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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
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$2.00X
Entergy puts purchase of power plant on hold Questions about cost, data center mount
BY SAM KARLIN Staff writer
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 Brandon Scardigli said in a statement that the company needs additional time to address “issues raised” by the Public Service Commission staff. The PSC regulates
ä See ENTERGY, page 7A
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 8A 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 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
N.O. officials weigh parcel fee proposal Moreno administration says fairness will come before revenue BY BEN MYERS
Wayne Miller, who raises show pigs in Pecan Island, says he is opposed to the SpaceX project. landowners nearby. At the same time, others in Vermilion, which has a population of about 60,000 people, are more skeptical. Around 5,000 people live in the remote area around Pecan Island where sources have told The Times-Picayune and The Advocate that SpaceX plans to build a launch site. For months, many in Vermillion have heard the rumors of a major project involving a space company, but there’s been little information shared so far from
ä See SPACEX, page 8A
Staff writer
After a consultant’s presentation to the Sewerage & Water Board on Tuesday raised new questions about fairness in an upcoming fee proposal, Mayor Helena Moreno’s administration reiterated that taxpaying property owners would not see any additional burden. No one from the administration attended the water board’s committee meeting on Tuesday, where officials with Raftelis Financial Consultants said rates for a new parcel fee would need to be set around the city’s revenue targets for drainage and road maintenance. That is contrary to the Moreno administration’s
ä See FEE, page 11A
As qualifying opens, spotlight on New Orleans judicial races BY JOHN SIMERMAN Staff writer
The qualifying period for fall elections opens Wednesday in New Orleans with a few questions swirling in the fallout of the Legislature’s explosive move this year
WEATHER HIGH 91 LOW 77 PAGE 8B
ELECTION
to eliminate several declaring that he won’t judgeships in the city. seek to unseat a fellow H H H H H H Will newly elected judge? Judge John Fuller, Which criminal court whose seat was one of judge will Judge Simthree eliminated from one Levine challenge if criminal court, run against Dis- she wants to remain on the bench? trict Attorney Jason Williams after Levine is the only judge with an
eliminated seat who remained undeclared heading into the threeday sign-up period for a ballot thick with judicial races. Prodded by Gov. Jeff Landry, the Legislature’s move on Orleans Parish courts also spelled cuts for two judges at the city’s Municipal and
Business ......................3B Commentary ................7B Nation-World................2A Classified .....................8D Deaths .........................4B Opinion ........................6B Comics-Puzzles .....4D-7D Living............................1D Sports ..........................1C
Traffic Court, though with much less drama. The judges losing their jobs — Robert Jones and Joe Landry — both age out of office this year regardless, under a constitutional
ä See QUALIFYING, page 10A
13TH yEAR, NO. 358