CON NFLICT IN THE MIDDLE EAST: ISRAEL KILLS TWO TOP IRANIAN OFFICIALS 2A
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BATON ROUGE, LOUISIANA
W e d n e s d ay, M a r c h 18, 2026
WARM WELCOME Louisiana National Guardsmen return after yearlong deployment
$2.00X
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 Family members greet Louisiana National Guardsmen returning from their deployment to Kosovo on Tuesday. Kosovo.
Debate brews on proposed increase in school funding Education officials differ on amount, areas to boost BY PATRICK WALL Staff writer
A debate over school funding is brewing in Louisiana as school superintendents call for an overall increase in per-student dollars while education policymakers seek a more limited boost. Meanwhile, some lawmakers say the state’s entire approach to school funding needs a fresh look. The state Board of Elementary and Secondary Education last week proposed giving schools roughly $30 million extra in state aid to account for the rising cost of insurance, re-
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tirement systems, utilities and other operating expenses. Even with the boost, officials say the state still would end up spending less on education next fiscal year due to declining enrollment, which determines how much money schools get. While superintendents say they welcome any extra state money, some argue that the baseline amount the state gives each school district, about $4,000 per student, is long overdue for an increase. The Louisiana Association of School Superintendents, which notes that the perstudent amount has increased by less than $600 in the past 20 years, wanted a 1.375% boost that would have cost about $40 million. But as Gov. Jeff Landry and the Republican-controlled Legislature
ä See FUNDING, page 10A
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, who owns D & T Crawfish in Abbeville, doesn’t have any migrant workers at his plant to peel and boil crawfish and prepare tail meat to sell at grocery stores. He just has his small, year“The problem round crew of about 30 local employees, which can’t is bigger than process near the volume the us. We just business typically does. are feeling “You lose a whole season,” it because and the ability to process it’s creeping about 2 million pounds of crawfish, Benoit said. into our local The government shuteconomy now.” down, which started Oct. 1 DANIELLE TOUPS and ended Nov. 12, created delays in the H-2B tempoyOUNG, attorney rary work visa program who specializes in right as Louisiana crawfish temporary work visas 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. Employers who had been looking for workers to start in November and December were essentially cut out of the visa pool, Young said. “The crawfish industry had a massive scramble of, ‘What do we do?’” said Andy Brown, national
ä See SHUTDOWN, page 12A
ELECTION 2026 U.S. SENATE
Cassidy
Letlow ducking debate with GOP opponents Cassidy, Fleming ready to square off on TV
BY TYLER BRIDGES Staff writer Letlow
Fleming
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.
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Letlow has countered by offering to 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.
ä See DEBATE, page 9A
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