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Lawmakers OK teacher stipend plan Court temporarily blocks Landry’s executive order BY PATRICK WALL Staff writer
Louisiana lawmakers approved Gov. Jeff Landry’s plan to cut nearly $170 million from school budgets to pay for teacher stipends, according to vote tallies released Wednesday, though a court has temporarily blocked the plan
from taking effect. More than two-thirds of members in both chambers of the Legislature voted in favor of reducing the state’s main education fund by $168 million, which requires legislative approval. Under Landry’s executive order, that money would instead be used to give $2,000 stipends to teachers and $1,000 to
some support staffers. Louisiana educators have received the stipends the past three years instead of raises. After voters rejected a ballot measure in May to finance permanent raises, teachers were set to lose the stipends this school year before Landry proposed using state education funds to pay for them.
“While working towards a permanent solution to raise our teacher pay in Louisiana, the Legislature clearly did not want to see a reduction in teacher pay this year,” Senate President Cameron Henry and House Speaker Phillip DeVillier said in a joint statement Wednesday. In the House, 76 of 105 members voted for the funding cut, while eight members voted against it, one abstained and 20 members did
ST. TAMMANY PARISH
Embattled sheriff resigns
not vote, according to the official tally. The “no” votes were cast by Democrats and Rep. Neil Riser, a Republican who represents several rural parishes where school leaders have said the state funding cut could devastate their budgets. In the Senate, 37 of 39 members voted in favor of the funding reduction, while Sen. Royce Duplessis, D-New Orleans, cast
ä See STIPEND, page 7A
Landry to address data center power concerns
Entergy, PSC debate who will pay for purchase of Texas facility BY SAM KARLIN Staff writer
STAFF PHOTO By BRETT DUKE
District Attorney Collin Sims speaks during Wednesday’s news conference at the St. Tammany Parish Justice Center in Covington. a substance abuse pro- es of my actions,” Smith told Smith pleads attend gram in order to reduce the the judge. Smith’s guilty plea and his to a misdemeanor and guilty to battery charge resignation marked a stunavoid spending time in jail.
BY WILLIE SWETT
Staff writer
Randy Smith resigned as St. Tammany Parish sheriff Wednesday after pleading guilty to violently attacking a man in a Madisonville-area steakhouse, effectively ending his four-decade law-enforcement career by standing before a judge as a criminal defendant in the parish courthouse in Covington. His resignation, effective at 1 p.m. on Wednesday, was part of a plea agreement that saw Smith admit to a charge of felony battery and agree to
Dressed in a light blue suit in front of a nearly full courtroom, Smith told Judge Reginald Badeaux of the 22nd Judicial District Court that he understood the charges against him. When asked how he pleaded on one count of felony battery and one count of disturbing the peace through intoxication, Smith said “guilty,” and called his actions on May 29 a mistake. “I take full responsibility and I apologize to the citizens of this parish, the men and women of the St. Tammany Parish Sheriff’s Office, and to my family, that I stood up for, and I’ll face the consequenc-
ning fall for a law enforcement officer who first joined the Sheriff’s Office in the 1980s at 21 years old, before going on to serve as Slidell’s police chief for six years and spending most of the last decade as St. Tammany’s sheriff. While Smith’s tenure as sheriff has not been without controversy, he proved to be popular with voters, winning three sheriff’s elections, most recently in 2023. But it all unraveled after his arrest on June 4 following an investigation by Louisiana
FILE PHOTO By GRANT THERKILDSEN
Randy Smith resigned Wednesday after serving for more than a decade as sheriff ä See SHERIFF, page 8A of St. Tammany Parish.
Gov. Jeff Landry is planning to issue an executive order Thursday on data centers emerging in the state and their impact on consumer electric bills, amid new concerns about an Entergy proposal to spend $1.8 billion buying a new power plant. Details about the executive order’s language and potential impact were not immediately available Wednesday, but sources said that Landry plans to sign an order about the topic. Landry’s office announced that he and Louisiana Economic Bourgeois Development Secretary Susan Bourgeois would hold a news conference Thursday about a new, statewide initiative “focused on protecting ratepayers and strengthening Louisiana while supporting the state’s current economic momentum and long-term competitiveness.” The high-profile move comes as some elected leaders, including Republicans, are raising questions about Entergy Louisiana’s plans to buy a power plant in Texas called Cottonwood, a decision that would cost the average customer about $8 a month, according to records. A consultant for Louisiana’s Public Service Commission, which has to approve the acquisition, said in a recent report that the plant is primarily needed because of Meta’s giant north Louisiana data center. Entergy and Meta say the conclusion is inaccurate. But it has put a public spotlight on whether the companies are fulfilling the promise that regular customers won’t pay for data center costs. Landry expressed concerns last week
ä See POWER, page 7A
Letlow, Fleming down to wire in Senate Republican primary BY TYLER BRIDGES Staff writer
In the final days of an increasingly divisive Senate Republican campaign, the race has come down to this: Can President Donald Trump and the avalanche of negative ads against treasurer John Fleming
WEATHER HIGH 93 LOW 77 PAGE 8A
stem his momentum and give U.S. Rep. Julia Letlow the victory on Saturday? Polls show that Fleming has erased most or all of Letlow’s 17-point advantage coming out of the May 16 primary. “It’s dog close,” said Greg Rigamer, a New Orleans pollster who has
is stepping up his push for Letlow, and outside groups are launching a barrage of attacks against the treasurer. Fleming said those moves indicate done weekly surveys for super lobbyist Alton Ashy, a Letlow contribu- his political strength. “They wouldn’t be doing this if tor. With Fleming mounting a surä See PRIMARY, page 7A Letlow prisingly strong challenge, Trump
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Fleming
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