Greg Larose, Louisiana Illuminator

New York Gov. Kathy Hochul has rejected Louisiana’s request to extradite a doctor from her state accused of prescribing and mailing abortion drugs to a woman in West Baton Rouge Parish.

Both were indicted on felony charges last month for allegedly violating a Louisiana law prohibiting the sale, prescription, delivery, dispensing and distribution of abortion-inducing medication.

According to Gov. Jeff Landry and Attorney General Liz Murrill, both Republicans, the West Baton Rouge woman forced her pregnant minor daughter to take the pills, though the woman hasn’t been charged with the crime of coerced abortion.

Landry signed an extradition request Wednesday from Murrill, who said she intends to personally prosecute Dr. Margaret Carpenter and the West Baton Rouge woman, who is not being identified to protect her daughter’s identity.

At a Thursday afternoon news conference in Manhattan, Hochul, a Democrat, referenced New York’s shield laws that protect reproductive health care providers from criminal prosecution in other states. Louisiana banned abortion almost entirely in 2022 after the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision to reverse Roe v. Wade. The procedure remains legal in New York.

“Louisiana has changed their laws, but that has no bearing on the laws here in the state of New York,” Hochul said. “Doctors take an oath to protect their patients. I took an oath of office to protect all New Yorkers, and I will uphold not only our constitution, but also the laws of our land. And I will not be signing an extradition order that came from the governor of Louisiana. Not now, not ever.”

Landry criticized his New York counterpart after a video of Hochul’s announcement was posted to the social media platform X.

“So you’re telling me @GovKathyHochul is protecting criminals over victims?!” Landry wrote. “And they wonder why people and businesses are fleeing the state.”

U.S. Census Bureau estimates show more than 19.8 million people in the state of New York as of midyear 2024, down from 20.2 million in the 2020 count. Total employer establishments, the census term for businesses, actually increased in New York over the same period – from roughly 535,000 to more than 540,000.

Murrill also responded to Hochul’s video on X.

“This child was NOT this doctor’s patient,” Murril wrote. “She never met her, saw her, or knew anything about her. The child is a victim. @GovKathyHochul is protecting a drug dealer who victimized a child.”

The teen’s mother, who bonded out of jail after her Jan. 31 arrest, has never been charged with dealing drugs, based on a review of her court records.

Murrill has implied other Republican-led states would be willing to extradite Carpenter to Louisiana, saying previously the doctor should “be careful with her travel plans,”

“If New York won’t cooperate, there are other states that will,” the attorney general said.

Landry posted a video earlier Thursday explaining his reasons for seeking Carpenter’s extradition. The governor said the West Baton Rouge woman “conspired with a New York doctor” to order abortion pills in the mail and then “forced” her daughter to take them.

Tony Clayton, the Democratic district attorney for West Baton Rouge Parish, will prosecute the case alongside Murrill. He said the girl took the pills at home alone and called 911 to be taken to the hospital when she started bleeding.

“There’s only one right answer in this situation,” Landry said in the video. “It is that that doctor must face extradition to Louisiana, where she can stand trial and justice will be served.”

Heightened security restrictions will be in effect for the busiest section of the French Quarter starting next Wednesday through at least the day after Super Bowl LIX is played, Gov. Jeff Landry announced Wednesday.

The additional safety measures follow a Jan. 1 terrorist attack that killed 14 people and injured 57 others. They apply to the first seven blocks of Bourbon Street and the parallel streets one block on each side. All blocks between Royal and Dauphine streets will become an “enhanced security zone,” where certain items will be prohibited and personal accessories could be searched or seized.

Ice chests and backpack coolers will not be allowed inside the zone. People are also discouraged from bringing standard backpacks, large purses, suitcases, fanny packs, large shopping bags and camera bags into the area. Any bags larger than 4.5 inches by 6.5 inches – roughly the size of a clutch purse – will be subject to search, Landry said.

Anyone who refuses a police search will be denied entry to the security zone. Police also have the authority to search bags within the area, and they will remove anyone who doesn’t comply.

“We want cooperation with the public and balancing freedoms to enjoy the Quarter, with the need for these heightened security measures based upon the threat level that we saw on January 1,” the governor said during a news conference at the Office of Homeland Security and Emergency Preparedness.

Ice chests have been singled out for exclusion after Shamsud-Din Jabbar placed homemade explosive devices in two coolers and left them at separate locations in the midst of Bourbon Street revelers in the early hours of New Year’s Day. The FBI said a third bomb and a detonating device were found inside Jabbar’s rented pickup that he drove down three crowded blocks of Bourbon before crashing into a mobile lift platform.

Police killed Jabbar, a 42-year-old IT worker and U.S. Army veteran from Houston, in a shootout. He flew an Islamic State flag from the truck and had posted videos online ahead of the attack professing his extremist beliefs.

Landry created the security zone and provided police with enhanced powers inside of it through an executive order. It renewed the state of emergency he declared Jan. 1 for New Orleans, and its language indicates it could potentially be extended into Carnival season.

Read the governor’s order below

“We are going to focus on the Super Bowl right now,” the governor said. “We then will pivot once we get through the Super Bowl to Mardi Gras,” implying there will be heightened safety measures in place again for the French Quarter and potentially along parade routes.

Gov. Jeff Landry addresses reporters Wednesday, Jan. 29, 2025, on extra security precautions in New Orleans for Super Bowl LIX. Louisiana State Police Superintendent Col. Robert Hodges, left, took part in the new conference with the governor at the Office of Homeland Security and Emergency Preparedness in Baton Rouge. (Greg LaRose/Louisiana Illuminator)

The governor’s order does not apply to the Superdome, where the NFL and the U.S. Department of Homeland Security are handling security precautions for the Super Bowl. Landry said state and city law enforcement officers will be working within their perimeters, however.

“As you move closer to the Superdome, the security restrictions are enhanced,” Landry said.

