N O L A.C O M
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M o n d ay, M a r c h 30, 2026
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Shorter N.O. airport wait times reported Passengers still urged to arrive early amid government shutdown
BY KASEY BUBNASH Staff writer
Louis Armstrong New Orleans International Airport saw another round of long security lines Sunday morning, but six weeks into a partial government shutdown that has left Transportation Security Administration employees without pay, travelers reported significantly shorter wait times than those that have plagued the airport in recent weekends. Travelers waiting to go through New Orleans airport security had already amassed by about 3:45 a.m. Sunday, with lines snaking through the building and nearing the front entrance. But unlike in recent weekends when airport officials and passengers reported hourslong wait times that in many cases led to missed flights, Sunday’s lines were fast-moving and had started to dwindle later in the morning. One passenger said it took her a little less than an hour to get through the early morning rush-hour line. MSY spokesperson Erin Burns did not immediately respond to a request for comment. As of Friday, MSY officials were still warning passengers to arrive at least three hours early to catch flights on Sundays and Mondays, especially from 4 a.m. to 7 a.m. and from 3 p.m. to 6 p.m., when lines for departures typically peak. Other days of the week tend to see wait times of around 15 to 20 minutes, officials said, though they encouraged travelers to arrive at least two hours early those days.
ä See AIRPORT, page 5A
Miss. jail used to hold detained immigrants
STAFF PHOTO By CHRIS GRANGER
Trinise Causey serves a healthy hot lunch on Thursday at Ochsner Baptist in New Orleans. From $2 meals in hospital cafeterias to subsidized workplace lunches, new efforts aim to make healthy food cheaper — and early data suggests it may shift behavior.
PRICE POINTS Hospital’s efforts to make healthier food cheaper may encourage better choices
BY EMILY WOODRUFF Staff writer
Most people don’t go to the hospital for the food. But Rachel Sigur often makes the short trip from her job with St. Bernard Parish to the small cafeteria inside Ochsner Health’s St. Bernard Parish Hospital. On Monday, there was pork loin with gravy. Midweek, a pasta primavera. And every day, a grilled chicken option. At the cash register, her meal often rings up for less than $4. The food options labeled with an “Eat Fit” seal, indicating it meets certain nutritional standards, are half price. That means the pork loin is $2.25. A side of green beans is 50 cents. “You normally don’t think about going to eat lunch at a hospital,” said Sigur, 54, who heard about the cafeteria from
some ladies in her accounting department. “But the food quality was good and the prices were really affordable.” Over the years, the Eat Fit logo has become a familiar marker on menus across Louisiana at restaurants, food trucks and even major events, signaling that are there are no white carbs or added sugar, minimal animal-based saturated fats, moderate sodium and an emphasis on lean protein, produce and whole foods. Now, the 50% discounts on Eat Fit items in Ochsner cafeterias are part of an initiative to use subsidies to encourage healthier eating. And studies, along with similar pilots at other businesses, suggest it has promise. “We’ve had Eat Fit in existence since 2013,” said Molly Kimball, a registered dietitian who leads the program. “We work with about 550 restaurants and
BY MARTHA SANCHEZ
In Cameron Parish, Rockefeller Wildlife Refuge fights to protect waterfowl, but is losing ground
Staff writer
ä See DETAINED, page 4A
WEATHER HIGH 81 LOW 70 PAGE 6B
ä See FOOD, page 4A
Tracking habitats
Stays are usually brief before being transferred elsewhere
After Mandonna “Donna” Kashanian was arrested by federal immigration agents last summer outside her longtime New Orleans home, she spent the night in a jail in Hancock County, Mississippi. The 64-year-old Iranian woman was soon released after public outcry and a nudge from U.S. Rep. Steve Scalise, the Republican House majority leader from Jefferson. She was one of hundreds of newly detained immigrants in Louisiana and across the Gulf Coast to pass through the Mississippi Coast facility. Hancock County’s partnership with Immigration and Customs Enforcement has quietly transformed the jail near Bay St. Louis into a crucial tool for the federal government as President Donald Trump’s administration deports
food service spaces across the state.” But inside many hospital walls, cafeterias and vending areas often more closely resemble the food offerings at gas stations than somewhere you’d try to live out your doctor’s health advice. Even if healthy foods are present, it might not be the thing people reach for. At Ochsner, Kimball wondered what might help. “Even if someone’s maybe not motivated by the healthy choice, could they be motivated by price point?” Kimball said. The program was rolled out to all Ochsner locations last year and discounts the healthier items or sells them at cost if the 50% discount is steeper than the price to acquire them. So far, it seems to be working.
BY AIDAN McCAHILL Staff writer
STAFF PHOTO By LESLIE WESTBROOK
Birds take flight at Rockefeller Wildlife Refuge in Grand Chenier on March 17. Researchers at the Cameron Parish refuge track the movement of ducks and geese, many of which are experiencing population decline. But the refuge itself is vanishing.
Scooter Trosclair punches his airboat through a soil patch into an opening of brackish marsh. As the boat cuts through bitter cold-front air, there’s an eruption of fluttering wings. He’s gliding through Rockefeller Wildlife Refuge, 26.5 miles of protected Gulf coastline in Cameron Parish, that during the winter, becomes one of the state’s densest waterfowl populations — home to around 200,000 ducks, geese and coots. It’s mid-March, and the chorus of quacks is small compared with a few months before. Most of the mallards, pintails, white-fronted geese and snow geese have gone north for spring, though many
Classified .....................7D Deaths .........................3B Nation-World................2A Comics-Puzzles .....3D-6D Living............................1D Opinion ........................4B Commentary ................5B Metro ...........................1B Sports ..........................1C
ä See HABITATS, page 5A
13TH yEAR, NO. 230