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BATON ROUGE, LOUISIANA
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T h u r s d ay, N ov e m b e r 27, 2025
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tHe rIVer’s reCKoNING
the Bonnet Carre spillway where it meets the Mississippi river, upriver from New orleans staFF PHoto By DaVID GrUNFeLD
tHe MIssIssIPPI’s RISING PRESSURES
river safety valves have kept Louisiana dry, but that may no longer be enough through it. “We don’t control that Mississippi RivBY MIKE SMITH er,” says the owner of Gautier’s At The Harbor. He adds later: “If it’s not manstaff writer aged correctly, it can be catastrophic.” Gautier went years without oysters Beside the murky waters off Pass Christian, shrimp boats docked in the and only recently began to emerge from distance, David Gautier is worried about that hit to his business. The reason? a threat many miles away that he cannot They were killed off in 2019, the result of high Mississippi River water diverted control. Gautier, 64, runs a seafood business through the Bonnet Carre Spillway near on the waterfront of this historic town New Orleans. The fresh water and nutrient pollution along the Mississippi Gulf Coast. But his concern has less to do with his home that eventually inundated the Mississipstate than with neighboring Louisiana pi Sound wreaked havoc on the region’s — or, more precisely, the flow of the ecosystem and tourism industry. It is a water from the mighty river that runs dilemma that is only expected to worsen Last in a series
“We don’t control that Mississippi River. ... If it’s not managed correctly, it can be catastrophic.”
the New Orleans area from catastrophic flooding for nearly a century. But now there’s a problem — several of them, in fact, and they’re converging all at once. The Mississippi Gulf Coast’s protests over the use of one of those valves, the Bonnet Carre Spillway, have grown loudDaVID GaUtIer, owner of er and led to lawsuits, particularly after Gautier’s at the Harbor record openings in 2019. The Morganza Spillway on the opposite side of the river has been rarely used, but opening it in the decades ahead due to projections more frequently draws concern from showing more extreme weather, and its landowners, residents and port operaimplications range far beyond the Mis- tions in its path. If seasonal river flows increase as sissippi Coast. A series of giant safety valves along ä see RIVER, page 12A the Mississippi River has helped protect
FEMA changes could impact La.
LSU students pushing for more AI education
BY MARK BALLARD
BY HALEY MILLER
WASHINGTON — The struggle over the federal government’s role when disaster strikes is coming to a head as President Donald Trump grapples with whether the Federal Emergency Management Agency should continue — and in what form. Trump’s Homeland Secretary chief Kristi Noem, who oversees FEMA, has a dramatically smaller vision of the
The LSU student government is calling on the university to strengthen its education in artificial intelligence, particularly for students outside the Division of Computer Science and Engineering. The Student Senate passed legislation last week requesting an
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assoCIateD Press FILe PHoto
House Majority Leader steve scalise, r-Jefferson, said FeMa is a bureaucratic mess and too frequently fails to meet the needs of americans during their darkest ä see FEMA, page 8A days.
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Classified ..................11C Comics-Puzzles .. 8C-10C Commentary ................5B Death...........................3B
Living............................5C Nation-World................2A opinion ........................4B sports ..........................1C
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TO OUR READERS today’s edition was printed early to accommodate readers who want their thanksgiving edition in advance.you can find complete news and sports coverage online at theadvocate.com.
online AI fundamentals certificate available to all students that would offer training on basic AI use and explore the ethical and legal considerations of the technology. “AI is going to affect every major across the board,” said junior Aaron Lomastro, co-author of the legislation and a member of the Student Alliance for AI Regulation.
AVA I L A B L E AT
ä see AI, page 8A
101st year, No. 150