Several streets in the vicinity of the stadium and Smoothie King Center are already closed to traffic. More will be blocked when pre-Super Bowl events take place at other downtown locations, including the Morial New Orleans Convention Center and the Saenger Theater.

The NFL championship game takes place Sunday, Feb. 9.

In addition to local, state and federal law enforcement, there will be 350 members of the Louisiana National Guard dispatched to New Orleans to assist with traffic control and security checkpoints, according to the governor.

In addition to heightened security, the temporary homeless Landry established near the Gentilly neighborhood will be used through Mardi Gras, he said. There are currently 176 people staying at a contractor-staffed Port of New Orleans storage facility on France Road, the governor said.

Landry clashed with some city officials when directed Louisiana State Police to remove unhoused people from encampments in close proximity to the Superdome. He used his emergency powers to award a contract to operate the temporary shelter, where he said residents are receiving services that “are exponentially better than the ones they were receiving on the street.”

NEW ORLEANS – A group of 17 Louisiana lawmakers has sent a letter to two key organizers for Super Bowl LIX expressing “serious concerns” with the halftime entertainment being “less than family friendly” during the Feb. 9 broadcast from the Superdome.

Sen. Valarie Hodges, R-Denham Springs, penned the letter on behalf of her colleagues and sent it Monday to Phillip Sherman, chairman of the Greater New Orleans Sports Foundation, and Robert Vosbein Jr., chairman of the Louisiana Stadium and Exposition District, which oversees the Superdome.

Hodges cited previous Super Bowl halftime performances that she found objectionable. She singled out the 2020 performance in Miami of Jennifer Lopez, in which she “wore little clothing and was groped by male and female dancers on stage, while the performer made sexually suggestive gestures and performed on a stripper pole.”

From the 2023 Super Bowl in Glendale, Arizona, Hodges was critical of

Rihanna, who “was shown groping herself while she sang song lyrics that were so offensive that few Louisiana adults could read those lyrics before an audience without shame.”

“We realize that these past vulgar performances may have been acceptable to the residents of those states where those Super Bowls were held but, in Louisiana, these lewd acts are inappropriate for viewing by children, objectify women, and are simply NOT welcomed by the majority of Louisiana parents,” Hodges wrote in her letter.

In addition to the state lawmakers, Hodges obtained signatures from 15 leaders of “pro-family” organizations in support of her letter. They included Tony Perkins with the Family Research Council, Gene Mills with the Louisiana Family Forum and Tony Spell, pastor of Life Tabernacle Church.

The senator concluded her letter by acknowledging the contract to hold Super Bowl LIX in New Orleans was executed seven years ago, with terms long ago negotiated and finalized. She requested that any future contracts with the NFL include an assurance that “any performers’ conduct adheres to Louisiana’s community decency standards.”

Reached by phone Tuesday, Vosbein with the Superdome district said it was “unfortunate” that Hodges waited until less than two weeks before the Super Bowl to share her concerns because they could possibly have been considered if aired sooner. He deferred comment on the content of the upcoming halftime show to the Greater New Orleans Sports Foundation, which he said is more directly involved with the NFL than his board.

Jay Cicero, president and CEO of the Greater New Orleans Sports Foundation, issued a statement in response to questions about Hodges’ letter.

“We respect and value the comments of our legislators, who play a critical role in our ability to secure large events providing an economic boost to our city and state,” Cicero said. “We have shared the letter with the NFL and we are all in agreement that this year’s halftime show will be a family-friendly event befitting New Orleans’ storied history hosting Super Bowls.”

In her letter, Hodges noted that Greater New Orleans Sports Foundation has received $10 million from the state’s Major Events Incentive Fund, including $5 million for Super Bowl LIX economic development initiatives. She said that money represents “skin in the game” for Louisiana taxpayers.

In a phone interview Tuesday, Hodges said she was hopeful the NFL and Super Bowl planners would take her concerns to heart. She was asked how she would react if Lamar’s performance goes beyond her parameters of good taste.

“That’s up to the locals to deal with that however they want to,” she said. “We would just deal with that however we deal with anyone else that would break the law, I would hope.”

Recording artist Kendrick Lamar is the featured entertainer for halftime at Super Bowl LIX. He’s the latest star featured since the NFL partnered with Roc Nation, the production company of rap mogul Jay-Z, in 2019 to produce halftime performances at the league’s championship game. In addition to Jennifer Lopez, Shakira and Rihanna, Roc Nation has slated Eminem, Dr. Dre, Snoop Dogg, The Weeknd and Usher for Super Bowl halftime shows since 2020.

NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell confirmed in October that the league would continue its partnership with Roc Nation despite allegations of rape against Jay-Z stemming from the civil lawsuit against music producer Sean “Puffy” Combs.

NEW ORLEANS – Three judges on the U.S. 5th Circuit Court of Appeals considered arguments Thursday over a state law that requires displays of the Ten Commandments in every Louisiana public school classroom.

A group of nine parents, each on behalf of their children, sued to block the law shortly after the Louisiana Legislature and Gov. Jeff Landry approved it last spring. A lower court ruled in November the requirement violates the First Amendment’s prohibition against establishing a state-approved religion.

Louisiana Attorney General Liz Murrill appealed that ruling, which the 5th Circuit decided only applied to the five school districts that are among the defendants in the case. For every other district, the law went into effect at the start of this month.

The American Civil Liberties Union and Americans United for Separation of Church and State are also representing the plaintiffs in the case. Youngwood’s law firm, Simpson, Thacher and Bartlett, is providing its services to the parents at no cost.

In addition to the five school districts, Louisiana Education Superintendent Cade Brumley and members of the state Board of Elementary and Secondary Education are defendants.

Judge Catharina Haynes led the hearing conducted via Zoom because of the winter weather. She questioned why the law was approved when Solicitor General Benjamin Agiuñaga presented his arguments.

