LSU CAMP: PROJECTING THE DEPTH CHART ON OFFENSE 1C THE
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T u e s d ay, au g u s T 19, 2025
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Audit: Spoil bank project illegal Guillory, administration violated federal, state laws, investigators say
BY CLAIRE TAYLOR
Staff writer
An investigative report by the Louisiana Legislative Auditor’s Office into the removal in 2022 of a spoil bank on the Vermilion River in St. Martin Parish concludes former Lafayette City-Parish President Josh Guillory and his administration likely violated state and federal laws and Lafayette’s Home Rule Charter, including public bid
laws. “The evidence supports a consistent pattern,” the auditor’s report states. “LCG deliberately structured ‘Apollo’ (the spoil bank project’s codename) to proceed as quickly and quietly as possible, minimizing opportunities for regulatory review or legal challenge, even when it meant disregarding federal law.” The report and its findings have been sent to District Attorney
Don Landry, of the 15th Judicial District in Lafayette, and the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Western District in Lafayette. The legislative auditor’s report recommends changes that Lafayette Consolidated Government should make to avoid a repeat of the alleged violations, although Guillory is no longer in office. In February 2022, under the Guillory administration, LCG removed a spoil bank on the St. Mar-
tin Parish side of the Vermilion River allegedly for flood protection purposes without permission from St. Martin Parish officials, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and a landowner. Six weeks after awarding a $390,050 as-needed excavation contract to Rigid Constructors in December 2021, LCG amended the contract for Rigid to perform the $3.7 million spoil bank project without seeking new bids. The
Trump says he’s arranging Putin, Zelenskyy meeting
amendment was signed three days before the work began and after some equipment had already been mobilized, which constituted about $1.8 million of the contract, the report states. “Our investigative audit deterGuillory mined that LCG executed this project without securing the required legal authority,
ä See AUDIT, page 4A
Judge tosses lawsuit over blocking on social media Residents sued La. senator over abortion tweets
BY ALYSE PFEIL Staff writer
been going on for almost four years.” It was not clear if Putin has fully signed on to such talks. Russia state news agency Tass cited Putin’s foreign affairs adviser Yuri Ushakov saying Putin and Trump “spoke in favor” of continuing direct talks between the Russian and Ukrainian delegations. Ushakov said they also discussed “the idea of raising the level of the direct Russian-Ukrainian
A federal judge has dismissed a lawsuit against a Louisiana state senator by two residents who claimed she violated their First Amendment rights when she blocked them on the social media platform X, after one made an insulting and vulgar post over abortion laws, and another disagreed with a plan Jacksonto start the school day Andrews with the Lord’s Prayer. New Orleans resident Maya Detiege sued state Sen. Katrina Jackson-Andrews, a Democrat from Monroe, in February 2023, arguing that a post she made was protected political speech and that the senator’s social media account was a public forum subject to First Amendment protection, according to the lawsuit. In blocking users from her account, when the platform was still named Twitter, over a policy disagreement, JacksonAndrews violated Detiege’s constitutional right to free speech, the plaintiff argued. Jackson-Andrews, however, said in court filings that her social media posts didn’t count as official government activity — a view that U.S. District Judge Donald Walter agreed with. Walter said the plaintiffs had not proven Jackson-Andrews “had actual authority to speak on the State’s behalf,” and thus didn’t have the right to sue over constitutional rights violations. The plaintiffs plan to appeal the decision, said Bruce Hamilton, a professor with the Tulane University Law School
ä See TRUMP, page 4A
ä See LAWSUIT, page 4A
ASSOCIATED PRESS PHOTO By JULIA DEMAREE NIKHINSON
President Donald Trump meets with Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in the Oval Office at the White House on Monday.
President discusses war with Ukrainian leader, top European officials BY SYLVIE CORBET, SAMYA KULLAB and AAMER MADHANI Associated Press
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump said Monday he has begun arrangements for a face-to-face meeting between Vladimir Putin and Volodymyr Zelenskyy to discuss a pathway to end Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. The president made the announcement shortly after speaking by phone with Putin on Monday even as he hosted
Zelenskyy and top European leaders to discuss his push to end the brutal war. “I called President Putin, and began the arrangements for a meeting, at a location to be determined, between President Putin and President Zelenskyy,” Trump said in a social media post soon after his meetings with Zelenskyy and European leaders ended. “After that meeting takes place, we will have a Trilat, which would be the two Presidents, plus myself. Again, this was a very good, early step for a War that has
La. National Guard heading to D.C.
hundreds of troops to assist with order. Our capital is a reflection of Governor says about President Donald Trump’s federal our nation’s respect, beauty, and standards,” Landry said in a statethere. 135 soldiers to assist crackdown Altogether, the states could more ment on the social media app X. in federal effort than double Trump’s initial deploy- “We cannot allow our cities to be
ment of 800 District of Columbia National Guard members to the city, potentially adding more than Staff writer 1,100 more troops. Gov. Jeff Landry announced Louisiana is sending about 135 members of its National Guard Monday that Louisiana would take to Washington, D.C., joining five part in the effort. “We are a nation of law and other red states that have pledged
BY MEGHAN FRIEDMANN
WEATHER HIGH 95 LOW 75 PAGE 8A
overcome by violence and lawlessness. I am proud to support this mission to return safety and sanity to Washington DC and cities all across our country, including right here in Louisiana.”
ä See GUARD, page 4A
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James Maseno, of Grandlel, Md., right, takes a selfie with a District of Columbia Army National Guard staff sergeant outside the Union Station in Washington on Monday. ASSOCIATED PRESS PHOTO By MANUEL BALCE CENETA
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