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S u n d ay, S e p t e m b e r 6, 2026
Gov. Jeff Landry and state leaders are betting big that SpaceX, Meta, Hyundai megaprojects will permanently cure the state’s long economic malaise
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CHANGING AN LOUII$IIANA’S RTU FORTUNES
BY STEPHANIE RIEGEL | Staff writer At the recent event announcing that Elon Musk’s SpaceX plans to build the world’s largest commercial spaceport in coastal Vermilion Parish, even Gov. Jeff Landry, who negotiated the $100 billion deal, seemed stunned by the magnitude of the whole thing. “I’ve struggled, really struggled to find the words,” Landry told more than 400 elected officials, lobbyists and business leaders gathered in an event space in Abbeville. “It is hard for people to wrap their head around.” Starbase Louisiana, as Musk has dubbed the project, is the largest single capital investment in the state’s history. It promises to bring thousands of jobs, potentially tens of billions in economic activity and a foothold in a growing industry, as SpaceX hopes to eventually launch as many as 1,000 rockets a year into orbit. And it’s just the latest of several megaprojects that Louisiana’s residents are grappling with. In July, social media giant Meta announced it will double the size of its data center in Richland Parish, a now $50 billion investment that promises 1,000 jobs and thousands more construction workers. In the Shreveport area, Amazon Web Services is building an $18 billion data center across three campuses. In Ascension Parish, Hyundai is forging ahead with an $8 billion steel mill. Along the coast, meanwhile, more than $75 billion is flowing toward terminals to export liquefied natural gas, or LNG. Landry and his economic development chief, Susan Bourgeois, have said the megaprojects, which total $250 billion since Landry took office in 2024, represent
ä See FORTUNES, page 4A
$2.50X
Child sex crime arrests surge in crackdown
AG’s task force means more stings, statewide cooperation BY PATRICK SLOAN-TURNER Staff writer
Louisiana is on track to more than double the number of arrests for child sex crimes it made two years ago. The dramatic increase — from 303 arrests in 2024 to a projected 717 this year — coincides with an expansion in the network behind those investigations. Every sheriff’s office in the state and several local police departments have now joined a task force organized by Attorney General Liz Murrill’s office, and leaders say that is allowing agencies to share information more quickly and more easily conduct investigations across parish lines. That partnership has become necessary, officers say, as the internet gives predators easy access to young potential victims. “When I was growing up, my mom would say, ‘Hey, don’t ride your bike by such and such’s house. He’s a sex offender,’” said Chris Masters, the Louisiana Bureau of Investigation agent who oversees the Internet Crimes Against Children task force. “You don’t have that now. There’s access to your children who are on their phone while they’re sitting on the couch next to you.”
ä See CRACKDOWN, page 8A
Trash to treasure: Lil Wayne lyric pages are on sale for $5M
STAFF PHOTO BY LESLIE WESTBROOK
Gov. Jeff Landry and his administration have changed laws and offered billions in tax incentives to lure major companies to Louisiana.
“That is what drives opportunity ... and hedges against the ebbs and flows of oil and gas, which is still our sweet spot.” SUSAN BOURGEOIS, Louisiana Economic Development secretary
Sheets of paper were pulled from garbage in 1999 BY KEITH SPERA Staff writer
During nearly 60 years of practicing law, Louis Koerner Jr. primarily served as a “hired gun” for other attorneys litigating personal injury claims. Maritime law is his specialty. Now 85, Koerner has acquired another, less traditional specialty: New Orleans rap star Lil Wayne. The Uptown attorney, whose musical tastes tend more toward traditional jazz and zydeco, represents a client who owns an exceedingly rare piece of hip-hop history: lyrics handwritten by Lil Wayne early in his career. How Koerner’s anonymous client — he’s identified in court filings as “undisclosed
ä See TREASURE, page 6A
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