N O L A.C O M
S E A H A W K S
44
|
M o n d ay, S e p t e M b e r 22, 2025
$2.00X
S A I N T S
13
HAPLESS IN SEATTLE
Metairie Towers complex set to be auctioned Redevelopment faced funding issue
BY STEPHANIE RIEGEL Staff writer
ASSOCIATED PRESS PHOTO By LINDSEy WASSON
Seahawks wide receiver Jaxon Smith-Njigba, center, scores on a touchdown reception during the first half of Sunday’s game against the Saints in Seattle. The New Orleans Saints hit the road for the first time in the 2025 season Sunday, and their trip to Seattle couldn’t have gone a whole lot worse, resulting in a 44-13 debacle. The host Seahawks scored on a 95-yard punt return, set up another touchdown with a blocked punt and poured it on behind quarterback Sam Darnold’s perfect first-half passer rating. The result was a new Saints worst of 38 points allowed in the first half. Rookie quarterback Tyler Shough made a brief debut late in the blowout, but the second half mostly was waiting for the clock to hit zero so the Saints could make a very long flight back home.
ä SEE COMPLETE COVERAGE OF THE SAINTS GAME. PAGE 1C
Charlie Kirk’s faith praised at memorial
The next wave of conservation Chefs, fishermen and AI programmers join Louisiana’s fight against invasive fish
Officials, supporters pay tribute at service in Arizona
Staff writer
ä See FISH, page 4A
WEATHER HIGH 91 LOW 74 PAGE 6B
GLENDALE, Ariz. — President Donald Trump praised Charlie Kirk as a “great American hero” and “martyr” for freedom as he and other prominent conservatives gathered Sunday evening to honor the slain conservative political activist whose work they say they must now advance. The memorial service Kirk for Kirk, whom Trump credits with playing a pivotal role in his 2024 election victory, drew tens of thousands of mourners, including Vice President JD Vance, other senior
ICE wields Angola’s ‘notorious’ reputation Part of state prison used for immigration crackdown Staff writer
administration officials and young conservatives shaped by the 31-year-old firebrand. “He’s a martyr now for America’s freedom,” Trump said in his tribute. “I
For Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, the Louisiana State Penitentiary at Angola is “legendary.” “This is a facility that’s notorious,” she said, as she stood beside Gov. Jeff Landry to unveil the “Louisiana Lockup” for U.S. Immigrations and Customs Enforcement detainees in a disused wing of the prison that was once used to punish misbehaving inmates with solitary confinement. “That’s a message that these individuals that are going to be here that are illegal criminals need to understand,” Noem continued. “If you come into this country and you victimize someone, if you take away their child forever, if you traffic drugs and kill our next generation of Americans, and if you traffic our children and men and women, absolutely there’s
ä See KIRK, page 3A
ä See ANGOLA, page 3A
Associated Press
Philippe Parola slaps a 40-pound slab of raw fish onto his cutting board, then brandishes a small saw to begin the fillet. The chef, environmental advocate and showman is holding court on a backyard patio in Baton Rouge, where discussion of nature’s delicate balance flows as freely as the wine provided to his 20 or so guests, many of whom came unaware of what was on the menu. “This is the very first time in this country that we’re going to be cooking this fish,” said Parola, pointing to the massive black carp, caught two days before in Simmesport. “No one else has the balls to go out there and do it.”
ä See COMPLEX, page 5A
BY MEGHAN FRIEDMANN
BY JONATHAN J. COOPER, EUGENE GARCIA, AAMER MADHANI and MEG KINNARD
BY AIDAN McCAHILL
Metairie Towers, a vacant, 50-year-old complex of condominiums in the Old Metairie neighborhood, will be auctioned off in a 48-hour online bidding process that begins Monday. The auction comes two months after developer Darren Aschaffenburg, who purchased the complex nearly a year ago and planned to renovate it with larger upscale units and luxury amenities, said he was walking away from the project because he couldn’t secure financing. Aschaffenburg paid $24.5 million in October for the 265,000-square-foot building, which has seven floors and sits on 4 acres. He estimated his plans to convert the original 219 units into 160 larger, upscale units with an eighth floor of luxury penthouse condos would have cost at least $50 million to complete. “There are not a lot of people in New Orleans who can pull that off, especially in this tough lending environment,” Aschaffenburg said Friday by phone. “Projects from coast to coast are having trouble getting funding.” The auction was originally scheduled for late August, but Aschaffenburg delayed it twice in recent weeks after receiving potential offers that he said were worth exploring. “Once I put it up for auction and went wide with the media, people came out of the woodwork and jumped at the opportunity to talk to me about potentially partnering,” he said. “But I couldn’t come to terms with any of those groups, so I have to let it go.”
ASSOCIATED PRESS PHOTO By JOHN LOCHER
President Donald Trump embraces Erika Kirk at a memorial for Charlie Kirk at State Farm Stadium in Glendale, Ariz., on Sunday.
Classified .....................7D Deaths .........................3B Nation-World................2A Comics-Puzzles .....3D-6D Living............................1D Opinion ........................4B Commentary ................5B Metro ...........................1B Sports ..........................1C
13TH yEAR, NO. 41