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Proposed riverfront housing is part of the new master plan for downtown Baton Rouge.
BATON ROUGE, LOUISIANA
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F r i d ay, M ay 8, 2026
The new w master plan includes a proposed youth sports complex, entertainment venue and veterans museum that complex would be built near The Queen casino.
REDEFINING DOWNTOWN
$2.00X
Aerospace firm eyes location in Louisiana Massive Vermilion Parish land deal fuels rumors
BY ADAM DAIGLE and STEPHANIE RIEGEL Staff writers
A space exploration company is negotiating to buy a large amount of coastal land in southwest Louisiana, a state lawmaker confirmed Thursday. State Sen. Bob Hensgens, R-Abbeville, said he knows of two companies — he did not reveal if it is Elon Musk-owned SpaceX or Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin — that have reached out to landowners in coastal Vermilion and Cameron parishes about a possible acquisition. “I know both companies are trying to find property in southwest Louisiana,” Hensgens said. “I know from people in the parishes that the companies have made outreach in the area.” The confirmation comes ahead of a hearing next week on the final piece of legislation in an incentive package designed to attract aerospace companies to Louisiana. The bills would offer tax incentives while limiting certain lawsuits and exempting some records from public disclosure. A legislative committee on Monday will take up the final piece of the aerospace incentive package. The bill, by Rep. Jack McFarland, R-Jonesboro, would shield aerospace companies from lawsuits
ä See SPACE, page 6A STAFF PHOTO By HILARy SCHEINUK
A key principle of Plan Baton Rouge III is to develop more than 2 miles of the riverfront, which the document refers to as downtown’s ‘front porch.’
youth sports complex, housing, more included in $1.7 billion Plan Baton Rouge III BY IANNE SALVOSA Staff writer
“The plan really looks to position downtown more as a central neighborhood district and less as just a notion of a central business district.”
With a new youth sports complex, housing with river views and a waterside promenade, the Mississippi riverfront will come alive in the JOSH BROOKS, a principal at Sasaki, third iteration of a master plan for the international design firm that led downtown Baton Rouge. development of the plan Plan Baton Rouge III sets a roadmap to attract new residents, students, businesses and visitors downtown, with an emphasis on de- implemented over the next decade. veloping the riverfront with enterThe past two downtown master tainment and public spaces. The 80 plans led to $3 billion in public and recommendations in the plan will be private investment, resulting in the
emergence of notable downtown attractions, including the Shaw Center for the Arts, the rehabilitation of the Capitol House Hotel into the Hilton Baton Rouge Capitol Center and Rhorer Plaza. Plan Baton Rouge III focuses on improving the quality of life and infrastructure to support tourism and residential development. “The plan really looks to position downtown more as a central neighborhood district and less as just a notion of a central business district,”
ä See DOWNTOWN, page 4A
Task force calls for big changes with FEMA Recommendations include privatizing flood insurance
BY MARK BALLARD Staff writer
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump’s task force to recommend changes to FEMA approved a report Thursday that would not dismantle the disaster response agency — as some in the administration wanted — but would transfer many current federal tasks to the states, privatize flood insurance and release federal money to the states
ä See FEMA, page 6A
Charity game for lawmakers a flashpoint in redistricting fight Black Democrats boycott event to show displeasure for map plan
BY TYLER BRIDGES
ä Senate expected to reveal
Democrats stayed away, to register their displeasure with the escalating battle over redistricting that could lead Republicans to elimiBlack Democrats in the House had been practicing for weeks to ate that is played for charity. nate one or both majority-Black prepare for the annual basketball But when legislators played the congressional seats in Louisiana. game between the House and Sen- game Wednesday night, Black The Democrats’ move in turn
Staff writer
WEATHER HIGH 76 LOW 70 PAGE 8B
map next week. PAGE 5A
2026 LEGISLATURE
Democrats. The developments this week illustrate how the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision last week to throw out Louisiana’s congressional map angered many House Republicans could inflame and further polarize — all of whom are White — and racial and partisan politics in the sparked talk of a possible retaliä See FIGHT, page 5A ation by them against the Black
Business ......................3B Commentary ................7B Nation-World................2A Classified .....................8D Deaths .........................4B Opinion ........................6B Comics-Puzzles .....5D-7D Living............................1D Sports ..........................1C
101ST yEAR, NO. 312