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F r i d ay, d e c e m b e r 12, 2025
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Foxworth-Roberts kicked off bench
State Supreme Court orders removal of BR judge for misconduct BY ANDREA GALLO Staff writer
Baton Rouge Judge Tiffany Foxworth-Roberts has been kicked off the bench, with the Louisiana Supreme Court taking the extraordinarily rare step in a misconduct case that centered on allegations that she had a habit of lying, including about her past military service. Foxworth-Roberts is the first
judge in 16 years that the state’s high court has removed from office. Members of the Louisiana Judiciary Commission recommended Foxworththat the Supreme Roberts Court strip her of her title after they said she lied about her military service, an insurance claim for roughly $40,000
and more. The Louisiana Supreme Court released its decision Thursday that ordered her removal from judicial office, finding the judge had not demonstrated accountability “in any meaningful sense.” The vote was 4-3. “Although reluctant to remove an official elected by the people from the bench, this court finds that the lack of candor in the campaign, in the reporting of the
burglary incident, and throughout this investigation demonstrates removal from office is the only appropriate sanction to ensure the trust and integrity of the system of justice which is, itself, of fundamental importance in the system of government,” wrote Chief Justice John Weimer in the court’s majority opinion. “Any lesser discipline would undermine the entire judicial discipline process and diminish the
La. shifts coastal strategy
Many policyholders in Louisiana are still seeing hikes
BY MIKE SMITH
Staff writer
BY SAM KARLIN Staff writer
STAFF FILE PHOTO By SOPHIA GERMER
The New Orleans skyline rises above marshlands in Chalmette. Louisiana is shifting its ä See COASTAL, page 6A strategy for coastal protection and wetlands restoration.
WEATHER HIGH 72 LOW 57 PAGE 8B
ä See BENCH, page 4A
Major home insurer cuts rates
New projects focus on land bridges, not river diversions
Gov. Jeff Landry’s administration detailed a major shift in Louisiana’s strategy for addressing coastal protection and restoration on Wednesday, proposing a slate of projects for the next fiscal year that move definitively away from the large-scale river diversions long seen as linchpins in the state’s plans. The draft project budget for the state’s Coastal Protection and Restoration Authority for fiscal 2027, which begins in July, amounts to $1.27 billion, a significant drop from the current year. But that drop is largely because the state has canceled the controversial Mid-Barataria and Mid-Breton sediment diversion projects while preparing alternatives to take their place. The state’s coastal leadership made clear that it intends to prioritize other types of projects, particularly large-scale “land bridges” built with dredged sediment in the Terrebonne, Barataria and Breton basins. Barrier island restorations will also be part of the strategy. The hope is that much of that work could be paid for with funding related to the 2010 BP Deepwater Horizon oil spill, using funds that had been designated for the diversions. But much work remains ahead to evaluate the plans and gain approval from trustees overseeing the BP funds. “We have more funds available for all these projects … these land bridges, barrier islands, etc., and we’re going to be moving forward expeditiously,” said CPRA Chair Gordon Dove. The CPRA under Landry has faced scrutiny over the changes and concerns that the state’s 50-year coastal master plan,
strict obligation of judges to be truthful in the face of an investigation by the Commission,” the ruling added. Foxworth-Roberts could not immediately be reached for comment on Thursday. In past testimony, she pleaded to stay on the bench and said she loved her work as a judge. “The opinion was very close with a strong dissent favoring a substantially reduced penalty,” said her attorney, Steve Irving, in a
One of Louisiana’s biggest property insurers sent a promising signal this week, saying declining reinsurance costs are allowing the company to cut homeowners insurance premiums by an average of 7.5%. The decision by SureChoice, the second-largest home insurer in the state, is one sign of improvement in a yearslong insurance crisis that has stretched Louisiana homeowners’ budgets. But the news is not all positive. The rate cut comes just eight months after SureChoice increased rates by 12.5% on its 73,000 home insurance policyholders. Both the increase and more recent decrease also applied to 17,000 dwelling policyholders. And overall, the average policyholder in Louisiana is still being hit with rate hikes. Through November, insurers have collectively raised homeowners’ rates by another 4.9% in Louisiana, the latest in a string of escalating rates year over year. State Farm, the state’s largest home insurer, filed for a nearly 10% rate hike on its 300,000 home insurance policyholders in September. That rate hike was the result of the firm’s hurricane modeling, “which projects higher future losses in Louisiana,” the Louisiana Department of Insurance said in a statement Thursday. The data shows that while rates are no longer rising by double digits, Louisiana remains stuck in a pattern of high homeowners insurance costs, driven by worsening
ä See INSURER, page 5A
Business ......................3B Commentary ................7B Nation-World................2A Classified .....................8D Deaths .........................4B Opinion ........................6B Comics-Puzzles .....5D-7D Living............................1D Sports ..........................1C
101ST yEAR, NO. 165
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