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THE
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ADVOCATE
T H E A C A D I A N A A D V O C AT E.C O M
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F r i d ay, F e b r u a ry 27, 2026
Push is on to speed up Corps of Engineers work
$2.00X
UL board agrees to sell properties Proceeds would help close budget deficit
BY MEGAN WYATT
Staff writer
in St. Charles, St. John the Baptist and St. James parishes that is expected to cost $3.4 billion, including future levee elevations. The area lies outside the newly rebuilt protections surrounding the New Orleans area. Parts of LaPlace suffered devastating flooding from Lake Pontchartrain storm surge in both 2012’s Hurricane Isaac and 2021’s Hurricane Ida. The original cost estimate was $760 million, but the price has skyrocketed due to mitigation requirements, supply chain issues and inflation. The state must pay for 35% of the project, which is on track to
The University of Louisiana at Lafayette received board approval Thursday to sell five properties in an effort to close the remaining $12 million of a $50 million deficit that came to public light last year. Interim UL President Ramesh Kolluru, who is expected to be appointed Friday as the permanent president after being named the lone finalist for the position earlier this week, asked the UL system board during a Thursday meeting to approve the sale of five properties. They include: n A 600-acre experimental research farm in St. Martinville n A 50-acre ecology center near Carencro n A residential home near UL’s research park campus n A small, empty lot near the main campus n A fraternity house near UL’s sports and entertainment plaza The UL system board unanimously voted to approve the advertising and auctioning of the first four properties and the sale of the final property to the fraternity’s alumni association at the recommendation of the board’s facilities planning committee. There was no comment from board members or the public before the vote. The university will seek permission from the Louisiana Legislature’s House and Senate natural resources committees for the approval of the sale of each property, except for the fraternity house, before publicizing the sale and conducting a public auction. The appraised value of each property will establish the minimum bid. UL graduate student Maddy
ä See CORPS, page 5A
ä See PROPERTIES, page 5A
STAFF PHOTOS By CHRIS GRANGER
Secretary of the Army Dan Driscoll, right, and Assistant Secretary of the Army Adam Telle, back right, look at diagrams of the West Shore Lake Pontchartrain levee project during a visit to the work site on Thursday.
Initiative prompts high-level visit to Louisiana
BY MIKE SMITH Staff writer
A high-level delegation from Washington visited south Louisiana on Thursday as part of a new initiative aiming to speed up projects built by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, whose vast dredging and flood protection programs are vital for the state. Secretary of the Army Dan Driscoll and Assistant Secretary Adam Telle joined Gov. Jeff Landry and others at the site of a multibillion-dollar levee project in LaPlace to talk about the initiative. They pledged to cut red tape to address the Corps’ enormous backlog of projects na-
tionwide, but the initiative remains short on specifics so far, and there are questions over the amount time frames can be reduced without violating laws, regulations and procedures. The plans will be closely watched here, with the Corps’ New Orleans district home to the agency’s biggest civil works and dredging programs due to Louisiana’s strategic — but vulnerable — location along the Gulf Coast and the Mississippi River, one of the world’s most important shipping lanes. The delegation gathered amid the dirt and heavy equipment being used to build the West Shore Lake Pontchartrain levee system, a project to protect 60,000 people
‘GATOR is not going to grow’
First Horizon sues over recruiting by M C Bank
recruiting practices, marking the Former IberiaBank opening salvo of a new battle in the south Louisiana banking industry. leader calls Daryl Byrd built IberiaBank allegations unfounded into a regional powerhouse before
Top lawmaker rejects Landry’s bid to expand vouchers
BY PATRICK WALL State Senate President Cameron Henry said Wednesday that he will not support Gov. Jeff Landry’s recent request to double funding for LA GATOR, the voucher program that gives parents tax dollars to pay for private school tuition and other expenses, potentially sidelining the proposed
ä See GATOR, page 5A
WEATHER HIGH 82 LOW 64 PAGE 14C
merging it into Memphis-based First Horizon, and announced late last year that he had created a company with several of his forStaff writers mer executives to acquire Morgan First Horizon Bank, the regional City-based M C Bank and Trust. Now, his company is moving lender that arrived in Louisiana six years ago by purchasing Ibe- quickly to build a new team, and riaBank, has filed suit against the that’s brought him into conflict newly formed company of its New ä See SUES, page 4A Orleans-based former chair over
BY STEPHANIE RIEGEL and RICH COLLINS
Staff writer
STAFF FILE PHOTO By JAVIER GALLEGOS
Louisiana state Senate President Cameron Henry said he wants to keep funding for LA GATOR at its current level — rejecting Gov. Jeff Landry’s push to double funding for the private school voucher program.
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101ST yEAR, NO. 242