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M o n d ay, au g u s t 3, 2026
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SUCCESS
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LAFAYETTE
Downtown redevelopment plan moving forward Veto shows need for new approach, DDA head says
BY ADAM DAIGLE
Acadiana business editor
STAFF PHOTOS By SOPHIA GERMER
Scientist Solomon David holds a garfish after taking a fin clipping in Wilkinson County, Miss., on Thursday. The restoration efforts at Loch Leven, Miss., led by the Nature Conservancy, supports the growth of alligator gar populations and demonstrates the importance of floodplain habitats in the ecosystem’s health.
Alligator gar, once called ‘trash fish,’ now signal a healthy ecosystem on the Mississippi River BY ALEX LUBBEN
Staff writer
LOCH LEVEN, Miss. — A cast net spread out like a spiderweb over murky waters, hung for a moment and dropped. Charles Vaughan hauled it in and found what he’d traveled 1,000 miles for: a baby fish. The alligator gar was already more than a foot long at about 2 months old, armored in hard scales with a pointed snout full of sharp teeth. The species can live for a century and grow to more than 7 feet long. “They’ve got super fast growth rates,” said Solomon David, a professor of aquatic ecology at the University of Minnesota who calls himself “the gar guy.” Under the right conditions, these fish can grow to over 2 feet long within a year. “The right conditions are basically like here,” David said. The alligator gar is what a team of researchers — Vaughan and David, along with Gabby Gonzales and
WEATHER HIGH 94 LOW 75 PAGE 10C
A downtown redevelopment plan will still happen despite the issue getting vetoed by Lafayette Mayor-President Monique Boulet, said Downtown Development Authority CEO Kevin Blanchard. Speaking at a Wednesday event of downtown stakeholders and others, Blanchard said he initially sought to request City Council members vote to override the veto but then backed off. Now, almost four months later, he said the matter could use a different Blanchard approach. In the meantime, private investors have come on board to support what was the $1 million Downtown-Urban Core Redevelopment Plan that focused on putting underutilized spaces back into commerce, parking, parks in the downtown area, transportation and mobility. “The fact that there was a veto means that I did not do my job,” he said. “I didn’t have the right conversations (and) as many conversations as I needed to. The bottom line is you have to convince people, and there’s no shortcut for that.” That council initially voted 4-1 to fund half the initiative, but Boulet vetoed it because it lacked legal review and granted broad authority to the DDA without Lafayette Consolidated Government oversight.
ä See DOWNTOWN, page 4A
Israel says it has serious concerns with Hamas disarmament Trump announces U.S.-brokered ceasefire agreement BY SAM MEDNICK Associated Press
behind an oxbow lake — Lake Mary, which curves in a horseshoe around the property. The river kept flooding this land until the 19th century, when a levee was built in a ring around it so it could be farmed for cotton.
TEL AVIV, Israel — Israel has shared “serious security concerns” with the White House regarding the proposed disarmament deal with Hamas, an Israeli official said as Israeli strikes overnight and into Sunday evening killed at least 17 people, including children, in Gaza. The remarks by Doron Spiel- CO ONFLICT man, spokesperson for Israeli IN T THE Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office, were some of MIIDDLE AST the first public comments since EAST President Donald Trump announced the agreement. Spielman told The Associated Press that Israel’s intelligence assessment is that Hamas remains committed to rebuilding its military rather than genuinely demilitarizing. He said the Israeli military would not withdraw from Gaza — where it controls more than 60% of the territory — before Hamas disarms. “Our assessment is that if we redeploy before
ä See SUCCESS, page 4A
ä See CONCERNS, page 4A
The Narrows and the Mississippi River are seen in Wilkinson County, Miss., as scientist Solomon David and his team of students collect gar on Thursday. Luxi Feyereisen, all with the University of Minnesota system — spent a hot morning in July wading through the shallow waters at Loch Leven to find. And they found one, a sign that a restoration effort here is working. At Loch Leven, a 6,000acre former farm sur-
rounded by a levee built before the Civil War, the Nature Conservancy led a project to reconnect the waters of the Mississippi River with part of its natural floodplain, or the land that the river once flooded. Centuries ago, the river ran through here. In 1776, it cut off the bend, leaving
Classified .....................4B Deaths .........................4B Nation-World................2A Comics-Puzzles .....7C-9C Living............................5C Opinion ........................2B Commentary ................3B Metro ...........................1B Sports ..........................1C
102ND yEAR, NO. 34