LSU NIPS ARKANSAS FOR FIRST WIN SINCE FIRING 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 16, 2025
E LEC T ION 2025
EBR VOTERS REJECT THRIVE TAX PACKAGE
Defeat of all three propositions a major setback for Edwards administration
$2.50X
No word on possible Guard deployment in Louisiana
Movement expected but shutdown may have slowed things, sources say BY MEGHAN FRIEDMANN Staff writer
cated tax in Proposition 3. Unofficial voter turnout was about 19%. All results are unofficial until they are certified by the Louisiana secretary of state. Speaking before city-parish officials, staff and others, Edwards said
A month and a half after Gov. Jeff Landry asked the federal government to send 1,000 National Guard troops to Louisiana, there has been no word from the state or President Donald Trump’s administration about when or whether that request will be approved. People familiar with negotiations around the deployment say it is still likeLandry ly to occur, but it may have stalled due to the federal government shutdown. Last month, Landry said he hoped troops would arrive in New Orleans ahead of Thanksgiving. New Orleans Police Superintendent Anne Kirkpatrick said she expected Kirkpatrick the guard to arrive for the Bayou Classic football game and remain in the city through Mardi Gras. But on Friday, a Pentagon spokesperson said there were no updates on the possible deployment, referring questions to the Louisiana National Guard. “We have not received word that anything’s been approved yet,” said Lt. Col. Noel Collins, a spokesperson for the agency. Landry could activate the Guard himself, but he needs the Trump administration’s approval to secure federal funding for the deployment.
ä See ELECTION, page 4A
ä See GUARD, page 4A
STAFF PHOTO By JAVIER GALLEGOS
East Baton Rouge Parish Mayor-President Sid Edwards speaks after the election results were finalized, with City Council members Laurie Adams, from left, Carolyn Coleman, Jen Racca, Aaron Moak and Central Mayor Wade Evans behind him during the election party for the Thrive proposals at Lamar Advertising on Saturday. BY PATRICK SLOAN-TURNER and QUINN COFFMAN Staff writers
East Baton Rouge Parish voters rejected all three parts of MayorPresident Sid Edwards’ Thrive tax package on Saturday, delivering a major setback to an administration that hoped the measure would ease the city-parish’s budget woes. On Proposition 1 — the measure that would have rededicated some of
Cousins Ann Carrera, Kat Beaulieu, Ellen Dionne Alverez, Camille Basak and Cindy Oliver have dinner together at Antoine’s Restaurant and discuss their relationship to Pope Leo XIV in New Orleans on Wednesday. STAFF PHOTO By SOPHIA GERMER
WEATHER HIGH 82 LOW 59 PAGE 8B
the library’s funding and used its savings to pay down city-parish debt — 53% of voters said no with all 331 precincts reporting. The library’s rededication would have added $16.4 million to the city-parish general fund each year and paid off more than $52.4 million in debt. As for Proposition 2 — the partial rededication of mosquito abatement’s dedicated tax — 52% voted no. And 51% voted no to the partial rededication of the Council on Aging’s dedi-
ä Election results for the Baton Rouge area. PAGE 11A
POPE’S ROOTS REUNITE A FAMILY
From branches separated a century ago, cousins finally meet in N.O.
BY DESIREE STENNETT
dining room’s open door, the native New Orleanian, raised in the 7th Ward, was still with quiet Ellen Dionne Alverez sat qui- anticipation. What would these etly at a circular table in the 1840 Chicago cousins be like, these Room at Antoine’s Restaurant friendly ladies who had contacted and waited, preparing to meet a her — seemingly out of the blue long-lost part of her family for — after she herself learned of her own surprising genealogy? the first time. Alverez, through her father’s Alone and facing the private Staff writer
side, was a cousin to Pope Leo XIV. They were, too. And then, minutes later, the four women walked in. Drowning out an introduction by Antoine’s waitstaff, they rushed over to Alverez with a
Business ......................1E Deaths .........................4B Opinion ........................6B Classified ..................... 2F Living............................1D Nation-World................2A Commentary ................7B Metro ...........................1B Sports ..........................1C
ä See FAMILY, page 5A
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