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BATON ROUGE, LOUISIANA
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M o n d ay, M ay 4, 2026
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2 park proposals aim to bridge divide
4-day week limits spark debate
Bill seeks to tighten requirements over school calendar BY CHARLES LUSSIER staff writer
sTAFF PHoTos By JAVIER GALLEGos
Larry Tatman, left, and Terry Palmisano walk past a hole while playing at City Park Golf Course on April 23. Two potential designs have been created as a part of the City-Brooks Park Master Plan, which aims to transform the park ‘into a world-class, central park experience.’
Community torn on future of BR golf course BY CLAIRE GRUNEWALD staff writer
As the plan to redevelop one of Baton Rouge’s most notable parks moves forward, some community members are contentiously divided over whether major changes should be made to the city’s oldest public golf course. Two potential designs for the park have been created as a part of the City-Brooks Park Master Plan, which aims to transform the park “into a world-class, central park experience,” according to BREC, East Baton Rouge Parish’s parks agency. Some people have publicly advocated leaving the park as is, emphasizing the golf course’s historic designation. Others want to see it significantly changed, with more wide-ranging features added to the site. So how do the park and its golf course fare in the latest two proposed future designs for the area? The firm hired to create the master plan for City-Brooks Park proposed concepts that keep the nine-hole golf course as a key part of the park. But both plans carve
Roughly a quarter of the school districts in Louisiana hold classes only four days a week, most of them shifting to shorter weeks since COVID. State lawmakers are poised to make it much harder for any more districts to join them. In doing so, they may force the latest adopter, East Feliciana Parish, to pull the plug on plans to move to four-day weeks in August. Instead, the parish would need to revert at the 11th hour to a five-day-a-week calendar. Sen. Beth Mizell, R-Franklinton, is leading the charge. She suggests that four-day weeks, if expanded further, could reverse recent gains on national standardized tests that have led to accolades for Louisiana. “We’ve gotten to the pinnacle and are beginning to chisel away at what we have accomplished,” Mizell said. In Louisiana, 15 out of 69 school districts have four-day weeks. Twelve of those have adopted the shortened week since 2020. Many of them did so to attract and retain teachers during a time of historic teacher shortages. They tend to be smaller, rural school systems. They range from
ä see DEBATE, page 7A
Professional golfer Matt Berry tees off at City Park Golf Course on April 23. out a few hundred yards from the course and propose new services for the park, such as expanding pedestrian space and adding new features to the golf experience. Joshua Brooks, a landscape architect and planner with Sasaki Associates, said the concepts do not have to be a “binary choice” and blending ideas from both concepts is possible for the final plan.
“You can have a lot of improvements and still have golf,” he said. Sasaki is the private firm hired by BREC to create the master plan for CityBrooks Park, the design of Wampold Park and a structure for guiding the University Lakes system. The golf course is proposed to remain
ä see PROPOSALS, page 7A
Trump: U.S. to guide ships from strait President says operation to help stranded vessels to start Monday
BY ADAM SCHRECK, MELANIE LIDMAN and CARA ANNA
3 Democrats are running to be La.’s next senator Trio have varied reasons for entering race
BY TYLER BRIDGES staff writer
For Jamie Davis, his decision to run for the U.S. Senate came last year after former Gov. John Bel Edwards chose to stay out of the race. For Nick Albares, his decision to run came after President Donald Trump and the Republican Congress passed a bill last year that will lead to big cuts in the Medicaid program for the working poor. For Gary Crockett, his decision to run came after seeing Sen. Bill Cassidy, House Speaker Mike Johnson and Gov. Jeff Landry repeat-
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next senator. Here’s a measure of the odds: Louisiana has not elected a Democrat since then-U.S. Sen. Mary Landrieu won reelection in 2008. Cassidy knocked her out six years later and won reelection in 2020. He’s now facing a tough reelection battle in the Republican primary against state Treasurer John Fleming, U.S. Rep. Julia Letlow and business owner Mark Spencer. The Democratic and Republican candidates will compete in separate party primaries on Albares Crockett Davis May 16, with early voting running through edly support Trump in ways that Crockett Saturday. No-party voters will have to debelieves are hurting ordinary Louisiana citi- cide whether to vote for the Republican or Democratic slate of candidates in all races zens. Davis, Albares and Crockett — all Demo- on the ballot. crats — are crisscrossing the state as each ä see RUNNING, page 5A one mounts a long-shot bid to be the state’s
ELECTION 2026
Classified .....................6C Deaths .........................9A Nation-World................2A Comics-Puzzles .....3C-5C Living............................1C opinion .....................10A Commentary .............11A Metro ...........................8A sports ..........................1B
Associated Press
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — The United States will launch an effort on Monday to “guide” stranded ships from the Iran-gripped Strait of Hormuz, President Donald Trump said, giving few details about what could be a sweeping attempt to help hundreds of vessels and some 20,000 seafarers. Iran quickly denounced it as a ceasefire violation. Trump said in a social media post on Sunday that “neutral and innocent” countries have been affected by the Iran war, and “we have told these Countries that we will guide their Ships safely out of these restricted Waterways, so that they can freely and ably get on with their business.”
ä see IRAN, page 5A
101sT yEAR, No. 308