“I’m respectful of the Ten Commandments, and I think everybody is,” said Haynes, federal court appointee of former President George W. Bush. “But that doesn’t mean it has to be put in every classroom in a state under the First Amendment.”

Aguiñaga said the law’s language notes the historical significance of the commandments in the foundation of the U.S. legal system merits their display in classrooms.

In addition to defending the law, Aguiñaga argued the plaintiffs filed their lawsuit too hastily because the displays had not yet been posted and no children had been harmed. The judges must rule first on whether the parents had the right to sue before considering the merits of their case.

Aguiñaga cited a 2007 ruling from the 5th Circuit in the case Staley v. Harris County, which involved a memorial display outside a Texas courthouse that included a Bible. Appellate judges first upheld a lower court ruling that deemed the monument unconstitutional, but the 5th Circuit later reversed its decision. The ruling declared that because the monument was being refurbished, it wasn’t clear yet what it would look like or whether it violated the First Amendment.

Jonathan Youngwood, an attorney for the plaintiffs, countered that legal theory in First Amendment cases does not require plaintiffs to be harmed before they seek relief.

He also stressed the religious intent of the law’s author, Rep. Dodie Horton, R-Haughton, who he quoted as saying: “It is so important that our children learn what God says is right and what he says is wrong.”

Youngwood also noted “religious references” to God and the Sabbath day in the first four commandments, which he said violate the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment.

“Of course the Ten Commandments are worthy of great respect and are profoundly meaningful to many, many people, and they have a place in our society,” Youngwood said. “They don’t have a place in this form in public schools.”

Judge Irma Carrillo Ramirez, an appointee of President Joe Biden, asked Aguiñaga if he could cite any prior court decisions that allowed displays of the Ten Commandments in a school setting. He could not but instead referenced a ruling that allowed students who are Jehovah’s Witnesses to abstain from the Pledge of Allegiance.

“The fact that they are allowed under the First Amendment to opt out of participating in the pledge doesn’t mean that they can also request that the flag be taken down or that the pledge not be said,” Aguiñaga said.

Judge Haynes voiced some skepticism of Aguiñaga’s reference to the Staley case, noting that few people are compelled to go to a courthouse while children are required to go to school.

Judge James Dennis, who former President Bill Clinton appointed to the federal bench, also heard arguments Thursday.

Haynes said the appellate judges would do their best to render a decision in the near future.

NEW ORLEANS – Gov. Jeff Landry caught city officials off guard in October when he abruptly ordered Louisiana state troopers, along with officials from the Department of Wildlife and Fisheries and other state agencies, to close homeless encampments around the city, sending unhoused residents to a newly sanctioned site on Earhart Boulevard.

The move, officials said at the time, threatened to disrupt the city’s long-term plan to get hundreds of people living on the street into permanent housing.

But Landry thought the strategy was taking too long and feared that the existing encampments — concentrated in tourism-heavy areas around the Superdome and French Quarter — would reflect poorly on the city, which was preparing to take the national spotlight as host of the Super Bowl.

So the city offered an olive branch: It could speed up the rehousing strategy — through a multi-agency initiative called Home for Good — but it needed help from the state. About a week after the state’s raids, Councilwoman Lesli Harris’ office sent a proposal to one of Landry’s aides. If the state could kick in $8 million, the city and its partners could house the 375 people currently living in eight encampments across the city.

The city’s ask was co-signed by Office of Homeless Services and Strategies director Nate Fields, New Orleans Health Department director Dr. Jenifer Avegno and New Orleans City Councilwoman Helena Moreno, who were all cc’ed on the email.

“With State coordination and true collaboration to end homelessness, everyone could be on the same page and achieve the same goal of providing improved quality of life, permanent housing, and wrap-around services,” Moreno said in a statement at the time. “I hope that the Governor gives strong consideration to my recommendations and we can work to move forward together.”

But nothing came of it. And this week, Landry again ordered New Orleans encampments cleared, including the formerly state-sanctioned site on Earhart Boulevard. On Wednesday, two days after the announcement, the state moved in. Encampment residents were sent to a new temporary shelter, located in a warehouse on France Road, near the Industrial Canal.

Gov. Jeff Landry has authorized an emergency shelter for the unhoused in New Orleans, located on France Road. He opted against approving a city plan that included permanent housing. (Jake Rosenberg/WVUE-TV Fox 8)

The 200-bed “Transitional Center,” as the state refers to it, will be open for at least two months. Landry’s administration promises it will provide three meals a day, basic medical care and support for finding housing — all of which comes at a high cost to Louisiana taxpayers. According to a draft plan submitted by the state’s contractor, The Workforce Group, 60 days of shelter operations will cost the state $11.4 million. An optional 30-day extension will bring that price tag up to $16 million, double the city’s ask.

The higher price points in The Workforce Group’s contract has placed its relationship with state leaders past and present under a microscope.

The Workforce Group is a subsidiary of the Lemoine Co., a Lafayette-based, family-owned conglomerate. Its ties to state government include a history of bipartisan contributions to elected officials and political action committees, according to state Ethics Administration campaign finance records.

Since 2019, the Lemoine Co. has given $60,000 to the Republican Party of Louisiana. While the business has supported some Democratic candidates, including former Gov. Kathleen Babineaux Blanco, it has not given directly to the state party.

Contributions from company founders and brothers Lenny and Tim Lemoine lean toward the GOP, as do donations from their nephew, Seth Lemoine, who leads the Workforce Group.

The Lemoine family’s connection to Republican power brokers in Louisiana is arguably stronger than their financial ties. Seth Lemoine is the stepson of Eddie Rispone, the Baton Rouge businessman who ran unsuccessfully for governor and was a key backer of Gov. Jeff Landry in his 2023 election win.

Seth Lemoine, who donated $10,000 to his stepfather’s campaign, did not respond to a call and email seeking information on how The Workforce Group positioned itself to receive the emergency homeless shelter contract.

