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Judge’s role in tax law raises ethics questions
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T u e s d ay, M a r c h 3, 2026
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Trump says attacks on Iran will last weeks State Department urges Americans to leave region BY JON GAMBRELL, MELANIE LIDMAN and SAMY MAGDY
La. justice voted on challenge to ballot measure he helped write
Associated Press
the oil and gas market thousands of miles away can show up in south Louisiana within days. That’s not because production is scarce, but because of how oil and gas is priced on the global market. “The impact of these disruptions depends on their duration and severity,” Gray said. “Short-term price swings may be manageable but prolonged issues could significantly raise costs.” That means gasoline prices, currently averaging around $2.50 a gallon in Louisiana, will likely rise in the coming weeks, though it’s too soon to say how high.
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — Israel and the United States pounded Iran on Monday in a campaign that U.S. President Donald Trump said would likely take several weeks. Tehran and its allies hit back against Israel, Gulf states and targets critical to the world’s energy production. The intensity of the attacks, the killing of Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and the lack of any apparent exit plan set the stage for a prolonged conflict with far-reaching consequences. Safe havens in the Mideast like Dubai have seen incoming fire; hundreds of thousands of airline passengers are stranded around the globe; energy prices shot up; and U.S. allies pledged to help stop Iranian missiles and drones. With no sign of the conflict abating, Trump said operations are likely to last four to five weeks but that he was prepared “to go far longer than that.” In a sign of concern over the potential for spiraling violence, the State Department on Monday urged U.S. citizens to leave more than a dozen Middle Eastern countries due to safety risks. “The hardest hits are yet to come from the U.S. military,” Secretary of State Marco Rubio told reporters. “The next phase will be even more punishing on Iran than it is right now.” Trump said the military campaign’s objectives are to destroy Iran’s missile capabilities, wipe out its navy, prevent it from obtaining a nuclear weapon and ensure that it cannot continue to support allied groups like Lebanon’s Hezbollah, which fired missiles at Israel on Monday. The chaos of the conflict became apparent when the U.S. military said Kuwait had “mistakenly shot down” three American F-15E Strike Eagles while Iran was attacking with aircraft, ballistic missiles and drones. U.S. Central Command said all six pilots ejected safely. As several airstrikes hit
ä See IMPACT, page 4A
ä See ATTACKS, page 4A
BY JOHN SIMERMAN Staff writer
Louisiana Supreme Court Justice Cade Cole was barely a week into the job last March when he weighed in on a subject he knows well: taxes. The high court was reviewing a challenge to a ballot measure that Gov. Jeff Landry pushed to revamp the state tax code. Early voting was underway. Cole, a former state tax judge, helped kill the challenge in a 4-3 ruling. “If the ballot language were inaccurate this Court would act to protect the voters,” he wrote in a concurring opinion. Cole “That is not the case here.” Cole was hardly fresh to the topic. Emails show he helped draft the law behind the contested ballot measure, called Amendment 2, which tanked at the polls. Months before his swearing-in, Cole sent detailed revisions of Amendment 2 to top officials at the Department of Revenue, in a pair of November 2024 messages. The Times-Picayune | The Advocate received them through a public records request. Some of the proposed changes made it into the complicated ballot initiative, which Louisiana voters rejected less than two weeks later by a nearly 2-1 margin. It was one of four constitutional amendments that failed last March. Veterans on judicial ethics say Cole should have recused himself from the case, or at least should have alerted the parties. There is no evidence in the court record that Cole did so, or that he was subject to any attempt to have him step off the case. The justices meet in private when they decide on whether to take up a case and when they rule. Cole declined an interview request through the court and de-
ä See QUESTIONS, page 3A
ASSOCIATED PRESS PHOTO By MARK SCHIEFELBEIN
President Donald Trump speaks Monday before participating in a Medal of Honor ceremony in the East Room of the White House.
War could impact gas prices and energy production in La. INSIDE
BY STEPHANIE RIEGEL Staff writer
The war in Iran is sending shock waves across global energy markets that are likely to reach Louisiana, first through rising prices at the pump and, if the conflict persists, with companies in the state potentially looking to increase production of oil and natural gas. Gasoline prices are tied directly to the price of crude oil, which rose 6% on Monday to nearly $72 a barrel as the U.S. continued to unleash airstrikes and Iran retaliated by firing missiles at Israel and U.S. targets across the energy-rich Middle East.
ä Officials say some La. National Guard members could be in region of conflict. Page 3A ä Iranian students at LSU cheer death of Khamenei. Page 4A ä Hegseth insists Iran conflict is ‘not endless.’ Page 6A President Donald Trump said the attacks could persist for weeks in the Persian Gulf region. The Strait of Hormuz, which is the transit point for roughly a fifth of the world’s oil supply, was virtually closed to maritime traffic. Tyler Gray, director of innovation at the LSU Energy Institute, said disruptions in
‘A generational experience’ Lafayette family’s art captures 40 years of Festival International
BY JOANNA BROWN Staff writer
Festival International de Louisiane is the country’s largest international music festival, and Francis Pavy is one of Lafayette’s bestknown and most widely exhibited contemporary artists. That makes Pavy and the festival a match made in heaven for Festival International’s 40th anniversary, commemorated with original artwork
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by the local painter. Pavy, who has worked out of his studio in the Freetown neighborhood of Lafayette for more than 40 years, has a wild, colorful, rambunctious style that mirrors Festival International’s vibe — the dancing in the streets, the music in the air, and the blur of colors, people and excitement in every corner. In honor of the festival’s 40-year legacy, this year’s original art is also a reflection on the artist’s legacy. Francis Pavy completed the painting in honor of the anniversary, and his daughter, designer Annabelle Pavy, created the 2026 pin and poster from his work. The result is a piece of art alive
with activity and joy, and a pin and poster that depicts the colorful world of Festival International in the heart of Lafayette. On Sunday, hundreds of Festival International supporters gathered at Warehouse 535 — right around the corner from Francis Pavy’s studio — for the 2026 pin and poster reveal. With this year’s designs created by a father-daughter pair, it was a reminder of how special this event has been for generations of families, in Lafayette and beyond. “It was a blessing to be thought of,” said Annebelle Pavy, who un-
STAFF PHOTO By BRAD KEMP
Artists Francis Pavy and his daughter, Annabelle, unveil their artwork during a premiere party for the 40th-anniversary Festival International designs on Sunday. Francis Pavy created the artwork and Annabelle Pavy ä See ART, page 3A designed the pin and poster.
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