CON NFLICT IN THE MIDDLE EAST: IRAN KEEPS UP ATTACKS ON NEIGHBORS 2A THE
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W e d n e s d ay, M a r c h 18, 2026
WARM WELCOME Louisiana National Guardsmen return after yearlong deployment
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2025 federal shutdown costly for crawfish plants Visa applications for many didn’t get approved, creating a shortage of workers
BY ALYSE PFEIL Staff writer
STAFF PHOTOS By BRAD KEMP
Chief Warrant Officer 2 Zack Soileau is greeted by daughters Evelyn and Adeline and his wife, Tabatha, on Tuesday.
Louisiana National Guardsmen from the 256th Infantry Brigade Combat Team and the 156th Infantry Regiment returned to Lafayette Tuesday after a yearlong deployment overseas. Approximately 1,000 Louisiana National Guard soldiers are currently deployed overseas, split between U.S. Africa Command, U.S. Central Command and U.S. European Command, according to spokesperson Lt. Col. Noel Collins. The group that returned Tuesday had been deployed in Kosovo. More photos, 1B.
Family members greet Louisiana National Guardsmen returning from their deployment to Kosovo on Tuesday.
Author says book is final word on Long assassination
U.S. SENATE
Letlow ducking debate with GOP opponents Cassidy, Fleming ready to square off on TV
BY ROBIN MILLER Staff writer
BY TYLER BRIDGES Staff writer
STAFF PHOTO By JOHN BALLANCE
Jack B. McGuire signs a copy of ‘Killing the Kingfish’ for Patricia Ricci on ä See BOOK, page 8A Monday.
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ä See SHUTDOWN, page 6A
ELECTION 2026
McGuire believes his decades of research led to definitive answer Jack B. McGuire’s goal for his new book, “Killing the Kingfish,” is to be the final word on the assassination of Huey P. Long. But is it? “I believe it will be,” the Mandeville author said at a book release talk and signing Monday at the Louisiana State Archives. “But that won’t stop other people from writing about it. They’re writing things about it on the internet right now.” Still, McGuire said he believes his six decades of research, which took him down every conspiracy theory path, has led to a book with the definitive
Last fall, Don Benoit had been making plans to hire 80 seasonal migrant laborers to work at his crawfish processing plant during the upcoming spring season, and he was applying for guestworker visas just like he had for the past eight years. But the longest federal government shutdown in U.S. history would soon throw his plans — and his business — into disarray. It’s now March, and Benoit, “The problem who owns D & T Crawfish in Abbeville, doesn’t have any is bigger than migrant workers at his plant us. We just to peel and boil crawfish and are feeling prepare tail meat to sell at it because grocery stores. He just has it’s creeping his small, year-round crew of about 30 local employees, into our local which can’t process near the economy now.” volume the business typiDANIELLE TOUPS cally does. “You lose a whole season,” yOUNG, attorney and the ability to process who specializes in about 2 million pounds of temporary work visas crawfish, Benoit said. The government shutdown, which started Oct. 1 and ended Nov. 12, created delays in the H-2B temporary work visa program right as Louisiana crawfish processors were readying their applications. And, at the end of January, when the federal government finally announced it was making thousands of extra visas available as in years past, it did so with new requirements. Only paperwork listing worker start dates in January and beyond would be considered for visas, leaving out a whole group of businesses that had prepared applications seeking laborers to begin work in November and December. “We were in a panic,” said Danielle Toups Young, Benoit’s attorney, who owns a law practice in Eunice and specializes in temporary work visas.
U.S. Rep. Julia Letlow has continued to duck calls for TV debates with her main Republican opponents, U.S. Sen. Bill Cassidy and state Treasurer John Fleming, as she campaigns to be Louisiana’s next senator. On March 6, Cassidy challenged Letlow to debate him three times in advance of the May 16 Republican primary. Letlow has countered by offering to
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participate in a debate only on the program of conservative radio talk host Moon Griffon, who regularly calls Cassidy “Psycho Bill.” Cassidy has sought to up the ante on Letlow by taunting her daily. Tuesday, his campaign noted, marked the 11th day since Cassidy called for the three TV debates. It then referred to news accounts that Letlow failed to follow congressional rules when she was more than a year late in reporting 210 individual stock trades. Letlow blamed her financial advisers for the late disclosures. “Senator Cassidy is ready for a
ä See DEBATE, page 8A
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