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T u e s d ay, J u ly 14, 2026
Landry touts massive Meta facility expansion Richland Parish AI data center more than doubling
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More arrests not expected in BR mall shooting ‘To the best of our knowledge, he was the lone shooter’
BY OLIVIA TEES Staff writer
The Baton Rouge police chief said law enforcement is not looking to arrest anyone else in connection with the mass shooting in April at the Mall of Louisiana that killed one and injured five others. At the Press Club of Baton Rouge meeting Monday afternoon, Chief T.J. Morse confirmed that Markel Lee, 17, was a “lone shooter.” “As of right now, we cannot put a gun in anyone else’s hand other than the person that we have already arrested,” he said. “To the best of our knowledge, he was the lone shooter, and he’s the one that’s going to be facing the consequences for that shooting.” Lee was arrested April 24 and booked into the East Baton Rouge Parish Prison on counts of firstdegree murder, attempted first-degree murder and illegal use of a weapon. He is being held without bail and will have a bond review on Aug. 20. At 1:22 p.m. April 23, gunfire rang out at the Mall of Louisiana in Baton Rouge when an argument between two groups of people in the food court escalated into violence, police said. High school senior Martha Odom, 17, of
ä See SHOOTING, page 3A
STAFF PHOTOS By MICHAEL JOHNSON
Dina Powell McCormick, president and vice chair at Meta, talks about Meta’s commitment to Richland Parish and Louisiana on Monday. BY STEPHANIE RIEGEL and ALYSE PFEIL Staff writers
Gov. Jeff Landry and other Louisiana leaders on Monday cheered the announcement that Facebook parent Meta is more than doubling the size of its mammoth Hyperion data center in Richland Parish, as the scale of the investment — and what it could mean for the state — came into greater focus. At a news conference hours after the tech giant released details of its planned expansion, Landry, who has aggressively courted new industrial development in the state, championed it as a moment that “Louisiana has been waiting for.” “We’re building a foundation for the next generation of American prosperity,” he said during a presentation that included remarks from Meta executives and some Richland Parish leaders who welcomed the expansion. Meta will now spend $50 billion on Hyperion, up from $10 billion just 18 months ago. Its footprint has more than doubled to roughly 5 square
eventually be created, even as concerns remain about power, water usage and the return on the state’s investments via tax breaks. Hyperion will be one of the first 5-gigawatt data centers in the U.S., and only a handful of others are in the planning stages or under construction. Oracle and OpenAI are building a more expensive data center in the desert of New Mexico with a $165 billion price tag, but it’s roughly the same size as Hyperion and, for now at least, is a planned 2.5-gigawatt facility. Since the project broke ground in January 2025, it has fueled a boom Gov. Jeff Landry discusses the in Richland Parish, a tiny rural impact on the state’s economy community of 20,000 full-time resiMonday after announcing Meta’s dents. Richland Parish Assessor Lee plans to expand its Richland Parish Brown has seen it in property tax collections, which he estimates will data center. be up by 30% overall by years end miles. And its computing power has compared with 2025, rising to $28 doubled, making it one of the fastest, million or so from $22 million. most sophisticated and power hun“You always want more taxpayers, not people paying more taxes,” he gry data centers planned to date. The project also will take longer said in an interview Monday. “This to build and come online, meaning gives us more taxpayers.” more workers will move into the ä See META, page 3A area and more permanent jobs will
U.S. begins new Iran strikes Trump says ships will be charged to use the Strait of Hormuz
BY JON GAMBRELL, KONSTANTIN TOROPIN and WILL WEISSERT Associated Press
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — The U.S. announced a new round of strikes on Iran on Monday, hours after President Donald Trump said Washington is “reinstating” a blockade on Iran in the Strait of Hormuz and, in a seeming policy reversal, will charge other ships for safe passage. All of that comes as Iran has insisted it actually controls the critical waterway, and as the new exchange of fire threatened a return to all-out war. U.S. Central Command announced on social media that the U.S. military had begun another round of strikes against Iran. “These strikes will continue imposing a heavy cost on Iranian forces and degrade their ability to
ä See STRIKES, page 3A
24 hours in a metabolic chamber
a greeting from Christian Ro- ment you could ever want,” RodriVolunteers participate driguez, an affable postdoctoral guez said. fellow. The floor resemPerhaps the most striking feain study on obesity research bles a small inpatient unit, with tures are its four “metabolic chamand burning calories bedrooms attended by registered bers” — sealed, climate-controlled
BY AIDAN McCAHILL Staff writer
For those seeking a no-frills, reclusive staycation in Baton Rouge, the second floor of the Pennington Biomedical Clinical Research Building offers a few unusual options. The stay is free; the only catch is unusually strict rules. Check-in begins at 6:45 a.m. with
WEATHER HIGH 82 LOW 74 PAGE 6A
nurses, dietitians and researchers. But there are no sick patients. Instead, those staying are paid volunteers in some of the world’s most advanced research on obesity and nutrition. With an operating budget just shy of $100 million, Pennington probes fundamental questions about human health and metabolism. “Pennington is strictly this place set up to do the coolest studies you can, because you have all the equip-
rooms that double as sparse bedrooms. Costing upward of $1 million each, they let scientists track, in near-real time, how many calories a person burns while eating, sleeping or exercising. A few brave volunteers stay in the chambers for several days at a time and can be paid thousands of dollars, depending on the nature and duration of the rest of the
STAFF PHOTO By JAVIER GALLEGOS
Reporter Aidan McCahill works on his laptop while inside a metabolic ä See CHAMBER, page 4A chamber at Pennington Biomedical.
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102ND yEAR, NO. 14