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THE
ACADIANA
ADVOCATE
T H E A C A D I A N A A D V O C AT E.C O M
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M o n d ay, J a n u a ry 26, 2026
THE CHILL IS ON Most of acadiana region to see below-freezing temps for several days
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$2.00X
Cassidy calls for Minn. shooting probe second fatality is ‘incredibly disturbing,’ senator says BY MATTHEW ALBRIGHT and ALYSE PFEIL
staff writers
Cones block off the entrance to an elevated section of road in Bossier City on sunday.
staFF PHoto By JILL PICKett
BY ASHLEY WHITE staff writer
Lafayette and most of the Acadiana area were not impacted by the freezing rain that plagued central Louisiana, but the area won’t avoid the dangerously cold temperatures moving through the area, according to the National Weather Service in Lake Charles. The extreme weather prompted Lafayette Parish Mayor-President Monique Boulet to declare a state of emergency Sunday morning because “immediate emergency actions are required, or are anticipated to be required, in order to minimize the effects of this weather event.” The coldest air of the season is moving through the area with widespread showers and storms. Most of the freezing rain was dumped north of U.S. 190, affecting Vernon, Rapides and Avoyelles parishes. Lafayette and most
ä see CHILL, page 5A
staFF PHoto By BraD KeMP
Dawn Levine walks her dog Ghost in the cold rain down Jeffrey Drive in Lafayette on sunday.
After federal immigration enforcement agents fatally shot a second person in Minneapolis, stirring mass protests, U.S. Sen. Bill Cassidy called the events “incredibly disturbing.” “The credibility of ICE and DHS are at stake,” the Louisiana Republican wrote on X, referring to Immigration and Customs Enforcement and the Department of Homeland Security. “There must be a full Cassidy joint federal and state investigation. We can trust the American people ä LEGAL with the truth.” On Saturday, a U.S. FIGHT Border Patrol agent shot and killed Alex Pretti, a ERUPTS 37-year-old U.S. citizen OVER and intensive care unit LATEST nurse. Federal officials said SHOOTING. officers shot Pretti PaGe 4a defensively as he approached them with a gun. But videos from the scene contradict that account: They show him holding a phone, not a gun, and appear to show the officer shooting him after he had already been wrestled to the ground. The shooting, which is the second since President Donald Trump’s administration launched a sweeping immigration
ä see PROBE, page 4A
As sports gambling thrives, point-shaving scandal emerges More than a third of implicated athletes have Louisiana ties
ing played for colleges in the state. For a state where legal sports gambling has exploded into a $440 million industry, the indictments have prompted a round of questions as to why the alleged sprawling conspiraBY JOSEPH CRANNEY cy all but centered in Louisiana, and whether the state’s era of legalization staff writer played a factor. Basketball players from Tulane Louisiana’s sports gambling industry has come under fire in the wake University, Nicholls State and the of a college basketball point-shaving University of New Orleans were inscheme unveiled this month by fed- dicted, accused of attempting to rig eral prosecutors, with more than a ä see GAMBLING, page 5A third of the implicated athletes hav-
WeatHer HIGH 39 LOW 22 PaGe 10C
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Judge rules against condo approval Government, which argued legal taxing boundaries and DDa loses appeal ed that the DDA did not have the organization owns property to challenge a Board downtown. on Jefferson project standing Trahan noted that if the DDA of Zoning and Adjustment de-
BY STEPHEN MARCANTEL
The CEO of Lafayette’s Downtown Development Authority is questioning whether the city is properly applying its building code after a judge dismissed the group’s appeal of a condo project on Jefferson Street. Judge John Trahan ruled in favor of Lafayette Consolidat-
cision approving a 21-unit condo with ground-floor parking at 444 Jefferson St. “What the city is allowing this developer to do is something that no one else has ever been allowed to do,” DDA CEO Kevin Blanchard said. The DDA was unable to prove it was an aggrieved party affected by the development, the judge ruled, even though the condo sits within the DDA’s
Classified .....................4B Comics..................7C-9C Commentary ................3B Living............................5C
Metro ...........................1B Nation-World................2A opinion ........................2B sports ..........................1C
staff writer
had owned property adjacent to the project, it would have been easier to establish standing under Louisiana law, which requires showing an interest in the land and potential monetary damages. Even though the ruling favored the city, Trahan said the outcome might have been different in another jurisdiction.
ä see CONDO, page 5A
101st year, No. 210