On its website, The Workforce Group lists experience in disaster recovery, insurance claims, staffing and technology. Its background includes providing homeless services through a contract with the Louisiana Housing Corp.

After the August 2016 flood, The Workforce Group managed Louisiana Shelter at Home, a program that helped families stay in their homes while repairing damages. Like its current deal for the New Orleans homeless shelter, the contract went through the Governor’s Office of Homeland Security and Emergency Preparedness.

The quick procurement for the New Orleans shelter came courtesy of Landry’s Jan. 1 emergency declaration following the Bourbon Street terrorist attack. The declaration empowered the administration to quickly ink the emergency shelter contract without having to seek competitive bids for the job.

The governor’s press secretary did not respond when asked via email whether other companies were qualified to deliver the work called for in the contract.

Another Lemoine Co. subsidiary, Lemoine Disaster Recovery, was awarded a $122 million state contract in 2022 for the Restore Louisiana program, which helps residents rebuild or repair homes after the disasters in 2020-21. Its contract was set to expire on July 31 this year before a legislative committee voted Friday to extend the term for two years at no additional cost.

A relocation notice posted in front of a makeshift shelter at the Earhart encampment Monday, Jan. 13, 2025. Those living at the underpass will be transported Wednesday to the Transitional Center. (John Gray/Verite News)

The $8 million ask

On Nov. 4, a member of Councilwoman Lesli Harris’ staff sent a proposal to JT Hannan, the southeast director of Landry’s Office of Intergovernmental Affairs. The proposal was simple: It asked the state to provide $8 million to support the city’s existing and ongoing efforts to get unhoused individuals off the street and into housing so that the city could close the remaining encampments by the end of January 2025 – its original timeline.

The Nov. 4 proposal from Harris’ office touted the success of the city’s Home for Good program, which, at that point in time, had housed 166 individuals, or nearly one-third of the unhoused population living on the street, and, as a result, was able to decommission seven encampments. The proposal noted that over 90% remained in permanent housing.

However, city officials and housing advocates warned that the State Police’s October sweeps could postpone their January timeline by pushing people out of known encampments into surrounding neighborhoods, where caseworkers may struggle to connect with them.

An additional $8 million from the state would supercharge the city’s efforts to get the remaining 375 individuals living in encampments across the city into permanent housing by the end of January 2025, ahead of the Super Bowl in February, a win-win for the city and the state.

“With the expectation of reimbursement from the state, the city would have been able to dedicate the additional $8 million from the general fund,” Harris told Verite News, noting that the city had already dedicated a significant portion of its 2025 budget – including an additional $10 million to the Office of Homeless Services and Strategies – to addressing housing and homelessness issues.

Ten days later, on Nov. 14, Hannan sent a bullet point list of updates for New Orleans city officials on the state’s current efforts to address homelessness among them, the fact that the state would no longer be taking their $8 million funding request into consideration.

“The supplemental funding requests that were sent to the state were tabled after Councilmember Leslie [sic] Harris’ parish wide measure on dedicating funds to housing was passed on Nov 5, 2024,” Hannan wrote, referring to a recently-passed measure to create a Housing Trust Fund. That measure, which dedicates 2% of the city’s general fund toward affordable housing initiatives, does not take effect until 2026.

Hannan did not respond to a request for comment.

The Workforce Group’s budget for 60-90 days of shelter operations is not only millions above what the city proposed, it is also higher than the costs of operating some of the city’s existing shelters for a full year, according to sources familiar with their budgets.

The city’s 346-bed low-barrier shelter, located in the former Veterans Affairs hospital on Gravier Street and run by Odyssey House, operates on a $6.5 million annual budget. The New Orleans Mission, which provides 600 beds across multiple campuses, runs on a $10 million annual budget.

The bulk of the Transitional Center budget goes toward standing up a new shelter. There’s a $1 million line item dedicated to purchasing warehouse subflooring, $91,980 for laundry equipment and $167,115 for eight restroom trailers with six stalls each. The proposal also lists a $685,125 fee for site buildout and set up – and another $453,600 for site teardown.

However, there are also significant labor costs. The Workforce Group proposal includes more than $2.2 million in labor costs for 60 days. This includes two shift supervisors, five housing specialists, four crisis counselors, as well as a data analyst, two medical services coordinators, eight drivers and 16 staff members dedicated to security, safety and fire watch, for a total of 39 employees.

The hourly rates listed for many of these jobs are significantly higher than the rates for comparable jobs in New Orleans.

The Workforce Group proposal lists an hourly rate of $115 for shift supervisors at the facility. The equivalent at the city’s low-barrier shelter is under $30 per hour, and at the New Orleans Mission, it is closer to $15 per hour.

Similar discrepancies emerge for other labor categories: A data analyst employed through the city’s health department may earn around $30 per hour, but the Workforce proposal lists an hourly rate of $85 per hour for an equivalent position. Housing specialists tend to earn between $20 and $30 per hour in the city, while the same position is listed at about $80 per hour in the proposal. Crisis counselors employed at the low-barrier shelter or at the New Orleans Mission may earn anywhere from $20 to $40 per hour; The Workforce Group listed its crisis counselor rates as $100 per hour.

There are also discrepancies in security costs. At the New Orleans Mission, an unarmed security guard typically would be paid anywhere from $15 to $20 per hour. The Workforce Group proposal proposes hiring eight unarmed security guards at a rate of $50 per hour.

The rates increase for armed security personnel, which the proposal lists at a rate of $117 per hour. The standard (non-mounted, non-motorcycle) rates for a detailed NOPD officer range from $45 to $76 per hour.

‘Serious concerns’ about conditions at state shelter

Despite the significant money being spent on the transitional center, some worry that the center, which is located inside an industrial warehouse, does not meet minimum habitability standards.

