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Boneless Top Sirloin Steak
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Extra Large Fresh Mangos
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6
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Prices good at all Baton Rouge, Zachary, Gonzales and Prairieville stores June 24th - July 1st, 2026.
THE
ADVOCATE T H E A D V O C AT E.C O M
BATON ROUGE, LOUISIANA
|
F r i d ay, J u n e 26, 2026
$2.00X
Landry: Order protects resources, ratepayers
Police: DNA netted cold case arrest Rope linked to 1987 motel room stabbing
BY OLIVIA TEES Staff writer
Almost 40 years after a commercial jingle writer was found dead in a Baton Rouge hotel room, police have arrested a man based on DNA taken from a rope used to bind the victim’s hands. Sean David Atkinson, 62, was arrested and charged with the second-degree murder of Thomas L. Klotz. He is currently in Mobile, Alabama, and is awaiting extradition to the East Baton Rouge Parish Prison.
ä See ARREST, page 7A STAFF FILE PHOTO By SOPHIA GERMER
Meta and Entergy have disputed a consultant’s report for the Public Service Commission that says ratepayers would be picking up the tab for a $1.8B plant primarily needed for Meta’s data center.
Measure comes after questions arise about Entergy’s plans BY ANDREA GALLO and SAM KARLIN Staff writers
Gov. Jeff Landry signed an executive order Thursday while flanked by Louisiana utility company executives saying that data center projects must have their benefits to residents “evaluated and balanced” against their use of electric generation, water and land. The “Ratepayer and Community Protection Framework for Large Load Investments” assigns the Louisiana Economic Development Office to ensure that future projects “adequately protect Louisiana’s resources, ratepayers, and communities,” according to the text of the order. LED should come up with the criteria for companies to protect ratepayers, contribute to local tax bases and more within the next 90 days, the order states. “These resources are vital to the welfare of our citizens and to the future of our economy, and that is why our approach demands thoughtful and responsible stewardship,” Landry said. The order comes on the heels of questions around Entergy’s plans to purchase a $1.8 billion power plant in Texas, which a consultant for the state’s Public Service Commission said is largely needed for Meta’s north Louisiana data center.
Governor vetoes over $12M in local projects About half of the funding was slated for N.O. area BY MEGHAN FRIEDMANN Staff writer
STAFF FILE PHOTO By JAVIER GALLEGOS
Gov. Jeff Landry signed an executive order on Thursday to ensure future project benefits are evaluated and balanced against their use of state resources. The gas-fired Cottonwood plant would cost average residential ratepayers $8 a month, according to records. Entergy and Meta have disputed that it’s needed for the data center. Landry last week expressed concerns about the plant in a social media post re-
sponding to coverage from The TimesPicayune | The Advocate. He said Entergy promised him Meta would not pass along costs to customers. “The PSC should not allow anyone to
ä See ORDER, page 4A
Gov. Jeff Landry used his veto power to cut over $12 million in state funding for local governments and community organizations in blue-leaning areas of the state, with roughly half the cuts affecting New Orleans. The cuts, which also impact Baton Rouge, Shreveport, Monroe, Lake Charles and Opelousas, touch everything from programs for at-risk youth and economic development initiatives to local law enforcement and educational initiatives. The governor also pared back the state’s capital outlay budget by millions more, though that money, allocated through House Bill 2, usually comes through state bonds and is often not guaranteed. New Orleans was also hard-hit by those vetoes.
ä See VETO, page 4A
Jail’s corporate structure at issue in inmate’s death lawsuit His widow has sued, claim- an attorney for the compado little more than stand, and sought permisThough they say the nuWidow says LaSalle could wave at an overhead surveil- sion to call an ambulance ing the death at LaSalle Cor- ny, recently argued before a merous companies connectsite’s jail operator is lance camera for help. for him. rectional Center in Olla in federal judge in Alexandria ed to the private jail look the But Anderson’s family April 2024 was preventable. that the records sought by same, are registered to the Over the prior 36 hours, responsible the 29-year-old had experi- claims the facility’s nurse More than two years after Anderson’s family don’t be- same address and have the
enced a series of at least six seizures, at times covering his bed in urine and his cell Staff writer in vomit, his family says. Sprawled on the concrete After Anderson’s fourth, floor of a jail cell in LaSalle guards found him on the Parish, Jaleen Anderson floor, seemingly unable to
BY PATRICK SLOAN-TURNER
WEATHER HIGH 93 LOW 76 PAGE 8B
declined, saying: “We don’t send people to the hospital for seizures.” Two hours later, Anderson — held in the Louisiana jail under contract with Harris County, Texas — was dead.
Anderson’s death, a legal battle over getting information surrounding it rages on. On the other side of that fight is Louisiana’s largest private jail operator, LaSalle Corrections. Greg Schafer,
long to the company named in the lawsuit. The attorneys for Anderson’s family say Schafer’s legal position highlights the company’s complicated corporate structure.
Business ......................3B Commentary ................7B Nation-World................2A Classified .....................7D Deaths .........................4B Opinion ........................6B Comics-Puzzles .....4D-6D Living............................1D Sports ..........................1C
same leadership, LaSalle’s attorney counters that the company is “not conceding that there’s similar ownership.”
ä See LAWSUIT, page 5A
101ST yEAR, NO. 361