SAINTS COME UP SHORT IN SEASON OPENER VS. CARDINALS 1B
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BATON ROUGE, LOUISIANA
M o n d ay, S e p t e M b e r 8, 2025
THE FORGOTTEN
STORM
20 years ago, Hurricane Rita inflicted widespread suffering in southwest Louisiana in the wake of Katrina
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New rules snarl COVID vaccine access in Louisiana Pharmacies, doctors, patients left navigating confusion
BY EMILY WOODRUFF | Staff writer Louisiana is heading into respiratory virus season on the downswing from a busy summer of COVID-19, when wastewater samples showed some of the nation’s highest virus levels. But health officials caution that COVID-19 is unusual: Unlike flu or RSV, it typically peaks twice, once in summer and again around January. That makes fall an ideal time to get a vaccine, especially because newly formulated shots protect against the latest strain. But this year, new federal recommendations are complicating access. Few drugstores are carrying the vaccine in Louisiana right now, and patients are currently unable to walk in and get a shot, even if they qualify under the new rules. That has left doctors fielding questions from patients and personal contacts alike, said Dr. Margot Anderson, an infectious disease specialist at Manning Family Children’s Hospital. “There’s a lot of unknowns for everybody, for the pharmacies, for patients, for doctors,” Anderson said. Most routine vaccines are available at pharmacies by design, because preventive wellness — as opposed to seeking out care once you’re already
ä See RULES, page 5A
STAFF PHOTO By LESLIE WESTBROOK
Nicole J. Moncrief stands in the vacant lot on Aug. 25 where the home she grew up in once stood in Lake Charles. Moncrief rebuilt following Hurricane Rita in 2005, but lost her home during Hurricane Laura in 2020. BY MEGAN WYATT | Staff writer Nicole J. Moncrief was caring for her wheelchair-bound mother and her two nieces as Hurricane Rita barreled toward their Lake Charles home 20 years ago. Ahead of previous storms, none of which caused major damage, her mom was the one to secure the family home and evacuate everyone to safety. But those responsibilities fell to Moncrief, then 34, ahead of Rita. While her family evacuated north, Rita’s winds ripped open the roof of their family home, destroying most of their clothing and furniture. Moncrief tried to salvage what she could. Her neighbors, friends and family were largely in the same predicament. It’s been 20 years since the storm tore through southwest Louisiana, but the anniversary observations for it have been much quieter than the commemorations for Hurricane Katrina. Those who experienced Rita said they always experienced it as a forgotten storm, overshad-
Nicole J. Moncrief’s home on V. E. Washington Avenue in Lake Charles is pictured after Hurricane Laura ravaged the region in August 2020. PROVIDED PHOTO owed in the national media by the coverage of Katrina. Despite the lack of attention it got, the hurricane inflicted widespread suffering in southwest Louisiana. “We were kind of calling it ‘Rita
amnesia,’ ” said Mark McMurry, who served as Calcasieu Parish administrator in 2005. “All the national news was reporting on Katrina.”
ä See STORM, page 4A
“Even now, I still want to cry. All of your memories, the place we called home, your place of solace, it was gone and it wasn’t going to be there anymore. But if I had to reflect even further, the positive piece of it is that I am the house. I am the memories.” NICOLE J. MONCRIEF
Judge’s ‘stolen valor’ behind recommendation for removal Foxworth-Roberts went beyond ‘misrepresentations,’ commission says
BY ANDREA GALLO | Staff writer Baton Rouge Judge Tiffany Foxworth-Roberts’ repeated lack of honesty about her military service amounts to “stolen valor,” making it necessary that she be removed from the bench, according to a newly released recommendation from Louisiana’s Judiciary Commission. Foxworth-Roberts has been under investigation by the commission for more than a year over allegations that she lied about the rank she attained in the military, the Foxworthwars she served in and her military Roberts duties, which she touted to voters when they elected her as a district judge in 2020. The commission has also investigated whether Foxworth-Roberts reported a false burglary while she was campaigning that same year.
ä See JUDGE, page 3A
Houthi rebels strike airport; Israel steps up Gaza City attacks capital that killed the Houthi housed hundreds of displaced ä Israel’s Airspace closed, flights halted according to the Israeli military prime minister and other top Palestinians and urged people
BY MELANIE LIDMAN and SAMY MAGDY
air defenses on Sunday and slammed into the country’s southern airport, the Israeli Associated Press military said, blowing out glass TEL AVIV, Israel — A drone fired windows, wounding one person by Yemen’s Houthi rebels and briefly shutting down combreached Israel’s multilayered mercial airspace.
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The damage to Ramon airport appeared limited and flights resumed within hours. The Houthis claimed responsibility for the strike. The attack follows Israeli strikes on Yemen’s rebel-held
officials in a major escalation of the nearly 2-year-old conflict between Israel and the Iran-backed militant group in Yemen. In Gaza City, the Israeli military on Sunday leveled another high-rise tower that
to move south as it intensified its offensive on the city. Meanwhile, a breakthrough Israeli Supreme Court decision ruled that Israel was not providing Palestinian detainees in
ä See ISRAEL, page 5A
Classified .....................6C Deaths .........................7A Nation-World ................2A Comics-Puzzles .....3C-5C Living............................1C Opinion ........................8A Commentary ................9A Metro ...........................6A Sports ..........................1B
Supreme Court says Palestinian prisoners aren’t getting enough food.
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