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S u n d ay, M a r c h 8, 2026
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N.O. seeks cash, faces judicial overhaul Moreno working to rebuild trust in city as legislative session begins BY BLAKE PATERSON and MATT BRUCE Staff writers
New Orleans leaders will seek to relieve pressure on the city’s finances and fend off a proposed overhaul of the criminal justice system in the legislative session that begins Monday, the first under Mayor Helena Moreno’s administration. Moreno, in a news release Thurs-
day, identified 10 legislative priorities for the three-month session and listed a half-dozen bills she plans to support, including a plan to secure state revenue for the Municipal Auditorium and bring in $10 million for the city’s 911 call center. “This agenda, which was shaped and guided through deep engagement with our legislative leaders, our delegation, and with stakeholders in and across the region, centers on stabilizing our city
budget and building new pathways to deliver on better services for all New Orleanians,” Moreno said. The city’s judiciary, meanwhile, Moreno will contend with attempts by two Republican lawmakers to eliminate a slew of elected judgeships and consolidate the civil, criminal and juvenile
court systems into a single entity, an idea that has come under fire locally. “There are consequences when you take actions,” said Civil District Court Judge Kern Reese, whose seat is on the chopping block and who said the cuts could increase the time it takes for cases to be resolved. “You don’t do things in a vacuum. And I caution people not to be shortsighted in their decision-making.”
2026 LEGISLATURE The session will test the strength of Moreno’s relationships with state officials as she seeks to rebuild trust in New Orleans’ leadership. Moreno will need support from Republican lawmakers — who have supermajorities in both chambers — as well as Gov. Jeff Landry, who in recent years has
ä See SESSION, page 4A
Iranian families in La. cheer possible change
‘My job is to energize the office’
They watch, wait after death of leader
BY JENNA ROSS Staff writer
STAFF PHOTO By SOPHIA GERMER
David I. Courcelle, U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of Louisiana, sits in his office in New Orleans on Feb. 6.
U.S. Attorney David Courcelle seeks to shake things up in N.O. BY JAMES FINN Staff writer
Just days after taking office as southeast Louisiana’s top federal lawman, David I. Courcelle stepped where his recent predecessors rarely ventured: directly into the public eye. Standing before a knot of television cameras, flanked by Attorney General Liz Murrill and New Orleans Police Superintendent Anne Kirkpatrick, Courcelle bluntly outlined a broad new
regional crackdown on drugs, guns and human trafficking. “The mission of all of us behind this microphone today is the same: to enforce the laws of the land,” Courcelle said. He hasn’t let up since. In his first weeks on the job as U.S. attorney for the 13-parish Eastern District of Louisiana, Courcelle has been omnipresent around town, appearing at luncheons and law enforcement gatherings, hosting news conferences and even presiding over a
naturalization ceremony for new Americans. He has sat for interviews and peppered social media with updates on his office’s courtroom victories. The approach marks a new chapter for New Orleans law enforcement — and a significant break from a relatively staid vibe the federal prosecutor’s office cultivated over the past half-decade. Under the helm of a pair of career Justice Department attorneys, both of
ä See COURCELLE, page 10A
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 ä Service the street. A man, his members’ mouth bound shut. A bodies return mother, grasping her to U.S. PAGE 2A son’s hand as an unä Israeli known force pulls him prime minister into the sky. Khaleghi, 60, didn’t promises decide to make art ‘many about Iran, her home surprises.’ until she was 16 years old, when she fled with PAGE 2A her sister to Germany. But the images kept coming. “My painting, my drawing, my writing, everything, it all changed,” Khaleghi said. 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 Iranian-Americans living across the world, she is clear-eyed.
ä See IRAN, page 5A
Tech giants poised for tax breaks on data centers State officials say trade-off is worth it BY SAM KARLIN Staff writer
When Meta officials came to Louisiana in 2024 to negotiate a potential data center project, they told state officials that they would need significant tax breaks in order to close
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the deal. “It was ‘If you don’t have this, we will not consider your state,’ ” Louisiana Economic Development Secretary Susan Bourgeois said in an interview. Two years later, Meta has broken ground on a $27 billion data center campus in north Louisiana. Amazon is not far behind with plans for a $12 billion data center near Shreveport. And the state and local governments
are poised to give potentially billions in tax breaks to the tech giants, based on projections of Louisiana’s generous tax exemptions and the expected expenditures of the companies. The tax breaks are part of a complex puzzle that states are grappling with to land so-called “hyperscale” data centers, which are massive warehouses filled with servers that power artificial intelligence products
offered by tech giants including Amazon, Meta and OpenAI. In some states, backlash to data centers has swelled where residents and elected officials say they are worried about them raising electric costs, draining tax revenue and straining water systems — as well as job losses their AI outputs may cause. Louisiana’s data centers
ä See DATA, page 3A
PROVIDED PHOTO
Zohreh Khaleghi and her two sons, Paymon, 30, and Ali, 35, sit with family friend Dr. Hamid Massiha in his New Orleans home.
Business ......................1E Deaths .........................3B Nation-World................2A Classified ..................... 1F Living............................1D Opinion ........................6B Commentary ................7B Metro ...........................1B Sports ..........................1C
13TH yEAR, NO. 208