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S at u r d ay, O c t O b e r 18, 2025
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N.O. moves to ban reality TV shows
Footage dispute, backlash over first responder programs triggers action BY MISSY WILKINSON Staff writer
Last year, producers with 44 Blue, the California company behind A&E’s “Homicide Squad: New Orleans” dropped off a hard drive to police to be loaded with elements of murder case files: crime scene photos, officer body-worn camera footage, video from the city’s Real Time Crime Center and images of victims and suspects. The New Orleans Police Depart-
ment reviewed the materials for evidence that could jeopardize an investigation. But the transfer also included footage from the community camera network Project NOLA that its director, Bryan Lagarde, said he’d flatly refused to give to the show’s producers when they’d asked in early 2024. The result has been a clash that has chilled the normally productive relations between Project NOLA and the NOPD. Lagarde has cut back the NOPD’s
access to the network’s cameras on private property, while family members have complained of a gross violation in subjecting their murdered loved ones to the lens of a cable TV camera, even if the footage never airs. Now, the New Orleans City Council is considering a measure introduced by council member at-large JP Morrell that would bar approval of the kind of reality TV shows of the city’s first responders that have been a mainstay over cable since “The First 48” debuted in 2013. Another ordinance, approved
PHOTO PROVIDED By PROJECT NOLA
Project NOLA crime cameras capture a 44 Blue camera crew filming for ‘Homicide Squad: New Orleans’ inside police tape at the scene of Jacob ä See REALITY, page 4A Carter’s murder on Jan. 5, 2024, near Bourbon and Kerlerec streets.
“When you get any vaccine from a doctor or pharmacist, you talk through risks and benefits and get your questions answered. It’s no different than before.” DR. JENNIFER AVEGNO, director of the New Orleans Health Department
COVID vaccines become easier to find in Louisiana
Feds link Lafayette resident to massacre
Man accused of participating in Hamas-led attack in Israel makes court appearance BY CLAIRE TAYLOR Staff writer
A man living and working in Lafayette who federal authorities say is a member of a terrorist organization and participated in the deadly Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas-led attacks on Israel appeared in court for the first time Friday. Gaza-born Mahmoud Amin Ya’qub al-Muhtadi, 33, also known as Abu Ala, was arrested on a federal warrant and jailed in St. Martin Parish on Thursday. He faces federal charges of supporting a terrorist organization and visa fraud for providing false information June 26, 2024, on his visa application to enter the United States and obtain legal permanent resident status. He allegedly indicated he had not ever served in a paramilitary or terrorist group. If convicted, he could be sentenced to life in
ä See MASSACRE, page 5A
STAFF FILE PHOTO By CHRIS GRANGER
Pharmacies and clinics across the state are offering the updated COVID-19 vaccines without a prescription, following new guidance from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention released earlier this month.
Updated CDC guidance eases confusion BY EMILY WOODRUFF Staff writer
After weeks of confusion about access to the latest COVID-19 vaccine and murky guidance from federal officials, Louisiana residents should now find it much easier to get a shot. Pharmacies and clinics across the state are offering the updated vac-
cines without a prescription, following new guidance from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention released earlier this month. The agency said that anyone 6 months and older can receive the vaccine through “shared clinical decisionmaking” with a provider — essentially, a conversation between patients and their providers about personal risk and benefit. In practical terms, that shouldn’t look any different from the usual process of getting a vaccine from a provider, whether that’s in a pharmacy or at a doctor’s office, said Dr. Jennifer Avegno, director of the
New Orleans Health Department. “When you get any vaccine from a doctor or pharmacist, you talk through risks and benefits and get your questions answered,” said Avegno. “It’s no different than before.” The clarification marked the end of several weeks of uncertainty over who could get the updated vaccine and how. After the Food and Drug Administration approved this fall’s updated COVID-19 shots on Aug. 27, it narrowed use to seniors 65 and older and to people from 6
ä See VACCINES, page 5A
State education leaders focus on absenteeism
Basing funding on attendance could backfire, some say BY ELYSE CARMOSINO Staff writer
Several members of a new study group to examine Louisiana’s high rates of student absenteeism pushed back this week against proposals to tie school district funding to attendance, warning that doing so could backfire without addressing the root causes of why students miss school. Louisiana’s absenteeism rate rose between 2022 and 2024 before dropping slightly last year. Members of the state’s new Truancy Study Group suggested brainstorming ways for school systems
ä See EDUCATION, page 5A
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13TH yEAR, NO. 67