TRUMP AND NETANYAHU REACH DEAL TO END WAR IN GAZA 4A THE
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Congress struggles to avoid shutdown
National Flood Insurance Program faces uncertainty BY MARK BALLARD Staff writer
WASHINGTON — After a closed-door meeting with the president, congressional leaders of both parties took hard lines Monday, setting the stage for the federal government
to shut down at midnight as Tuesday turns to Wednesday. The situation was fluid and could change. Just what federal agencies would be targeted for closure if a deal could not be reached had yet to be made public. Some services would continue.
The military will still protect the nation. Social Security benefits will still be paid. Commercial airlines will still fly. Veterans Affairs medical facilities will remain operational. A letter from the Office of Management and Budget stated that
agencies receiving money in the recently enacted One Big Beautiful Bill Act, such as efforts to deport immigrants, will be protected. But most government workers would be put on temporary leave — at least that’s what happened in the 10 previous shutdowns going back to 1980. This time, however, the Trump administration has ordered agencies to consider
Landry pledges faster cleanup of Tangipahoa plant fire site
firing thousands of federal workers, instead of furloughing them, though nothing concrete had been released. Perhaps the most immediate effect for Louisiana would be an end, at least temporarily, to flood insurance. The National Flood Insurance
ä See SHUTDOWN, page 6A
Delays granted in bribery case Guidry set to be sentenced Wednesday; others postponed
BY CLAIRE TAYLOR
Staff writer
STAFF FILE PHOTO By DAVID GRUNFELD
A boom helps stop oil runoff from the explosion at Smitty’s Supply from floating down the Tangipahoa River in Independence on Aug. 25.
commitment is to the citizens of “My commitment is to the citizens of Video on social media “Mythis this state and especially those in Tangipastate and especially those Parish to make sure that facility and prompts action from state in Tangipahoa Parish to make sure hoa the effects of the fire are cleaned up and
BY DAVID J. MITCHELL
Staff writer
Gov. Jeff Landry has promised changes to the cleanup of the Smitty’s Supply Inc. fire after he saw aerial video of oiled sections of the Tangipahoa River. The video from Saturday posted on social media shows an oiled pond next to Smitty’s and an oiled section of the river, which received potentially millions of gallons of runoff from the Smitty’s lubricants plant near Roseland. It caught fire and exploded Aug. 22 and was not fully extinguished until Sept. 8. After seeing the video, Landry said
that facility and the effects of the fire are cleaned up and that area is restored to the same way it was before the fire.”
that area is restored to the same way it was before the fire,” he said. Landry offered no details about what kind of changes were coming. His spokesperson, Kate Kelly, didn’t GOV. JEFF LANDRy return an email requesting comment. An EPA spokesperson for the cleanup said he was preparing a response but hadn’t Sunday that he spoke with the regional provided it by Monday evening. The video was shot and posted, the head of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the leaders of his state governor said, by Eric McVicker, a Manenvironmental and oil-and-gas agencies. deville resident and Republican political “Collectively, we had a call and tomor- consultant who owns a photography busirow morning, things are getting ready to ness focused on south Louisiana’s natural start changing on the cleaning up of that ä See CLEANUP, page 4A site,” Landry said in a video posted on X.
Dusty Guidry, the man at the center of kickback schemes involving the Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries and Lafayette Parish District Attorney’s Office, is scheduled for sentencing Wednesday. However, two other men involved in the schemes whose Guidry guilty pleas have been made public, have been granted sentencing delays. Lafayette businessman Leonard Franques was granted a delay until Oct. 21 in part because of new information about the federal government’s position on him. Franques’ attorneys, Charles Galbraith and Alan Breaud, wrote in the Friday request for the sentencing delay that they need time “to address new information received this week related to the government’s position on Defendant Franques.” Breaud did not return a call requesting an explanation on what new information he is referring to. FBI agents in 2021 tapped Guidry’s cellphone, which led them to Franques and his wife, Michelle. In December 2021, agents raided the Franques’ home and office. Both agreed that day to cooperate
ä See DELAYS, page 4A
Lafayette leaders break ground on new Heymann Park amphitheater More than 5,000 will be able to gather at facility
pool. On Monday, leaders came together in a celebration for the groundbreaking of the Heymann Park amphitheater. The $4.68 million project is the first of a three-phase BY STEPHEN MARCANTEL remodel of the South Orange Staff writer Street park, situated near City and parish leaders Paul Breaux Middle School. took some time Monday to Once completed, the amphireminisce on the days they theater and its grounds will spent at Heymann Park. be able to host up to 5,000 There were memories of people. playing baseball, listening About half the money is to live music on Sundays coming from the state, with and sneaking into the park’s an additional $6.4 million in
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potential future funding, according to Yancy LeGrande, policy adviser for Lafayette Consolidated Government. For the past four years, the amphitheater’s construction has been considered dormant and risked being scaled down at one point, City Council member Kenneth Boudreaux said. The idea of bringing a music venue to Heymann Park originated in 2017. “I was concerned that this
STAFF PHOTO By LESLIE WESTBROOK
Lafayette Parish Mayor-President Monique Boulet, center, is joined by other local officials ä See HEYMANN, page 4A during a groundbreaking ceremony for an amphitheater at Heymann Park on Monday.
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