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AG fires lawyers for secretary of state State officials at odds over canceling of legal contracts as redistricting case looms
legal officer after Landry, in her view, challenged that authority in advance of an upcoming U.S. Supreme Court hearing on whether Louisiana will have to redraw its Nancy Landry in an extraordinary congressional voting maps. BY TYLER BRIDGES high-stakes legal battle between Landry believes Murrill has Staff writer two of Louisiana’s six statewide overreacted and questions whether the attorney general has the Attorney General Liz Murrill elected officers. Murrill said she acted to protect right to end her outside legal conhas fired all of the outside lawyers working for Secretary of State her primacy as Louisiana’s chief tracts. She declined to answer
when asked whether she might go to court to block Murrill. Adding to the legal and political drama, Murrill and Landry, while not close friends, grew up a block from each other in the Greenbriar neighborhood of Lafayette and went to Lafayette High School, LSU and LSU law school at the same time. Landry is one year older.
GATORS VS. GRIFFINS
Ascension Parish rivals St. Amant and Dutchtown square off
At the heart of the dispute is the Callais case, which is sure to draw national attention because Louisiana is asking the Supreme Court to overturn the decades-old Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act. If the court invalidates Section 2, the state Legislature is poised to redraw Louisiana’s congressional
ä See LAWYERS, page 5A
IBERVILLE PARISH
Officials want state to improve intersection La. 77 a safety concern, area leaders say
BY HALEY MILLER Staff writer
ABOVE: St. Amant High takes the field for their game against Dutchtown High on Friday in St. Amant. RIGHT: Dutchtown quarterback Owen Fletcher throws a pass to running back Carter Hedden in the first half of their game Friday at St. Amant. PHOTOS By PATRICK DENNIS
ä COMPLETE HIGH SCHOOL FOOTBALL COVERAGE IN SPORTS, PAGES 6C-7C
On Monday afternoon, Aaron Touchet was driving southwest on La. 77, making calls for his HVAC business. He continued “I’m talking through the intersection at Enterprise about wreck Boulevard, only a after wreck two-way stop, when after wreck. another driver colThey are lided with the front running a of his truck and slammed Touchet stop sign, and into a ditch. these cars are “It’s absolutely in- passing at 30 sane,” Gracie Romero, Touchet’s fiancée, to 40 miles an said. “There’s a pret- hour. It’s some ty substantial curve tremendous right before, coming wrecks.” from the opposite diBRETT STASSI, rection he was going, that you can’t even Iberville Parish see if somebody is sheriff coming. I think that is absurd.” Touchet is currently in the hospital with a torn spleen and will be unable to work for at least a month, Romero said. Meanwhile, Romero; Iberville Sheriff Brett Stassi; state Sen. Caleb Kleinpeter, R-Port Allen; and state Rep. Chad Brown, D-Plaquemine, are all calling for immediate safety improvements to the state highway and Enterprise Boulevard intersection and a traffic study from the Louisiana Department of Transportation and Development. In a letter sent Tuesday to DOTD Secretary Glenn Ledet, Kleinpeter and Brown, Stassi said an increase in traffic
ä See OFFICIALS, page 4A
Trump orders bombing to stop after Hamas accepts parts of plan BY WAFAA SHURAFA, BASSEM MROUE and JOSEPH KRAUSS Associated Press
DEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza Strip — U.S. President Donald Trump on Friday ordered Israel to stop bombing the Gaza Strip after Hamas said it had accepted some elements of his plan to end the nearly two-year war and return all the remaining hostages taken in the Oct. 7, 2023, attack. Hamas said it was willing to release the hostages and hand over power to other Palestinians, but that other aspects of the plan require further consultations among Palestinians. Senior Hamas officials suggested there were still major disagreements that required further negotiations.
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There was no immediate response from Israel, which is largely shut down for the Jewish Sabbath, and Hamas’ response fell short of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s demands that the group surrender and disarm. But Trump welcomed the Hamas statement, saying: “I believe they are ready for a lasting PEACE.” “Israel must immediately stop the bombing of Gaza, so that we can get the Hostages out safely and quickly! Right now, it’s far too dangerous to do that. We are already in discussions on details to be worked out,” he wrote on social media. Hamas said aspects of the proposal
ä See BOMBING, page 5A
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Smoke rises to the sky following an Israeli military strike in Gaza City, as seen from the central Gaza Strip on Thursday. ASSOCIATED PRESS PHOTO By ABDEL KAREEM HANA
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