SAVE up $ 50 to 1
largest selection & lowest prices on wine, spirits & beer SAVE $ 00 4
— ONLY —
12 PACK 12 OZ
14
$
Michelob Ultra or Yuengling Flight
CELEBRATING OUR FIRST 65 YEARS
99
LB
— ONLY —
13
750 ML SELECTED $
La Marca Prosecco or La Crema Wine
99
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750 ML
32
$
99
Aged in Blanton’s Bourbon Barrels 750 ML
THC
— ONLY —
39
$
Bonanza Corazon The Vinekeeper Tequilla de Agave NAPA Cabernet Sauvignon
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99
LIMIT 3
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750 ML
Elijah Craig Small Batch Bourbon
26
$
99
Louisiana Local
4 PACK 12 OZ
Urban South Driftee THC Seltzer
— ONLY —
10 99
$
Prices good at all Lafayette, New Iberia and Youngsville stores September 3rd - 10th, 2025.
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F r i d ay, S e p t e m b e r 5, 2025
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Cassidy criticizes RFK Jr. on vaccines Health secretary grilled by Senate committee
BY MARK BALLARD Staff writer
STAFF PHOTO By DAVID GRUNFELD
After Hurricane Katrina, Bay St. Louis, Miss., slowly came back to life, regaining its identity as a quaint art colony and weekend retreat for New Orleanians.
Tale of two cities
As Bay St. Louis thrives, a neighboring bayou town struggles to hold on 20 years after Katrina
BY POET WOLFE and MARTHA SANCHEZ The Times-Picayune and Sun Herald
On a Thursday morning, three regulars sit in cool darkness. Two shoot pool, another sips a Coors Light. The smell of cigarette smoke clings to walls and hangs in the air. Turtle Landing Bar & Grill, tucked off U.S. 90 in Pearlington, Mississippi, was once lively, until Hurricane Katrina emptied the town and Louisiana later closed nearby bridges. Now, 20 years after the storm, the isolation is heavier. “Big time,” the bar’s owner Janyne Crapeau said, perched on a bar stool. Daylight briefly seeps in as a man comes in from fishing for bass in the bayou and takes a seat at the bar. He orders a plate of red beans and rice. Beers, at $2.50 a bottle, don’t keep Turtle Landing running. The food does. It’s the only restaurant in town. Two decades after Katrina, Pearlington remains stranded. Unlike nearby towns that were rebuilt with the help of government aid, this one — unincorporated with no form of government — never quite gained a foothold.
ä See CITIES, page 4A
WASHINGTON — In his strongest criticism to date, U.S. Sen. Bill Cassidy, who is the senator most responsible for confirming Robert F. Kennedy Jr., accused the nation’s health chief Thursday of preventing Americans from receiving COVID vaccinations. “I’m approaching this as a doctor, not as a senator. I am concerned about children’s health, seniors’ health, all of our health,” Cassidy, R-Baton Rouge, told Kennedy during a raucous Senate Finance Committee hearing. A gastroenterologist for 30 years before being elected, Cassidy promotes Cassidy vaccinations as a way to save lives, while Kennedy is perhaps the nation’s leading vaccine skeptic. Cassidy has said he supported Kennedy for confirmation after receiving a promise not to meddle with vaccination policies. Kennedy argues that he’s only taken precautionary steps until research is complete on whether inoculations have serious side effects, such as causing autism. New rules proposed by Kennedy have confused many, causing some pharmacists to start requiring doctors’ prescriptions for the vaccination that fights COVID, Cassidy said.
ä See CASSIDY, page 4A
STAFF PHOTO By BOB WARREN
Owner Janyne Crapeau stands recently in the Turtle Landing Bar & Grill in Pearlington, Miss. The bar was once lively, until Hurricane Katrina emptied the town and Louisiana later closed nearby bridges. Now, it is the only restaurant in town.
ASSOCIATED PRESS PHOTO
Secretary of Health and Human Services Robert F. Kennedy Jr. appears Thursday before the Senate Finance Committee on Capitol Hill in Washington.
North side of Lafayette could get replacement K-8 school Aging buildings need major repairs
BY ASHLEY WHITE Staff writer
North Lafayette could see a new kindergarten through eighth grade school. School Board members Amy Trahan and Josh Edmond, alongside Lafayette Parish Superinten-
WEATHER HIGH 93 LOW 74 PAGE 16C
dent Francis Touchet Jr., hosted a meeting Wednesday night with the 100 Black Men of Greater Lafayette to talk about the possibility with community members. “This is about Touchet making certain that we are embarking upon a legacy and future for our students and
residents here in north Lafayette,” Trahan said. Touchet said there is about $3 million in capital funds that can be bonded out. With the current interest rates, the district would be able to secure about $45 million for a new facility. The board will have to vote at its Sept. 18 meeting whether to dedicate the funding for the new school. It’s unclear where a new facility would be built.
“You have my commitment as a superintendent that I’m going to do everything I can to press this on,” Touchet said. “I have a vision of this opening up in (2027/2028). But we have to get moving.” It would affect students at Dr. Raphael Baranco Elementary, J. W. Faulk Elementary and Paul Breaux Middle schools. Baranco was built in 1981, and Faulk and Paul Breaux were built in 1958. The schools have not had much
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investment in the past and are in need of major repairs. Paul Breaux Middle Principal Tia Trahan said staff has worked to make the school more presentable, but it’s not enough. “It is still in deplorable conditions. It’s not a place where I would want my child or any child to go to school,” she said. “We need to do better as a district for our kids.”
ä See SCHOOL, page 4A
101ST yEAR, NO. 67