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BATON ROUGE, LOUISIANA
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W e d n e s d ay, a p r i l 8, 2026
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ELECTION 2026
Cassidy under fire for holding up vote on nominee
CONFLICTT IN THEE MIDDLE EAST
Trump’s surgeon general pick awaiting confirmation
BY MARK BALLARD Staff writer
ASSOCIATED PRESS PHOTO By MARK SCHIEFELBEIN
President Donald Trump speaks with reporters during a Monday news conference at the White House.
Trump, Iran agree to 2-week ceasefire
Official says passage through strait will be allowed
BY BASSEM MROUE, JON GAMBRELL and SAMY MAGDY Associated Press
TEHRAN, Iran — U.S. President Donald Trump pulled back on his threats to launch devastating strikes on Iran late Tuesday, swerving to deescalate the war less than two hours before the deadline he set for Tehran to capitulate or face a major escalation. Trump said he was holding off on his threatened attacks on Iranian bridges, power plants and other civilian targets, subject to Tehran agreeing to a two-week ceasefire and reopening of the Strait of Hormuz, the waterway through which a fifth of the world’s oil is shipped during peacetime. He also said Iran has proposed a “workable” 10-point peace plan that could help end the war launched by the U.S. and Israel in February. Iran’s Supreme National Security Council said it has accepted a two-week ceasefire and that it would negotiate with the United States in Islamabad beginning Friday. Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said passage through the strait would be allowed for the next two weeks under Iranian military management.
ä See IRAN, page 5A
ä See SENATE, page 4A
2026 LEGISLATURE
ASSOCIATED PRESS PHOTO By FRANCISCO SECO
Bystanders try to comfort and assist a woman Tuesday as she reacts near the site of a strike that, according to a security official at the scene, destroyed half the Khorasaniha Synagogue and nearby residential buildings in Tehran, Iran.
BY CHARLES LUSSIER Staff writer
After a long absence, children’s voices are set to return to the former South Boulevard Elementary campus in downtown Baton Rouge thanks to a newly approved charter school that plans to move in this summer. Harvest Commons Charter School is scheduled to open a K-5 school in August
WEATHER HIGH 80 LOW 58 PAGE 8B
with between 150 and 180 students and is already accepting applications on its website. It plans to make its home at 804 Mayflower St., the former campus of South Boulevard Elementary School. It joins two other downtown Baton Rouge schools: Helix Mentorship & Maritime Academy and St. James Episcopal Day School. In addition to filling classrooms, the new charter school plans to start a small farm on the nearly 3-acre property, which it will weave into its educational operations. “The campus is important to us for our project-based learning model,” said founder Sarah Schnauder. “We are close to downtown, close to LSU, close to Southern (University).” The parish school board voted to approve
Aerospace bills moving swiftly through House Tax breaks for companies easily clear committee
BY ALYSE PFEIL Staff writer
the new charter school in January, despite a negative evaluation from an outside evaluator. Charter schools are public schools run privately via charters or contracts with the school district. Last week, the board voted unanimously preliminarily to enter into a 50-year lease with Harvest Commons — a final vote is scheduled for April 16. The lease is much longer than the more common 10-year lease that the school system has struck with charter schools in the past. It’s also different in that the charter school would take over almost all of the property’s upkeep costs.
A plan by Louisiana officials to give big tax breaks to attract aerospace companies to the state appears to be on a fast track after lawmakers on Tuesday swiftly advanced two bills without opposition. Both measures advanced out of the House tax committee first thing Tuesday morning, as legislators reconvened in Baton Rouge after an Easter break. Landry While officials remained mum on whether any specific companies are in talks to locate here, they said the tax breaks would generally make Louisiana competitive for such aerospace projects. Asked whether he was trying to bring SpaceX or Blue Origin to Louisiana, Gov. Jeff Landry in a brief interview Tuesday afternoon said he would “love an opportunity to visit with either one of them to bring
ä See CHARTER, page 4A
ä See AEROSPACE, page 5A
Farm-based charter school to lease BR campus Harvest Commons to move into former South Boulevard Elementary site
WASHINGTON — As President Donald Trump doubled down on his controversial choice of Casey Means for surgeon general, her nomination has emerged as an issue in Louisiana’s increasingly bitter Republican primary race for the U.S. Senate. That’s because incumbent U.S. Sen. Bill Cassidy, R-Baton Rouge, has delayed for six weeks a vote that will decide Means’ fate. Cassidy chairs the Senate Committee for Health Education Labor and Pensions. U.S. Rep. Julia Letlow, the Baton Rouge Republican who Trump endorsed to unseat Cassidy in the Means May 16 party primary, has repeatedly castigated the senator for not scheduling the committee vote Means needs for her confirmation to progress. “He has the power to move it forward. Louisiana Republicans deserve a senator who helps advance President Trump’s agenda, not one who keeps slowing it down,” Letlow said in the latest of about a half-dozen recent statements and social media posts. At the moment, however, it’s not clear that the committee would approve Means’ nomination if it voted, as she faces criticism from some Republicans.
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101ST yEAR, NO. 282