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MAHA supporters back Letlow in Senate race
STAFF FILE PHOTO By LESLIE WESTBROOK
Rep. Julie Emerson, R-Carencro, is giving up her seat in the Legislature to become chief of staff for Gov. Jeff Landry.
Governor names Emerson chief of staff Carencro legislator giving up senior position in House
BY TYLER BRIDGES Staff writer
ASSOCIATED PRESS FILE PHOTO By ALEX BRANDON
State Rep. Julie Emerson is giving up her senior position in the House to take on an even more important role as Gov. Jeff Landry’s chief of staff, the Governor’s Office announced Tuesday. Emerson, 37, will take over next week from Kyle Ruckert, who is leaving to oversee an outside political group that’s working for Landry’s reelection next year. “Julie Emerson is a proven leader with a deep understanding of Louisiana’s people, our State legislature, and the work that needs to be done to move Louisiana forward,” Landry said in a statement. “Her experience and commitment to conservative reform makes her the perfect person to
President Donald Trump stands at the podium with Rep. Julia Letlow, R-Baton Rouge, during the Congressional Ball in December. Letlow, who has Trump’s endorsement in her run for the U.S. Senate, has also picked up support from the Make America Healthy Again movement.
ä See EMERSON, page 8A
Political action committee giving $1M to her campaign as she seeks to unseat incumbent Sen. Cassidy
Slaughter charter seeks to open elementary school
BY MARK BALLARD
Monroe area who now lives in Baton Rouge and is challenging the reelection of Cassidy, R-Baton Rouge. The group plans to back RepubliWASHINGTON — After a year of tension between U.S. Sen. Bill Cassidy can candidates who support Kenneand Health Secretary Robert F. Ken- dy’s Make America Healthy Again nedy Jr. over vaccines, supporters of agenda in the November congresKennedy’s Make America Healthy sional elections, Lyon said. Letlow is Again movement are backing U.S. the first congressional candidate the Rep. Julia Letlow’s campaign to un- group has endorsed. “We found that there really are seat Cassidy. Tony Lyons, president of the Make points of contact with her that are America Healthy Again Center, really going to be impressive to which also runs a political action the MAHA movement as they get committee called MAHA Action to know her better,” Lyon said at a Inc., said this week that his group Heritage Foundation event Monday, is donating $1 million to help elect ä See LETLOW, page 10A Letlow, the Republican from the Staff writer
BY CHARLES LUSSIER Staff writer
ASSOCIATED PRESS FILE PHOTO
Sen. Bill Cassidy, R-Baton Rouge, left, greets Secretary of Health and Human Services Robert F. Kennedy Jr. before a hearing in May.
An A-rated charter school in Slaughter is pushing to open a new elementary school in the town despite opposition by the East Feliciana Parish School Board. Slaughter Community Charter School’s new elementary campus would compete directly with Slaughter Elementary, which has historically served as a feeder to the charter school. It would also draw students from three public schools in
ä See CHARTER, page 4A
Person detained in disappearance of Nancy Guthrie, sources say BY TY O’NEIL and JOHN SEEWER
Associated Press
TUCSON, Ariz. — A person has been detained for questioning in the disappearance of Nancy Guthrie, according to two people familiar with the matter. The people said the person was detained in an area south of Tucson on Tuesday. They did not immediately provide additional details, and it wasn’t clear if the person being questioned is the person captured on surveillance video from outside Guthrie’s house released earlier Tuesday. The people were not authorized to discuss details of an ongoing investigation and spoke to The Associated Press
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on condition of anonymity. The FBI released surveillance images of a masked person with a handgun holster outside Guthrie’s front door the night she vanished, offering the first major break in a case that has gripped the nation for more than a week. The person wearing a backpack and a ski mask can be seen in one of the videos tilting their head down and away from a doorbell camera while nearing an archway at the home of the mother of “Today” show host Savannah Guthrie. The footage shows the person holding a flashlight in their mouth and trying to cover the camera with a gloved hand and part of a plant ripped from
Nancy Guthrie’s yard. The videos — less than a combined minute in length — gave investigators and the public their first glimpse of who was outside Nancy Guthrie’s home just outside Tucson, but the images did not show what happened to her or help determine whether the 84-year-old is still alive. FBI Director Kash Patel said the “armed individual” appeared to “have tampered with the camera.” It was not entirely clear whether there was a gun in the holster. The videos were pulled from data on “back-end systems” after investi-
PROVIDED PHOTO By NBCUNIVERSAL/NATHAN CONGLETON
Savannah Guthrie, right, and her mom, Nancy Guthrie, speak ä See PORCH, page 6A on the set of the ‘Today’ show in 2019.
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101ST yEAR, NO. 226