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Search for Texas campers presses on
Death toll rises to 82 as officials warn more rain, flooding likely
began pounding Texas, Gov. Greg Abbott said there were 41 people confirmed to be unaccounted for across the state and more could be missing. In Kerr County, home to Camp by flash floods that washed homes Mystic and other youth camps in BY JIM VERTUNO off their foundations and killed at the Texas Hill Country, searchand JOHN SEEWER least 82 people in central Texas. ers have found the bodies of 68 Associated Press Rescuers maneuvering people, including 28 children, KERRVILLE, Texas — Families sifted through challenging terrain con- Sheriff Larry Leitha said in the through waterlogged debris Sun- tinued their desperate search for afternoon. He pledged to keep searching day and stepped inside empty the missing, including 10 girls cabins at Camp Mystic, an all- and a counselor from the camp. ä See SEARCH, page 3A girls summer camp ripped apart For the first time since the storms
THE
Volunteers search for flood survivors along the banks of the Guadalupe River on Sunday in Hunt, Texas.
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ä Louisiana sends first responders. Page 3A ä How weather conditions led to once-ina-generation event. Page 3A
ASSOCIATED PRESS PHOTO By RODOLFO GONZALEZ
BEAR NECESSITIES
Baker schools office goes quiet Charter group takes over management BY CHARLES LUSSIER Staff writer
STAFF PHOTOS By LESLIE WESTBROOK
A golden orb weaver spider hangs out on a snare of its own as Hunter Hicks, a technician supervisor in the Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries Bear Program, left, and program biologist Tony Vidrine replace a bait bag and a raspberryscented attractant above a bear hair snare in St. Mary Parish.
Low-tech methods used to track former endangered species’ population in Atchafalaya Basin as state determines hunting limits BY AIDAN McCAHILL Staff writer
Tony Vidrine jerks his head to one side, then the other, dodging briars as he maneuvers his ATV through thick underbrush. It’s the hour before the day’s heat becomes oppressive, when the last of the morning dew still clings to knee-high blades of grass. Cruising ahead of him is
21-year-old Hunter Hicks, a recent Northwestern State University graduate. The two are traveling to a hunting camp in St. Mary Parish, hoping the bait they set the week before will prove fruitful. After working for 40 years as a biologist for the Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries, Vidrine spends his
ä See BEAR, page 4A
Bear hair is snagged in a barb in a snare Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries agents use to track the state’s black bear population.
Threats loom over New Orleans-area levee systems when only relatively small Money lacking to term, amounts of money were appropricounter sinking land, ated. The concerns involve two key intensifying storms projects: one to maintain the New
BY MARK SCHLEIFSTEIN Contributing writer
Plans to address looming threats to the New Orleans area’s vital hurricane protection levee system involving sinking land and the effects of climate change are at risk of being put on hold due to a lack of funding. The Trump administration’s cost-cutting efforts are the latest factor. But funding concerns also date back to President Joe Biden’s
WEATHER HIGH 92 LOW 74 PAGE 12C
Orleans area hurricane levees high enough to not be overtopped by storm surges with a 1% chance of occurring in any year, the socalled 100-year storm level; and another to study increasing the east bank levee system’s ability to withstand 200-year storm surges. Maintaining the levees at 100year level is important not only for actual flood protection, but also for flood insurance purposes. If the levees drop below that level
STAFF FILE PHOTO By BRETT DUKE
A walker takes a path in Algiers on the levee as a ship glides nearby on the Mississippi River. Maintaining New Orleans’ system of levees at 100-year storm level is important not only for actual flood protection, ä See LEVEE, page 5A but also for flood insurance purposes.
Classified .....................6C Deaths .........................7A Nation-World ................2A Comics-Puzzles .....3C-5C Living............................1C Opinion ........................8A Commentary ................9A Metro ...........................6A Sports ..........................1B
You can count on one hand these days the number of people still working for the Baker school system. Schools Superintendent J.T. Stroder names four people, including himself, who continue to show up each Stroder day at the old car dealership at the corner of Plank and Pettit roads that serves as the main office for this suburban Baton Rouge school district. By contrast, the bulk of the rest of the 100-plus Baker school employees have signed on with the new management: Helix Community Schools. Helix is a 15-year-old charter school group based in Baton Rouge. It’s led by Preston Castille, an attorney and a member of the Louisiana Board of Elementary and Secondary Education. Baker is the second school district in Louisiana to convert to all charters. NOLA Public Schools is the other district to do so, though last year it opened a lone school that it operates directly. Charter schools are public schools run privately via charters, or contracts. The conversion to charters ends 22 years of direct school operations for Baker, dating back to when the small city gained its educational independence from the East Baton Rouge Parish school system. Over that time, Baker has seen enrollment decline. Some students jumped to independent charter schools, including three the state allowed to open in Baker. Baker has also struggled academically, landing at or near the bottom of state rankings. On June 26, Helix finalized its takeover of Baker public schools, about three months after the process was initiated. Helix is moving into three school properties that are home to Baker’s two remaining schools: Baker High and Park Ridge Academic Magnet School. Helix’s contract continues through summer 2030. These two schools, which educate about 1,000 students, are joining three existing Baton Rouge charter schools run by Helix as well as a newly constructed Helix charter school in Opelousas that is opening this fall. The addition of the schools
ä See BAKER, page 5A
101ST yEAR, NO. 7