HONORING AREA HIGH SCHOOL ATHLETES: INSIDE TODAY
ADVOCATE THE
BATON ROUGE, LOUISIANA
T H E A D V O C AT E.C O M
|
W e d n e s d ay, M ay 20, 2026
$2.00X
La. OKs removal of church ‘trespassers’
Landry signs laws that permit use of force, toughen penalties BY MEGHAN FRIEDMANN Staff writer
Gov. Jeff Landry has signed into law bills that would permit the use of force to remove people who disrupt religious services and strengthen criminal penalties for disruptors as part of a wave of conservative backlash after ICE protesters derailed a church service
in Minnesota in January. Landry condemned that protest Monday in a video posted to X. “In Louisiana, we are committed to maintaining the right to worship without interference and we remain steadfast in our commitment to safeguarding religious liberty,” he said. “With the signing of these two bills, those protections just became stronger.”
The bills are part of a swath of legislative proposals filed this year in response to events that took place on Jan. 18 at Cities Church in St. Paul, when dozens of demonstrators entered the facility to protest its pastor, a local U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement official. The protest occurred amid President Donald Trump’s controversial
2026 LEGISLATURE
officials and conservative leaders slamming the demonstrators for interrupting a Sunday service. The federal government has indicted more than 30 people in condeportation push in Minnesota, nection with the protest, including which enflamed tensions between former CNN host Don Lemon, who residents and federal officers who was there reporting on it. descended upon the state to make Lemon’s arrest in particular has immigration arrests. In Minneapo- sparked outrage from free speech lis, immigration agents killed two advocates. One of the bills Landry signed U.S. citizens. Scenes from the church ignited a ä See CHURCH, page 7A national controversy, with Trump
Cassidy begins bucking Trump
BR police ID person in mall video Individual not a suspect in shooting, wanted for questioning
BY OLIVIA TEES Staff writer
billion on a ballroom when we should be doing something about the high price of gas, groceries and healthcare,” Cassidy, R-Baton Rouge, told local reporters in a Tuesday phone news conference. He then reminded reporters of Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton’s multiple legal troubles after Trump endorsed him Tuesday over incumbent Republican Sen. John Cornyn in the Texas GOP primary runoff. “I have no comments about that at all, except that Paxton, literally speaking,
Baton Rouge police confirm they have identified a person from video surveillance who is wanted for questioning in the Mall of Louisiana shooting that killed one teen and injured five others last month. The person is out of the state, BRPD spokesperson Lt. L’Jean McKneely said. Because the individual is not a suspect at this time, his name will not be released, McKneely said. At a news conference the day after the April 23 shooting, Baton Rouge Police Chief T.J. Morse released the individual’s picture to the public and asked for help identifying him. East Baton Rouge District Attorney Hillar Moore said on Tuesday that authorities have no information yet on the ballistics from the shooting. So far police have arrested one suspect, Markel Lee, 17, on April 24 after he turned himself in to authorities. He was booked into the East Baton Rouge Parish Prison and faces charges including firstdegree murder, five counts of attempted first-degree murder and illegal use of a weapon. Lee is being held without bail because of the first-degree murder charge. He will have a bail review hearing Aug. 20.
ä See CASSIDY, page 8A
ä See VIDEO, page 7A
ASSOCIATED PRESS FILE PHOTO By GERALD HERBERT
U.S. Sen. Bill Cassidy, R-Baton Rouge, lost his bid for reelection on Saturday, finishing third in the Republican primary.
In wake of election loss, senator votes against war, won’t support $1B for ballroom BY MARK BALLARD Staff writer
WASHINGTON — U.S. Sen. Bill Cassidy, for the first time, joined in a vote Tuesday to consider legislation ending the war in Iran, showing how he is less politically inhibited since failing in his reelection effort. He joined three other Republicans in a largely symbolic 50-47 vote to discharge from committee a bill asserting congressional war powers authority to end military action against Iran. The action allows the Senate to put the resolution on
the Senate calendar for another vote. A vote by the full Senate on passage hasn’t been scheduled yet. Should the resolution receive 51 votes for passage, the measure would then go to the House. If approved by the House, it would have to be signed by President Donald Trump. Earlier in the day, Cassidy said he opposes inserting $1 billion to build Trump’s White House ballroom in legislation that the Senate likely will vote on later this week. “This is a spit-in-the-eye insult to all my taxpayers in Louisiana, to spend a
San Diego mosque shooters met online Authorities say teens left writings expressing hate
who they hated,” Mark Remily, the lead FBI agent in San Diego, said Tuesday. The writings, obtained by The Associated Press, include hateful rhetoric toward Jewish people, Muslims and Islam, as well as the BY JULIE WATSON, LGBTQ+ community, Black peoMICHAEL BIESECKER ple, women, and both the political and JOHN SEEWER left and right. Both express beliefs Associated Press that White people are being elimiSAN DIEGO — Two teenagers who nated, and one writes about mental shot and killed three people in health struggles and being rejectan attack on a California mosque ed by women. were radicalized online where Investigators also found at least they first met and shared White 30 guns, ammunition and a crosssupremacist views, according to bow at two residences after Monauthorities and writings they au- day’s attack in San Diego and were trying to uncover whether the thored. The pair “didn’t discriminate on shooters had broader plans, Rem-
WEATHER HIGH 83 LOW 70 PAGE 8B
ily said. The shooters, ages 17 and 18, killed themselves, police have said. Authorities praised the three men they killed — including Amin Abdullah, a beloved security guard — for slowing the attackers at the Islamic Center of San Diego and preventing them from reaching 140 schoolchildren just steps away. Imam Taha Hassane said Abdullah engaged the suspects in a gunbattle and called for a lockdown on his radio. He “sacrificed his life to stop them from getting inside the classrooms.” The shooting was the latest in a
ASSOCIATED PRESS PHOTO By JAE C. HONG
Nicole Witherow prays on Tuesday beside flowers placed outside the Islamic Center of San Diego, a day after a shooting. The shooting was the ä See SHOOTERS, page 7A latest in a string of attacks on houses of worship.
Business ......................3B Commentary ................7B Nation-World................2A Classified .....................7D Deaths .........................4B Opinion ........................6B Comics-Puzzles .....4D-6D Living............................1D Sports ..........................1C
101ST yEAR, NO. 324