narrow medical conditions like postpartum hemorrhages or miscarriages. Earlier this year, Louisiana officials charged Murrill a New York doctor with sending a Louisiana woman medication for an abortion. But New York Gov. Kathy Hochul refused a request to extradite the doctor, citing a state “shield law” that protects abortion providers.
ä See PILL, page 7A
Boulet proposes $17M City Hall renovation BY CLAIRE TAYLOR Staff writer
Lafayette Parish Mayor-President Monique Boulet speaks Wednesday during a groundbreaking ceremony for Hotel Lafayette. but it worked. The $20 million project should be complete by late 2026. “I’m excited for this hotel,” Lafayette Mayor-President Monique Boulet said. “It is a whole new dynamic down here. I suspect it’s going to create another level of thinking for people. We continue to evolve, we continue to grow and
we continue to invite people here from all over the world.” The 32,000-square-foot full-service boutique hotel will have amenities that will make it one of the city’s unique hotels, a feasibility study indicated.
ä See HOTEL, page 7A
Mayor-President Monique Boulet’s proposed 2025-26 budget includes $5.5 million in funding for the first phase of a $17 million renovation to the Lafayette Consolidated Government administrative building. The plans call for returning City Hall’s main entrance to University Avenue, removing escalators and creating more office space for employees. About $3.8 million of the renovation is currently funded, Chief Communication Officer Jaimie Boudreaux said. The proposed 2025-26 budget contains another $5.5 million in bond sales revenue, she said. The nearly 78,000-square-foot building was constructed in 1957 to house the national department store Sears. It was renovated to accommodate government administrative offices, but the building is aging and showing its wear, Boulet said. Some spaces are poorly arranged and cramped, while others aren’t being adequately used, including the former Lafayette Utilities System drive-up payment
ä See CITY HALL, page 7A
WEATHER HIGH 90 LOW 76 PAGE 10C
Business ......................4A Commentary ................3B Nation-World................2A Classified .....................6A Living............................5C Opinion ........................2B Comics-Puzzles .....7C-9C Metro ...........................1B Sports ..........................1C
101ST yEAR, NO. 32