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T h u r s d ay, O c T O b e r 16, 2025
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Supreme Court hears La. voting rights case
N.O. facing $160M deficit
State auditor’s number sharply higher than previous estimates BY BEN MYERS Staff writer
The state auditor has completed a much-anticipated review of New Orleans’ multimillion-dollar budget hole, and the result is worse than expected: The city is facing an estimated $160 million deficit this year, sharply higher than earlier estimates and of a scale that could require big cuts to spending on city services. The City Council, with agreement from Mayor LaToya Cantrell’s administration, asked the Louisiana legislative auditor last month to examine the city’s books after weeks of confusion over the depths of the city’s budget crisis. The administration had previously estimated a budget deficit of $103
ä See DEFICIT, page 5A ASSOCIATED PRESS PHOTO By CLIFF OWEN
Louisiana Attorney General Liz Murrill, center, speaks with the news media upon leaving the Supreme Court after giving arguments Wednesday in the case on drawing new congressional district boundaries.
Moreno names 4 to transition positions
Justices question how much race should be a factor BY MARK BALLARD Staff writer
WASHINGTON — When the U.S. Supreme Court drilled down Wednesday on the issues surrounding Louisiana’s voting rights case, the six conservative justices asked questions and made comments that indicated they thought Louisiana relied too much on race in drawing a second majority-Black congressional district. Justice Brett M. Kavanaugh asked in several ways whether race-based maps are permissible for an indeterminate period or should have an endpoint when states no longer have to consider race when drawing congressional district maps. Justice Amy Coney Barrett asked how much weight the Supreme Court should put on the lower court findings that spurred the Louisiana Legislature’s decision to redraw its congressional maps to include a second majority-Black district. “What if the district court was just wrong?” she said. U.S. Rep. Cleo Fields, the Baton Rouge Democrat elected last year in the majority-minority district at the center of Louisiana v. Callais and Robinson v. Callais, said after the 21/ 2-hour hearing that the justices asked pointed questions on all aspects of this complicated case. Fields said he saw the justices’ questions as an indication that the conservative majority wouldn’t go as far as many
BY BLAKE PATERSON Staff writer
said. “This case marks a pivotal moment in not only Louisiana’s ongoing fight to protect fair representation, but states all across this nation as well.” The Voting Rights Act of 1965 forbids poll and literacy tests and other practices that kept Black people from
Mayor-elect Helena Moreno announced the four co-chairs who will lead her transition effort on Wednesday, drawing on her allies with experience in the public and private sectors as she lays the groundwork for her administration less than three months before taking office. They are Cedric Richmond, former congressman and senior adviser to President Joe Biden; Desiree Charbonnet, former Orleans Parish Municipal Court judge who unsuccessfully ran for mayor in 2017; Ryan Berger, a real estate developer; and Emily Arata, system vice president at Ochsner Health and former deputy mayor in Mayor Mitch Landrieu’s administration. Moreno has spared no time since winning Saturday’s primary election
ä See COURT, page 4A
ä See TRANSITION, page 5A
ASSOCIATED PRESS PHOTO By MATT BROWN
Rep. Troy Carter, D-New Orleans, center, and other members of the Congressional Black Caucus speak outside the U.S. Capitol after arguments were heard on the Voting Rights Act at the Supreme Court on Wednesday. legal observers thought and find the Voting Rights Act of 1965 unconstitutional — or dramatically change the act’s Section 2 to make it all but unusable. Their questions reflected “the importance of this decision on the nation, regardless of their individual opinions,” he said. “I’m cautiously optimistic,” Fields
Landry halts applications for new carbon capture projects BY DAVID J. MITCHELL Staff writer
Gov. Jeff Landry declared a moratorium Wednesday on new applications for carbon capture injection wells in Louisiana after years of growing complaints from people who live near where the projects are planned.
WEATHER HIGH 88 LOW 66 PAGE 8B
Landry’s order calls for companies to make more effort to seek out public and local government input on pending projects, as the Republican governor seeks to balance pressures from constituents in rural Louisiana and energy companies. In the 12-page executive order, Landry says the changes are hap-
pening “to provide a clear road map for citizens and local officials,” to create transparency for the public and to recognize the reality of the intensive time required to review each project — an estimated 2,000 hours. “Local government and citizens, through their local government, have a right to be heard to ensure
safety, transparency, and local input,” the governor’s order says. But the order drew immediate response from industry groups who worry it could hamstring an industry that could be a boon for Louisiana’s economy. Tommy Faucheux, president of the Louisiana Mid-Continental Oil and Gas Association, said the proj-
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ects could “breathe new economic life into our communities and create the opportunities that will keep our kids here in Louisiana.” “Let’s not let Texas, and other states waiting in the wings, take this moment from us because we put any more obstacles in our own
ä See CARBON, page 4A
13TH yEAR, NO. 65