NEXT LSU COACH FACES MAJOR REBUILD ON OFFENSE
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T u e s d ay, N ov e m b e r 25, 2025
Thanksgiving dinner prices down in La.
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Guard joins security for Bayou Classic Agencies to launch French Quarter security zone
BY SOPHIE KASAKOVE
Staff writer
STAFF PHOTOS By MICHAEL JOHNSON
Nick Hudson looks at turkeys while shopping at a Rouses Market on Monday. Rouses CEO Donny Rouse said the grocery chain works with its local and national suppliers to keep prices as consistent as possible.
Drop in cost of a turkey key factor in overall decrease BY IANNE SALVOSA
Staff writer
Louisiana families can be thankful for a lower price tag on this year’s Thanksgiving dinner. The average cost of a traditional Thanksgiving dinner in Louisiana is $44.70, a slight decrease from $45.84 last year, according to the American Farm Bureau Federation. The modest drop comes at a time when farmers are struggling with high overhead costs, the national turkey population continues to battle avian flu, and consumers are starting to seek nontraditional Thanksgiving meats. Each year, the American Farm Bureau Federation computes the cost of a typical 11-item Thanksgiving dinner that serves 10 people for its Thanksgiving Dinner Price Survey. Louisiana’s price this year is nearly $10 less than the national average of $55.18, and the second-lowest overall price in the country, just behind Arkansas. The cost decrease was led by a 16.3% drop in the price for a turkey in the past year. Nationwide, a 16-pound turkey will go for $21.50 this year, compared to $25.67 last year.
The Louisiana National Guard will be in New Orleans this week as visitors arrive for the annual Bayou Classic, providing security help to state and local police agencies in what officials called “event-based support” unconnected to the longer-term deployment being sought by Gov. Jeff Landry. In what has become a new standard for securing sections of downtown during major events, the National Guard, Louisiana State Police and local law enforcement will implement an ”enhanced security zone” from Friday through Sunday that includes checkpoints, bag searches and a ban on coolers, according to Jacob Pucheu, a spokesperson for the Louisiana State Police. Similar checkpoints in the French Quarter were put in place during Mardi Gras and Super Bowl LIX earlier this year after the deadly Jan. 1 terrorist attack on Bourbon Street exposed vulnerabilities in the city’s event security plans. The activation of the Guard comes as New Orleans is bracing for the arrival of a federal Border Patrol deployment that has put immigrant communities on edge. Some 250 Border Patrol agents are expected to begin operating in the New Orleans area in coming days. Moreover, two months ago Landry requested a federally funded
ä See GUARD, page 7A
Judge tosses Comey, James indictments Rulings say prosecutor was illegally appointed
BY ERIC TUCKER Associated Press
Shoppers search the shelves at Rouses Market on Monday. The average cost for a turkey in Louisiana is $15.48 this year, just 4 cents higher from 2024. “Things are just generally working themselves out after those COVID highs,” said Neil Melancon, assistant communications director for the Louisiana Farm Bureau Federation. An all-time high price of $28.96 for
turkey was set in 2022, largely due to an avian flu outbreak crippling the bird population. The turkey population is at a 40-year low this year due to the disease, which has affected 183 million of all birds in the country. Wholesale prices are up 40% for
ä See DINNER, page 7A
WASHINGTON — A federal judge on Monday dismissed the criminal cases against former FBI Director James Comey and New York Attorney General Letitia James, concluding that the prosecutor who brought the charges at President Donald Trump’s urging was illegally appointed by the Justice Department. The rulings from U.S. District Judge Cameron McGowan Currie halt at least for now a pair of prosecutions that had targeted two of the president’s most high-profile political opponents and amount to a sharp rebuke of the Trump administration’s legal maneuvering to install an inexperienced and loyalist prosecutor willing to file
Dillard president outlines new vision
so-called Black Ivy League — mographic cliff” when the falling Changes aim to boost the the headwinds the university faces birth rate will result in fewer students, and reeling from the Trump only intensified. enrollment efforts at have Dillard’s enrollment has stagnat- administration’s new restrictions oldest HBCU in La. ed at around 1,000 students, while to federal financial aid and slashed
BY MARIE FAZIO Staff writer
Nearly a year after Monique Guillory officially assumed the presidency of Dillard University — the oldest historically Black college in Louisiana and a member of
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operational expenses have grown. At the same time, the 156-yearold institution can sometimes get overlooked in New Orleans’ crowded higher education market, where students have their pick of six four-year institutions. Meanwhile, like universities nationwide, it is bracing for a “de-
research funds. Dillard recently lost a $20 million federal grant that would have funded renovations to make campus buildings more energy efficient and resilient to natural disasters. Guillory, a New Orleans native
ä See DILLARD, page 6A
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ä See JUDGE, page 6A
Monique Guillory, president of Dillard University in New Orleans, has taken steps to stabilize the university in her first year at the helm. STAFF PHOTO By CHRIS GRANGER
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