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T h u r s d ay, au g u s T 7, 2025
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Levee board selection draws scrutiny Questions emerge on whether Landry skirting reforms
BY ALEX LUBBEN Staff writer
STAFF PHOTO By MICHELLE HUNTER
Crystal Jones, 30, stares Wednesday into what remains of the Metairie apartment she shared with her children, ages 1 and 6 months, before the trio had to escape through a back window during a fire at the building.
Neighbors, off-duty firefighter help rescue residents from blaze Two injured, 1 critically, at Metairie complex
BY MICHELLE HUNTER
Staff writer
Crystal Jones carefully ducked under the yellow caution tape that stretched across her blackened front porch Wednesday morning. Soggy bits of charred wood crunched underfoot as she navigated the debris, walking in a soft boot that protected the foot she’d gashed the day before while escaping her burning Metairie apartment. Jones, 30, had to shatter a window after rising flames blocked her front door. “I dropped my 1-year-old in the grass, and I jumped through the window with my (6-month-old) baby,” Jones said as she worked to gather up whatever she could find in the apartment: diapers, formula, children’s clothing, her cellphone and any toys that were salvageable. Seven people narrowly escaped the blaze thanks to help from neighbors, good Samaritans passing by and responding fire crews who worked together to rescue the trapped residents.
Another of Gov. Jeff Landry’s appointments to a key New Orleans area flood control board has stoked controversy, with government watchdog groups questioning whether he skirted the law with his pick. Landry tapped Kerwyn King, an engineer and founder of King Consulting Engineering, to sit on the board of the Southeast Louisiana Flood Protection Authority-East. That move has left the agency’s nominating committee, the independent board formed after Hurricane Katrina to put forward prospective board members, scratching their heads. They didn’t submit King’s name to the governor. The nominating committee sent a letter to Ryan Roberts, the director of boards and commissions Landry at the state’s Division of Administration, asking the governor for an explanation. “I would welcome the opportunity to discuss this further as soon as practicable, as it seems that the Governor’s appointment of Mr. King does not follow the current legislation requiring that all appointments be made from an independent nominating committee process,” Windell Curole, the chair of the nominating committee, wrote in the letter shared with The Times-Picayune.
ä See LEVEE, page 4A STAFF PHOTO By SOPHIA GERMER
The Jefferson Parish Fire Department leaves Tuesday after fighting a fire at an apartment building in the 4400 block of West Napoleon Avenue in Metairie. The two-alarm fire took hold Tuesday evening at the fourplex in the 4400 block of West Napoleon Avenue, according to East Bank Consolidated Fire Chief Charles Hudson. A man, Jones’ upstairs neighbor, remained in critical condition Wednes-
day at University Medical Center. A 4-year-old rescued by firefighters from the same apartment was in stable condition at Manning Children’s Hospital, parish officials said.
ä See FIRE, page 5A
Rule to cut cost of prison calls delayed
BY MEGHAN FRIEDMANN Staff writer
Trump, appearing before reporters later at the White House, didn’t answer questions about a potential location for a meeting but said “there’s a very good prospect that they will” meet. The president declined to predict how close he was to reaching a deal to end the fighting, saying, “I’ve been disappointed before with this one.” Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who was asked in an interview on Fox Business about a potential Trump-Putin meeting, said “a lot has to happen before that can occur.”
Louisiana prisons and the phone companies they contract with have gotten a reprieve from slashing the cost of calls to inmates after the Federal Communications Commission postponed a rule it issued last year to require the price cuts. It’s at least a temporary win for state leaders and law enforcement officials who argued the FCC overstepped its authority and did not base the rule on proper evidence. The lower rates could also create budgetary challenges for the state and sheriffs, as correctional facilities typically receive a commission off the rates prison phone companies charge — earlier this year, the state said the lower rates were expected to leave a $4 million hole in the corrections budget.
ä See TRUMP, page 4A
ä See CALLS, page 5A
Trump-Putin meeting possible, official says Presidents could gather next week to discuss war in Ukraine
not been scheduled yet and no location has been determined. The official was not authorized to speak publicly and spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity to discuss internal plans. The White House said Trump was also open to a meeting with both Putin and UkraiBY MICHELLE L. PRICE Associated Press nian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. A meeting between Putin and Trump WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump would be their first since Trump returned to could meet in person with Russian President office this year. It would be a significant mileVladimir Putin as soon as next week as he stone in the 3-year-old war, though there’s no seeks to broker an end to the Russia-Ukraine promise such a meeting would lead to the war, a White House official said Wednesday. end of the fighting since Russia and Ukraine The official cautioned that a meeting has remain far apart on their demands.
WEATHER HIGH 92 LOW 78 PAGE 8B
Business ......................6A Commentary ................7B Nation-World................2A Classified .....................7D Deaths .........................3B Opinion ........................6B Comics-Puzzles .....3D-6D Living............................1D Sports ..........................1C
12TH yEAR, NO. 360