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T h u r s d ay, O c T O b e r 23, 2025
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New Orleans explores loans for payroll issues
2025 LEGISLATURE
Lawmakers hope for speedy session Moving April primary date sole focus of Legislature
BY ALYSE PFEIL Staff writer
STAFF PHOTOS By SOPHIA GERMER
Chief Administrative Officer Joe Threat answers questions about the city’s financial issues during an emergency City Council meeting in the City Council Chambers on Wednesday.
FEMA funding delays complicate city finances BY BEN MYERS Staff writer
New Orleans officials are considering extreme measures to ensure nearly 5,000 city employees are paid through the rest of the year, after realizing that delays in federal grant payments are threatening the city’s cash flow. The City Council on Thursday is expected to vote on a measure requesting the state Bond Commission approve $125 million in short-term revenue bonds, otherwise known as payday loans for strapped city governments. But it’s not clear if the revenue bonds can be approved and obtained before
Franklin Avenue Baptist Church leader to retire
istrative Officer Joe Threat indicated that payroll problems could arise next month. “In the last projection I got on Monday from (the Finance Department), it looked like we might be good for this month, but next month we would have some problems, and that’s why were looking for an opportunity to go and look for gap financing to take us into the first year,” Threat told council members. New Orleans City Council member Another possibility is tapping a $38 at-large and Mayor-elect Helena million savings fund that is locked away Moreno listens to a discussion during for emergencies and requires a twoWednesday’s meeting. thirds council vote to draw from, according to the city charter. That would cash runs out. It could be months be- only cover roughly a month of payroll fore the city sees any proceeds from expenses, however, and would leave the city dangerously exposed in the event revenue bonds. City officials did not clearly say how of any other emergencies. Mayor-elect Helena Moreno, council much cash the city has on-hand, and how many weeks of payroll it can cover, vice president, said after the meeting during an emergency 90-minute council ä See PAYROLL, page 4A meeting on Wednesday. Chief Admin-
economic development projDemolition, ects. Hoffman said the site, still redevelopment referred to as “Mercy” by project hinges on the development team, is included in two of the three election propositions on the Novem-
BY ANTHONY McAULEY Staff writer
BY DESIREE STENNETT Staff writer
ä See PASTOR, page 5A
WEATHER HIGH 82 LOW 64 PAGE 8B
ä See SESSION, page 4A
Bond vote set for shuttered medical center
Pastor Fred Luter Jr. taps son as successor at megachurch
After 39 years leading Franklin Avenue Baptist Church, one of the largest megachurches in the New Orleans area, Pastor Fred Luter Jr. announced Sunday that he plans to retire next fall. In his place, he has asked the church to consider voting in his son Fred “Chip” Luter III as its next leader. “Who would have thought that a young street preacher Fred Luter Jr. from the Lower 9th Ward would be elected by the 65 members of the Franklin Avenue Baptist Mission Church back in September of 1986 as pastor,” Fred Luter, 69, said to his congregation. “Then
The way Republicans tell it, the special session that begins Thursday afternoon is not complicated and, ideally, it won’t last very long. “Everybody wants to just get in and get out,” said Sen. Caleb Kleinpeter, R-Port Allen, who will be carrying legislation that is likely to be the “Everybody sole focus at the Capitol. “I think we’ll be done by wants to Nov. 1.” just get in The plan? Push Loui- and get out. siana’s new closed primary elections in April I think we’ll be done by back one month and hold them in May instead, to Nov. 1.” buy time for a potential SEN. CALEB Supreme Court decision KLEINPETER, that could allow LouisiR-Port Allen ana to draw a new congressional election map. The session will be “pretty straightforward,” said Rep. Beau Beaullieu, R-New Iberia, who is spearheading the effort in the House. “We’re just looking to push the election dates back 30 days,” he said. The plan may appear simple, but the reason for the change — and what could happen next — is anything but. The U.S. Supreme Court last week heard arguments in a major voting rights case stemming from Louisiana. The justices’ eventual ruling could lead to major changes to the Voting Rights Act, a Civil Rights Movement era law aimed at increasing Black political representation. It could also alter how race can be used as a factor when drawing voting maps. Louisiana’s congressional map is the crux of the Supreme Court case. The state has four majority-White districts that elected White Republican representatives, and two majority-Black districts
STAFF PHOTO By BRETT DUKE
The former Lindy Boggs Medical Center has been closed since it flooded during Hurricane Katrina.
The long-blighted Lindy Boggs Medical Center near Bayou St. John — shuttered since it flooded during Hurricane Katrina — could finally see new life. But its future depends on how New Orleans voters decide on a set of bond propositions on Nov. 15. Developers Bill Hoffman and Paul Flower, who have owned the 13-acre property since 2021, say the longdelayed demolition and redevelopment of the former Mercy Hospital site will move forward only if voters approve a $500 million bond sale that would help fund citywide infrastructure and
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ber ballot. If approved, the funds would help cover two major early costs: demolishing the decaying hospital complex and building a massive underground stormwater retention system designed to alleviate flooding in surrounding neighborhoods. “We are listed in Prop 3 for infrastructure dollars to help defray the cost of the water retention system, which will ultimately be owned by the city,” Hoffman said. “And we’re listed in Prop 2 for economic development dollars to help defray the cost of taking down the hospital buildings.” No specific amounts for the project are listed,
ä See VOTE, page 4A
13TH yEAR, NO. 72