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BATON ROUGE, LOUISIANA
T h u r s d ay, N ov e m b e r 6, 2025
Edwards proposes budget cuts for BR
Hundreds of layoffs possible across departments
$2.00X
FAA reducing air traffic by 10%
Move aimed at maintaining safety during shutdown BY MATTHEW DALY, JOSH FUNK and RIO YAMAT Associated Press
STAFF PHOTO By HILARy SCHEINUK
Mayor-President Sid Edwards speaks during a news conference after presenting his 2026 operating budget to the East Baton Rouge Parish Metro Council on Wednesday. BY PATRICK SLOAN-TURNER Staff writer
East Baton Rouge Mayor-President Sid Edwards has proposed major budget cuts and possibly hundreds of layoffs across every city-parish department — except for police and firefighters. The mayor presented a 2026 budget to Metro Council members Wednesday afternoon that would slash $15.5 million from the general fund — the city-parish’s operational budget — by way of double-digit percentage cuts to agencies like the District Attorney’s Office, public works and more. Meanwhile, the Baton Rouge Police Department and Baton Rouge Fire
Department had no money cut from their budgets. Edwards pointed to public safety as a major priority, which is why BRPD and BRFD would not get cut, if this budget is approved. But he called the city-parish’s financial situation “dire.” “As far as us cutting, we are breaking the bone and sucking the marrow out,” Edwards said. In his proposed budget, more than 200 city-parish workers would be laid off, an overall workforce reduction of 33% for general fund agencies other than police and fire. Baton Rouge’s general fund has shrunk because the new city of St. George took ownership of roughly $54 million worth of sales taxes. Though
major cuts were approved late last year, those only accounted for half a year’s loss of tax revenue, since St. George had not yet fully taken over responsibility for city services. Edwards’ proposed budget, plus the cuts in last year’s budget, accounts for a full-year’s worth of lost revenue to the city-parish — roughly $54 million. One of the largest departmental cuts by percentage went to the Public Defender’s Office, whose $1.09 million appropriation for 2025 will be reduced by 22% to about $855,000. Some agencies — including the public defender, district attorney, coroner and courts — are created under the
ä See BUDGET, page 5A
WASHINGTON — The Federal Aviation Administration said Wednesday that it would reduce air traffic by 10% across 40 “highvolume” markets beginning Friday morning to maintain safety during the ongoing government shutdown. The reduction stands to impact thousands of flights nationwide because the FAA directs more than 44,000 INSIDE flights daily, including commercial passenger ä Trump lashes flights, cargo planes and out at GOP private aircraft. Air traffic controllers senators to end have been working un- shutdown. paid since the shutdown Page 4A began Oct. 1. With some ä Money calling out of work, staffremoved from ing shortages during some shifts have led to some Louisiana flight delays at a number SNAP accounts. of U.S. airports. Page 7A Citing growing staffing pressures, FAA Administrator Bryan Bedford said the agency would not wait for a crisis to act. “We can’t ignore it,” he said. Bedford and Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said they would meet with airline executives later Wednesday to determine how to safely implement the reduction in flights. Until then, both declined to name the affected markets. Bedford said a list would be released sometime Thursday. “If the pressures continue to build even after we take these measures,” Bedford said, “we’ll come back and take additional measures.” The Associated Press on Wednesday sent requests for comment on the FAA’s decision to major U.S. airlines, including Delta, United and American Airlines. Southwest Airlines said it was evaluating potential impacts to its schedule and would
ä See FAA, page 7A
Despite judge’s order, ICE detainee held at Angola deported to Laos BY MEGHAN FRIEDMANN
Immigration and Customs Enforcement knows where Chanthila Souvannarath is, and the govThe federal government says it ernment says Louisiana’s federal received a judge’s order blocking Middle District Court cannot order ICE from deporting a man with him returned because it has no juclaims to U.S. citizenship — but it risdiction over Laos, according to had already put him on a plane to a Nov. 3 court filing by an assistant Laos four hours earlier. U.S. attorney. Now it’s not clear whether U.S. The government says it was
Staff writer
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acting on a 2006 removal order indicating Souvannarath became deportable to Thailand or Laos following a criminal conviction. In immigration records, the U.S. government alleged he was a citizen of Laos, but the American Civil Liberties Union of Louisiana says Souvannarath has never been to the country.
The ACLU, one of the organizations representing Souvannarath, says he is now being kept in a jail in Laos, and that he was only able to tell his wife by borrowing a guard’s phone. But the government “cannot confirm” that Souvannarath is in a Laos jail, Assistant U.S. Attorney Davis Rhorer wrote in the Nov. 3
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court filing. Court records show that, while he was being held in the “Louisiana Lockup” on the grounds of the Louisiana State Penitentiary at Angola, Souvannarath raised his U.S. citizenship claim in multiple filings on Oct. 16 and 17 — several
ä See DEPORTED, page 5A
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