HAPPY MOTHER’S DAY
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N O L A.C O M
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S u n d ay, M ay 10, 2026
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ELECTION 2026
‘The dynamo that is driving the city’
12 years in, Michael Fitts has transformed Tulane and its presence in New Orleans. Charity Hospital is next on his list.
Cassidy
Fleming
Letlow
Down to the wire
Candidates in Senate race jockey to emphasize Trump ties as voting day nears BY TYLER BRIDGES Staff writer
STAFF PHOTO By CHRIS GRANGER
Tulane University President Michael Fitts stands in the middle of a recently completed residence complex on campus on April 29. BY MARIE FAZIO
Staff writer
More than a decade ago, when Michael Fitts was just a few months into leading Tulane University, he stood downtown in New Orleans and looked at the hulking Charity Hospital. Once a great institution that cared for the city’s poor, the 20-story colossus was evacuated during Hurricane Katrina and had sat empty ever since. “This is our future,” he recalls thinking.
In 12 years as Tulane’s president, Fitts has a long winning streak on the Uptown campus: Record student applications, and rising selectivity. Research funds and donor contributions have doubled. Acclaimed professors have joined the faculty, elevating its academic reputation. But Fitts, 73, has also pushed Tulane beyond the academic realm, expanding its physical footprint and impact on New Orleans and the state. He has long seen Tulane and the city as inextricably linked, with the university relying on New Or-
leans’ cultural pull and the city benefiting from Tulane’s whirl of intellectual and economic activity. “A great university,” Fitts said in a recent interview, “literally transforms the area around it.” Now Tulane is on the precipice of what is arguably its most highstakes project in New Orleans to date — and one that could become the capstone of Fitts’ tenure. The university has agreed to a 65% stake in the estimated $650 million
ä See FITTS, page 4A
Louisiana’s contentious U.S. Senate primary race enters its final week centered on the same question as when it began: Which Republican candidate best aligns with President Donald Trump? U.S. Sen. Bill Cassidy, state Treasurer John Fleming and U.S. Rep. Julia Letlow — each is relentlessly claiming to have the preeminent pro-Trump credentials. At the same time, all three have been broadcasting TV ads and making campaign appearances where they try to undermine the others’ pro-Trump claims. “They respect the power that Trump has with Republican rank-and-file, even though Trump has diminished in popularity with independent voters and has zero support among Democrats. His approval rating still runs around 80% among Republicans,” said Pearson Cross, a politicalscience professor at the University of Louisiana at Monroe. Election day is Saturday throughout Louisiana for the Senate race and, in different parts of the state, for elections to the Public Service Commission, the Louisiana Supreme Court and the Board of Elementary and Secondary Education. Voters throughout Louisiana will also decide whether to approve five constitutional amendments. Voters will see candidates for U.S. House races on the ballot, but Gov. Jeff Landry canceled those elections after the U.S. Supreme Court ruled recently that Louisiana’s congressional
ä See CANDIDATES, page 12A
An inside look at LIV Golf’s collapsed New Orleans deal $22M initial offer, nondisclosures were key elements
Norman, then CEO of unusual passenger: retired LIV Golf, was looking for professional Australian potential sites to host a golfer Greg Norman, also new summer tournament known as “the Great White in New Orleans. As NunShark.” The rainy flight took gesser saw it, Norman them over the sprawling was already sold as they BY SAM KARLIN oak-lined golf course at peered down from the heStaff writer New Orleans City Park in a Norman licopter. He was willing to spend millions on the On a helicopter ride across New helicopter owned by Shane Orleans two years ago, Lt. Gov. Guidry, a donor and top adviser to event, he told Nungesser. He just needed Nungesser to promote it. Billy Nungesser sat beside an Gov. Jeff Landry.
WEATHER HIGH 83 LOW 73
In the ensuing months, the state wound up offering millions of dollars to the Saudi Arabian-backed golf tour, including hosting fees, marketing support and a “Mardi Gras themed” event to put on the tournament. When the deal was announced, a key feature was a $7.2 million incentive package. But records show Landry’s administration offered far more initially: $22.2 million
over the span of five years in hopes of luring the league for a multiyear tournament, according to a letter of intent obtained by The TimesPicayune | The Advocate. Of the $7.2 million that was ultimately approved, $2.2 million went to upgrading City Park’s golf course. Last month, news emerged that LIV’s Saudi Arabia owners were
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celebrating g
Founded 1896
ä See LIV, page 10A
13TH yEAR, NO. 271
! A VO
Thanks years of service