PELICANS CENTER DEANDRE JORDAN TURNS BACK CLOCK IN WIN OVER 76ERS 1C
N O L A.C O M
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M o n d ay, F e b r u a ry 23, 2026
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La. auditor’s time in N.O. not ending soon Mike Waguespack working to clean up city’s finances
BY SOPHIE KASAKOVE and BEN MYERS Staff writers
For months, the paychecks of nearly 5,000 New Orleans municipal workers depended on the judgment of one man: Louisiana Legislative Auditor Mike Waguespack. It was an unusual deal. The state auditor typically investigates pub-
lic finances. He does not control them. But after New Orleans’ fiscal crisis worsened last fall, the unassuming Thibodeaux resident in November began supervising bond funds New Orleans would use to cover its payroll. Though Mayor Helena Moreno has since assumed office, in order to issue paychecks, Waguespack had to be on board.
In an unusual arrangement, Legislative Auditor Mike Waguespack has been supervising bond funds the city is using to cover its payroll amid New Orleans’ finanical crisis.
That setup was a compromise between state leaders who had threatened to put the city in fiscal receivership, essentially handing control of New Orleans’ government to a state appointee, and locals who wanted independence but agreed to getting the state’s OK to access the bonds.
STAFF PHOTO By SOPHIA GERMER
ä See WAGUESPACK, page 4A
‘FROM KINDNESS TO CRUELTY’ Inside New Orleans’ immigration court, volunteers watch cases unfold
Officials seek $28M for juvenile justice upgrades Some money would go toward new facility
BY MEGHAN FRIEDMANN Staff writer
STAFF PHOTO By CHRIS GRANGER
Court watcher Arch Chaney steps off the Algiers Point/Canal Street Ferry recently on his way to Canal Place to ‘bear witness,’ he says, at New Orleans Immigration Court. BY JENNA ROSS
Staff writer
The woman, from Honduras, sat in the immigration courtroom alone. No husband, no kids, no lawyer. In the back row, Arch Chaney held his breath. “Your husband, where is he today?” Judge Eric Marsteller asked, noting that he, too, had been scheduled to appear. “He’s working,” the woman said in Spanish, via an interpreter. “And your children?”
“They’re in school.” “Oh boy,” muttered Chaney, a former attorney. Failure to appear, he knew, could be reason for deportation. Chaney, 80, had seen similar proceedings end in deportation before. He’d seen snippets of many people’s stories from the back row of New Orleans Immigration Court. On this January morning, as he had twice a week for months, he’d arrived to “bear witness,” as he put it. To take a note, to offer a smile. Last May, amid the illegal immigra-
tion crackdown from President Donald Trump’s administration, volunteers with Jewish Voice for Peace, Unión Migrante and other activist groups in the city began showing up in these courtrooms, on the fifth floor of Canal Place, an escalator ride above Brooks Brothers, an elevator ride above the food court. Most had no legal background. Most could speak little Spanish. But they did what they could do. They watched.
ä See ACTIVISTS, page 5A
Secret Service: Armed man killed after entering Mar-a-Lago perimeter BY MICHELLE L. PRICE and ALLEN G. BREED
President Donald Trump’s resort in Palm Beach, Florida, before being shot and Associated Press killed early Sunday morning, WASHINGTON — An armed according to a spokesman man drove into the secure for the U.S. Secret Service. Although Trump often perimeter of Mar-a-Lago,
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spends weekends at his resort, he was at the White House when the breach occurred about 1:30 a.m. The man had a gas can and
ä See MAR-A-LAGO, page 4A
ASSOCIATED PRESS PHOTO By MARTA LAVANDIER
A Palm Beach County sheriff’s vehicle blocks traffic Sunday near Mar-a-Lago in Palm Beach, Fla.
Classified .....................7D Deaths .........................3B Nation-World................2A Comics-Puzzles .....3D-6D Living............................1D Opinion ........................4B Commentary ................5B Metro ...........................1B Sports ..........................1C
Citing a need for more beds to house incarcerated youth, Louisiana’s juvenile justice system has asked for $28 million more in state funding for the next budget cycle — including $15.2 million to open a new secure care facility in Vernon Parish. If approved by the Louisiana Legislature, which will take up the budget during the legislative session that begins March 9, the change would mark a roughly 16% increase over the Office of Juvenile Justice’s budget for the current fiscal year, which sits at about $177 million. The OJJ’s secure care facilities are the equivalent of juvenile detention centers. They house convicted youth in need of the highest level of security. Of the $15.2 million for the Vernon Parish facility, $11 million is slated to fund 122 positions, while $2.5 million will pay for operational costs such as medical care, supplies, lease costs and insurance costs, according to Commissioner of Administration Taylor Barras, a top budget official. Another $1.6 million is set aside for reBarras pairs to the building, he said. That building is owned by the Vernon Parish Sheriff’s Office. Of the total $28 million increase, $2.6 million is expected to be used for one-time purchases, according to Barras. Asked what else was contributing to the requested budget increase, Barras said the state anticipated higher costs with more youth using OJJ programs. And, he said, $2 million of the increase was slated to pay for staffing at the Jetson Center for Youth in Baker. Jetson is a shuttered former juvenile facility. It is expected to partly reopen in April. Officials last year said they needed to open a building there to house 36 teens due to bedspace shortages. The state is simultaneously expected to begin construction on a new 72bed facility on the Jetson property. So, too, will the Vernon Parish facility help support a growing population of incarcerated teens, according to Deputy Secretary Courtney Myers, the OJJ’s top official.
ä See UPGRADES, page 5A
13TH yEAR, NO. 195