(Whole in Bag) Boneless
$ 49
METAIRIE 504-885-5565 RIVER RIDGE 504-737-8146 GARDEN DISTRICT 504-262-6017 CHALMETTE 504-262-0750 BELLE CHASSE 504-393-1012
LB.
Chicken Thighs
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M
W
T
F
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AUG. 21-24, 2026 ONLY! WHILE SUPPLIES LAST! NO RAIN CHECKS.
PRICES VALID 8/21/26 - 8/24/26
1
$ 49
Family Pack! Center Cut Pork Chops - $1.99 lb
7.3-13.5 oz. Selected New York Bakery
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Family Pack! Boneless Sanderson Farms Frozen
Garlic or Cheese Bread
5
2/$
BREAUXMART
Whole Pork Loins
BONUS DEALS!
4 1 SALE DAY
LB.
10 ct. Pack Lesser Evil Pink or Gold Himalayan
Popcorn
4
$ 99
12 oz. (41-50ct.) Louisiana Select
5 ct. 7.25 oz. Kraft
Peeled Shrimp
4
$ 49
Macaroni& Cheese Dinners
7
2/$
Just $0.70/ box!
16 oz. Selected
9.5-11oz. Bags Selected
Pace Salsa or Picante Sauce
On the Border Tortilla Chips
5
5
2/$
2/$
SAINTS DEALING WITH FALLOUT FROM WR TYSON’S INJURY 1C
N O L A.C O M
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W e d n e s d ay, au g u s t 19, 2026
$2.00X
La. child welfare agency touts progress Lawmakers express skepticism at committee meeting
BY MEGHAN FRIEDMANN Staff writer
Leaders for the Louisiana Department of Children & Family Services say they have made strides in alleviating the heavy caseloads for Child Protective Ser-
vices staff that have long plagued the agency, all but eliminating backlogs in every region outside of Baton Rouge. But some lawmakers expressed skepticism about those assertions when they spoke with DCFS officials at the State Capitol on Mon-
day, during a meeting of the Senate Select Committee on Women and Children that lasted eight hours. State Sen. Patrick McMath, RCovington, questioned how the agency could have reduced caseloads when it appeared to be losing staff. Lawmakers also raised
concerns about agency’s decision to reassign around 100 state office staff to positions in the field, and about a policy that changed how foster parents are paid. In recent years, DCFS has faced intense scrutiny over its handling of child deaths related to abuse and neglect. And a 2025 annual report from Kathleen Stewart Richey, the state’s child ombuds-
NOPD steps up patrols at Plaza Tower after death
man, found that the agency had unnecessarily separated a pair of siblings in foster care, communicated poorly with families and left children in psychiatric care after they were discharged — sometimes for months. Those findings surfaced during the recent legislative session,
ä See PROGRESS, page 9A
‘Slammer’ testifies about mentor’s murder U.S. prosecutors’ star witness takes stand
BY JAMES FINN Staff writer
The building is owned by a trust of the late Joe Jaeger, the real estate developer who died two years ago. Attorney Randy Waesche, who serves as the trustee, declined to comment. The teenager, identified Tuesday as Belle Chasse High School senior Jacque St. Ann, broke into the fenced-off building with friends
Ryan “Red” Harris heard it first from injury attorney Vanessa Motta, then from his own mother through her friend. Cornelius Garrison III, the driver behind the wheel in a bevy of staged wrecks involving Harris’ family members, was cooperating in a federal investigation. “She was mad,” Harris said Tuesday of his mother, Selita Harris, as he testified on the witness stand in a federal courtroom. “She was pissed off about it because he brung up our name.” A month later, Harris said Motta called him to say Garrison had just been indicted by a federal grand jury, confirming their fears. They arranged a meeting for the next day at Motta’s office with her fiancé, a tall former attorney named Sean Alfortish accused in the indictment, though not by name, of working with Motta to file scores of bogus claims from staged 18-wheeler accidents. Alfortish was pacing the room. He seemed angry, too. “They was pretty much saying they want to kill him, they want him dead,” Harris told a Justice Department trial attorney, J. Ryan McLaren. “He was pissed off. He was like he had had enough and was ready to do something about it ASAP.” Harris took the stand Tuesday as the U.S. Justice Department’s star witness in the second blockbuster trial this year over what prosecutors say was a yearslong scheme by Alfortish, Motta and “slammers” — including Garrison and Harris — to defraud insurers and trucking companies. A separate jury convicted Motta in March for her
ä See TOWER, page 9A
ä See TESTIFIES, page 6A
Layers of fencing surround the vacant Plaza Tower in downtown New Orleans on Tuesday.
STAFF PHOTO By SOPHIA GERMER
responsibility of the building ownOwners must further secure building, city says er.”
BY SOPHIE KASAKOVE Staff writer
Mayor Helena Moreno’s administration said police are stepping up patrols this week around the abandoned Plaza Tower on the edge of the Warehouse District after a 17-yearold student fell to his death on the site. But it is the property owner’s responsibility to secure the 45-story
building that’s been the site of at least two other incidents in recent years. “The city is holding the property owner accountable to ensure that the building remains safe and secure,” communications director Jonah Gilmore said in a statement Monday. He said that police will temporarily increase patrols in the area, but that under city law “it is ultimately the
Fried Chicken Fest expands to three days, adds national music acts BY KEITH SPERA Staff writer
For its 10th anniversary in 2026, the National Fried Chicken Festival on the New Orleans lakefront will serve up more than crispy battered wings, legs, breasts and thighs. Organizers announced Tuesday that the upcoming festival, ex-
WEATHER HIGH 95 LOW 79 PAGE 8B
panded to three days at the LSU New Orleans’ festival grounds, will feature a beefed-up music roster topped by an array of national acts. Scheduled performers at the festival Oct. 2-4 include rappers Nelly, 2 Chainz and the Ying Yang Twins, electronic dance music stars Dillon Francis and A-Trak, and early 2000s contemporary
R&B hitmaker Keri Hilson. The lineup also features Baton Rouge rapper Webbie and a reprise of New Orleans bounce queen Big Freedia’s collaboration with the Louisiana Philharmonic Orchestra. A slew of New Orleans acts, including Flow Tribe, Shamarr
Festivalgoers dance to the music at the National Fried Chicken Festival at the lakefront in New Orleans in 2024. STAFF FILE PHOTO
ä See FEST, page 6A
Business ......................3B Commentary ................7B Nation-World................2A Classified .....................8D Deaths .........................4B Opinion ........................6B Comics-Puzzles .....4D-7D Living............................1D Sports ..........................1C
14TH yEAR, NO. 7