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S at u r d ay, au g u S t 30, 2025
‘STILL HERE’
Region marks 20 years of resolve to rebuild in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina
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LSU to replace dean of law school
Allen says she raised concerns about ‘irregularities’ in finances BY ALYSE PFEIL Staff writer
LSU on Friday announced that Paul M. Hebert Law Center Dean Alena Allen will end her tenure as dean at the conclusion of the academic year. But an attorney representing Allen said the dean had not agreed to resign her position when she was asked just a day earlier — and she was considering legal action over alleged whistleblower retaliation, racial and gender discrimination, and violations of LSU policy. In a letter to LSU on Friday, Allison Jones, Allen’s attorney, said Allen the LSU Board of Supervisors “engaged in systematic discrimination and retaliatory conduct” against Allen after she raised concerns about “irregularities” in the LSU law school’s finances. According to documents provided to The Advocate | The Times-Picayune, Allen said she was concerned that the school’s budget showed it receiving the full cost of tuition when in fact it granted numerous discounts. That led to budget STAFF PHOTO By SOPHIA GERMER
ä See LAW, page 8A
The 20th Anniversary of Hurricane Katrina March and Second Line travels down Tennessee Street in the Lower 9th Ward neighborhood of New Orleans on Friday.
N.O. PosiGen customers seek answers
BY MIKE SMITH, STEPHANIE RIEGEL, TYLER BRIDGES, BOB WARREN and KEITH SPERA Staff writers
The New Orleans area commemorated 20 years since Hurricane Katrina on Friday with an outpouring of remembrance coupled with gratitude for residents’ resolve to rebuild, as ceremonies from the Lower 9th Ward to St. Tammany and the shores of Shell Beach paid tribute to victims of the devastating KATRINA storm. Commemorations highlighted the monumental work over the last two decades YEARS to bring back neighborhoods thought lost to the floodwaters, but they were accompanied by warnings of a loss of people, culture and traditions in New Orleans. Gov. Jeff Landry, meanwhile, attended a memorial Mass in Chalmette celebrated by Archbishop Gregory Aymond and said the disasters the state has faced have shown
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Homeowners signed agreements with solar firm
BY BLAKE PATERSON Staff writer
during his visit to St. Bernard Parish, where residents have gradually built back in the years since Katrina left it in ruins. “And it’s only through challenges that we see greatness
Homeowners who signed long-term lease agreements with solar panel installer PosiGen are searching for answers after the Louisiana-based company laid off hundreds of workers and ceased most of its operations. PosiGen, which has offices in seven states and is Louisiana’s largest solar company, notified state and local officials on Monday that it was laying off 166 employees at its facilities in Jefferson and St. Charles parishes, saying it defaulted on a credit line and couldn’t raise the long-term capital it needed amid rollbacks in federal renewable energy tax credits.
ä See KATRINA, page 6A
ä See POSIGEN, page 8A
STAFF PHOTO By JOHN MCCUSKER
Archbishop Gregory Aymond celebrates Mass at Our Lady of Prompt Succor in Chalmette marking the Katrina anniversary. there is nothing Louisiana can’t overcome. “What Katrina does is offer an opportunity to look back on the past and to understand the things that we’re exposed to and how we get over them,” the governor said
Private donors keep Amistad Center afloat Some laid-off employees hired back BY MARIE FAZIO Staff writer
Months after federal cuts threatened the future of the Amistad Research Center in New Orleans, one of the nation’s oldest Black historical archives, the organization has raised enough money to stay afloat for the next few years, according to executive director Kathe Hambrick. Housed on Tulane University’s campus, the center lost 40% of its
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$1.5 million budget after the Trump administration gutted the Institute of Museum and Library Sciences, a federal agency that awards grants to libraries and museums across the country. The agency did not explain why Amistad’s grants were terminated, but the cuts mirror other moves by the administration to end programs that promote diversity or prioritize the experiences of minority groups. Hambrick was forced to lay off half of her 14 employees and reduce the hours that members of the public could access the archive, which includes millions of records, papers
and works of art mostly focused on Black history, the African Diaspora and the Civil Rights Movement. But thanks to a groundswell of support, including hundreds of donations through the center’s “Save Black History” fundraising campaign and several institutional grants, Amistad was able to counteract the cuts and gain a measure of stability for the next few years. The center has raised $1.6 million, allowing it to bring back five of the seven employees who were laid off, Hambrick said. “Because of this generosity and
STAFF FILE PHOTO By CHRIS GRANGER
Executive Director Kathe Hambrick stands in the archive room of ä See AMISTAD, page 8A the Amistad Research Center.
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