Andrea Gallo

A Louisiana justice voted on a challenge to a law he helped write. Should he have stepped aside? They newly-elected Louisiana Supreme Court justice helped kill the challenge in a 4-3 ruling last March. The decision by Cade Cole, a former state tax judge, raises ethics questions.

Important story from our John Simerman about Cade Cole, a Louisiana Supreme Court justice, who helped draft a law, then ruled on it from the bench (casting a vote that its ballot language was good to go before voters). Is that allowed?
www.nola.com/news/louisia...

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Our investigations newsletter for @nolanews.bsky.social / @theadvocatebr.bsky.social has returned! Sign up here for behind-the-scenes details on our stories and how we tell them:
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LSU football player Javien Toviano asks to block suspension over Title IX case, records show The previously-unreported Title IX probe ended with LSU suspending the football player after finding him responsible last fall for "sexual exploitation" of a former girlfriend, according to his lawsuit.

LSU's Javien Toviano recently entered the transfer portal. But federal court records that @rjamesfinn.bsky.social got show he was recently suspended from LSU over a Title IX case that found him responsible for sexual exploitation. Details here:
theadvocate.com/baton_rouge/...

Oystermen grieve Honduran deckhand who drowned fleeing feds during Louisiana immigration sweeps Walter Francisco Cerrato Cabrera drowned in his white shrimp boots after 20 years working on oyster boats around Hopedale. He was 48. “They’re all good people, really good people,” said a longtime oys...

Amid immigration sweeps in Louisiana, a longtime oysterman and deckhand from Honduras drowned trying to flee the feds in the fishing enclave of Hopedale. His story here:
www.nola.com/news/crime_p...

Inside the chaotic 24 hours after New Orleans terror attack: New details revealed for first time Jeff Landry was asleep in a French Quarter hotel when his phone lit up with a call from Mayor LaToya Cantrell in the early morning hours of January 1, 2025. "This can't be good," he thought.  O...

As we come upon the one year anniversary of the New Orleans Bourbon Street terror attack, highly recommend this
@rjamesfinn.bsky.social story with insider accounts about the chaotic initial response, search for further suspects and more:
nola.com/news/crime_p...

Citizens, permit holders detained in New Orleans immigration sweeps, attorneys and advocates say "They’re not focusing on particular people, they're focusing on particular traits," said attorney Homero López, a former immigration judge. "Those traits tend to be physical in nature.”

As Border Patrol does sweeps in New Orleans, both U.S. citizens and permit holders have been detained so far. Details of what we know:
www.nola.com/news/politic...

How a mother accused of abuse sparked a political uproar inside Louisiana’s only family court Child abuse allegations, misconduct complaints, unusual probes, recusals: A Baton Rouge custody case has prompted an unusual clash among judges – and now politicians are involved.

A trio of political influencers — Baton Rouge GOP head Woody Jenkins, Gonzales state Rep. Kathy Edmonston and Louisiana Supreme Court Justice Jefferson Hughes III — have targeted Louisiana's only family court with an unusual probe. Here's what we know:
www.nola.com/news/courts/...

Louisiana colleges have started paying athletes millions. They won’t say who gets how much. College sports powerhouses have guarded athlete salary records from the public and their competitors, blocking open records requests.

For the first time, universities can directly pay their student athletes. But how much is Garrett Nussmeier making from LSU? What are other schools paying? We filed records requests with every college in the state. They won’t give specifics:

www.theadvocate.com/baton_rouge/...

Hurricane-prone New Orleans is lacking trees. They could help with rising heat. A contractor cut down 107 trees in New Orleans that were planted by a nonprofit. Here's why it's emblematic of larger challenges in the fight against extreme heat.

Trees in New Orleans often carry memories of hurricane damage. But as @sam-karlin.bsky.social explores in his series on rising summer temps and heat deaths in Louisiana, trees can make a huge difference in cooling down cities. Still, our canopy is sparse
www.nola.com/news/new-orl...

Pope Leo XIV names next Archbishop of New Orleans, a NJ bishop who spent years at Vatican The 50-year-old New Jersey native will succeed Archbishop Gregory Aymond, who submitted his retirement to the Vatican last fall but offered to stay on until the bankruptcy is resolved.

