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S at u r d ay, a p r i l 4, 2026
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2026 LEGISLATURE
HOLY WALK
HEALTH CARE
Fight over drug costs bubbles up again Lawmakers want lower prices, but say industry is blocking them BY ALYSE PFEIL Staff writer
STAFF PHOTOS By CHRIS GRANGER
A line of people gather outside St. Mary’s Assumption Church in New Orleans for the Nine Church Walk for Good Friday.
New archbishop joins thousands in cherished Good Friday tradition dating to late 1800s BY BOB WARREN
Staff writer
Archbishop James Checchio spent his first Good Friday in New Orleans helping thousands of Catholics observe the traditional Nine Church Walk. Grabbing a megaphone and introducing himself to a crowd that already knew who he is, Checchio stood among a throng of people on Josephine Street outside St. Mary’s Assumption Church in the Irish Channel Friday morning, leading the group in prayer. “It’s a beautiful tradition, and I’m glad to be a part of it,” he said. Checchio, who became archbishop in February with the retirement of longtime Archbishop Gregory Aymond, arrived at the historic St. Mary’s Assumption long after many of those who were making the Nine Church pilgrimage had arrived. The tradition, which dates to the late 1800s in New Orleans, sees Catholics visiting nine churches on Good Friday. The Archdiocese of New Orleans listed 16 churches on its web-
Archbishop James Checchio uses a megaphone to share his thoughts and offer a prayer to those gathered outside St. Mary’s Assumption Church on Good Friday. site “where pilgrims are invited” ning of Holy Thursday.” to visit and pray. The archdiocese’s “It’s been a real busy morning,” said newspaper, The Clarion Herald, said Mike Boudreaux, a church volunteer the tradition “is closely associated who stood at one of the entryways with an ancient Roman practice of ä See WALK, page 4A visiting seven churches on the eve-
Attacks ramp up over Letlow’s DEI comments Cassidy, Fleming continue to criticize her policies
BY TYLER BRIDGES Staff writer
How does U.S. Rep. Julia Letlow square endorsing diversity, equity and inclusion policies as a college presidential applicant in 2020 and her subsequent anti-DEI voting record in Congress? That’s the question that confronted Letlow Friday in the face of continuing attacks from the man she is trying to
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ELECTION 2026
Cassidy
U.S. SENATE
unseat, U.S. Sen. Bill Cassidy, for her calls to expand DEI to hire more women and racial minorities on the faculty when she was applying in 2020 to be the next president of the University of Louisiana-Monroe. In news releases and a video on Thursday and Friday, Cassidy pointed to her comments to challenge her conservative credentials. “Julia is a liberal,” he concluded. State Treasurer John Fleming, the
ä See ATTACKS, page 4A
As Louisiana lawmakers search for ways to lower drug prices for patients, they say their efforts to figure out what’s causing the problem are running into roadblocks from big players in the health care sector. State Sen. Adam Bass, R-Bossier City, said even after holding meetings over the past several months on the topic, drug manufacturers and phar“What I’m macy benefits managers still trying to get to haven’t provided important information about how drug is a lower cost for drugs for prices are determined. “Neither industry has been the consumer. I completely forthcoming,” think both drug said Bass, who is spearheadmanufacturers ing the effort. Now he and other lawmak- and pharmacy benefit ers are pushing for legislation that would force those managers have businesses to turn over interculpability.” nal information they say will help determine why drug SEN. ADAM BASS, costs are rising. R-Bossier City Two bills, one aimed at drug manufacturers and another at pharmacy benefit managers, advanced out of a Senate committee Wednesday. “What I’m trying to get to is a lower cost for drugs for the consumer,” Bass said in an interview. “I think both drug manufacturers and pharmacy benefit managers have culpability.” But each side is pushing back and pointing fingers, saying the other is ultimately responsible for the prices consumers pay. A representative of PhRMA, a national trade group representing the pharmaceutical industry, said Wednesday the bill targeting them “will do nothing to lower costs for patients” and “fails to address the core issues of patient affordability.” Lawmakers should instead focus on “bringing accountability to insurers and PBMs.” PCMA, a trade group representing the country’s largest pharmacy benefit managers, said in a statement that the bill targeting their industry is a “bailout for Big Pharma.”
2 U.S. aircraft downed as war in Iran escalates 1 service member rescued, 1 missing
BY SAM MEDNICK, KONSTANTIN TOROPIN and SEUNG MIN KIM Associated Press Letlow
Fleming
ä See DRUG, page 5A
WASHINGTON — Iran shot down two U.S. military planes in separate attacks Friday, with one service member rescued and at least one missing, in a dramatic escalation since the war began nearly five weeks ago. It was the first time U.S. aircraft have been downed in the conflict and came just two days after President Donald Trump said in a national address that the U.S. has “beaten and
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completely decimated Iran” and was “going to finish the job, and we’re going to finish it very fast.” One fighter jet was shot down in Iran, officials said. A U.S. crew member from that plane was rescued, but a second was missing, and a U.S. military search-and-rescue operation was underway. Neither the White House nor Pentagon released public information about the downed planes. In a brief telephone interview with NBC News, Trump declined to discuss the searchand-rescue efforts but said what happened would not affect negotiations with Iran.
ä See AIRCRAFT, page 5A
13TH yEAR, NO. 235