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T H E A D V O C AT E.C O M
BATON ROUGE, LOUISIANA
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T u e s d ay, J a n u a ry 20, 2026
$2.00X
Ida recovery program to end
Enduring
legacy STAFF PHOTOS By MICHAEL JOHNSON
Billion-dollar initiative established precedent, process BY SAM KARLIN Staff writer
More than four years after Hurricane Ida, Louisiana’s billion-dollar program to help rebuild storm victims’ homes will soon come to an end. The state won $3.1 billion from the federal government to recover from a slew of hurricanes in 2020 and 2021, including Laura and Ida, two of the most powerful ever to hit U.S. soil. About onethird of that went to Restore, the state’s keystone program to rebuild the homes of people who didn’t have adequate insurance or otherwise had gaps in rebuilding. Gina Campo, head of the Office of Community Development, said she expects the program to wind down this year, after delivering aid to around 13,000 people.
ä See RECOVERY, page 4A
ABOVE: A Southern University sorority member paints part of a breezeway in Baton Rouge with other sorority members as part of MLK Fest on Monday. TOP: Amariah Glynn, 6, reaches for paint as she makes a picture for MLK Fest’s living art gallery.
In observance of the 40th Martin Luther King Day Jr. holiday, MLK Fest sent volunteers around Baton Rouge to help with beautification and home projects. STAFF FILE PHOTO By MICHAEL JOHNSON
A rocky shore lines the Comite River Diversion Canal just east of La. 964 in Zachary.
Volunteers paint a home on Gracie Street.
Zeta Beta Chapter of Iota Phi Theta Fraternity members Carmelo Wyre and Kunta Mosby help paint a basketball court at the Mary J. Lands Park with other LSU students.
South La. parish may seek return of rooster fighting Some St. Landry officials tout economic benefits
FILE PHOTO By ROBIN MAy
A St. Landry Parish Council member says an exemption to laws banning cockfighting could turn the area into a ‘worldwide hub for rooster fighting’ and bring economic benefits.
WEATHER HIGH 60 LOW 46 PAGE 6B
The club, sometimes simply referred to as the Sunset Pit, was known for its cockfighting ring, in which roosters from across the region and the nation would be brought to fight one another, often resulting in BY JOEL THOMPSON a violent and deadly end. Staff writer Cockfighting has a long hisOff Napoleon Avenue in the tory in Louisiana, which was small community of Sunset sits the last state to ban the praca large dormant building with tice in 2008. Before that, the a “For Rent” sign out front. It’s Sunset Pit, which dates back to been several things over the the 1940s, would frequently fill years, including a short-lived up its 600-seat arena with cockhigh-end production studio, fighting enthusiasts. News acbut its legacy is as the Sunset counts from the early 2000s Recreation Game Club. describe an overflowing park-
Flood control canal could be complete in 2 years Comite River diversion project under construction for decades BY DAVID J. MITCHELL Staff writer
ing lot with license plates from Oklahoma, Alabama, Florida, Texas and the Carolinas. Recently, cockfighting enthusiasts in St. Landry Parish have renewed arguments the practice is constitutionally protected, and its continued prevalence across parts of rural Acadiana is proof of its important cultural connection to Cajun heritage. A St. Landry Parish Council member agrees and has begun efforts to pursue an exemption to allow the controversial practice.
The Comite River Diversion Canal — federally approved in 1993 as a floodprotection measure for the Baton Rouge area and for over two decades under start-and-stop construction — should be done by mid-2028, officials say. When the latest round of work on the canal started in 2019, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers officials estimated the $908 million channel would take two years to finish. But the project, which will divert Comite River floodwaters to the Mississippi River, hit roadblocks and repeatedly slipped past expected completion dates. The newest timeline was discussed recently with a legislative task force
ä See FIGHTING, page 5A
ä See COMITE, page 4A
Classified .....................6D Deaths .........................3B Nation-World ................2A Comics-Puzzles .....3D-5D Living............................1D Opinion ........................4B Commentary ................5B Metro ...........................1B Sports ..........................1C
101ST yEAR, NO. 204