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S at u r d ay, au g u S t 22, 2026
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Race for 6th District wide-open
Fields not seeking reelection after redistricting BY TYLER BRIDGES Staff writer
Two years after his election, U.S. Rep. Cleo Fields chose not to run again this year for a simple reason. Republican state legislators redrew his 6th District’s boundaries in May, and Fields, one of the
state’s best-known Democrats, didn’t think he could win a congressional district that remains anchored in Baton Rouge but now strongly favors a Republican. That has not stopped three Democrats from running for the seat. They are Chauna Banks, who served 12 years on the East Ba-
ton Rouge Parish Metro Council; Pat Forbes, who spent 20 years in highlevel state government positions for three governors; and Lindsay GarFields cia, a former social studies teacher in New Orleans who obtained a law degree from Southern University
last year. The three are facing an uphill battle in an open primary that includes state Sen. Rick Edmonds, R-Baton Rouge; state Sen. Blake Miguez, R-Erath; and Larry Davis III, an elected member of the Livingston Parish Republican Parish Executive Committee. The election will be an open primary on Nov. 3 in which the top two finishers, regardless of party,
will advance to a runoff in December. The runoff is likely to pit the top Republican and Democrat vote-getters in the primary. The six House elections were supposed to take place in May and June, but Gov. Jeff Landry canceled them after the U.S. Supreme Court issued a ruling that invalidated the existing congres-
ä See 6TH DISTRICT, page 5A
National Guard to withdraw from N.O. City officials confirm soldiers will roll out soon
BY MISSY WILKINSON, RICH COLLINS and WILLIE SWETT Staff writers
STAFF FILE PHOTO By LESLIE WESTBROOK
Students board their bus in October 2022 at Lafayette High School in Lafayette. The start of the 2026-27 school year saw Lafayette Parish putting the district’s new tracking application to the test as officials work through crowding and delays.
It’s ‘like a big puzzle’
Officials, parents deal with crowding, routing issues as buses roll in Lafayette BY JOANNA BROWN
dates, buses are at quarter capacity the first week, and half capacity the second week. Around the third week issues come More than 20,000 Lafayette Parish stu- out and we’re able to quickly spot them,” dents are riding school buses this year, Cloteaux said. During the first and second weeks of putting the district’s transportation system to the test as officials work through early school, parents have reported crowding issues with crowding, delays and a new on some routes, delayed arrivals and techtracking app. nical issues with using My Ride K-12 — a Lafayette Parish schools welcomed new app used by LPSS this year that allows 28,000 students for the 2026-27 school year parents and students to view real-time bus last week, with 242 buses taking to the road tracking and see when individual students across the district. get on and off the bus. The number of bus riders fluctuates Principals have until Aug. 28 to distribute throughout the year, but especially so at special ID tags for students to scan when the beginning, when buses start to reach they enter and exit their bus, which feeds typical use around the third week of the the data to My Ride. year, according to transportation operaRandi Edwards, whose son is a freshman at Lafayette High School this year, said tions manager Ross Cloteaux. “Parents don’t put kids on the bus at that they missed the bus on his first day the start of school — with staggered start — it arrived and left his stop 10 minutes
Staff writer
earlier than the app reported. “We got there a lot earlier the next day,” she said. “There’s always problems at the start, but I think the app will be a great benefit once it’s all worked out.” LPSS communications director Tracy Wirtz said it’s important for parents to go to their child’s school and tag them as a bus rider if they are using the system. When students get on buses other than the one assigned — a problem that can arise when students use alternate routes to travel to satellite sites for magnet academies, or simply want to jump on a bus that might get to their stop faster — it causes unpredictable overcrowding, she said. “We’re not allowed to deny anyone access to transport, but if students are jumping on pell-mell it causes problems,” said Wirtz.
ä See BUSES, page 5A
The Louisiana National Guard will leave New Orleans starting next week, ending a nearly eight-month deployment that featured federally funded soldiers on patrol in downtown areas as part of an effort by state and city leaders to prevent crime. City Hall spokesperson Jonah Gilmore confirmed Friday that the troops’ official orders end Monday and that they would begin rolling out Aug. 31. Louisiana National Guard director of public affairs Lt. Col. Noel Collins said more information would be available next week. “We are incredibly grateful to the men and women of the Louisiana National Guard,” Mayor Helena Moreno said in a Friday statement. “While this deployment is ending, our partnership is not. The guard has always been an integral part of major events like Mardi Gras, working alongside our public safety agencies to keep our city safe.” The National Guard arrived on a federally funded deployment in late December after President Donald Trump approved a request from Gov. Jeff Landry to send hundreds of troops to the city to tamp down crime and assist with security for major events, including New Year’s Eve, the Sugar Bowl and Mardi Gras. Before that, Landry in September 2025 requested federal support to activate up to 1,000 Louisiana National Guard troops statewide. Though they were initially scheduled to remain through February, the operation was later extended through August. In a statement on Friday afternoon, Landry credited his administration
ä See GUARD, page 5A
La. federal judge holds ICE official in contempt in rare rebuke
mounting tensions between the gally and earned asylum but was Ruling stems from repeated attempts to deport Ethiopian man judiciary and President Donald convicted of child sexual abuse.
BY JAMES FINN
orders as it repeatedly sought the man’s deportation after his release Staff writer from immigration detention at the A Louisiana-based federal judge Louisiana State Penitentiary at Anheld a senior U.S. Immigration gola. and Customs Enforcement official Federal officials were ordered to in contempt Wednesday, finding pay Ibrahim Mohammed, 43, attorthe agency violated an Ethiopian neys’ fees stemming from his most detainee’s rights and defied court recent arrest by ICE on July 28, as
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well $180 for “compensatory damages,” according to court records. The order from U.S. District Judge John W. deGravelles, which applies to an ICE field office director in Mohammed’s home state of Maryland, marks a rare case of a judge holding the federal government in contempt — even amid
Trump’s administration’s immigration crackdown. DeGravelles has accused federal officials of violating due process laws while trying to deport Mohammed, whom ICE wants to send to a “third country” because he has shown he could be tortured in his native Ethiopia. Mohammed entered the U.S. le-
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He was released under GPS monitoring from the “Camp 57” immigration lockup at Angola on a February order from deGravelles. The judge found ICE was letting him languish there without plans to deport him. Mohammed was rearrested two
ä See CONTEMPT, page 5A
102ND yEAR, NO. 53