GOVERNMENT SHUTDOWN ENDS AS TRUMP SIGNS FUNDING BILL 3A
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Ex-lawmaker indicted in theft of artifact
Legislation could end some THC products in La.
Retailer says bill would ‘effectively kill’ some hemp industries BY MARK BALLARD Staff writer
WASHINGTON — Part of the legislation that ends the government shutdown also could end a nascent industry in Louisiana of making drinks, edibles and other consumer products containing low levels of THC, the intoxicating element in marijuana. “The ramifications in this bill would be catastrophic,” said Dax Thieler, chief executive officer of Fleur de Leaf in New Orleans. The legislation “prevents the unregulated sale of intoxicating hemp-based or hemp-derived products, including Delta-8, from being sold online, in gas stations, and corner stores, while preserving nonintoxicating CBD and industrial hemp products.” The provision would allow up to 0.4 milligrams of total THC per container, which is less than the amounts in seltzers and edibles currently being manufactured. A market has been growing in Louisiana and the rest of the country for products including THC, tetrahydrocannabinol. That’s the active ingredient in marijuana, but the new products derive it from hemp that is grown in such a way as to limit the amount of THC. The industry, which is only about five years old, had sales last year of about $33 million that generated about $4.3 million in tax revenues in Louisiana, Thieler said. Products that are sold through about 2,500 licensed retailers in the state would become illegal in a year, but would likely become
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This photo shows a 20-foot-long cypress board that was harvested from a tree believed to be more than 1,000 years old. The board used to hang in the halls of the Louisiana State Capitol, but has since gone missing.
Schexnayder faces felony charge over missing ancient cypress board BY TYLER BRIDGES and PATRICK SLOAN-TURNER Staff writers
Former House Speaker Clay Schexnayder was indicted Wednesday by a Baton Rouge grand jury related to the disappearance of an ancient cypress board that was last seen in his legislative office in Gonzales. The indictment says Schexnayder “knowingly and intentionally committed theft of a rare Louisiana state artifact,” leading to a charge of felony theft greater than $25,000.
It also says he has been charged with malfeasance in office for “intentionally refusing to perform a duty required of him as a public officer or employee.” Schexnayder could face up to 25 years in prison and a $5,000 fine, according to the Attorney General’s Office, which brought the indictment in East Baton Rouge Parish. Schexnayder Under typical procedures, Schexnayder would be arrested or turn himself in voluntarily.
The board, which was displayed at the State Capitol for decades, vanished from Schexnayder’s office last year as he was ending a 12-year term in the House, the last four as the Republican speaker of the 105-member chamber. The disappearance of the board was first reported by The Advocate | The Times-Picayune in September. The newspaper also reported that Julius Mullins, a retired Baton Rouge doctor whose grandfather Walter Stebbins donated the board to the state in the 1950s, had asked
ä See ARTIFACT, page 8A
ä See THC, page 7A
Epstein email from 2019 says Trump ‘knew about the girls’ White House calls release a Democratic smear
BY MICHAEL R. SISAK and ERIC TUCKER Associated Press
WASHINGTON — Jeffrey Epstein wrote in a 2019 email to a journalist that Donald Trump “knew about the girls,” according to documents made public Wednesday, but what he knew — and whether
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it pertained to the sex offender’s crimes — is unclear. The White House quickly accused Democrats of selectively leaking the emails to smear the president. Democrats on the House Oversight Committee released three emails referencing Trump, including one Epstein wrote in 2011 in which he told confidant Ghislaine
Maxwell that Trump had “spent hours” at Epstein’s house with a sex trafficking victim. The disclosures seemed designed to raise new questions about Trump’s friendship with Epstein and about what knowledge he may have had regarding what prosecutors call a yearslong effort by Epstein to exploit underage girls. The Republican businessman-turnedpolitician has consistently denied any knowledge of Epstein’s crimes
and has said he ended their relationship years ago. The version of the 2011 email released by the Democrats redacted the name of the victim, but Republicans on the committee later said Epstein it was Virginia Giuffre, who accused Epstein of arranging for her to have sexual
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encounters with a number of his rich and powerful friends. Epstein took his own life in a New York jail in 2019 while awaiting trial on federal charges. The emails made public Wednesday are part of a batch of 23,000 documents provided by Epstein’s estate to the Oversight Committee. Giuffre, who died earlier this year, long insisted that Trump was
ä See EPSTEIN, page 7A
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