SAINTS PRACTICES SHOW UNITED TEAM, BUT QUESTIONS REMAIN 1C
N O L A.C O M
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S at u r d ay, J u n e 13, 2026
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Lafitte levee district to join with West Bank STAFF FILE PHOTO By DAVID GRUNFELD
Federal officials issued a stinging critique of the management of the Guste Homes complex.
HUD blasts Guste Homes management Housing authority told to halt payments to partner
BY SOPHIE KASAKOVE Staff writer
the Jefferson Parish Council. The new president, Kerry Lauricella, said the agency didn’t have enough operating revenue to pay staff, purchase equipment or maintain levees, and Connick accused the Kerners of using the levee district to award political donors with contracts, which they denied. “They couldn’t cut the grass, they had no equipment, so the best course for that moving forward was to put them with an entity that has the resources to do it the right way, the transparency way, and do what we need to do to protect people from storms and maintain the levee,” Connick said in an interview. Kerner Sr. said he felt he had “no choice” but to move forward with the consolidation because of the district’s financial state. He said he was sad to see the district that he created come to an end, but optimistic that an agency with greater resources could better help Lafitte. In a compromise with Kerner Sr.,
As New Orleans’ public housing authority prepares to take direct control of a Central City housing complex, federal officials this week gave a stinging critique of the site’s management and urged the authority to block all funding to its management partner. That management partner, the Guste Homes Resident Management Corporation, failed to share complete water usage data with the Housing Authority of New Orleans as the complex amassed a $1.5 million water bill, Department of Housing and Urban Development officials said in a Wednesday audit. HANO, meanwhile, failed to verify whether Guste Homes had elected a board of directors. It also did not obtain operating budgets from its partner, HUD officials said. “HANO should suspend funding to GRMC until all required financial, insurance, and bonding documents are submitted, reviewed, and approved,” regulators said. Guste receives $3.5 million per year from HANO. The investigation, conducted by 15 HUD officials, reveals new problems with the site’s management structure, which HANO plans to overhaul on July 1. Guste Homes, the corporation overseen by director Cynthia Wiggins that has shared management responsibilities with HANO since 2000, has sued to prevent HANO from ousting it from the complex. The lawsuit is pending a judge’s ruling. Suzette Bagneris, an attorney representing Guste Homes, said Friday that HUD’s report lacks “the full context necessary,” creating “the misleading impression that Guste Homes Resident Management Corporation (“GHRMC”) was chronically noncompliant ... That narrative is simply not accurate.” But HANO Executive Director Marjorianna
ä See LAFITTE, page 4A
ä See HUD, page 6A
STAFF PHOTO By SOPHIA GERMER
A levee built as part of the Lafitte Area Independent Levee District snakes along the water in Lafitte.
Merger comes after a year of financial turmoil BY LARA NICHOLSON Staff writer
A small coastal community that’s pursued its own flood protection for nearly two decades will fold its levee projects into the Southeast Flood Protection Authority-West after a year of financial turmoil. The Lafitte Area Independent Levee District will consolidate into the West Bank levee authority starting Aug. 1 under a bill by state Sen. Patrick Connick, R-Marrero, that Gov. Jeff Landry signed into law on June 1. The merger marks the end of an 18-year journey for both Lafitte and state Rep. Timothy Kerner Sr., RJean Lafitte, who led the town for three decades and launched the levee district in the wake of Hurricane Katrina to secure flood protection after feeling neglected by the state and federal government. His efforts, along with his son Timothy Kerner Jr. who succeeded him, resulted in $180 million in tidal levee projects, three of which have been completed, two in the works and five
STAFF PHOTO By BRETT DUKE
State Rep. Tim Kerner Sr., R-Jean Lafitte, launched the Lafitte levee district in the wake of Hurricane Katrina.
more planned. “What this levee board did will be talked about for generations,” Kerner Sr. told the House floor on May 20. But major problems dogged the agency over the last year, after Kerner Jr. left the agency to join
SpaceX stock soars in debut
Street takeover crackdown nets arrests, car seizures BY MISSY WILKINSON
Musk becomes first trillionaire
Staff writer
BY BERNARD CONDON
AP business writer
NEW YORK — Elon Musk became the world’s first trillionaire after shares of his rocket company SpaceX soared in Wall Street’s biggest initial public offering of stock. Shares in SpaceX jumped more than 19% after opening for trading at noon Friday, a sign that investors are looking past the billions the company is losing and instead betting that its massive Musk investments in satellites, orbital data centers and artificial intelligence will pay off in the future.
ASSOCIATED PRESS PHOTO By FRANK FRANKLIN II
Gwynne Shotwell, center, president and COO of SpaceX, celebrates with colleagues during a bell-ringing ceremony for the IPO of SpaceX at the ä See SPACEX, page 6A Nasdaq MarketSite in New york on Friday.
WEATHER HIGH 93 LOW 77 PAGE 8A
New Orleans police this week touted “Operation Speed Bump,” a multiagency crackdown on an illegal street takeover promoted on social media and described by officials as an unsanctioned counterpart to the fully permitted Gumball 3000 rally that rolled through Bourbon Street last Saturday night. Though NOPD Superintendent Anne Kirkpatrick declined to identify the group behind the event or the intersections targeted by police, a Times-Picayune analysis of police reports, court records and calls-for-service data found that more than 100 additional officers were concentrated at intersections in Plum Orchard, St. Roch and the
Business ......................5B Deaths .........................4B Opinion ........................6B Classified .....................5D Metro ...........................1B Sports ..........................1C Comics-Puzzles .....1D-4D Nation-World................2A
“We had anticipated certain intersections where they might go, and sure enough, about 10 o’clock here they came.” NOPD SUPERINTENDENT ANNE KIRKPATRICK
Florida Development. “We had anticipated certain intersections where they might go, and sure enough, about 10 o’clock here they came,” Kirkpatrick said ata news conference Tuesday.. Those arrested or cited included alleged stunt drivers, a suspected takeover promoter, an alleged car thief, a Texas fugitive and a party bus operator. Two men were booked late
ä See STREET, page 4A
13TH yEAR, NO. 305