INTERIM COACH WILSON SAYS LSU WILL FINISH WHAT IT STARTED 1C
ADVOCATE BATON ROUGE, LOUISIANA
THE
T H E A D V O C AT E.C O M
HURRICANE
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W e d n e s d ay, O c t O b e r 29, 2025
MELISSA
Category 5 storm slams into Jamaica
Island suffers heavy flooding and wind damage
$2.00X
West Feliciana signs big deal for data center
programs. Parish set to get centive The board, which was apup to $90M a year proved by the Parish Coun-
BY AIDAN McCAHILL Staff writer
West Feliciana Parish is set to receive up to $90 million a year in new revenue through a 30-year agreement with Hut 8, a Miamibased company planning to build a $2.5 billion data center near St. Francisville. The deal ā approved Tuesday at the parishās ļ¬rst Industrial Development Board meeting ā creates a new revenue structure unique to the parish. The board, formed last week as a nonproļ¬t public corporation, allows the parish to collect payments in lieu of traditional property taxes. Parish officials say it will generate more revenue than Louisianaās standard tax in-
ASSOCIATED PRESS PHOTO By MATIAS DELACROIX
Waves splash in Kingston, Jamaica, as Hurricane Melissa strikes the island on Tuesday. BY JOHN MYERS JR. and DĆNICA COTO
Associated Press
KINGSTON, Jamaica ā Heavy ļ¬oodwaters swept across southwestern Jamaica, winds tore roofs off buildings and boulders tumbled onto roads Tuesday as Hurricane Melissa came ashore as a catastrophic Category 5 storm, one of the strongest Atlantic hurricanes on record. Landslides, fallen trees and numerous power outages were reported as Melissa hit with 185 mph winds near New Hope, with ofļ¬cials cautioning that the cleanup and damage assessment could be slow. āThere is no infrastructure in the region that can withstand a Category 5,ā Prime Minister Andrew Holness said. āThe question now is the speed of recovery. Thatās the challenge.ā Floodwaters trapped at least three families in their homes in the community of Black River in western Jamaica, and crews were unable to help them because of dangerous conditions, said Desmond McKenzie, deputy chair of Jamaicaās Disaster Risk
WEATHER HIGH 65 LOW 47 PAGE 8B
Management Council. āRoofs were flying off,ā he said. āWe are hoping and praying that the situation will ease so that some attempt can be made to get to those persons.ā He noted that extensive damage was reported in the southwestern parish of St. Elizabeth, which he said āis underwater.ā McKenzie said there are no conļ¬rmed reports of deaths and stressed that it was too early to talk about the extent of the damage because the hurricane ā the strongest to hit the island since recordkeeping began 174 years ago ā was still pummeling the country. Rohan Brown, of Jamaicaās Meteorological Service, warned that as Melissa moves off the coast, its counterclockwise rotation will bring a heavy storm surge to northern Jamaica through the night. The storm is headed toward Cuba, where it was expected to make landfall as a major hurricane early Wednesday. Nearly 15,000 people were in shelters in Jamaica and some 540,000 customers, or 77%, were
Ƥ See JAMAICA, page 4A
INSIDE
cil, consists of representatives from the parishās three largest taxing authorities: Sheriff Brian Spillman, School Superintendent Hollis Milton and former council member Clay Pensen. Each entity is expected to receive roughly one-third of the revenue. āThis is a tremendous new industry for Louisiana,ā Parish President Kenny Havard said. āItās going to be our next oil boom.ā Hut 8 operates 15 Bitcoin mining and data center sites across the U.S. and Canada. It also owns an 80% stake in American Bitcoin, a company formed by Eric Trump and Donald Trump Jr., and serves as its exclusive infrastructure and operating
Ƥ See DEAL, page 7A
PROVIDED RENDERING
Hut 8 plans to build a $2.5 billion data center in West Feliciana Parish off La. 964 on the southern end of the parish.
Gov. Landry wants N.O. bailout rejected sion ā which is scheduled State Bond to meet Thursday ā to sell million in short-term Commission to $125 revenue bonds, essentially consider measure payday loans for distressed
BY BLAKE PATERSON Staff writer PHOTO PROVIDED By AMBER WILLIAMS
Ƥ Louisiana newlyweds Stone Town
and Lexi Perkins traveled to Jamaica for their honeymoon but found themselves trapped on the island as Hurricane Melissa came ashore on Tuesday. Page 8A Ƥ Few storms have formed in the Caribbean and Gulf this hurricane season. Page 6A
Gov. Jeff Landry on Tuesday urged state leaders to reject cash-strapped New Orleansā request for a $125 million bailout and called for a state administrator to manage the cityās ļ¬nances, prompting city leaders to scramble to convince the state to chart a different course. The city needs the approval of the State Bond Commis-
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governments. Officials hoped to use the money to make payroll through the end of the year, after Mayor LaToya Cantrellās administration said last week that delays in federal grant payments threatened the cityās cash flow. The city is also looking for ways to plug a $160 million budget deļ¬cit. But Landry in a social media post Tuesday came out against the proposal and urged Republican leaders
Ƥ See BAILOUT, page 7A
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