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S at u r d ay, M ay 23, 2026
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LSU affiliate misused millions, audit finds
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Rising gas prices make drivers rethink budgets, travel plans
School ‘committed to taking decisive action,’ Rousse says
BY JONI HESS Staff writer
Ahead of Memorial Day weekend, cloudy skies settled over the Shell station in the Mid-City neighborhood in New Orleans, where Christine George had just spent $60 for a half tank of gas. She’ll have to stretch that fuel until her next payday, when she can afford to fill up the gas-guzzling SUV she bought to haul her children. “If it keeps getting higher, I might have to sell this car,” she said on Thursday. Locally and nationally, the cost of gasoline has topped $4 a gal“If it keeps lon since the U.S. and getting higher, Israel launched a war I might have with Iran at the end of to sell this February. War concerns aside, car.” the state is also preparing its annual federally CHRISTINE mandated transition GEORGE to summer-blend fuel, which can add as much as 15 cents per gallon to the overall production cost, according to the National Association of Convenience Stores. The fuel is required to prevent evaporation in warmer weather. All of it has caused some residents in Louisiana, a state with one of the highest rates of poverty in the nation, to rethink travel plans and household budgets as rising oil prices hit the economy from multiple angles. The cost of regular unleaded gas in the New Orleans metro area reached $4.04 last week compared to $2.72 a year ago, according to AAA. In the Baton Rouge area, the cost was $4.03, up from $2.70 a year ago, while Lafayette drivers paid $4.06 at the pump, up from $2.72 a year ago. Though AAA categorizes Louisiana as one of the cheapest gas markets in the U.S., that means little to a region with slow job growth and nearly half of the population
BY HALEY MILLER Staff writer
A cybersecurity research nonprofit affiliated with LSU paid its executive staff millions without approval, misused state funds and possibly retained as an attorney a contractor who wasn’t licensed to practice law, an audit released last week found. The report from the Louisiana Legislative Auditor said LSU may have violated the Louisiana Constitution and state law by failing to properly oversee the nonprofit Stephenson Technologies Corp., or STC. The LSU Board of Supervisors approved STC as an affiliate in 2015 to secure federal contracts for the university. In a statement Thursday, LSU System President Wade Rousse said he had directed Chancellor Jim Dalton to “immediately evaluate STC’s sustainability as a partner.” “The audit clearly reveals significant deficiencies in LSU’s past oversight of Stephenson Technologies Corporation leading to considerable funds being misdirected and misused, and those actions do not serve this university’s mission or values,” Rousse said. “LSU is committed to taking decisive action to strengthen oversight over all of our affiliated organizations moving forward.” On its website, STC identifies itself as “An Applied LSU R&D Nonprofit” that bridges academic research and national security operations. It contracts with the federal government and other clients to work on tech security issues. Per the auditor’s report, the corporation paid its former CEO and
Gas prices climbed over $4 a gallon in Louisiana this week at many locations around the state. STAFF PHOTO By ENAN CHEDIAK
ä See HIGH, page 7A
ä See AUDIT, page 7A
Cassidy kills Kisatchie transfer
BY ALEX LUBBEN
Staff writer
A sweeping proposal drafted by a Grant Parish resident and backed by U.S. Sen. Bill Cassidy’s office that would have transferred about a quarter of Louisiana’s only national forest to local control is dead after fierce opposition from hunters, conservationists, a Native American tribe and the parish’s own government. The Grant Parish Restoration Act, as it was originally conceived, was a sprawling proposal involving much more than the transfer of a large chunk of the Kisatchie National Forest to local control. It met vehement opposition in Grant
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Republicans split on Trump’s spending plans Cassidy is critical while GOP Senate candidates back president BY TYLER BRIDGES Staff writer PHOTO PROVIDED By THE KISATCHIE NATIONAL FOREST
The Kisatchie National Forest is Louisiana’s only national forest, located in seven parishes in the state’s north and central regions. A controversial proposal would have transferred about a quarter of it to local control. Parish. Cassidy, who lost his reelection bid last Saturday, introduced a dramatically stripped-down version of the bill on Wednesday — the original was 12 pages long, the new version is just three. The revised measure would make it easier for counties with large federal landholdings or federal prisons to qualify for the New Markets Tax Credit, which provides tax incen-
tives for private investment in low-income communities. “The locals spoke,” said Cassidy, R-Baton Rouge. “That’s why you have a partnership. You work with locals and you find out what’s on their heart. This was a great way to find out what’s on their heart.” Louisiana Wildlife Federation Executive Director Rebecca
ä See KISATCHIE, page 6A
Republican senators in Washington — including Sen. Bill Cassidy — are expressing opposition to spending nearly $1.8 billion to create a federal fund to compensate people claiming political persecution and another $1 billion for President Donald Trump’s White House ballroom. But the two Republicans running to replace Cassidy — U.S. Rep. Julia Letlow and state Treasurer John Fleming — are standing firm with the Trump administration. Meanwhile, the two Democrats vying to succeed Cassidy — farmer Jamie Davis and business owner Gary Crockett — are blasting Trump’s plans. Senate Republicans on Thursday held up consideration of legislation to finance Trump’s immigration crackdown because it included his “anti-weaponization fund” as part of a settlement that the IRS reached with him to drop his lawsuit against the
Cassidy
Letlow
ä See SPENDING, page 6A Fleming
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