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F r i d ay, S e p t e m b e r 12, 2025
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Southern cancels all classes, events due to threats Several HBCUs briefly go into lockdowns
BY AIDAN MCCAHILL Staff writer
ASSOCIATED PRESS PHOTO By ROSS D. FRANKLIN
Sisters Clara Hetland, 4, from left, Haddie Hetland, 9, and Audra Hetland 6, of Surprise, Ariz., spend time Thursday at a makeshift memorial at Turning Point USA headquarters in Phoenix after the shooting death at a Utah college on Wednesday of Charlie Kirk, the co-founder and CEO of the organization.
Authorities seek help in search for shooter FBI releases photos of person of interest, offers $100K reward in Charlie Kirk’s death
BY ERIC TUCKER, ALANNA DURKIN RICHER, JESSE BEDAYN and HANNAH SCHOENBAUM Associated Press
OREM, Utah — The shooter who assassinated conservative activist Charlie Kirk and then vanished off a roof and into the woods remained at large more than 24 hours later Thursday as federal investigators appealed for the public’s help by releasing a pair of photos of the person believed responsible. Investigators obKirk tained clues including a palm print, a shoe impression and a high-powered hunting rifle found in a wooded area along the path the shooter fled. But they had yet to name a suspect or cite a motive in the killing they were treating as the latest act of political violence to convulse the United States across the ideological spectrum. The photos of a person in a hat, sunglasses and a long-sleeve black shirt,
as well as a $100,000 reward for information leading to an arrest, suggested that law enforcement thought tips from the public might be needed to crack the case. Two people who were taken into custody shortly after Wednesday’s shooting at Utah Valley University were later released, forcing officials to chase new leads on a separate person of interest they pursued Thursday. One clue was a Mauser .30-caliber, bolt-action rifle found in a towel in the woods. A spent cartridge was recovered from the chamber, and three other rounds were loaded in the magazine, according to information circulated among law enforcement and described to The Associated Press. The weapon and ammunition were being analyzed by law enforcement at a federal lab. The attack, carried out in a broad daylight as Kirk spoke about social issues from a university courtyard, was captured on grisly videos that spread on social media.
STAFF PHOTO By JAVIER GALLEGOS
PROVIDED PHOTO
The Federal Bureau of Investigation is searching for this person of interest in the fatal shooting of Charlie Kirk at Utah Valley University. A $100,000 reward for information leading to an arrest is being ä See KIRK, page 5A offered.
BY MATT BRUCE
ELECTION 2025
on Nov. 15. The winner will finish out Fields’ term, set to end Dec. 31, 2026. Registered voters in Section 1, a subdisA Baton Rouge judge struck down a chal- trict on the voting map, will select the new lenge to new voting lines for the upcoming judge. The Legislature shook up those votelection in the 19th Judicial District Court. ing lines during the spring session, passing Four candidates are vying to fill the va- a House bill that revamped the judicial map. Judges serving in the district court had cancy left by former Chief Judge Wilson Fields, who left earlier this year to take a been divvied up into three subdistricts since a 1994 consent decree issued in a fedseat on the 1st Circuit Court of Appeal. On Feb. 28, the day of Fields’ departure, eral lawsuit over a lack of Black judges in Gov. Jeff Landry declared a special election the parish. The Clark v. Edwards civil rights to be held Oct. 11 with a runoff, if necessary, case led to a mandate that created two ma-
Staff writer
WEATHER HIGH 94 LOW 69 PAGE 8B
ä See SOUTHERN, page 4A
Baton Rouge police block the entrance of Southern University’s campus Thursday after threats sparked a lockdown.
Court upholds new BR voting subdistrict 4 running for 19th Judicial District judge’s seat
Southern University officials have canceled all school activities and events through the weekend after the Baton Rouge campus was shut down for just over an hour Thursday in reaction to threats made against students. The announcement came on a day when threats were received at several historically Black colleges and universities across the country, prompting multiple campuses to go into lockdown. Clark Atlanta University, Virginia State University, Alabama State University, Hampton University in Virginia, and BethuneCookman University in Florida all reported threats and went into lockdown. Authorities did not elaborate on the type of threats that were made, and no injuries have been reported. The FBI told The Associated Press it is taking the “hoax threat calls” seriously and that there is “no information to indicate a credible threat.” One screenshot circulating on social media and among Southern University students shows an email that specifically threatens to shoot Black students on Southern’s campus.
State’s chronic absenteeism rate falls Drop comes after two years of increases
BY ELYSE CARMOSINO Staff writer
jority-White subdistricts and a majorityBlack subdistrict to bring the map in line with the Voting Rights Act of 1965. That landmark piece of legislation is being challenged on a national scale. The U.S. Supreme Court is slated to weigh in on a key constitutional question involving the Voting Rights Act soon in its Louisiana v. Callais decision. At the state level, Louisiana lawmakers restructured the 30-year-old voting lines for the 19th Judicial District Court on June 11 when Landry signed into law a measure that changed the map from three subdistricts to two.
The share of Louisiana students who regularly miss school dropped 2 percentage points last year — a notable improvement after absenteeism rates climbed two years in a row. The state’s chronic absenteeism rate hit 22.5% during the 2024-25 school year, down from 24.6% the year prior, according to data recently released by the state Department of Education. It still hovers slightly above the pre-pandemic rate of about 18% in 2018-19. The decline is positive news for Louisiana, which, despite being one of only three states where average reading scores have rebounded to pre-COVID-19 levels, has struggled to address rising absenteeism.
ä See SEAT, page 5A
ä See ABSENTEEISM, page 4A
Business ......................8A Commentary ................7B Nation-World................2A Classified .....................7D Deaths .........................4B Opinion ........................6B Comics-Puzzles .....4D-6D Living............................1D Sports ..........................1C
101ST yEAR, NO. 74