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Hegseth estimates war has cost $37.5B
Defense secretary seeks funding at fiery Senate hearing
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U.S. Rep. Cleo Fields, D-Baton Rouge, has announced he won’t see reelection after the Legislature redrew his district.
Fields won’t seek reelection to Congress Legislature redrew his district map to favor Republicans
BY MARK BALLARD Staff writer
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Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth testifies at a Senate Appropriations Committee hearing on Tuesday. BY LISA MASCARO
AP congressional correspondent WASHINGTON — Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth faced fiery questions and protests Tuesday over the U.S. war with Iran, which he estimated has cost $37.5 billion so far, as Republicans prepare a $95 billion GOP budget package to fund the military, along with other White House priorities. Hegseth provided the new estimate, up from earlier assessments, during a combative Senate Appropriations Committee hearing, which came days after the Pentagon announced that three more American service members have died in the conflict, bringing the death toll to 17, and that more than 100 have been injured since early July. Several times protesters interrupted his opening remarks.
Hegseth said the supplemental war funding is an “urgent, necessary” injection of money, and with President Donald Trump’s proposed $1.5 trillion defense budget, a generational investment in the military. “Without these funds, we face critical shortfalls,” Hegseth testified. But Sen. Patty Murray, the top Democrat on the panel, warned of “another forever war.” “This war is now spiraling out of control again,” Murray said in her opening remarks. Trump has said repeatedly that “a deal is near, and the war will be over soon,” she said. “But now, he’s asking for $70 billion more — and for us to just trust him it’ll all work out fine.” Gen. Dan Caine, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and Agriculture Secretary
ä See HEGSETH, page 6A
“This war is now spiraling out of control again.” SEN. PATTy MURRAy, D-Washington
WASHINGTON — U.S. Rep. Cleo Fields will not seek reelection to Congress after the Louisiana Legislature redrew his district into one that heavily favors Republicans. Instead, Fields, D-Baton Rouge, said in a news release Tuesday that he will “I will be run for the seat in the state Senate that he previously running to fill held. His successor to that the unexpired seat, Sen. Larry Selders, died term for the recently from a heart condistate Senate tion. in the 14th “After a great deal of prayer and reflection, I have District. I feel my decided not to seek reelec- calling to serve tion to Congress, in the 6th the people is District or any other district better put to use in Louisiana,” Fields said back home than in a statement Tuesday afternoon. “Instead, I will be here in D.C., running to fill the unexpired and I intend term for the state Senate in to answer that the 14th District. I feel my call.” calling to serve the people is better put to use back home REP. CLEO FIELDS than here in D.C., and I intend to answer that call.” Fields made his decision the day after the National Republican Congressional Committee added Louisiana’s 6th Congressional District to its list of 36 House seats held by Democratic representatives the GOP will target its resources to try to defeat.
ä See FIELDS, page 8A
Man accused of kidnapping woman tied to two other cases BY OLIVIA TEES Staff writer
A man arrested Monday in connection with allegedly holding a woman against her will is also a person of interest in the cases of two missing Baton Rouge women. Thomas Morris, 43, of St. Fran-
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cisville, has been an active person of interest in the case of Madison Renae Allen, who went missing in 2023, according to West Feliciana Parish Sheriff Brian Spillman. He said Morris is also linked to another missing woman but would not reveal her identity. Morris was arrested Monday
morning after deputies received a report he was holding a woman against her will. Spillman would not say what state the woman was from but that she was “a very, very long way from home.” The woman has no injuries and is in a safe place while law enforcement officials work to return her to her
family. Morris was booked into the West Feliciana Detention Center on counts of second-degree kidnapping and false imprisonment. Morris’ most recent arrest has prompted the Sheriff’s Office to reach out to the public, asking for any information relating to him
or the cases of missing women in which he is a person of interest. Morris and Allen has been living together for a period of time before she went missing one night from a home in Zachary. Her mother, Lynn Rollins, said
Business ......................3B Commentary ................7B Nation-World................2A Classified .....................7D Deaths .........................4B Opinion ........................6B Comics-Puzzles .....4D-6D Living............................1D Sports ..........................1C THE SOUTHERN UNIVERSITY ATHLETIC DEPARTMENT PRESENTS:
ä See CASES, page 8A
102ND yEAR, NO. 22
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