THE MASTERS: SCOTT RABALAIS SAYS TOURNAMENT IS GOLF’S ‘ONE OF ONE’ 1C
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T h u r s d ay, a p r i l 9, 2026
Jefferson pushes back on firefighter pay
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2026 LEGISLATURE
Moreno, S&WB tangle over legislation
Measure would give City Council more control of utility BY BEN MYERS Staff writer
STAFF FILE PHOTO BY SOPHIA GERMER
The Jefferson Parish Fire Department puts out a fire in Metairie in 2025. Union leaders and Jefferson Parish officials are locked in a fight over pay.
Parish, union leaders locked in battle over wages BY LARA NICHOLSON Staff writer
“I would hope that the union would realize that the state law is very burdensome to us. It’s unaffordable for us. It is not sustainable in the long term. We’ve asked them to go with us to the state Legislature to fix it … and they won’t accept that.” CYNTHIA LEE SHENG, Jefferson Parish president
After months of public arguments and a series of legal squabbles, the fight between Jefferson Parish leaders and east bank firefighters escalated again Wednesday as the parish launched a $50,000 public relations campaign aimed at pushing back on claims about firefighters’ wages. Officials launched a new page on the parish’s website with a FAQ and flyer after the Jefferson Parish Council meeting in response to calls from east bank firefighters to increase their starting pay from $10.53 per hour to $18. The campaign, which seeks to inform the public on the pay dispute, is set to run for up to a year and was quickly panned by firefighters, who responded Wednesday with a poll they commissioned that argued voters would support a tax increase to pay for higher wages. Negotiations between the union and the parish over wage increases hit an impasse last fall, and since then, Cynthia Lee Sheng’s administration and some members of the parish council have
been locked in an increasingly contentious argument that’s resulted in lawsuits, alleged threats and a restraining order. “Nothing we’re going to say they’re going to agree to,” said Jefferson Parish Council member Deano Bonano in an interview Tuesday before the campaign launch. “I’m not being ugly or anything like that. For me, this is about getting the truth out there.” Jefferson Firefighters Association Local 1374 President Robert Burkett argued that the parish’s public relations campaign is trying to turn the public against them and that the union wasn’t given the opportunity to review the materials before publication. He suggested that additional legal action could be ahead, after the union already sued the parish last fall over the PR campaign. “I think they have far exceeded what the law really allows for them to do,” Burkett said. “I’m not a stranger to going to court, so we’ll have to see how that plays out.” The parish’s PR campaign
“If Cynthia got her way … what would happen is you would give the firefighters coming on a raise, and then at some point there would be firefighters on the job for four years, five years who make less than the new ones.” ROBERT BURKETT, Jefferson Firefighters Association Local 1374 president
The Sewerage & Water Board has come out against a legislative bill that would give the New Orleans City Council more INSIDE control of it, despite Mayor Helena Moreno’s support ä Louisiana for the measure. House Bill 573, by state schools must justify Rep. Stephanie Hilferty, their placement R-Metairie, gives the coun- of students with cil broad authority to reorganize the utility’s board, special needs under set water and sewer rates new bill. Page 3A and resolve other matters. ä Republicans shut The bill is aimed at fixing down bill to create a “misalignment” of S&WB Louisiana Voting funding and accountability stemming from its messy Rights Act. Page 7A governing structure, as the Bureau of Governmental Research put it in a 2023 report.
ä See MORENO, page 5A
$1.5B coastal plan hits delay in Senate Advocates push for answers over cancellations
BY MIKE SMITH
Staff writer
Louisiana’s $1.5 billion annual plan for coastal protection and restoration ran into a delay at the state Legislature on Wednesday after advocates raised concerns over a major change in strategy by Gov. Jeff Landry’s administration. The advocacy group Women of the Storm, formed in the wake of Hurricane Katrina, has posed a series of questions to the state’s coastal authority related to the cancellation of expansive river diversion projects. Senate President
ä See PAY, page 4A
ä See COASTAL, page 5A
Hondo Rodeo Fest ready to gallop into the Superdome Cowboys, broncos, music and more to highlight 3-day event BY DOUG MacCASH Staff writer
Last week, workers spread 115 truckloads of dirt on the floor of the Caesars Superdome. The soft carpet of earth is meant to break the falls of champion cowboys who will be flung off furious bulls and bucking broncos during the Hondo Rodeo. The event, which runs Friday
WEATHER HIGH 75 LOW 66 PAGE 8B
through Sunday, may or may not be the half-century-old Superdome’s first rodeo, but it’s surely the most deluxe. With $1 million in prize money each weekend, the touring rodeo fest attracts the best buckaroo athletes. And each day of the fest concludes with top-flight country music concerts. The Hondo Rodeo Fest is the brainchild of James Trawick and business partner Blake “Wild Bill” Cody. Trawick said that earlier in life he’d competed as a rodeo cowboy, and Cody had been a rock ‘n’ roll musician. They both came close to stardom, he said, but “not close enough.”
While “licking their wounds,” Trawick said, the two men decided to try to curate the best traveling rodeo show anyone had ever seen. The Hondo Rodeo Fest debuted in Phoenix in 2024. The name, Hondo, was a nod to the 1953 John Wayne movie and the small Texas town, Trawick said. But it was mostly inspired by the all-important eyelet in a cowboy’s rope that lets him lasso cattle, which is called a hondo. It’s an insider’s term, very resonant with the rodeo community, Trawick said.
Championship ropers and riders will compete for a million-dollar purse during the Hondo Rodeo Fest in New Orleans. PHOTO PROVIDED BY HONDO RODEO FEST
ä See HONDO, page 4A
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