Early morning news: New archbishop of New Orleans has been named, one of Pope Leo's first appointments.
www.nola.com/news/busines...

In Louisiana, heat-related deaths have soared. The quiet disaster is ‘going to get worse.’ Extreme heat is a silent threat, one that experts warn could become more deadly as temperatures continue to rise.

As summers in Louisiana get hotter, heat-related deaths are soaring.
But it’s a quiet disaster, @sam-karlin.bsky.social
reports in his new deep dive. No blue taped roofs or spray painted homes that show the true toll.
Louisiana is doing little to prevent it.
www.nola.com/news/environ...

New link for today's story: www.nola.com/news/courts/...

Louisiana Supreme Court rules that Ed Orgeron's ex-wife deserves $8 million from LSU buyout The state's high court said Kelly Orgeron deserves half of the former LSU coach's $17 million buyout.

News: Louisiana Supreme Court DENIES Ed Orgeron's application for rehearing on his divorce settlement. He remains on the hook for more than $8 million for his ex-wife, Kelly Orgeron. Details here:
www.nola.com/news/courts/...

Inside the 'dysfunctional' New Orleans court plagued by murder case delays: 'Like the Wild West' Judges clocking out before noon. Lost evidence. A request for a delay in a murder case so a lawyer could attend a Mardi Gras ball. Inside Orleans Parish Criminal District Court, hearings and trial da...

Judges showing up late, then leaving before noon.
An endless cycle of continuances for reasons that include attending a Mardi Gras ball.
Victims & defendants trapped in limbo for years.
Welcome to New Orleans criminal court.
Part 2 of our Longing for Justice series:
www.nola.com/news/crime_p...

State chipping away at SCOTUS ruling that outlawed death sentences for juvenile offenders Dale Dwayne Craig was 17 -- a week shy of his 18th birthday -- when he shot and killing an LSU freshman at point-blank range in 1992. The state wants to get his execution sentence restored, despite a ...

Louisiana death penalty watch: AG's office is arguing that the state should be allowed to sentence minors to death. The state argues that SCOTUS got it wrong in their 2005 decision in Roper v Simmons, when they held 5-4 that it's cruel & unusual punishment
www.theadvocate.com/baton_rouge/...

Photos: Hurricane Katrina then & now from Times-Picayune staff photographers Twenty years ago, Hurricane Katrina and the levee failures swallowed New Orleans and the Gulf Coast, leaving behind ruin that stunned the world. Our photographers were there — in boats,

Twenty years ago, Hurricane Katrina and the levee failures swallowed New Orleans and the Gulf Coast, leaving behind ruin that stunned the world. Our photographers were there — in boats,

Hospitalized with postpartum depression, how a Louisiana mom learned 'it's O.K. to talk about it' “A lot of times, people are like, ‘I don’t want to talk about it because motherhood is supposed to be all peaches and cream and roses,’” she said. “But like anything, it takes time, it takes work, it ...

Brittany Lane felt like she couldn’t do it anymore.
She was diagnosed with postpartum depression, struggling with 5 kids.
Here’s her journey through getting impatient mental health treatment in a new unit in Louisiana:
www.theadvocate.com/baton_rouge/...

They came to rebuild New Orleans after Katrina. Under Trump, ICE is trying to deport them. Two cousins came from Guatemala to rebuild New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina. Twenty years later they're in Louisiana ICE detention, awaiting deportation.

They helped rebuild New Orleans after Katrina, became active members of local churches, built lives and families. Now they're stuck in an ICE detention center as the Trump administration tries to deport them. Important story from @rjamesfinn.bsky.social:
www.nola.com/news/politic...

Federal grand jury indicts New Orleans Mayor LaToya Cantrell after years-long investigation A federal grand jury has indicted New Orleans Mayor LaToya Cantrell.

A federal grand jury has indicted New Orleans Mayor LaToya Cantrell.

Twenty Years After the Storm What home meant before, and after, Hurricane Katrina

20 years ago this month, Hurricane Katrina struck New Orleans. For so many New Orleanians, our lives are demarcated by this moment. If someone ask you about an event or memory from the past, we say “was it before or after the storm?” On this twentieth anniversary, I wrote about going back home.

