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Federal cuts reduce levee inspections
Court upholds voiding of legislative maps Current legislative districts dilute Black votes, judge ruled BY MATT BRUCE Staff writer
STAFF FILE PHOTO By MAX BECHERER
David Duthu, a technician for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, inspects the levee of the Mississippi River in 2020.
Some are less rigorous now, Corps staff says BY ALEX LUBBEN
Staff writer
Federal budget cuts will stop the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers from conducting regular inspections of New Orleans’ levees this year and next — a break in oversight that comes 20 years after protection failures during Hurricane Katrina flooded most of the city. The Corps considers it best practice to conduct the inspections at least every two years, though it typically conducts them annually, according to Jennifer Stephens, the Corps’ levee safety program manager. It does not have funding to do so in 2025 or 2026. The inspections are a key component of the Corps’ efforts to keep the city safe from storm surge flooding, and a
STAFF FILE PHOTO By CHRIS GRANGER
A levee wall protects the western portion of Jefferson Parish in Kenner. safeguard against the catastrophic levee failures that took place 20 years ago this month during Katrina, which flooded 80% of New Orleans. Mainly driving tours, they are aimed at spotting any potential problems, ranging from cracks in floodwalls to water seeping under levees.
The annual inspections have complemented more formal full-system inspections, which involve walking the levees, and are conducted every five years, Stephens said. The Corps also does “special
ä See LEVEE, page 4A
A federal appeals court on Thursday upheld a Louisiana judge’s decision to invalidate the state’s legislative district map for ä California House and Senate moves races, saying they forward with violated Section redistricting 2 of the Voting effort. PAGE 8A Rights Act. But the current maps will stay in place at least until the U.S. Supreme Court issues its ruling in Louisiana v. Callais, a separate but similar case disputing Louisiana’s congressional voting districts. The ruling in that case could broadly change the legal precedents for redistricting lawsuits. U.S. District Court Judge Shelly Dick in February 2024 enjoined district maps that Louisiana lawmakers enacted during a 2022 special session, determining legislative lines drawn for the state seats unlawfully diluted the strength of Black votes across the state and violated the federal Voting Rights Act of 1965. Dick, the chief judge of the U.S. Middle District Court of Louisiana based in Baton Rouge, ordered elections officials to redraw the district maps in a way that doesn’t pack high concentrations of Black voters into a small number of majority-minority districts or fragment African American voters into separate districts to prevent them from forming powerful voting blocs. In a 54-page order published Thursday afternoon, a judicial panel from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit affirmed Dick’s ruling last year. Dick, in her 2024 ruling, found that 18 House districts and
ä See MAPS, page 4A
Senate committee looking into delays in health care for veterans BY EMILY WOODRUFF
lation to provider shortages and the stigma that keeps many from seeking help. Mental health challenges are U.S. Sen. Bill Cassidy convened a Senate Veterans’ Affairs Com- prominent among veterans, with mittee field hearing Thursday in approximately one-third of all VA Metairie to discuss gaps in mental users having at least one mental health care for Louisiana veterans, health visit in a given year. But the from long wait times and rural iso- situation for Louisiana’s 262,000 Staff writer
WEATHER HIGH 95 LOW 78 PAGE 8B
veterans is especially dire, witnesses said. Based on initial data from a survey conducted by the University of Louisiana at Lafayette, PTSD rates among Louisiana veterans could be as high as 45% — more than twice the national average. Forty-two percent of veterans who
were surveyed live more than an hour from a VA clinic, and many face transportation gaps, rural poverty and food insecurity. Louisiana Department of Veterans Affairs Secretary Charlton Meginley, who presented the findings, called them “deeply concerning.”
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“Veteran mental health is not just a VA issue; it is a national security issue,” Meginley said, pointing out that if veterans aren’t taken care of, it could discourage people from joining the military at all. Cassidy, a physician, convened
ä See VETERANS, page 6A
13TH yEAR, NO. 3