N O L A.C O M
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S u n d ay, J a n u a ry 18, 2026
$2.50X
Prayers, grief after killing in Treme
‘LOUISIANA IS ALWAYS
MY PRIORITY’ After two years as governor, Landry boasts big wins, flashes of controversy
Attacker pursued victim into Dooky Chase’s
BY JAMES FINN Staff writer
ä Tracking Landry’s agenda.
BY TYLER BRIDGES Staff writer
PAGE 7A
Favorable political winds provided plenty of lift when Jeff Landry became governor in January 2024. He inherited an overflowing state treasury from his Democratic predecessor, John Bel Edwards, and he took office with a Republican supermajority in the Legislature, the first GOP governor in modern times with that benefit. Landry has moved aggressively to take advantage since then, securing conservative wins that have toughened anti-crime laws, reduced income tax rates and allowed more parents to send their children to private schools with taxpayer dollars. At the same time, Landry has shown a penchant for jumping into controversial issues with inflammatory comments that have won him headlines — not always favorably. He called for the execution of Venezuela’s ousted president Nicolás Maduro and won plaudits on Fox News. He demanded the resignation of LSU’s athletic director, saying he’d “rather let Donald Trump pick the next coach,” and was roasted by
sports columnists nationally. Now, as he begins his third year, Landry is facing questions of whether his appointment as Trump’s special envoy to Greenland will distract him from serving the needs of Louisiana. Not at all, Landry told The Times-Picayune | The Advocate during a 45-minute interview at the Governor’s Mansion. “Louisiana is always my priority,” he said. Nor, he added, does his new international role mean he’s looking to move on to a high-profile role in Washington. “The voters can kick me out,” he said. “But I’m not leaving Louisiana.” Landry has been raising money for his reelection campaign in 2027. No challenger has surfaced yet. Landry, 55, was elected as Louisiana’s 57th governor in 2023 in the primary, without having to contest a runoff, after leading during the entire campaign. Voters liked his exuberant Cajun personality, his conservative
ä See LANDRY, page 6A
Governor Jeff Landry STAFF FILE PHOTO By SOPHIA GERMER
Oystermen grieve Honduran deckhand Man drowned fleeing Louisiana immigration sweep BY JOHN SIMERMAN and SOPHIE KASAKOVE
Staff writers
A week before Christmas, a white minivan pulled up to the docks in Hopedale, and four U.S. Coast Guard agents jumped out in black vests. Aboard the Rambler, an oyster boat that had docked to offload its haul, two deckhands from Honduras acted fast. They feared the same fate as other immigrants working at the bottom reaches of St. Bernard Parish who were arrested in a sweep on the water in early November. Cerrato The younger of the two deckhands hid in the Rambler’s cabin, he said. His coworker, Walter Cerrato, a father of three with a wife in Houston, ducked into a cooler on the deck. The agents approached the boat and the young deckhand rushed to Cerrato, who he called “hermano” — brother — and told him he would jump, he said in a phone interview in Spanish. Cerrato worried the agents would catch up with them, he told his friend. But after the younger
WEATHER HIGH 52 LOW 35 PAGE 8B
The day after a 19-year-old Treme man was shot dead inside historic Dooky Chase’s Restaurant during dinner hour, the business’s owners prayed, the man’s family grieved and a widening law enforcement hunt for the shooter neared its 24th hour. Police said the victim, identified by his family Saturday as Kareem Harris, was running from an attacker near his Treme home at around 8 p.m. Friday when he sought refuge inside the venerated Orleans Avenue restaurant. But the shooter followed him into the building, opening fire in an entryway, striking Harris and three nearby patrons. Harris died at the scene. The three patrons, all women, were taken to local hospitals by paramedics with nonfatal bullet wounds. Two of them were in critical condition that night. Harris’ sister and mother planned to address reporters Saturday to describe “what type of person he was and what happened last night,” said Michael Willis, a friend and spokesperson for the family. But they ultimately felt too grief-stricken to go forward with the interviews, Willis said. The carnage struck at a landmark New Orleans business known for decades as a cultural hub in majority-Black Treme and later as a bastion of Civil Rightsera organizing. And it came after a year in which New Orleans enjoyed a historic drop in violent
ä See KILLING, page 8A
Report: Louisiana greenhouse emissions flat in 2025
But influx of new industry could outpace improvements BY JOSIE ABUGOV Staff writer
of oyster shells near where he jumped. His loss has stung this small community of oystermen and fishing guides down Hopedale Highway, raising concerns among some over the
Louisiana has been among the nation’s biggest greenhouse gas emitters due to its heavy industry, but new data shows the state may be at least temporarily bucking a trend. While climate-warming emissions increased nationwide last year, Louisiana’s share has slightly declined over the past few years and was relatively flat in 2025, the preliminary data from an independent research group shows. Any reduction in greenhouse gases classifies as good news. But industry and environmental analysts caution that Louisiana’s
ä See CERRATO, page 4A
ä See EMISSIONS, page 3A
STAFF PHOTO By CHRIS GRANGER
A wooden cross memorial on pilings has been placed near where deckhand Walter Francisco Cerrato Cabrera died in late December after he jumped into Bayou La Loutre in Hopedale to avoid being arrested by U.S. Coast Guard agents. man dropped into Bayou La Loutre, the older one followed. Water rushed into the younger man’s boots and a strong current swept him away from the boat, he said. By the time he reached the other bank and looked back to see Cerrato’s head sink beneath the water’s surface, “it was already
too late.” Walter Francisco Cerrato Cabrera drowned in his white shrimp boots after 20 years working on oyster boats around Hopedale. He was 48. Friends said he couldn’t swim. A wooden cross memorial now juts from a short post by a bank
Business ......................1E Deaths .........................3B Nation-World................2A Classified ..................... 2F Living............................1D Opinion ........................6B Commentary ................7B Metro ...........................1B Sports ..........................1C
13TH yEAR, NO. 159