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ADVOCATE T H E A D V O C AT E.C O M
BATON ROUGE, LOUISIANA
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M o n d ay, n ov e M b e r 3, 2025
RAMS 34 SAINTS 10 GAME COVERAGE ON 1B
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State energy projects face pauses, cuts
ed in Washington, D.C. Its targets about whether Louisiana will con- the state. Trump administration could hit brakes include The Energy Department had Project Cypress in south- tinue to be a beneficiary of a nawest Louisiana, a massive feder- tional movement under former already announced a round of $8 supported direct air capture President Joe Biden’s adminis- billion in funding cuts to clean on direct air capture, carbon plants ally project, as well as carbon-capture tration to bring technologies like energy in early October. Not long
BY SAM KARLIN
solar energy employment, amid a broader movement that may result in hundreds of millions of dollars The Trump administration has in Louisiana energy projects bequietly paused funding for initia- ing cut. The funding pause comes as a tives at LSU and the University of Louisiana at Lafayette that were list of proposed cuts by the Destudying direct air capture and partment of Energy has circulat-
Staff writer
projects by Entergy, Shell and Honeywell, among others. It’s not yet clear whether the projects will ultimately be cut, and the Department of Energy declined to answer questions for this story about the list’s authenticity. But the changes raise questions
direct air capture to market. And the potential cuts come at the same time an unusual coalition of rural conservatives and environmentalists have banded together to push back against a wave of projects by petrochemical companies to store CO2 deep underground all across
after, another list started circulating that proposed a second round of cuts, which include at least two university projects in Louisiana that have reported having their funding paused.
ä See CUTS, page 7A
Family Court complaints spark unusual uproar Child abuse allegations, misconduct complaints create clash among judges; now politicians are involved BY JOHN SIMERMAN Staff writer
ASSOCIATED PRESS FILE PHOTO By ISABEL MATEOS
A ranch worker drives cattle to a corral for inspection for New World screwworm at a ranch in Cintalapa, Chiapas, Mexico, on July 23.
‘A devastating pest’ Louisiana cattle industry keeps eye on flesh-eating parasite known as screwworm
BY STEPHEN MARCANTEL Staff writer
In an old coal-mining town in northern Texas, around 130 miles from Dallas/Fort Worth, Greg Buenger raises beef cattle on his ranch. But Buenger, also a Texas Farm Bureau District 3 state director and retired veterinarian, has his eyes elsewhere at the moment, far from the northern flatlands. His focus is on the TexasMexico border, where a series of cases involving the New World screwworm have been documented. The screwworm is a larva of the Cochliomyia hominivorax fly that can invade the tissues of any warm-blooded animal, including humans. The parasite enters animals’ skin, causing severe damage and lesions that can be
fatal. Infected animals are a serious threat to herds. The parasite is typically found in South America and the Caribbean, but since it escaped containment in Panama in 2023, it has been steadily moving northward. The most recent case was found in a cow near the Mexican state of Nuevo Leon, 70 miles from the border with Texas. The U.S. Department of Agriculture calls it a “devastating pest” and said in June that it poses a threat to “our livestock industry, our economy and our food supply chain.” The federal government had been expected to spend hundreds of millions of dollars to keep it out of the United States. “ T h e r e ’s s o m a n y
ä See PEST, page 4A
Alfredo Chavez, a cattle rancher and livestock technician, shows a New World screwworm larva removed from a cow at his ranch in Cintalapa, Chiapas, Mexico. ASSOCIATED PRESS FILE PHOTO By ISABEL MATEOS
The Cochliomyia hominivorax fly’s larvae can invade the tissues of any warm-blooded animal, including humans.
In August 2023, a volatile divorce and custody case took a turn when a judge in Baton Rouge held a mother of twins in contempt of court and ordered months of jail time if she didn’t pay thousands to her ex-husband’s attorney. After a four-day trial, Family Court Judge Pam Baker found Katherine Diamond had harassed her ex-husband, posted online about custody matters against a court order and failed to pay child support, attorney fees or the house note. The judge tacked on another $50,000 in legal fees for Diamond to pay her ex-husband and wrote that Diamond, who has rarely seen her kids in years and only under supervision, “continues to be abusive to everyone she has contact with in this case.” A few weeks later, Baker tapped out, recusing herself over actions she found “so outrageous and extreme that the court fears for the safety of herself, her staff, and anyone else that Ms. Diamond perceives to be associated with the Court.” Diamond had posted about Baker’s family, the judge wrote, “including addresses and contact information for her husband and son.”
ä See COURT, page 6A
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