Harris, who visited the center on Wednesday, identified a bevy of issues plaguing the center on its first day of operation.

“The shelter is in urgent need of lined cots and additional bedding to ensure warmth, as the building itself was extremely cold,” Harris said. “A sewer line issue has made the indoor bathrooms and showers unusable, forcing individuals to rely on just two outdoor portable toilets. Additionally, the recreation center with televisions was not yet set up, and there were no computers or phones available for residents to contact their caseworkers or loved ones — essential resources for those facing significant displacement.”

She also said that critical wraparound services, like mental health support and case management, were not yet operational.

“While staff on-site emphasized the quick turnaround in setting up the shelter, it raises serious concerns about why residents were moved in before the facility was ready,” Harris said.

The shelter has also irked politicians who represent the area, who say their constituents were not notified in advance. In a joint statement, state Sen. Joe Bouie and state Rep. Matthew Willard, both New Orleans Democrats, said they have concerns about the shelter’s impact on residents of Gentilly, which has France Road as its eastern boundary.

“It is our understanding that none of the neighborhood associations adjacent to the property on France Road were consulted prior to announcing this temporary transition plan for the unhoused population in New Orleans,” their statement reads. “Our primary concern is to ensure that the integrity and quality of life for those residents and their neighborhoods be maintained.”

The lawmakers said they have requested details on the shelter from the governor’s office. In a text message, Willard said he would be meeting with Landry’s staff Thursday afternoon.

The city, meanwhile, is continuing its efforts to house the street homeless population, and officials still hope to meet the end-of-January deadline.

“Despite delays caused by state-led sweeps in the fall, the program has made significant progress: 275 individuals have been housed from inner-core encampments, with eight encampment sites closed and rehousing completed at an additional six sites throughout downtown,” reads a press release from the city, sent Monday. “The City looks forward to leveraging state support to strengthen its approach and help create sustainable, permanent housing solutions.”

Lost in the furor over whether Congress can agree on a stopgap spending bill to avoid a government shutdown is another rift over the Kids Online Safety Act (KOSA), which even has some powerful Republicans at odds with one another.

The bill purports to hold social media companies accountable for cyberbullying over their platforms, and its supporters include parents whose children have taken their own lives or were harmed as a result of social media harassment.

The KOSA proposal, sponsored by U.S. Sen. Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn., easily cleared the chamber in a 91-3 vote in late July. Yet it has not advanced to a vote in the U.S. House of Representatives, and its proponents have turned up the pressure on Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., as of late to advance the bill before year’s end. Republicans who’ve rallied behind the bill and urged its passage include Elon Musk, Donald Trump Jr., U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas and Arkansas Gov. Sarah Huckabeee Sanders.

Yet Johnson has remained steadfast in his decision not to rush the act through in its current form. Pressed by reporters in the Capitol hallways in recent days, the speaker insists he still stands behind the spirit of the proposal. He was asked a week ago if KOSA would be approved before year’s end.

“I don’t see that as being likely at this point,” Johnson said.

The speaker has frequently spoken favorably about the need to address children’s safety online, spokeswoman Athina Lawson told the Illuminator in an interview Wednesday. The KOSA bill has been referred to a House committee and will continue to move through the legislative process, she added.

Blackburn believes more than parliamentary procedure is holding up her bill, however. In a joint statement with U.S. Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., Issued Tuesday, she was very blunt in her criticism of House leadership.

“To be clear: the blockade against safeguards and accountability was about padding Big Tech’s financial bottom line, not principle,” the senators said.

Blackburn and Blumenthal also referenced the suicide of 15-year-old Jesse Harrington in October. He took his own life “after becoming addicted to Instagram, Snapchat and TikTok, while the House sat on its hands at the behest of Mark Zuckerberg,” they wrote.

“The House’s active obstruction of the Kids Online Safety Act will tragically result in the deaths of even more children like Jesse,” their statement said.

Johnson’s specific concerns within the bill include its potential to impinge on First Amendment free speech rights and a “duty of care” provision that defines what social media companies can be held accountable if young users are harmed through their content.

Lawson noted that Johnson has held more than 20 meetings with KOSA advocates and is committed to working on a consensus solution to the issues he has with the bill.

Maureen Molak is among the KOSA supporters who’s met with the speaker and his staff multiple times. Her 16-year-old son David took his life in 2016 after he was the target of bullying on Instagram. Molak said the company did nothing to curtail the abuse even after his friends reported it online.

From left: U.S. Rep. Tony Gonzales, R-Texas, Maurine Molak, and U.S. House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., are pictured at an April 2024 fundraiser for Gonzales in San Antonio. (Courtesy Maureen Molak)

In an interview this week with the Illuminator, Molak said she personally met Johnson in April during an invitation-only Republican fundraiser for U.S. Rep. Tony Gonzales, R-Texas, in San Antonio.

“I asked him if he would commit to advancing KOSA, passing KOSA this year,” she said. “ … And he said, ‘Oh, yes, you know, we’re going to advance KOSA. It is so needed. Thank you so much for your advocacy. Keep it up, because what kids are experiencing online is terrible, and we’ve got to do something about it.’”

Molak said the Senate’s overwhelming bipartisan support left her feeling confident the measure would become law. But as months went by with no action in the House, she met with Johnson’s staff and others on Capitol Hill to get an explanation. Molak said she considered the hangups mentioned in those meetings fairly minor.

“There’s just a lot of powerful people who are in support of this bill,” she said, “and if you have an issue with something, you don’t just dig your heels in and not come out with a solution.”

Molak said she was aware that Meta has proposed a $10 billion artificial intelligence data center in Louisiana, but she stopped short of saying it has anything to do with Johnson’s stance on KOSA.

Lawson, the speaker’s spokeswoman, also dismissed any connection between the project and the legislation’s current status.

Other members of the House Republican Conference have KOSA concerns similar to Johnson’s, given its potential to squelch conservative viewpoints on social media.

