CAJUNS REPORT TO CAMP, SET TO BEGIN PRACTICE 1C THE
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W e d n e s d ay, au g u s t 5, 2026
‘IT WOULD BE LIFE-CHANGING’
Pecan Island residents react to potential SpaceX spaceport
$2.00X
Entergy puts purchase of power plant on hold Questions about cost, data center mount
BY SAM KARLIN Staff writer
we can adapt.” In interviews, parish officials have said they are enthusiastic about the opportunities SpaceX might bring to a remote section of Louisiana’s coast, as are some landowners nearby. At the same time, others in Ver-
Facing questions from investors and regulators, Entergy Louisiana has indefinitely postponed proceedings in its controversial plan to buy a Texas power plant for $1.8 billion, saying it is working on a plan to lessen the costs to residents. Entergy on Monday asked a judge to suspend the procedural schedule in the case, postponing a hearing that was scheduled for September. Entergy told the judge it needs additional time because of “complex and fact intensive issues in the case,” in which Entergy is asking for permission to buy the Cottonwood power plant from a private equity firm. Entergy spokesperson “They’re going Brandon Scardigli said in a to have to go statement that the company back to the needs additional time to address “issues raised” by the drawing board Public Service Commission and present a staff. The PSC regulates Endifferent case, tergy. would be my He also said Entergy is guess.” working with the PSC to “identify ways to lessen the MIKE FRANCIS, initial bill impacts of the proPublic Service posed Cottonwood acquisiCommission tion.” member It was not immediately clear what a reworked version of the deal would look like. But the move reflects mounting opposition to the acquisition, which has put Entergy at the center of a debate over whether data centers will raise costs for residents. A consultant hired by the Louisiana Public Service Commission, Entergy’s regulator, testified earlier this summer that the proposed acquisition would effectively mean residents would pay for energy that’s largely only needed because of Meta’s massive north Louisiana data center. After The Times-Picayune | The Advocate reported about the testimony, Gov. Jeff Landry issued an executive order demanding that data center developers pay for their own energy costs.
ä See SPACEX, page 7A
ä See ENTERGY, page 5A
STAFF PHOTOS By LESLIE WESTBROOK
Betty Cormier, who has worked for a decade at the Pecan Island Food Store, says she doesn’t yet know how a SpaceX spaceport might change life in the small community she has come to know well. BY ALEX LUBBEN and JOEL THOMPSON
Staff writers
Betty Cormier tended the counter Tuesday at the Pecan Island Food Store, a quiet storefront and gas station on La. 82 in the southern reaches of Vermillion Parish. Surrounded by marshland, wildlife preserves and hunting and fishing camps, it’s one of ä SpaceX the only places to get food, fuel and supplies for miles around. But she’s earnings heard that that may not be the case for call offers much longer. no hints of SpaceX, billionaire Elon Musk’s Louisiana commercial aerospace company, is in plans. PAGE 7A talks with the state of Louisiana over a 130,000-acre tract of land nearby that sources say the company wants for launching rockets. A spaceport would reshape this remote community on Louisiana’s southwestern coast, bringing potentially thousands of jobs but also construction, noise and other changes. Having heard little from local and state leaders, Cormier and some of her neighbors are wary. “Our store is not equipped to handle 1,500 extra people,” she said. “There’s a lot of concern about whether
Porn site says age verification regulations not working Louisiana leaders dismiss concerns
BY ALYSE PFEIL and MATT ALBRIGHT Staff writers
One of the world’s largest pornography sites sent a letter this week urging state officials across the country to reconsider age verification regulations, but it received an icy response from leaders in Louisiana, which has one such law. “These laws do not work and, as a result, have put your constituents’ children and adults’ personal data at risk,” says Pornhub’s letter, which is addressed to hundreds
ä See PORN, page 5A
WEATHER HIGH 91 LOW 75 PAGE 10C
Wayne Miller, who raises show pigs in Pecan Island, says he is opposed to the SpaceX project.
Iran, Oman working on deal to reopen strait two regional officials Officials say plan could environment, told The Associated Press. help wind down war They said negotiations are still
underway and that the final agreement could take a different form, with any deal linked to lifting the U.S. blockade on Iran’s ports. The Associated Press officials spoke on condition of anoCAIRO — Iran and the Gulf Arab nymity to discuss the sensitive nestate of Oman have made prog- gotiations unfolding behind closed doors. ress toward a deal to reONFLICT Any agreement formalopen the Strait of Hormuz, CO a potential breakthrough IN THE izing Iran’s control of the T that could help wind down MIIDDLE strait would mark a sigthe war in the Middle East, nificant strategic victory AST regional officials said Tues- EAST for Tehran. For that readay. son, the U.S. could seek to Under the emerging agreement, block the deal by refusing to lift ships would enter the Persian Gulf the blockade. The strait was an ASSOCIATEd PRESS PHOTO By RAZIEH POUdAT through an Iranian-controlled open international waterway beRegional officials say a deal between Oman and Iran to route and exit through a route fore the U.S. and Israel attacked controlled by Oman, with service Iran on Feb. 28. reopen the Strait of Hormuz could help bring an end to fees charged for providing secuthe war. ä See STRAIT, page 5A rity and preserving the maritime
BY SAMY MAGDY, AAMER MADHANI and MATTHEW LEE
Business ......................6A Commentary ................3B Nation-World................2A Classified .....................4B Living............................5C Opinion ........................2B Comics-Puzzles .....7C-9C Metro ...........................1B Sports ..........................1C
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