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Campbell’s Chunky Soup
3
2/$
Prices good at all Lafayette, New Iberia and Youngsville stores November 5th - November 12th, 2025.
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F r i d ay, N ov e m b e r 7, 2025
La. travelers may face delays from shutdown
$2.00X
PHOTO PROVIDED By LOUISIANA STATE POLICE
An Aug. 22 explosion at Smitty’s Supply in Tangipahoa Parish forced the evacuation of hundreds of nearby residents.
Feds, La. sue plant over explosion
years of alleged environmental violations also cited BY ALEX LUBBEN Staff writer
STAFF PHOTO By LESLIE WESTBROOK
Travelers arrive at Lafayette Regional Airport on Thursday.
Passengers advised to check flight status in advance as FAA begins reducing air traffic ä Airlines began canceling flights due to FAA order to reduce traffic.
BY ADAM DAIGLE and JAKORI MADISON Staff writers
PAGE 4A
Things seemed to be moving smoothly Thursday afternoon at Lafayette Regional Airport, but Jessica Wagner, who was at the airport trying to book a flight, said she was feeling the effects of the government shutdown. “Right now, we’re having issues because we’re trying to get my stepdaughter to come home for Christ-
mas,” Wagner said. “But there’s only this one guy working, and we can’t get the flight done.” Travelers around the country have faced delays as a result of the government shutdown causing shortages of air traffic controllers and Transportation Security Administration employees. But on Wednesday,
the Federal Aviation Administration announced a 10% reduction in air traffic to relieve work off federal employees, unveiling a list of 40 major airports impacted on Thursday morning. Wagner said the move is also is raising safety concerns for her. “People should be able to have their jobs. It’s kind of ridiculous that it’s gotten to this point,” she said. “You need people that are trained.
ä See DELAYS, page 5A
Federal and state regulators are suing Smitty’s Supply Inc., the Tangipahoa Parish oil and lubricant plant, over an Aug. 22 explosion that sent a plume of black smoke towering over Roseland and forced the evacuation of hundreds of residents, as well as numerous previous alleged environmental violations. The 65-page lawsuit, filed Wednesday in federal court in New Orleans, calls the explosion “catastrophic” and accuses Smitty’s of “repeatedly failing” to follow pollution-control laws and maintaining “insufficient” spill-prevention plans long before the August explosion. Cleanup from the explosion is ongoing, the lawsuit states, and months later there is still a risk of additional pollution from the site of the explosion. “Plaintiffs ask this Court to hold Defendant accountable for unlawfully polluting the Nation’s and the State’s waters, and to require Defendant to take all appropriate measures to prevent future spills or discharges,” the lawsuit, filed by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the Louisiana Department of Environmental Quality, states. The explosion prompted an evacuation order that affected about 800 residents, including former Louisiana Gov. John Bel Edwards, who lives nearby. David Sherman, an attorney for Smitty’s, said
ä See EXPLOSION, page 5A
State OKs plan to ease some restrictions on pogy boats Public comment period opens on fishing proposal BY MIKE SMITH Staff writer
State commissioners at a packed meeting in Baton Rouge on Thursday approved a proposal to ease some regulations on Louisiana’s controversial menhaden fishing industry while adding additional protections in certain sensitive ar-
WEATHER HIGH 83 LOW 67 PAGE 14C
eas off the coast. The proposal sets in motion a process that could see the new rules take effect next year, though the fight over the intensely scrutinized plan is expected to continue in the months ahead, potentially drawing in state legislators. Discussion and public comment on the proposal stretched for about three hours at Thursday’s contentious meeting of the state’s Wildlife and Fisheries Commission. In the end, the commission voted 4-3 in favor of the
proposal that would reduce the half-mile buffer zone in certain areas off the coast where fishing for menhaden, or pogies, is currently banned. The buffer would be a quarter-mile in those areas under the proposal, while the no-go zone for the menhaden industry would be extended in other particularly sensitive areas. In total, banned areas for the industry would increase by around 4%. But the issue has nonetheless sparked
Attendees fill the meeting room for a commission meeting at the Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries headquarters on Thursday. STAFF PHOTO By JAVIER GALLEGOS
ä See POGY, page 7A
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101ST yEAR, NO. 130