Their opposition to KOSA is mirrored on the other end of the political spectrum.

Voices from the LGBTQ community fear the guidelines could limit their expression online, and the American Civil Liberties Union feels the legislation would control what people can access online and censor protected speech

Molak said there was hope that the KOSA provisions would find their way onto the stopgap spending bill lawmakers need to approve in order to prevent a government shutdown this weekend. But Johnson’s stance and the precarious status of the continuing resolution needed to keep the federal government afloat make that scenario extremely unlikely.

President-elect Donald Trump has been noticeably silent on the matter, something that Molak said she has noticed.

“If Trump was able to weigh in on this right now, and we were able to get it passed this year, it sure would make him a hero,” she said, “because it would be one less thing the Republicans would have to worry about next year.”

Louisiana set a new record for the first day of early voting, slightly exceeding its total from four years ago when officials had to take measures for the coronavirus pandemic.

A total of 176,882 voters cast ballots Friday for the Nov. 5 election, according to the Louisiana Secretary of State’s office. That’s 1.3% more when compared with 174,533 votes submitted on day one of early voting in the 2020 election.

This year’s early voting period in Louisiana ends Oct. 29, with polls open 8:30 a.m. to 6 p.m. daily except for Sundays.

Early voting has been available in Louisiana since 2008. Turnout by party has historically leaned heavily in favor of Democrats, who have accounted for roughly half or more of the state’s early voters in each of the past four presidential elections.

However, Republicans held a slight edge on day one of early voting this year. They totaled 75,455 votes to 74,311 for Democrats. “Other” voters accounted for 27,166 votes.

Another early trend: Far more women voted early than men in Louisiana, with 102,178 showing up on day one. That was 31% more than their male counterparts.

Black early voter turnout in Louisiana was down on day one from four years ago. They cast one-fourth of all ballots Friday compared with nearly one-third in 2020. Over the entire early period in 2020, Black voters made up nearly 30% of all voters.

The high mark over an entire early voting period in Louisiana was set four years ago with 986,428 for the presidential race between Joe Biden and Donald Trump.

Louisiana governor’s elections have drawn far fewer people during the early voting period when compared to presidential election years. Just less than 369,000 showed up for the October 2023 primary that Jeff Landry won outright.

In the much closer 2019 governor’s election, more than 503,000 voters participated in the runoff between John Bel Edwards and Eddie Rispone, up from approximately 386,000 in the primary.

Louisiana Illuminator is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Louisiana Illuminator maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Greg LaRose for questions: info@lailluminator.com. Follow Louisiana Illuminator on Facebook and X.

By the time Republican U.S. Rep. Clay Higgins faces a censure vote in the House of Representatives, it’s highly likely that voters of Louisiana’s 3rd Congressional District will have resoundingly elected him to a fourth term.

It’s a sad reflection on the large section of Cajun Country that Higgins represents, especially because his constituents would be hard pressed to cite specific legislation he’s sponsored to benefit the district through six years in office.

Higgins drew quick condemnation, especially from members of the Congressional Black Caucus, for regurgitating misinformation about Haitian immigrants living and working in Springfield, Ohio – and doing so as legally admitted residents to the United States.

In case you missed Higgins’ since-deleted post, it went like this:

“Lol. These Haitians are wild,” Higgins wrote. “Eating pets, vudu [sic], nastiest country in the western hemisphere, cults, slapstick gangsters … but damned if they don’t feel all sophisticated now, filing charges against our President and VP.”

If you didn’t know, immigration paperwork is lengthy and expensive, which some might also describe as sophisticated.

Higgins continued:

“All these thugs better get their mind right and their ass out of our country before January 20th,” Higgins concluded, noting the day the next U.S. president will be sworn into office.

The congressman wrote his post Wednesday on X, formerly Twitter, after an activist group called for the arrest of the GOP ticket – former President Donald Trump and his pick for vice president, Sen. J.D. Vance, who represents the people of Springfield and the rest of Ohio. The Republican nominees’ ticket’s continued repetition of claims that have widely and officially debunked rises to a criminal offense, according to the Haitian Bridge Alliance.

In a subsequent interview with The Hill after deleting his post, he dialed back his diatribe, suggesting it was directed at Haitian gangs — and not the country itself. Yet in a statement to CNN’s Anderson Cooper, the congressman doubled down on his original statement.

“It’s all true,” Higgins said. “I can put up another controversial post tomorrow if you want me to. I mean, we do have freedom of speech. I’ll say what I want.”

“It’s not a big deal to me,” the congressman added. “It’s like something stuck to the bottom of my boot. Just scrape it off and move on with my life.”

Perhaps if anyone else, anywhere else, had posted the same hate-filled, racist rant, the outrage would have made an appreciable dent in their approval ratings. But thanks to deflection and defense from his fellow GOP members from Louisiana, Higgins’ online braying was chalked up as just “Clay being Clay.”

“His comments were incendiary, but it’s unclear if he’ll pay any price whatsoever,” University of Louisiana at Monroe political scientist Pearson Cross told Louisiana Radio Network. “Republican leadership is not going to be looking to censure one of their own members when, in fact, the vice president (nominee) from their party is kind of on record as saying similar statements about Haitians, at least in regard to how they treat their dogs and cats.”

Reaction from GOP leaders in the Louisiana delegation lends credence to Cross’ opinion.

U.S. House Speaker Mike Johnson steered well clear of condemning Higgins, calling him “a dear friend” and “very principled man” when reporters asked for his response to the X post.

“He said he went to the back and he prayed about it, and he regretted it, and he pulled the post down,” Johnson told reporters. “That’s what you want the gentleman to do. I’m sure he probably regrets some of the language he used. But, you know, we move forward. We believe in redemption.”

