LSU SOFTBALL TAKES DOWN VA. TECH, ADVANCES TO SUPER REGIONAL 1B
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Gov. Jeff Landry arrives in Greenland
BATON ROUGE, LOUISIANA
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M o n d ay, M ay 18, 2026
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Cassidy’s vote comes back to haunt him
Senator never recovered from backing conviction of Trump BY TYLER BRIDGES
Staff writer
In retrospect, U.S. Sen. Bill Cassidy sealed his defeat for reelection on Feb. 13, 2021. ä Democratic That’s the day he voted to convict thenSenate runoff decided by 284 former President Donald Trump on imvotes. PAGE 4A peachment charges that Trump incited the assault by his supporters on the Capitol five weeks earlier — just after Cassidy had won reelection with Trump’s endorsement. Trump felt deceived, got U.S. Rep. Julia Letlow to jump into the Senate race in January this year with his endorsement and exacted retribution Saturday night when Cassidy finished third in the Republican Senate primary. Letlow and state Treasurer John Fleming finished first and second and advance to the June 27 runoff. Cassidy’s reelection campaign is done. He will serve out the final six months of his Senate term. “Cassidy’s political career is over,” Ed
ä See CASSIDY, page 4A
STAFF PHoToS By MICHAEL JoHNSoN
ABOVE: Berkeley Bolinger walks with her service-dog-in-training Harlan during LSU’s spring commencement ceremony Friday for the College of Agriculture at the Maddox Fieldhouse in Baton Rouge. TOP: Madeline Jarreau wears a bejeweled tiger cap in honor of LSU’s mascot.
LSU graduates largest class ever over two days BY HALEY MILLER Staff writer
LSU graduated its largest class to date across Friday and Saturday, with more than 5,700 degrees awarded during its spring commencement ceremonies. “This record-setting class represents more than an important milestone for LSU,” Chancellor Jim Dalton said in a release. “These graduates will serve communities, strengthen industries, drive discovery, and help move Louisiana forward for
generations to come.” The Pete Maravich Assembly Center, Maddox Fieldhouse and Student Union Theater were seas of purple and gold as thousands of students from 12 schools walked the stage over the course of the two days of ceremonies. They crossed a lavender carpet as their names were read out and families and friends cheered from the audience. LSU saw increases in the number of degrees award-
ST. GEORGE
Sour electorate, racial tensions sink school district vote BY CHARLES LUSSIER Staff writer
Mark Reese hops onstage to receive his diploma Friday.
ä See LSU, page 5A
The nearly universal rejection on Saturday of a new St. George school district is a huge setback for that educational independence movement, which has already lasted about 15 years, but it also will give pause to any other community in Louisiana seeking to do the same. The picture is radically different than the one years ago when Baker, Zachary and Central rode waves of discontent with East Baton Rouge Parish public schools, fueled by a 51-year-old desegregation effort, to gain voter approval for their respective school districts.
ä See ST. GEORGE, page 5A
Murrill at center of GOP efforts to reshape New Orleans BY JAMES FINN
Staff writer
In the span of less than a month, Louisiana Attorney General Liz Murrill indicted New Orleans’ outgoing sheriff, threatened to remove eight of the city’s leaders from office and won a landmark U.S. Supreme Court case limiting the Voting Rights Act. Murrill’s office also notched sev-
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eral less high-profile arrests and convictions in that period: people accused of possessing child pornography, and a dancer who disrupted last year’s Super Bowl halftime show. The intensive pace Murrill has set as Louisiana’s top legal officer reflects her wide-ranging effort to reshape the Attorney General’s Office in her image. A Republican often discussed as a potential candidate
for governor, Murrill wields the office as a do-everything juggernaut that seeks to implement her conservative vision at all levels of jurisprudence. “Many lawyers are afraid to bring certain issues to a decision-point for fear of making ‘bad law,’ ” said Stephen Gele, a New Orleans-based
ä See MURRILL, page 4A
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Louisiana Attorney General Liz Murrill, right, talks with the media in 2025 in front of the Hale Boggs Federal Building on Poydras Street in New orleans. STAFF FILE PHoTo By DAVID GRUNFELD
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