10 YEARS CARRYING ON THE SPIRIT OF CHARITY
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SAINTS AT SEAHAWKS • 3:05 P.M. • CBS 1C CHAMBLISS, OLE MISS HAND TULANE FIRST LOSS OF SEASON 1C
N O L A.C O M
Federal City apartments welcome first residents Affordable senior housing bolsters former Algiers Navy base
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S u n d ay, S e p t e m b e r 21, 2025
$2.50X
SINKING
INTO THE GULF
Thousands of old oil wells, many unplugged and leaking, pock state’s disappearing coast
BY JONAH MEADOWS and STEPHANIE RIEGEL Staff writer
A new four-story apartment building officially opens this week on the former Navy base in Algiers known as Federal City, the first of two residential projects on a site where developers say they are now making progress in creating a community of businesses, recreation, retailers and affordable housing. The 70-unit building known as Riverside Retreat is the first of two residential projects that when completed will total more than 130 apartments. Riverside Retreat, which is earmarked for low-income older residents, along with a market-rate apartment complex slated to open in the next 18 months, represent a major step in the efforts to revitalize Federal City, a task that has taken 12 years, seen two failed development deals and has frustrated public officials in their quest to add affordable housing in neighborhoods across the city. But housing advocates noted that New Orleans needs thousands more units that working people can afford, and pointed to other stalled projects around the city as evidence that a renewed political effort is needed to spark real progress. “(Federal City) is significant for those 70 people, but in the overall scheme, less so,” said Andreanecia Morris, executive director of the advocacy group Housing NOLA. “This is a volume game. I’ll take your 70. Now, we just need 100 more projects like this.” Federal City was vacated by the Navy in 2011 but continues to house several mostly government tenants, including the headquarters of the Marine Corps Reserves,
ä See RESIDENTS, page 3A
STAFF PHOTO By SOPHIA GERMER
Damaged equipment sticks out of the water near oil wells and platforms south of Venice on June 5. Thousands of old oil wells drilled on land now sit in open water off La., threatening boats, leaking oil and leaving taxpayers with the cleanup bill. BY ALEX LUBBEN | Staff writer Mikeal Berthelot Jr. was navigating the mouth of the Mississippi River in his shrimp boat, a stretch of water he’d traversed many times before. The water was calm. The sun beat down. His deckhand was making a peanut butter sandwich. Then the boat slammed into
something they couldn’t see. The crash threw Berthelot forward. As he grasped for support, his hand shattered a glass pane in front of the steering wheel. “My boat is stuck on something,” he told his father over the phone. “It went through the bottom of the hull.” Within minutes, the engine room filled with water. Within an
hour, the boat had sunk. Berthelot didn’t know it at the time, but he had struck an old oil well, drilled more than a halfcentury ago. Back then, the site was surrounded by marsh. Today, it’s in navigable open water. There are thousands more like it. An analysis by The
ä See SINKING, page 4A
ä See a map showing oil and gas wells that have become submerged. PAGE 4A
COWBOY CHURCHES ROPE IN WORSHIPPERS
As religious services evolve, pastor leans into rodeo roots BY JENNA ROSS | Staff writer
STAFF PHOTO By CHRIS GRANGER
Randy Smith, pastor of the Crossbrand Cowboy Church, right, leads a moment of prayer and reflection recently in the corral as bull riders get ready to ride before worship services in Loranger.
WEATHER HIGH 91 LOW 75 PAGE 8B
LORANGER — Before he stands at a pulpit, before he wears a microphone, before he delivers a sermon, Pastor Randy Smith of the Crossbrand Cowboy Church leads a prayer behind the rodeo arena. Just after 2 p.m. Sunday, a hush comes over the arena as Smith prays that God protect the men and boys about to ride. That God watch over them. That God lead them into church at 4 p.m. “Amen,” the men murmur. This is how services start at Crossbrand — with the creak of a gate, the clang of a bell and a warning: “Fire in the hole!” Then a bull bursts out of a pen, kicking up
dust, a rider atop its back for five seconds. For the next hour, Smith will be out there with them, penning bulls, straddling gates and hoping that a few of these men who have never before attended church might find their way to the back pew. It’s the hope of hundreds of cowboy churches across the South. Since they began popping up in Louisiana’s rural reaches a decade or more ago, the churches have ushered folks into their barnlike buildings, adorned with hay bales and horseshoes, with a “come as you are” message. The lack of a dress code, steeple or formal denomination hints at how Christianity is
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ä See CHURCH, page 6A
13TH yEAR, NO. 40