The speaker’s reluctance to bash his colleague is not surprising, but it’s disappointing he made no effort to condemn the message. Johnson has his own track record for attacking the marginalized, including his actions to oppose to same-sex marriage and laws intended to protect the LGBTQ+ community. In this light, it’s understandable that he gave Higgins a free pass for his excessive display of racism.

Another of Louisiana’s own, Majority Leader Steve Scalise, also rushed to Higgins’ defense, objecting on the House floor Wednesday when Congressional Black Caucus leader, Rep. Steven Horsford, R-Nevada, offered a motion for a censure vote. Keep in mind a congressional censure is merely a statement of disapproval, without any real punitive consequences.

“I object to the motion, and if we want to go through every comment from the other side, we’ll be happy to do it,” Scalise told the presiding speaker, Rep. Jay Olbernote, R-California.

Again, there was no rebuke from Scalise, not even the slightest mention that Higgins’ X post was baseless or in poor taste. The majority leader instead played the “what about” card, promising to find some Democratic transgression that apparently would offset Higgins’ blatant indiscretion.

Just a week earlier, Scalise called out Vice President Kamala Harris for “incendiary” language that he said inspired assassination attempts on former President Donald Trump.

“Kamala needs to stop saying President Trump is a threat to democracy,” Scalise said. “There are unhinged people that are taking that as a call to go and try to eliminate President Trump.”

President Joe Biden also drew Scalise’s scorn for saying, “It’s time to put Trump in a bull’s-eye.”

“The president of the United States said that, and now two different people have taken it as a call to action,” Scalise said.

If we’re going to engage Scalise in his game of “what about,” then you would think he would reprimand Higgins in no uncertain terms for his quite blatant directive that Haitians get “their ass out of our country before January 20th.”

A list of Trump’s comparable verbal grenades that merit similar denouncement would take more space than this commentary allows. Just for starters, some Jan. 6 rioters have since testified in court that they believed they were following Trump’s instructions when they breached the Capitol perimeter that day.

With a potential censure vote on hold until Congress returns in mid-November, it wouldn’t be surprising if Higgins, fresh off a big reelection win, were to turn the entire situation into a badge of honor — one that certainly would receive plaudits from his supporters back home.

Until conservatives in Louisiana’s 3rd District and beyond decide racism, xenophobia and threats aren’t among their core values, Higgins and others who share his myopic worldview can expect a long tenure in Washington.

Louisiana Illuminator is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Louisiana Illuminator maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Greg LaRose for questions: info@lailluminator.com. Follow Louisiana Illuminator on Facebook and X.

U.S. House Speaker Mike Johnson and his wife were at former President Donald Trump’s home in Florida when the Republican presidential nominee was targeted a few miles away in an apparent assassination attempt Sunday afternoon, according to a post from Johnson on X, formerly known as Twitter.

Trump was playing golf at his course near Mar-a-Lago when U.S. Secret Service agents thwarted an assassination attempt, the second against the former president in the past nine weeks. Ryan Wesley Routh, 58, was apprehended a short distance away after attempting to flee, according to authorities.

“Kelly and I are departing Mar-a-Lago, where we just spent a few hours with President Trump and are thanking God for protecting him today — once again,” Johnson wrote. “No leader in American history has endured more attacks and remained so strong and resilient. He is unstoppable.”

Johnson’s post included a picture of himself and his wife with Trump at Mar-a-Lago. It wasn’t immediately clear when the photo was taken.

Kelly and I are departing Mar-a-Lago, where we just spent a few hours with President Trump and are thanking God for protecting him today—once again. No leader in American history has endured more attacks and remained so strong and resilient. He is unstoppable. pic.twitter.com/43Rm8SPGU8
— Speaker Mike Johnson (@SpeakerJohnson) September 15, 2024

House Majority Leader Steve Scalse also shared reaction Sunday to Trump’s apparent near-brush with an assassin. The Republican from Jefferson survived a 2017 mass shooting at a GOP congressional baseball practice at a playground in Virginia.

Scalise has been critical of the Secret Service after Trump was clipped in his ear during a July 13 shooting at his rally in Butler, Pennsylvania. Agents returned fire and killed the shooter, 20-year-old James Matthew Crooks. An internal investigation found glaring weaknesses with the Secret Service protection plan in place for Trump’s rally.

“Secret Service must up their level of protection of him to their FULL capabilities — including expanding the perimeter,” Scalise posted on X.

Authorities just acknowledged if President Trump was president, they’d do more to protect him.
This must change.
There have been TWO attempts on Trump’s life.
Secret Service must up their level of protection of him to their FULL capabilities—including expanding the perimeter. pic.twitter.com/1EuT7HLEoS
— Steve Scalise (@SteveScalise) September 15, 2024

U.S. Rep. Clay Higgins, R-Lafayette, sent a vague single-word message to his followers on X following Sunday afternoon’s news from Florida: “Hold.”

Hold.
— Rep. Clay Higgins (@RepClayHiggins) September 16, 2024

Louisiana Illuminator is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Louisiana Illuminator maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Greg LaRose for questions: info@lailluminator.com. Follow Louisiana Illuminator on Facebook and X.

A Baton Rouge judge who’s been removed from conducting trials while under investigation for alleged misconduct has accepted a hefty pay stipend just before her suspension.

The same bonus was made available to all Louisiana judges, thanks to the largesse of legislators who’ve routinely boosted the judiciary’s pay. This one’s been under scrutiny because judges can receive it before doing barely a month’s worth of work in the fiscal year that started July 1.

The Louisiana Supreme Court disqualified 19th Judicial District Court Judge Eboni Johnson Rose on an interim basis. In a 5-2 vote on Aug. 6, justices took action based upon the recommendation of the Louisiana Judiciary Commission, which is made up of Supreme Court justices and has received multiple complaints about Rose.

An official with the state Supreme Court confirmed that Rose received a stipend of $14,691 on July 31. The Louisiana Legislature approved a one-time payment for all city, parish, district court and appellate judges as well as Supreme Court justices.

