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T u e s d ay, F e b r u a ry 24, 2026

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Major water line break knocks out service

3 AI data centers coming to state Officials announce $12B development plan for northwest Louisiana

BY LIZ SWAINE Staff writer

STAFF PHOTOS By CHRIS GRANGER

Water flows from a broken underground water main at South Claiborne Avenue near Louisiana Avenue on Monday.

Flooded streets force closure of schools and businesses, trigger boil advisory for thousands of residents BY BEN MYERS and MARIE FAZIO Staff writers

An extensive break in an underground pipe early Monday along South Claiborne Avenue flooded streets, knocked out water service and forced schools and businesses to close as officials advised thousands of residents from the French Quarter to Mid-City to boil their water. It wasn’t clear as of Monday afternoon what caused the 88-year-old water main near the intersection of Claiborne Avenue and Amelia Street to burst and break apart the roadway, surging water for several blocks along the busy commercial thoroughfare. It was the second major water main break to cause street flooding and a boil-water advisory in less than a month. Crews managed to stop the flow of

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 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 artiﬁcial intelligence data centers and

ä See CENTERS, page 5A

The roadway on South Claiborne Avenue near Louisiana Avenue is damaged from the broken water main on Monday. water from the main by 8:20 a.m. As blocks. the water cleared, signiﬁcant cracks Sewerage & Water Board Execuand sections of lifted asphalt were tive Director Randy Hayman said visible. Muddy residue covered ä See BREAK, page 5A sidewalks and driveways for several

STAFF PHOTO 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, joined by Matt Vanderzanden, CEO of STACK Infrastructure.

EPA rollback of climate rule could raise risks in Louisiana BY ALEX LUBBEN

players in a state of regulatory uncertainty while exposing the state to more extreme weather, rising The Trump administration has seas and hotter temperatures. The Environmental Protection rolled back a scientific finding that serves as the backbone for federal Agency on Feb. 12 rolled back the climate change policy, a move that “endangerment finding,” which alcould leave Louisiana’s industrial lowed planet-heating greenhouse

Staff writer

WEATHER HIGH 63 LOW 52 PAGE 6B

gases like carbon dioxide to be regulated like other pollutants under the Clean Air Act. That ﬁnding has served as the foundation of federal regulations aimed at limiting the long-term impacts of climate change. In practical terms, standards for

tailpipe emissions and other climate rules aimed at power plants and major industrial sources could be stalled, rewritten or struck down in court. That could leave companies and regulators operating in a gray area for months or years as lawsuits play out.

Business ......................6A Commentary ................5B Nation-World................2A Classified .....................7D Deaths .........................3B Opinion ........................4B Comics-Puzzles .....3D-6D Living............................1D Sports ..........................1C

“This radical rule became the legal foundation for the Green New Scam, one of the greatest scams in history,” said President Donald Trump at a news conference announcing the move.

ä See CLIMATE, page 7A

13TH yEAR, NO. 196

MARDI GRAS for the MIND

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