EJECTIONS MAR CAJUNS BASEBALL, SOFTBALL GAMES 1C THE
ACADIANA
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T H E A C A D I A N A A D V O C AT E.C O M
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T u e s d ay, a p r i l 7, 2026
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Lao community shaken by festival tragedy
driving while impaired and first- the world. Annual celebration began in mid-’80s this.” Todd Andrew Landry was drunk degree negligent injuring, careless “That’s really the core of the
BY JOEL THOMPSON and JOANNA BROWN Staff writers
An alleged drunken driving incident at the Lao New Year Festival in rural Iberia Parish over the weekend sent ripples across Acadiana. Saturday’s tragedy left 18 attendees injured — three of whom
remain in critical condition — and a Jeanerette man behind bars. It has also tested the resolve of Acadiana’s tight-knit Lao community. “It’s just been really terrible and sad,” said Phanat Xanamane, a festival volunteer. “We’re very tight-knit, and so it’s been difficult having to wait to hear information about those that were injured. We never anticipated a tragedy like
when his classic Chevrolet car crashed into the crowd at the parade, authorities with the Iberia Parish Sheriff’s Office and Louisiana State Police have said. Videos posted to social media show festivalgoers — many wearing matching T-shirts — rushing to aid victims who were hit and injured. Landry, 57, is being held at the Iberia Parish jail on counts of
operation and open container. Live music and alcohol sales were suspended following the incident, while Sunday’s religious services continued as planned. Xanamane said the board and organizers made the difficult decision to continue the annual celebration “so that we can remind ourselves of that commitment to be compassionate beings and to spread good” across Acadiana and
BASE IN THE BASIN
festival and why we celebrate the new year,” Xanamane said. “It has to do with our spiritual beliefs and renewing our compassion and spirit.” Laotian migrants first made their way into south Louisiana in the 1970s and ’80s following the Vietnam War. Since then, they’ve left their mark on Acadiana
ä See TRAGEDY, page 5A
Political wedge grows on carbon capture Industry groups push back on opposition BY DAVID J. MITCHELL Staff writer
and finances separate from the Boy Scout council, McGoffin said. The group, in 2016, bought 63 acres on the basin that previously were part of McGee’s Landing, as well as its tour
In a video posted online, Gov. Jeff Landry called State Treasurer John Fleming a flip-flopper; Fleming shot back that Landry was “a liar.” In a House committee hearing at the Louisiana Legislature, two representatives invoked the Ten Commandments against lying, stealing and covetousness. And in a new social media promotion, a new conservative advocacy group called MAGA Energy Project has accused community and environmental groups of being in bed with “liberal extremists like George Soros” and Michael Bloomberg. These skirmishes are all part of a political battle that is becoming one of the fiercest in Louisiana: The fight over carbon capture and sequestration, or CCS. That process pumps carbon dioxide deep underground and stores it there permanently in a bid to cut industrial emissions that contribute to climate change and create so-called “low carbon” products. State economic development officials say $75 billion in economic development announced since 2018 is tied to the technology, which the energy industry says is critical for the future of Louisiana’s fossil fuel-reliant industrial base. But strong discontent has stirred in rural and suburban Louisiana among residents concerned about property rights, environmental
ä See PHASE, page 4A
ä See CARBON, page 4A
STAFF PHOTOS By BRAD KEMP
Tour boats from McGee’s Swamp Tours are tied up to the new floating dock at Louisiana Swamp Base on Thursday in Henderson.
First phase of project completed, including docks and a pavilion BY CLAIRE TAYLOR Staff writer
Floating handicapped-accessible docks, tour boats and a pavilion overlooking the Atchafalaya Basin are part of Swamp Base Inc. at the site of the former McGee’s Landing in Henderson, phase one of a project by the Evangeline Area Council Boy Scouts to attract Scouts and other visitors to and preserve the nation’s largest river swamp. As the first phase of the project concludes, leaders are working toward Phase 2, which will include a welcome center, a logistics building and a learning center. Eventually, they’d like to build housing, as well. In 2010, for the Centennial of Scouting, the Evangeline Area Council leadership adopted the Atchafalaya Basin as its focus for “doing good turns” every day of the year, Gary McGoffin, Louisiana
Ben Pierce, from left, Art Hawkins and Gary McGoffin look over some of the trees planted by Scouts in 2011 at the Butte La Rose rest area off Interstate 10. Swamp Base board member, said. Scout leaders decided the most important thing was to get people and Scouts onto the water and camping in the Basin. They needed a permanent base. Swamp Base, a nonprofit, grew out of those discussions. It has its own board
Outside political groups begin attacks on Senate candidate Fleming BY TYLER BRIDGES
ELECTION 2026
not being conservative enough, even though he helped found the ultraconservative FreeU.S. SENATE dom Caucus during his eight years in the U.S. House and then spent four years workTwo outside groups are now hitting state Treasurer John Fleming with attack ads, in- Fleming, who along with Letlow wants to ing for President Donald Trump during his dicating that he now presents a rising threat unseat the two-term senator, has stood on first administration. The ads show a ratcheting up of activity in to U.S. Rep. Julia Letlow’s election chances the sidelines, unscathed. But Fleming is now facing attacks from the Senate campaign about six weeks before in Louisiana’s Senate Republican primary. Until now, Sen. Bill Cassidy and Letlow one group supporting Letlow and another ä See FLEMING, page 5A Cassidy have been criticizing each other, while group opposed to him. Both accuse him of Staff writer
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