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BATON ROUGE, LOUISIANA
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S u n d ay, M a r c h 8, 2026
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HEARING THE BUZZ
Iranian families in La. cheer possible change They watch, wait after death of leader
BY JENNA ROSS Staff writer
PHOTO PROVIDED By AMAZON
An Amazon MK30 drone takes off at a facility. The online retail giant plans to bring its Prime Air drone delivery service to Baton Rouge in the early summer. The service can deliver about 60,000 items to customers within a 7.5-mile radius.
Amazon Prime Air drones ready to start deliveries in Baton Rouge by early summer BY IANNE SALVOSA Staff writer
In 2013, Amazon founder Jeff Bezos unveiled a vision to reimagine how the online marketplace delivers packages by taking them off the ground and into the air. The drone deliveries, known as Prime Air, will take flight next in Baton Rouge. Earlier this month, a company spokesperson confirmed that Amazon is in the “early planning stages” of bringing drone deliveries to the Capital City. The company has a goal to de-
liver 500 million packages via drone by the end of the decade. A Prime Air office and drone launchpad are under construction in the parking lot of the Amazon fulfillment center at Cortana Place, set for completion in a few months. The company wants packages in the air and headed toward customers in Baton Rouge by early summer. “Baton Rouge is a great place to live and work, and we’re excited by the prospect of expanding our presence in the city through Prime Air,” Allie Payne, Amazon spokesperson, said
in a statement. “Prime Air provides customers with ultrafast, convenient access to millions of in-demand items and essentials. As we work through this project, we’re staying close with our partners in Baton Rouge, and we look forward to sharing more soon.” Mason Batts, executive director of the Mayor-President’s Office, said Amazon representatives met with city officials in late 2025 to discuss bringing Prime Air to the city, as well as drone safety and protocols. The rollout of
ä See AMAZON, page 6A
For years, Zohreh Khaleghi painted colorful landscapes and nude figures. But in January, as news from Iran filled with blood, the New Orleans artist’s sketches turned dark. A protester, dead in the street. A man, his mouth bound shut. A mother, grasping her son’s hand as an unknown force pulls him into the sky. Khaleghi, 60, didn’t decide to make art about Iran, her home until she was 16 years ä Service old, when she fled with members’ her sister to Germany. bodies return to But the images kept U.S. PAGE 2A coming. ä Israeli “My painting, my prime minister drawing, my writing, everything, it all promises ‘many changed,” Khaleghi surprises.’ said. PAGE 2A It changed again last weekend, when the United States and Israel launched airstrikes against Iran, killing the country’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, known for his repressive rule. Khaleghi writes now of joy. Of hope. But she’s unsure what her artwork will look like in a week, a month, a year. Like many Iranian-Americans living in Louisiana, she is optimistic. Like many IranianAmericans living across the world, she is clear-eyed.
ä See IRAN, page 5A
Warnings ignored in Healthy BR program, memos show Compliance firm flagged issues years before corruption charges BY PATRICK SLOAN-TURNER
payments, improperly used credit cards and no proof that the work was being done. Leaders of the Safe, Hopeful, Years before criminal charges came down, a compliance firm Healthy program and its companhired by the city-parish raised ion Mayor’s Healthy City Initiative alarms that a taxpayer-funded nonprofit — started under thenBaton Rouge health and violence- Mayor Sharon Weston Broome — prevention initiative was marred repeatedly disregarded concerns by conflicts of interest, duplicate raised from 2021 to 2024 by CSRS,
Staff writer
WEATHER HIGH 78 LOW 67 PAGE 8B
the company said in internal memos obtained by The Advocate. “In these cases, the concerns expressed by CSRS were ignored, and exceptions were frequently made by the Mayor’s Office, directing expedited payments to vendors,” company employees wrote in October 2023. The Advocate obtained 27 mem-
os totaling 213 pages detailing risks reviewers identified in the handling of federal funds by the Mayor’s Office and Healthy BR, as the initiative Broome was commonly known. It is unclear whether those memos were circulated outside the company. The taxpayer-funded nonprofit
engaged in practices raising “significant risks,” including cutting CSRS out of the loop in drafting and processing contracts even though the firm was hired to participate in both tasks, the company noted in one memo. A grand jury recently charged former Broome staffer Courtney Scott with taking kickbacks and bribes from taxpayer funds that
Business ......................1E Deaths .........................3B Opinion ........................6B Classified ..................... 2F Living............................1D Nation-World................2A Commentary ................7B Metro ...........................1B Sports ..........................1C
FILL A PRESCRIPTION N for our neighbors in need
JAMBALAYA DINNERS
Monday, March 9th $15 PER PLATE
In front of The Baton Rouge Clinic 7373 Perkins Road
10:30am-1:30pm
ä See PROGRAM, page 6A
101ST yEAR, NO. 251