LSU, TULANE TO RENEW FOOTBALL RIVALRY IN 2030 1C
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S at u r d ay, J u ly 18, 2026
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Officials seek to block subpoenas
Special prosecutor calls AG’s demand for records a ‘retaliatory campaign’ BY MATT BRUCE and JOHN SIMERMAN
Liz Murrill on public intimidation charges. White and Williams each filed Staff writers motions to quash Murrill’s subpoeOrleans Parish District Attorney nas against them for records and Jason Williams and special pros- communications. In doing so, White accused the ecutor Laurie White each asked a judge Friday to block subpoenas attorney general and her legal that aim to expose misconduct or team of a “retaliatory campaign leaks in the grand jury process to harass and intimidate” her and that led to this month’s indictment Williams. In Williams’ motion, his first of Louisiana Attorney General
assistant, Ned McGowan, wrote that the District Attorney’s Office recused himself from the grand jury inquiry on June 1. Murrill’s White subpoena is “facially defective and contrary to law,” he wrote. The subpoena sought the records
too fast, Murrill failed to pay the required fees and the request violates a Louisiana Supreme Court stay in the case, McGowan argued. McGowan wrote that Murrill’s subpoena also seeks “almost every communication in any form with everyone ‘who was not an empaneled member of the grand jury.’” He wrote that the subpoena to Williams impugns victim rights law as well as restrictions on com-
Restaurants, grocers in La. respond to parasitic outbreak
pelling testimony from lawyers. Robert Chaisson, the ad hoc judge appointed by the Louisiana Supreme Court to preside over Murrill’s criminal case, on Tuesday signed the subpoenas demanding records that Murrill’s defense attorney, Laura Cannizzaro Rodrigue, sought against White and Williams. Chaisson set a deadline of 5 p.m. Friday for their responses. White decried the subpoena as
ä See SUBPOENAS, page 4A
S&WB agrees to drop more Decatur barriers
Majority of remaining fencing to be removed BY SOPHIE KASAKOVE Staff writer
Louisiana of the parasitic infection have more than doubled in one week to 55, including five hospitalizations, underscoring the many questions that still remain about other potential sources of the outbreak. Reports on the parasite have not gone unnoticed. At Canseco’s, which owns six supermarkets in the New Orleans region, produce sales have slipped slightly in
The Sewerage & Water Board will remove the majority of remaining fencing and install pedestrian crossings on lower Decatur Street, in a win for French Quarter business owners who say that construction work there has thrown their businesses into turmoil. The agreement, approved by Orleans Parish Civil District Court Judge Sidney Cates in a consent judgment Friday, settles the first set of demands in a June lawsuit filed by business owners, who also plan to seek damages from the utility. The judgment comes as the S&WB has faced heightened scrutiny over the project in recent weeks, with Gov. Jeff Landry last week calling on state lawmakers to request a state audit of the water main transmission replacement project. Bob Ellis, an attorney for the business owners, said that the agreement is a “win all the way around.” The S&WB agreed to remove barricades from all areas where there is no active construction — about two-thirds of the street, Ellis said. The utility also agreed to install midblock pedestrian
ä See OUTBREAK, page 4A
ä See DECATUR, page 4A
STAFF PHOTO By DAVID GRUNFELD
Packages of lettuce and salad greens fill a refrigerated display at a grocery store. Lettuce sold across the United States is facing increased scrutiny as federal and state officials investigate whether iceberg lettuce linked to a multistate cyclospora outbreak reached retailers or other businesses beyond Taco Bell restaurants.
they do have is safe. Louisiana was not among the states Cyclospora linked to the“Ilettuce heard about it on the ‘Today’ show identified by the U.S. Centers for Disease like everybody else, so I stopped order- Control and Prevention. contaminated lettuce ing Still, the number of reported cases in it and started buying heads of iceberg
BY STEPHANIE RIEGEL Staff writer
The food-borne parasitic outbreak that can cause extreme diarrhea and has affected several U.S. states, including Louisiana, is creating headaches for owners of local restaurants and supermarkets. They’ve stopped buying some bagged shredded lettuce, which has been linked to the outbreak, and scrambled to ensure
lettuce instead,” said Cindy Mandina, a fourth-generation owner of Mandina’s, a Mid-City establishment known for its gumbo, pastas and fried shrimp and oyster loaf. “Now, I’m shredding it myself, old school.” The outbreak of the cyclospora parasite, as the bug is called, has been linked to Taco Bell locations in five states that served bagged shredded lettuce from one of the country’s largest agricultural producers, Taylor Farms.
‘Never stop telling their stories’ BR honors fallen officers on anniversary of ambush BY BLAKE LESCHBER Staff writer
Officer Matthew Gerald’s mother Patricia wears a homemade necklace with his photo on it. Her sister made one for all of the family members of the four law enforcement officers who died in the July 17, 2016, ambush. “People will ask, ‘Who is that
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you have around your neck?’” Patricia Gerald said. “Then I get to tell a magical story, especially in July. … It’s just a way to keep their memory alive.” This is one of many ways that the Baton Rouge community honored the 10th anniversary of a shooting that took the lives of four law enforcement officers. On July 17, 2016, six officers were shot in an ambush at a convenience store off Airline Highway, about a mile from the Baton Rouge Police Department headquarters. Three of them — Cpl. Montrell Jackson, Officer Matthew
Gerald and sheriff’s Deputy Brad Garafola — died that day. Almost six years later, sheriff’s Sgt. Nick Tullier succumbed to his wounds. At 8 a.m. Friday, community members walked from the police headquarters to the Benny’s BQuik convenience store, honoring the exact time stamp — 8:40 a.m. — when the ambush occurred. Later, at 3 p.m., about 300 law enforcement officers, family members and community members gathered at a memorial at the police headquarters to remember
ä See STORIES, page 4A
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Riders with the Gulf Coast Brotherhood pass under an American flag Friday as part of a memorial service to honor four Baton Rouge law enforcement officers who died due to a 2016 ambush. STAFF PHOTO By MICHAEL JOHNSON
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