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No charges for officials in spoil bank case District Attorney’s Office declines to pursue prosecution
BY CLAIRE TAYLOR Staff writer
STAFF PHOTOS By LESLIE WESTBROOK
Volunteers John Koury, from left, Bill Turpin and Jean Paul De Santolo, of the Order of Malta, partner with Catholic Charities of Acadiana on Thursday to gut and repair a home on Lilly Street in Lafayette.
HOUSE HELPERS
Order of Malta and Catholic Charities work on Lafayette home BY JOANNA BROWN Staff writer
One north Lafayette homeowner is set to enjoy a fully renovated home, thanks to volunteers from Lafayette and across the country with Catholic Charities and the Order of Malta. This week, a dozen workers were at a home on Lilly Street, in a quiet area near Heymann Park and the airport. The homeowner, a woman in her 50s, has lived in the house her entire life — but it was fast becoming uninhabitable, with major repairs needed for the roof, electrical, plumbing, flooring and walls. On Thursday, volunteers were cutting flooring, scraping paint, installing fans and cabinets and adding back the bones of the house, on a time frame that rivals an HGTV renovation show. “Four days turnaround is pretty incredible, but there’s still so much left to get done,” said Grant Aasen, an Order of Malta volunteer from Atlanta. The lay religious order has been sending volunteers to the Acadiana region since 2017 to work with Catholic
Former Lafayette officials, including former Mayor-President Josh Guillory, will not be prosecuted by the District Attorney’s Office for allegations like malfeasance and public bid law violations related to the 2022 removal of a spoil bank in St. Martin Parish. In a Feb. 9 letter to the Louisiana legislative auditor, Frederick Welter, first assistant district attorney, said the 15th Judicial Dis- Guillory trict Attorney’s Office under Don Landry “declines to pursue any criminal prosecution of any public officials or public employees of Lafayette Consolidated Government” over the findings in an Aug. 13, 2025, investigative report by the legislative auditor. In December 2021, LCG awarded a contract to the lowest bidder, Rigid Constructors, for as-needed excavation and disposal work across the parish.
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ELECTION 2026
Qualifying for spring primary elections ends
Sheila McManus scrapes old paint away Thursday as she and other volunteers with the Order of Malta partner with Catholic Charities of Acadiana to gut and repair a ä See HOME, page 5A home on Lilly Street in Lafayette.
Senate race sparks fiery comments
BY ALYSE PFEIL Staff writer
LSU football legend Billy Cannon pardoned Trump acts on 1980s counterfeiting conviction
said the White House phone call came out of the blue Thursday night. “My mom and sisters and brother were ecstatic,” Cannon said. Her mother and four siblings were aware that some friends had reached out to the White BY MARK BALLARD House, she said, but the family Staff writer had never asked for a pardon. “We never thought it would WASHINGTON — The family of the late LSU football legend ever come to fruition. So, none Billy Cannon didn’t ask for it, of us pursued it,” said Bunnie but they’re delighted that Pres- Cannon, acting as the family’s ident Donald Trump pardoned spokesperson. “I just think he him for his 1980s counterfeiting would be thrilled that he got this clemency because in his mind conviction. His daughter, Bunnie Cannon, and in our mind, people saw him
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“It’s her story too,” Cannon said. “She went through everything with him.” Cannon said her father and his family never shied away from the fact that he committed a crime but regretted how the conviction seemed to blot Cannon Trump out everything else he did that beyond the counterfeiting.” was positive, even his football Once the official certificate ar- career, his daughter said. Anyone who has lived in Barives, Cannon said, she’ll have it framed for her mother, Dorothy ton Rouge knows the Halloween “Dot” Dupuy Cannon, who had tradition, apart from candy and been by Billy’s side since both costumes, of repeated showattended Baton Rouge’s Is- ings of Cannon’s 89-yard punt trouma High School in the mid- return against Ole Miss in 1959. 1950s. They married while both ä See PARDONED, page 6A were freshmen attending LSU.
If there were any doubts that this year’s Republican primary election for U.S. Senate is going to be a slugfest, the final day of candidate qualifying on Friday dispelled them. As U.S. Rep. Julia Letlow, R-Baton Rouge, arrived at the Louisiana Secretary of State’s Office in Baton Rouge on Friday to sign up to run, she had to walk past a van with a giant billboard on its side blasting “Liberal Letlow.” The ad, which accused Letlow of trading hundreds of stocks “like her pal Nancy Pelosi” and calling her a “champion of DEI policy” said it was paid for by the campaign of incumbent Sen. Bill Cassidy, R-Baton Rouge. The attack ads highlight how ferociously Cassidy, Letlow and Treasurer John Fleming are battling for the mantle of “most conservative” as they seek the GOP nomination in Louisiana’s new
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