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REDISTRICTING HEARING HEATED
Southern to start housing expansion Expected completion is by fall 2027 BY HALEY MILLER Staff writer
against the effort, chant in protest or watch the discussion. Some who spoke to the Senate and Governmental Affairs Committee, which handles redistricting legislation, expressed indignation, frustration, anger and even
With the waitlist to live on campus approaching 600 students each year, Southern University is planning to expand its under- and upperclassman housing options. “Students now want to have the oncampus experience,” said Southern Chancellor John Pierre. “The more we can provide with affordable housing, that enhances their experience.” The university’s proposal to construct a new $43 million residence hall for freshmen and sophomores near the student recreation center was approved “Students now by the Louisiana want to have Board of Regents the on-campus at the end of April. experience. The dorm will The more we be four stories can provide and hold around with affordable 500 beds, accordhousing, that ing to the proposal. Southern enhances their is hoping to comexperience.” plete the resiJOHN PIERRE, dence hall by fall 2027. Southern While there is chancellor no requirement for freshmen to live on campus, Pierre said students who apply for on-campus housing will be assigned to the new residence hall first. The dorm will be traditional student housing, with study rooms and common spaces on each floor and dining facilities on the first level. “We’re trying to keep students in a nice place, where there will be an ecosystem of services available for them as they matriculate,” Pierre said.
ä See HEARING, page 6A
ä See SOUTHERN, page 7A
STAFF PHOTOS By JAVIER GALLEGOS
Crowds gathered outside the hearing room chant during a Senate and Governmental Affairs Committee meeting at the State Capitol on Friday.
GOP lawmakers poised to ax one or both majority-Black districts From left, U.S. Rep. Cleo Fields, D-Baton Rouge; Cedric Richmond; William Jefferson; and U.S. Rep. Troy Carter, D-New Orleans, testify during Friday’s hearing.
BY ALYSE PFEIL Staff writer
Over the course of more than eight hours Friday, dozens of Louisiana residents demanded the state Legislature shut down a push to eliminate congressional districts held by African Americans. The marathon hearing, which veered between solemn and fiery, showed the historic consequences of a redistricting battle inflamed by a recent U.S. Supreme Court ruling. The high court substantially weakened the Voting Rights Act, telling lawmakers who draw voting maps they can’t take race into account when determining district lines. That opened the door to eliminate majority-Black congressional districts across the South. Now, GOP lawmakers are poised to ax either one or both of Louisiana’s majorityBlack congressional districts, which are represented by two Democrats. Louisiana has six U.S. House seats.
“This is not democracy. It is the deliberate dilution of Black political power,” said Keturah Butler-Reed, of the NAACP Youth and College Division. “The country is watching.” Butler-Reed was just one of dozens of people, most of them Black, who traveled to the State Capitol to formally testify
House bill calls for hiring more prosecutors, raising salaries
Expansion depends on having money in budget
attorneys from $50,000 to $60,000, and it would raise the base salary BY MEGHAN FRIEDMANN ers bills to give more resources to for the state’s 42 district attorneys district attorneys’ offices — espe- from $55,000 to $65,000. Staff writer Meanwhile, House Bill 719 would cially in the parishes of East Baton give the state 80 new prosecutors, Prosecutors in Louisiana could Rouge and St. Tammany. House Bill 660 would raise the with the most recruits going to the get pay raises and see their ranks grow as the Legislature consid- base salary for assistant district 19th and 22nd judicial districts.
WEATHER HIGH 81 LOW 69 PAGE 8A
Those proposals, authored by state Rep. Peter Egan, R-Covington, are both headed to the Senate after the House passed them on Thursday. But the changes would not take effect unless the Legislature appropriates money in its budget to fund them.
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State Rep. Jack McFarland, RJonesboro, who authors Louisiana’s budget bills, said he is committed to at least partially funding the proposals but is unsure whether the state has enough money to
ä See HIRING, page 7A
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