NOW TAKING ORDERS FOR
HOLIDAY Scan to view our full DINNERS! catering menu.
SAVE $ 00 1
gulf coast Local
SAVE up $ 02 to 5
SAVE up $ 90 to 5
LB
When You Buy 10
— ONLY —
When you purchase a Hormel Cure 81 Ham.
FRESH
Buy a Hormel Cure 81 Spiral Half ham at $2.99 lb and get up to 12 lbs FREE on a Butterball Grade A Frozen Turkey. Limit 1 offer with a $25 purchase.
All stores open 7am - 2pm Thanksgiving Day.
Not valid on delivery orders.
visit rouses.com for more weekly ad specials!
19
Locally Grown Sweet Potatoes
¢
LB
— ONLY —
A LOCAL FAVORITE
Fresh Mirlitons
1
10/$
Limit 20
— ONLY —
24 PACK 12 OZ
Coke, Pepsi, Sprite or Dr. Pepper
9
$ 97
Prices good at all Baton Rouge, Zachary, Gonzales and Prairieville stores November 19th - November 27th, 2025.
CONGRESS ACTS SWIFTLY TO SEND EPSTEIN FILES BILL TO TRUMP 3A
THE
ADVOCATE T H E A D V O C AT E.C O M
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BATON ROUGE, LOUISIANA
W e d n e s d ay, n ov e m b e r 19, 2025
“It’s a sweet spot: lower premiums, help with the deductible, making the patient the informed consumer.” U.S. SEN. BILL CASSIDy, R-Baton Rouge
Cassidy offers option for health insurance
$2.00X
La. plan for broadband gets OK 100% of state to be covered in ‘generational investment’ BY JENNA ROSS Staff writer
The federal government has approved Louisiana’s plan for speedy internet, making it the first state in the country to get that go-ahead. The National Telecommunications and Information Administration announced its approval Tuesday of Louisiana’s proposal for $1.355 billion in Broadband, Equity, Access and Deployment funding, a highly debated, highly anticipated grant program. “This is a generational investment that places Louisiana at the forefront of America’s tech transformation,” Gov. Jeff Landry said in a statement. That funding could bring broadband to all
ä See BROADBAND, page 13A
ASSOCIATED PRESS FILE PHOTO By MARK SCHIEFELBEIN
Sen. Bill Cassidy, R-Baton Rouge, chairs the Senate’s health committee.
With Affordable Care Act tax credits set to expire, Republicans considering other extension ideas BY MARK BALLARD Staff writer
WASHINGTON — U.S. Sen. Bill Cassidy’s proposal for covering the health care costs of millions of low-income workers and small businesses is gaining traction among the various proposals trotted out to address the Affordable Care Act health insurance — the key dispute in the historically long federal government shutdown. Rather than simply extending en-
hanced tax credits that Democrats want and most Republicans oppose, the Baton Rouge Republican who chairs the Senate’s health committee would redirect the money into tax-free accounts. This would allow individuals to choose how the money would be spent, he said. Qualified beneficiaries could decide on their whether to purchase a less expensive policy and use the money to pay higher deductibles, copays and out-of-pocket expenses, Cassidy said in an interview.
Convicted killer on trial in second murder case BY MATT BRUCE Staff writer
“It’s a sweet spot: lower premiums, help with the deductible, making the patient the informed consumer,” Cassidy said. “If we’re able to take the amount of money going into the enhanced premium tax credit and put it into a Flexible Spending Account, the rate you’re paying for your insurance does not have to change because what you’re doing is applying the enhanced premium tax credit to your deductible and to
Convicted killer Ryan Joseph Sharpe’s second murder trial in two years began this week inside a Baton Rouge courtroom. Sharpe, 44, stands accused of shooting and killing Carroll Breeden Sr., a 66-year-old BREC commissioner, as Breeden was doing yard work outside his Port Hudson-Pride Road home in September 2017. Breeden’s killing came during Sharpe a spree of random 2017 shootings in East Feliciana and East Baton Rouge parishes that investigators tied to Sharpe. In August 2024, an East Feliciana jury
ä See CASSIDY, page 12A
ä See TRIAL, page 13A
N.O. braces for Border Patrol sweeps Details have not been finalized, sources say
BY JAMES FINN and LARA NICHOLSON
Staff writers
Federal Border Patrol agents are poised to launch immigration sweeps in the New Orleans area, according to people familiar with the plans and local law enforcement officials, spurring anxiety among immigrants and blowback from some Democratic politicians. Details, including the size of the Border Patrol deployment, where in the New Orleans area agents might operate and the timeline of their arrival,
WEATHER HIGH 83 LOW 61 PAGE 8B
have not been finalized, according to multiple people briefed on the plans who requested anonymity because the operation has not been publicly announced. Still, signs that the metro area could see an infusion of federal agents as soon as late this week spurred frenzied reaction in recent days from officials, advocates and immigration attorneys. One construction company owner has told Hispanic workers not to show up for work beginning on Friday for fear of immigration raids. New Orleans Police Superintendent Anne Kirkpatrick is set to discuss the operation this week with Border Patrol officials. “They’re coming, so I am going to be a partner,” Kirkpatrick said on WBOK
Radio on Tuesday, adding that her officers would not conduct immigration arrests or question people about their immigration status. Planning documents reviewed by The Associated Press show 250 Border Patrol agents are poised to focus on neighborhoods and commercial hubs throughout southeast Louisiana, the outlet reported Tuesday. The agents plan to fan out across a region stretching from New Orleans through Jefferson, St. Bernard and St. Tammany parishes north to Baton Rouge and into Mississippi. The revelations signal that the Trump administration has chosen
ASSOCIATED PRESS PHOTO By MATT KELLEy
U.S. Border Patrol agents are expanding their immigration crackdown in North Carolina to include the Raleigh area as ä See SWEEPS, page 10A well as Charlotte. Story, page 2A.
Business ......................3B Commentary ................7B Nation-World................2A Classified .....................7D Deaths .........................4B Opinion ........................6B Comics-Puzzles .....4D-6D Living............................1D Sports ..........................1C
101ST yEAR, NO. 142