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T u e s d ay, F e b r u a ry 24, 2026
Three AI data centers set for northwest La. Officials announce $12B development plan to build facilities in the region, creating 540 permanent jobs
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Candidates to lead UL share vision for university Interviews held with three semifinalists for president BY MEGAN WYATT
Staff writer
artificial intelligence data centers and the economic promise they hold. Over the past couple of years, Landry and other top state and local
The three semifinalists vying to become the University of Louisiana at Lafayette’s next president — Ramesh Kolluru, Hitesh Rai Kathuria and Richard Ludwick — shared their vision for the school’s future Monday and addressed its financial woes during interviews with faculty, staff, students and community leaders. Interim President Kolluru, who has been serving as the university’s former vice president of research, innovation and economic development, outlined his four-pillar vision focused on stu- Kolluru dent success, faculty excellence, research growth and operational efficiency. He projects growing enrollment from 16,100 to 27,500 students and annual research funding growing from $254 million to $500 million within a decade. He said he’d grow enrollment by emphasizing Kathuria recruiting, along with retention and graduation rates, “making sure every graduate has two job offers to choose between by the time they walk across the stage.” Kolluru acknowledged how difficult the past several months have been as the university’s bleak financial reality came to Ludwick public light — a $50 million total deficit, with $25 million of that being a recurring structural deficit — and the resulting staff and budget cuts. The university will be in the black by the end of this fiscal year on June 30 and will establish a budgeting process next month that will take the university into a more fiscally responsible future, Kolluru said. He believes that by addressing the budget shortfall internally, the university can rebuild trust with state lawmakers to get funding in the future, such as the $15 million he’s seeking from the Louisiana Legislature to support student success efforts on campus. “We’re not asking them to bail us out because of our financial mismanagement of the past,”
ä See CENTERS, page 5A
ä See CANDIDATES, page 6A
STAFF PHOTOS By JILL PICKETT
Gov. Jeff Landry speaks at an event Monday to announce that Amazon plans to build data centers in Caddo and Bossier parishes. He is joined by Roger Wehner, left, vice president of economic development for Amazon, and Matt Vanderzanden, CEO of STACK Infrastructure. BY LIZ SWAINE staff writer
Gov. Jeff Landry announced what he called “the largest investment in the history of northwest Louisiana” on Monday, two Amazon Web Services AI data centers to be built in Shreveport and Bossier Parish. Economic development officials say the third, in rural Caddo Parish near Blanchard, is “coming.” The governor was joined by Amazon and STACK Infrastructure at the Shreveport Municipal Auditorium to unveil the $12 billion development plans. Construction on the centers is beginning “imminently,” said Roger Wehner, Amazon’s vice president of economic development. “When you just look at the seriousness of it, the size of it, the scale of it and just the cumulative nature of it, it’s really remarkable,” said Louisiana Economic Development Secretary Susan Bourgeois. “You layer that on to other things that we’ve
EPA rollback of climate rule could raise risks in La. BY ALEX LUBBEN
Staff writer
The Trump administration has rolled back a scientific finding that serves as the backbone for federal climate change policy, a move that could leave Louisiana’s industrial players in a state of regulatory uncertainty while exposing the state to more extreme weather, rising seas and hotter temperatures. The Environmental Protection Agency on Feb. 12 rolled back the “endangerment finding,” which allowed planet-heating greenhouse gases like carbon dioxide to be regulated like other pollutants under the Clean Air
ä See CLIMATE, page 5A
WEATHER HIGH 65 LOW 32 PAGE 6A
Audience members applaud during Monday’s announcement at Shreveport Municipal Auditorium. been talking about. I would argue that north Louisiana hasn’t seen this kind of momentum.” Monday’s announcement was the latest sign of how Louisiana is capitalizing on the rapid emergence of
Mexico security forces keep up fight with cartel BY MEGAN JANETSKY and MARÍA VERZA Associated Press
TAPALPA, Mexico — A day after the Mexican army killed the country’s most powerful drug lord, the picturesque town where it happened was a study in contrasts. Tourist shops in Tapalpa were open Monday, and workers were on the job. But gunshots also rang out, and in the street was a dead man lying beside a bullet-pocked vehicle. Meanwhile, heavily armed Mexican security forces kept up their battle with cartel gunmen followASSOCIATED PRESS PHOTO By MARCO UGARTE ing the killing that sparked a surge A charred truck blocks a road in Guadalajara, Mexico, on in violence and put the country on edge. Cartel fighters continued to Monday, the day after the Mexican army killed Jalisco New block roads as smoke rose on the Generation Cartel leader Nemesio Oseguera Cervantes, outskirts of the town in the state known as ‘El Mencho.’ of Jalisco.
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More than 70 people died in the attempt to capture Nemesio Oseguera Cervantes and the aftermath, authorities said Monday. Known as “El Mencho,” he was the notorious leader of the Jalisco New Generation Cartel, one of the most powerful criminal organizations in Mexico. The body count taken by security officials included security forces, suspected cartel members and others. Officials did not offer details, and the circumstances of most of the deaths were unclear. Oseguera Cervantes was the boss of one of the fastest-growing criminal networks in Mexico, known for trafficking fentanyl, methamphetamine and cocaine to the United States and staging brazen attacks against Mexican
ä See MEXICO, page 6A
101ST yEAR, NO. 239