TRUMP REMOVING FEDERAL RESERVE GOVERNOR LISA COOK 2A
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N O L A.C O M
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T u e s d ay, au g u s T 26, 2025
$2.00X
Residents can return, but pollution remains
ELECTION 2025 NEW ORLEANS MAyOR
Candidates spar at forum Lakefront event hosts top mayoral hopefuls
BY BEN MYERS Staff writer
The top three mayoral candidates in the October primary election sparred in a Monday night forum at Lakefront Airport, each promising to restore basic services, infrastructure and public trust in city government. State Sen. Royce Duplessis, City Council Vice President Helena Moreno and District E City Council member Oliver Thomas mostly kept things civil with crisp Moreno 1-minute answers to questions from former WDSU-TV anchor Norman Robinson. But things became a bit more confrontational when, in a deviation from the formats typically used at similar candidate forums, Robinson gave the candidates a Duplessis chance to ask a question of one of their opponents. Duplessis and Thomas, who trail Moreno in recent polling, took the opportunity to grill Moreno about the fraught relationship between the council and Mayor LaToya Cantrell. Duplessis, who has positioned Thomas himself as a City Hall outsider, asked Moreno, a two-term council member, what responsibility she bears for āa level of chaos and dysfunction that I donāt think weāve ever seen in
STAFF PHOTOS By DAVID GRUNFELD
A boom helps stop oil and residue from a Friday explosion at Smittyās Supply from floating down the Tangipahoa River on Monday.
Amid cleanup after Tangipahoa Parish plant explosion, authorities say danger has passed
Ƥ See FORUM, page 7A
BY DAVID J. MITCHELL, WILLIE SWETT and MARCO CARTOLANO
Energy, natural resources chief stepping down
Staff writers
Three days after a lubricants plant in Roseland blew up and turned into a raging ļ¬re, forcing nearly 1,000 people to ļ¬ee, local ofļ¬cials eased a 1-mile evacuation zone as ļ¬reļ¬ghters brought the blaze nearly completely under control. Crews also worked Monday to keep oily residue from Smittyās Supply Inc. from ļ¬owing down the Tangipahoa River and into Lake Pontchartrain, with around 5,900 feet of boom deployed in total. Soot still covered areas of the town and the air smelled of oil and grease. Gov. Jeff Landry traveled to nearby Amite to meet with local ofļ¬cials in the aftermath of the ļ¬re, which covered around 20 acres. There have been no injuries or deaths from the incident, and the State Fire Marshal along with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives will investigate the cause, which remained unclear. āFrom what I have been told, from what I can see, there really is no imminent danger to any life or prop-
BY MEGHAN FRIEDMANN Staff writer
danger to wildlife or human health.ā While oily substances and soot still covered much of the surrounding area, life slowly began returning to normal in the small rural town in Tangipahoa Parish. Some residents who evacuated started returning
Tyler Gray, the secretary of the Louisiana Department of Energy and Natural Resources, is stepping down on Sept. 2, state ofļ¬cials announced Monday. Deputy Secretary Dustin Davidson will take over as secretary. Stephen Swiber, the stateās chief resilience ofļ¬cer, will move from the Governorās Ofļ¬ce to ļ¬ll the deputy secretary position, the agency said in a memo to employ- Gray ees. āDustin has been invaluable in his service as deputy to the department, always ready to step in
Ƥ See POLLUTION, page 4A
Ƥ See ENERGY, page 7A
Matthew Allen, executive director of Northshore Riverwatch, collects oil from the Tangipahoa River in Independence on Monday. erty, other than we have to clean up a big mess,ā Landry said at a news conference on Monday afternoon in Amite. Asked about health concerns from people who swim and ļ¬sh in the Tangipahoa River, Landry said, āWhat weāve seen so far does not indicate there is any danger or immediate
Veteran meteorologist Singleton joins Nola.com, Times-Picayune BY KEITH SPERA Staff writer
Veteran New Orleans meteorologist Damon Singleton and his local weather forecasts are headed to Nola.com and The Times-Picayune. Singleton will deliver daily forecasts for Wake Up NOLA preDamon sented by LCMC Singleton Health, a new
weekday morning vertical video platform from Georges Media Group, publisher of The Times-Picayune and Nola.com. Wake Up NOLA debuts today, delivering news, weather, sports, dining tidbits, the daily ClueDat puzzle and more across video, digital, print and email. Singletonās forecasts will appear on the Nola.com homepageās new vertical video carousel, as
well as the Wake Up NOLA morning email and The Times-Picayuneās redesigned Weather page. āIām thrilled to join Georges Media and help launch Wake Up NOLA so people get a trustworthy, right-now forecast, on their phone, in their inbox, and in the paper, when it matters most,ā Singleton said in a news release. āMy job is to make it simple: what to know before you open the door.ā
Ƥ See SINGLETON, page 4A
with meteorologist Damon Singleto n
TODAY
An afternoon shower in places HIGH
94Ā°
WEDNESDAY
THURSDAY
FRIDAY
SATURDAY
SUNDAY
An afternoon shower in spots
A t-storm around in the p.m.
Rather cloudy with a t-storm
Clearing and humid
Sunny and humid
LOW
HIGH
LOW
HIGH
77Ā° 89Ā° 74Ā°
Shreveport 93/73
LOW
90Ā° 7
MPERATURE
Jackson 88/68
PAGE 6B
High/low Normal high Normal low Record high Record low
Hattiesburg 93/68
Alexandria 94/70 B
WEATHER HIGH 94 LOW 77
Ƥ Check out our newly redesigned
Weather page. PAGE 6B
Monroe 89/70
Longview 91/71
Many 93/68
Expect a mostly sunny and hot day with afternoon temperatures rising to the mid-90s with light northeast winds that will help keep heat index values from rising too high, possibly up to 104 degrees. degrees The UV index i d will rise into the āvery highā range, so if youāre working outdoors especially, be sure to protect yourself from the sun. Rain chances today will be at 10
Business ......................6A Commentary ................5B Nation-World................2A Classified .....................7D Deaths .........................3B Opinion ........................4B Comics-Puzzles .....3D-6D Living............................1D Sports ..........................1C
95Ā°/77Ā° 91Ā° 76Ā° 100Ā° in 2023 65Ā° in 1966
PRECIPITATION
24-hour total Month to date Normal month to date year to date Normal year to date
0.00ā 3.96ā 5.52ā 48.03ā 44.46ā
TODAY
GOOD READING 48 MAIN POLLUTANT Nitrogen oxide
GOOD
MAIN POLLUTANT Ozone
SOURCE: E: LOUISIANA DEQ AND AIRNOW AIRNOW.GOV GOV
FLO
13TH yEAR, NO. 14