JADA RICHARD LATEST TIGER TO ENTER TRANSFER PORTAL 1C THE
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S at u r d ay, a p r i l 11, 2026
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SPLASHDOWN Legislation 2026 LEGISLATURE
Artemis II crew safely returns to Earth in perfect ending to historic moon mission
targets homeless people
Bill would make sleeping on street a crime, create ‘homelessness courts’ BY MEGHAN FRIEDMANN Staff writer
Over the past several years, Lashauna Williams says, she has struggled to afford permanent housing while trying to get treated for post-traumatic stress disorder and depression. Williams, who said she grew up in foster care, described bouncing between shipping containers, rented apartments and friends’ houses. She spent several months at a New Orleans shelter where, she said, she was often treated harshly. Sometimes, she would leave the shelter early in the morning to catch a few extra hours of sleep in the park, a brief escape before she began her day, she said. Now, a proposal in the Louisiana Legislature would make camping in unauthorized public spaces a crime. Supporters of the idea, which would also allow local jurisdictions to establish “homelessness courts,” say it will give law enforcement a tool to steer homeless people toward services and help draw down funds from President Donald Trump’s administration. House Bill 211, sponsored by state Rep. Debbie Villio, R-Kenner, is part of Gov. Jeff Landry’s legislative agenda. The bill lays
ä See HOMELESS, page 5A
The Artemis II splashes down in the Pacific Ocean off the coast of California on Friday. BY MARCIA DUNN AP aerospace writer
HOUSTON — Artemis II’s astronauts returned from the moon with a dramatic splashdown in the Pacific on Friday to close out humanity’s first lunar voyage in more than a half-century. It was a triumphant homecoming for the crew of four whose record-breaking lunar flyby revealed not only swaths of the moon’s far side — never seen before by human eyes — but a total solar eclipse. Commander Reid Wiseman, pilot Vic-
tor Glover, Christina Koch and Canada’s Jeremy Hansen hit the atmosphere traveling Mach 33 — or 33 times the speed of sound — a blistering blur not seen since NASA’s Apollo moonshots of the 1960s and 1970s. Their Orion capsule, dubbed Integrity, made the plunge on automatic pilot. The tension in Mission Control mounted as the capsule became engulfed in red-hot plasma during peak heating and entered a planned communication blackout. All eyes were on the capsule’s lifeprotecting heat shield that had to with-
ELECTION 2026 U.S. SENATE
Cassidy urges Democrats to reregister for primary New election rules would limit votes BY TYLER BRIDGES Staff writer
U.S. Sen. Bill Cassidy, R-Baton Rouge, is making a concerted push to get Democrats to switch their party registration so they can vote for him in next month’s Republican primary. That’s prompted criticism from those who say it provides more
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Cassidy
evidence that he’s not a true conservative — especially since neither of Cassidy’s two Republican opponents, state Treasurer John Fleming and Baton Rouge U.S. Rep. Julia Letlow, are making a Letlow similar effort. Central to Cassidy’s move to encourage party switches is a decision by Gov. Jeff Landry and Republican lawmakers in 2024 to end Louisiana’s unusual jungle primary for federal races beginning
ä See CASSIDY, page 5A Fleming
PHOTO PROVIDED By NASA
stand thousands of degrees during reentry. On the spacecraft’s only other test flight — in 2022, with no one on board — the shield’s charred exterior came back looking as pockmarked as the moon. Like so many others, lead flight director Jeff Radigan anticipated feeling some of that “irrational fear that is human nature,” especially during the six-minute blackout that preceded the opening of the parachutes. The recovery ship USS John P. Murtha awaited
ä See SPLASHDOWN, page 4A
STAFF FILE PHOTO By JAVIER GALLEGOS
Gov. Jeff Landry and state Rep. Debbie Villio, R-Kenner, are backing a proposal that would make sleeping on the street a crime and allow jurisdictions to establish specialty ‘homelessness courts.’
Man convicted of shooting 2 Lafayette police officers 2023 incident left one disabled, toddler dead
Fifteenth Judicial District Judge Angie Wagar, who took office March 2 after Judge Kristian Earles retired, did not immediately set a sentencing date. Nicholas was also charged in the secBY CLAIRE TAYLOR Staff writer ond-degree murder of Kaci and the attempted first-degree murder of her brothA Lafayette man has been convicted er and Nicholas’ aunt, who were injured in of the attempted first-degree murder of the shootout. Assistant District Attorney three police officers in an Aug. 5, 2023, Alan Haney decided not to try Nicholas on shootout that left 24-year-old officer those charges this week. Hali Bradford permanently disabled and Haney and Assistant District Attorney 19-month-old Kaci Cyprian dead. Kaitlyn Mistretta presented testimony A 12-person jury on Thursday evening and evidence to support the argument unanimously voted to convict John Nicho- that Nicholas intended to kill the three polas, 33, of three counts of attempted first- lice officers who responded to a domestic degree murder and one count of a convictä See CONVICTED, page 4A ed felon in possession of a firearm.
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101ST yEAR, NO. 285