IT’S A LOVE STORY Travis Kelce, Taylor Swift engaged 2A RATTLER TO START OPENER FOR SAINTS AT QB 1C
ADVOCATE THE
T H E A D V O C AT E.C O M
|
BATON ROUGE, LOUISIANA
W e d n e s d ay, au g u s t 27, 2025
$2.00X
Plans dropped for solar farm
BACK ON CAMPUS
Project near White Castle drew local opposition BY TIMOTHY BOONE Staff writer
STAFF PHOTOS By MICHAEL JOHNSON
Thousands of students filled the LSU campus on Monday as classes began for the fall semester. ABOVE: Students cross Highland Road at Veterans Drive during the first day of classes on Monday. RIGHT: Sisters Delaney Cousin, a freshman, and Danielle Cousin, a senior, pose together at a photo booth set up on campus for the start of the fall semester.
NextEra Energy has dropped plans to build a 2,000-acre solar farm near White Castle, a project that drew strong local opposition. In a Facebook post Tuesday morning, the Iberville Parish government said the Florida-based company had withdrawn its application for the solar “Our Parish farm, which had been has never dubbed Coastal Praiaccepted rie Solar. any Solar “While we are not projects, but actively pursuing an also have application for the Coastal Prairie Solar never denied project at this time, any as well!” our focus remains on identifying opportu- CHRIS DAIGLE, nities that align with Iberville Parish the needs and prioripresident ties of Iberville Parish,” NextEra said in a statement. Parish President Chris Daigle said in a statement Tuesday afternoon that Iberville is “at a crossroads” regarding solar farms. “Our Parish has never accepted any Solar projects, but also have never denied any as well!” Daigle wrote. “We feel that after hearing the public’s concerns at the community meeting in White Castle this past May, NextEra Energy has made the decision to withdraw any future plans for the Coastal Prairie Solar Project.” He said the Parish Council will make “smart growth” decisions about the future of the parish. No other solar farm project applications are currently under consideration, he said. The 175-megawatt project would have been built near La. 993. Plans were for Entergy to sign a 20-year contract to purchase the power generated by the farm. It would have gone into
ä See SOLAR, page 9A
State argues to revoke man’s parole eligibility Craig convicted of killing LSU student in 1992
Staff writer
Staff writer
More than three decades ago, four Baton Rouge teenagers carjacked, kidnapped, terrorized and pistol-whipped an LSU freshman before Dale Dwayne Craig killed the student execution-style. Craig was a week shy of his 18th birthday in September 1992, when he shot and killed Kipp Earl Gullet at a secluded South Baton Rouge construction site. He was
ä See PAROLE, page 9A
PAGE 6C
Smitty’s blast drives employees to visit workforce officials
BY DAVID J. MITCHELL
BY MATT BRUCE
WEATHER HIGH 91 LOW 71
Explosion leaves many unemployed
Jessie Hughes saw a 15-foothigh flame shooting from the top of a tank and knew he had little time to escape. The 56-year-old had stepped out at midday on Friday to switch hoses on equipment at Smitty’s Supply Inc. near STAFF PHOTO By DAVID GRUNFELD Roseland, only to see the fire when he returned to his work Jaden Armstrong, a member of Mt. Canaan Baptist Church, area. pressure washes the swings at the church in Roseland after Hughes, an 11-year employsoot and residue coated the area following an explosion at ee of Smitty’s, said there was Smitty’s Supply on Friday. no time to find and use a fire
Business ......................3B Commentary ................7B Nation-World ................2A Classified .....................7D Deaths .........................4B Opinion ........................6B Comics-Puzzles .....4D-6D Living............................1D Sports ..........................1C
extinguisher on the 10,000-gallon motor oil mixing tank. He began evacuating an estimated 50 people from his part of the large lubricants plant. “I told everyone to get out that was in my location. I told them to get out,” he said in an interview Tuesday. Hughes, who specialized in mixing additives into the various brands of motor oil packaged at Smitty’s, survived the harrowing moments of the fire and related explosions with his co-workers. But now he is among hundreds of employees out of a job and one of at least 160 who have visited state workforce officials in Hammond for help over the past two days. Hughes, a Greensburg
ä See EXPLOSION, page 8A
101ST yEAR, NO. 58