Louisiana in talks with Trump to run immigration jail inside Angola, sources say Kristi Noem recently said she was having conversations with other Republican governors about opening facilities in their states modeled after "Alligator Alcatraz." But the potential immigration locku...

Scoop from @rjamesfinn.bsky.social: Louisiana is in talks to open an immigration jail inside of Angola, sources say. Plan is to use an unused wing of the massive prison complex, possibly camp J, to house immigrants. State closed camp J years ago w/ safety concerns
www.nola.com/news/politic...

Inside a New Orleans mother's 6-year wait for justice in son's murder: 'Anything to end this' Lurline LaBeaud-Duncan waited more than five agonizing years for justice after the murder of her son, Gregory Heisser III, and his fiancée in 2018. Here’s a look at the case, from start to finish.

Her grandchildren were there when their dad was shot and killed, his blood coating their hair. Would they testify at the trial for his accused killer? The toll of Lurline LaBeaud-Duncan's six-year-long wait for justice as part of our series today:
www.nola.com/news/new-orl...

Murder cases in New Orleans take longer to resolve than almost anywhere in the country New Orleans murder cases take nearly three years, on average, to close its cases from arrest to resolution. The painstaking delays keep families of victims back to the courtroom, leading to frustratio...

Our latest @nolanews.bsky.social project from Jillian Kramer and @jadelson.bsky.social. Murder cases in New Orleans move through court at a slower pace than nearly anywhere else. Families are trapped in a never-ending cycle of grief. Why is it this way?
www.nola.com/interactive/...

Ed Orgeron fights back against Louisiana Supreme Court ruling that he owes ex-wife $8 million Ed Orgeron's lawyers warned that the ruling will have "absurd and unjust consequences with wide-ranging implications."

News: Ed Orgeron has filed an application for rehearing with the Louisiana Supreme Court, asking that they reverse their recent decision to award his ex-wife $8 million of his LSU buyout. His lawyers warn of "absurd and unjust consequences" from the ruling
www.theadvocate.com/baton_rouge/...

LSU 'evaluating' arena project after developer indictment After Oak View Group CEO Timothy Leiweke was indicted Wednesday, LSU Athletics officials are evaluating how the charges might impact the project in Baton Rouge.

Day after the CEO of the company that LSU planned to use to build a new arena on campus is indicted, LSU says they are "evaluating the implications" and emphasizes that there is no finalized agreement in place yet for Oak View Group to build the arena.
www.theadvocate.com/baton_rouge/...

Finalist for LSU arena project indicted in federal case saying he rigged bids at UT Austin LSU had previously said they did not plan to use a public bid process to build their new arena.

LSU said they want their new arena project to follow the example of UT's Moody Center. We got records last year that showed Oak View Group is a finalist. Lawyer also said LSU wasn't planning to use public bids for this project. Head of OVG indicted today:
www.theadvocate.com/baton_rouge/...

Louisiana Supreme Court rules that Ed Orgeron's ex-wife deserves $8 million from LSU buyout The state's high court said Kelly Orgeron deserves half of the former LSU coach's $17 million buyout.

News: Louisiana Supreme Court drops a major ruling that Ed Orgeron's ex-wife, Kelly, is entitled to *half* his buyout money from LSU. They award her $8 million and some change. Orgeron filed for divorce 43 days after inking his LSU contract extension.
www.nola.com/news/courts/...

AG Liz Murrill asks Louisiana Supreme Court to speed up death penalty cases "Victims’ family members are left...waiting for finality for decades," Murrill said.

Louisiana AG Liz Murrill has asked state supreme court to intervene in 5 death penalty cases. When the state's execution chamber was dormant, many post-conviction capital cases languished. Murrill argues some of those defendants are now out of time:
www.nola.com/news/courts/...

The Orleans Parish jail abandoned its high security unit. Years of violence, trouble followed. Most jails segregate their most problematic detainees. The New Orleans jail abandoned that years ago.

Years before 10 inmates broke out of the New Orleans jail, the sheriff eliminated a high-risk security unit. That now appears to have been a critical misstep that helped to allow for last month’s escape.

www.nola.com/news/orleans...