LSU FALLS TO ALABAMA IN FIRST GAME WITHOUT BRIAN KELLY 1C
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BATON ROUGE, LOUISIANA
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S u n d ay, n ov e m b e r 9, 2025
‘People just can’t afford to live’ As federal shutdown threatens SNAP, need for Louisiana residents on the rise
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Insiders reveal how Rousse became LSU’s president Landry played role in selection, as at other state universities BY TYLER BRIDGES Staff writer
Four days before the LSU Board of Supervisors would select a new university president, McNeese State President Wade Rousse and University of Alabama Provost James Dalton met at the LSU president’s house. Publicly, both were still candidates for the LSU job. Behind the scenes, however, Rousse had already secured it. Gov. Jeff Landry had spread the word quietly weeks earlier that Rousse Rousse’s business-oriented approach for LSU aligned with the governor’s vision. Lee Mallett, the board’s vice chair and a close Landry ally, had been working assiduously to arrange for Rousse to show off his can-do personality in meetings with other board members and key political and business Landry leaders. But Rousse had publicly faced complaints from some faculty and students who said he wasn’t qualified to become president of LSU because he didn’t have the necessary experience at a large research university. So Rousse and Dalton met at
ä See ROUSSE, page 4A
STAFF PHOTOS By DAVID GRUNFELD
People wait in line for a hot meal at Grace Place Ministries Soup Kitchen on Jackson Street in Monroe on Wednesday. The nonprofit has seen a surge in demand as SNAP benefit reductions and the ongoing federal shutdown make it harder for many families in northeast Louisiana to put food on the table. BY JENNA ROSS Staff writer
MONROE — The friends arrived at the soup kitchen with toddlers in their arms and worry in their eyes. Ashleigh Pearce and Sabrina Spearman had heard that because of the federal shutdown, their food assistance would be cut. (“Just gone.”) Then they heard that Louisiana would restore a quarter of their allotment at a time. (“So I’ve gotta buy some eggs.”) Then, they could lose benefits, long-term. (“People really need those funds.”) They were weary, not only from the whiplash but from the challenges that keep bringing them to Grace Place Ministries, on the city’s south side, week after week, for a hot meal and, on this morning, a pair of shoes. The air had turned chilly, and Spearman’s son was barefoot. “Good morning!” volunteer Nathaniel Cooper bellowed, opening the back door, where a dozen people were waiting Wednesday morning to choose free clothes from the organization’s closet. He removed his hat and began to
WEATHER HIGH 69 LOW 36 PAGE 8B
Budget cuts could devastate BR courts
District attorney says backlog of murder cases will grow BY PATRICK SLOAN-TURNER Staff writer
Grace Place Ministries Soup Kitchen serves hot meals to those in need on Jackson Street in Monroe. pray: “Father God, thank you for dressing us here today. I would ask that you cover them. Bless their mind and body that they may know and understand that you are here for them right now, in this time of the shutdown that is taking place in
the world.” Even before the federal shutdown threatened food assistance for 42 million Americans, this soup kitchen was tallying more trays needed during its
ä See SNAP, page 6A
The East Baton Rouge Parish mayor-president’s proposed budget cuts would bog down the parish’s already bottlenecked court system even further, criminal justice system leaders warn. “Lawyers can only work so many cases,” said Chief Public Defender Kyla Romanach. “Realistically, if you assign them more than that, they just can’t get to them, and so people are going to wait much longer for their cases to make it Edwards through the system.” On Wednesday, Mayor-President Sid Edwards presented a budget with extensive cuts to nearly all
ä See COURTS, page 8A
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