Rose has not responded to messages left at her court office and with her campaign. An extended investigation could cast a pall over her run for a seat of the state’s First Circuit Court of Appeal. Rose, a Democrat, is facing Kelly Balfour, a Republican, in the Nov. 5 election.

A potential permanent ouster of Rose could break up a family triad on the 19th Judicial District Court. Her father is Judge Don Johnson, and her uncle is Chief Judge Ron Johnson. .

According to WAFB-TV, higher courts have overturned Rose’s rulings because of mistakes made during trial and sentencing. They include allowing a jury to continue deliberating and change its mind after its members found a defendant not guilty. After Rose issued a conviction , another judge declared a mistrial.

In another trial, Rose convicted a Baton Rouge police officer of “misdemeanor” malfeasance, although the crime is designated a felony in state law.

Rose has also been engaged in a war of words with East Baton Rouge Parish District Attorney Hillar Moore.

WAFB obtained documents in which Rose, who is Black, implied that Moore’s office targeted Black people and wanted to “stick every n—er in jail.”

Associate Justices William Crain and Jay McCallum wrote concurring opinions in which they said Rose should be removed from trials without pay. But because state law doesn’t allow that option, she will continue to receive her salary while the investigation takes place.

Rose will have to pay the court for the cost of her investigation, which the order said “shall be resolved by the Commission within six months, unless good cause is shown.”

The stipend Rose accepted came out of a protracted fight among state lawmakers who had first been asked to consider a permanent pay raise for judges. That proposal fell flat politically because a salary increase for public school teachers had already been snubbed.

Instead, legislators settled on a stipend for judges on the condition they all complete a workload study to determine if too few or too many judges are assigned to each district and appellate court. Gov. Jeff Landry vetoed that study requirement but kept the stipend intact.

An argument among Louisiana Judiciary Compensation Commission members followed over whether judges should be able to receive their stipends up front, in installments or at the end of the fiscal year. Those in favor of an immediate lump sum payment won the day, allowing the stipends to go out in July — the first month of the state’s fiscal year.

Among those who accepted the stipend was James Genovese, right as he was leaving his associate justice seat on the Louisiana Supreme Court to become the new president of Northwestern State University.

Genovese brushed off suggestions that he hadn’t earned the stipend after resigned from the court within the first month of the fiscal year.

“I have served 29 years as a judge,” Genovese said.”I’ve earned it.”

Louisiana Illuminator is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Louisiana Illuminator maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Greg LaRose for questions: info@lailluminator.com. Follow Louisiana Illuminator on Facebook and X.

The Democratic National Convention heard the stories of three women Monday night who struggled to obtain reproductive health care after the U.S. Supreme Court overruled the 49-year-old Roe v. Wade decision in 2022.

They included Kaitlyn Joshua of Baton Rouge, who shared that she was refused treatment for her miscarriage because doctors feared the criminal consequences of Louisiana’s strict abortion ban. State law allows abortions in instances when a pregnant person’s life is in jeopardy or they risk permanent damage to a vital organ, but physicians have said the law lacks enough clarity to ensure they won’t face prosecution.

Joshua was unable to obtain prenatal care during the first trimester of her pregnancy, which she said her doctor attributed to the state’s abortion law.

When Joshua went into labor 11 weeks into her pregnancy, she said she was turned away from two emergency rooms. Doctors use the same drug to treat miscarriages as they do abortions, leaving some caregivers to fear they could face criminal consequences under Louisiana law even if they provide legal treatment for a miscarriage.

“I was in pain, bleeding so much my husband feared for my life,” Joshua said. “No woman should experience what I endured, but too many have.”

Also speaking on the first night of the convention were Hadley Duvall and Amanda Zurawski, who with Joshua have actively campaigned for Vice President Kamala Harris.

Duvall has spoken out frequently about the strict abortion law in her home state of Kentucky. When she was 12, Duvall was raped and impregnated by her stepfather. She eventually miscarried and, now in her 20s, remains critical of the narrow exceptions to Kentucky’s abortion ban that, like Louisiana’s, doesn’t allow the procedure in instances of rape and incest.

Zurawski experienced a pregnancy that became nonviable after 18 weeks, but she was unable to access abortion care for three days — and only then because she had developed a life-threatening sepsis infection.

Zurawski joined a lawsuit against the state of Texas over its abortion ban. It argued the law, just like a comparable measure in Louisiana, was too vague with regards to its language about when abortion is permissible to save someone’s life. The Texas Supreme Court ultimately ruled against Zurawski and other plaintiffs, without adding any clarity to the law.

Louisiana Illuminator is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Louisiana Illuminator maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Greg LaRose for questions: info@lailluminator.com. Follow Louisiana Illuminator on Facebook and X.

GRETNA, La. — A Jefferson Parish judge said she intends to review records from the district attorney’s office that were withheld from a Missouri man who alleges authorities bungled the investigation into his son’s 2017 death. The judge’s action signals that details of the probe, kept secret for years, could be brought to light.

The records Bob Arthur has been provided show a pattern of police ineptitude, he said, bringing him no closer to finding justice or closure. He has also been intent on correcting what he says is a false narrative investigators fashioned and from which they have refused to divert.

“Immediately they said Shawn was having a drug and alcohol party with multiple people present” the night he died, Bob Arthur said in a 2020 interview with WDSU-TV. “And of course, we indicated to them this was not Shawn.”

Arthur, a retired insurance investigator who lives in Missouri, has pressed the Jefferson Parish Sheriff’s Office and District Attorney Paul Connick for answers since they refused to charge and prosecute the couple who conspired to slip drugs into his 40-year-old son’s drink at his Metairie apartment. Coroner Dr. Gerry Cvitanovich initially ruled Shawn Arthur’s death accidental, the result of drinking too much, before later switching it to “undetermined.”

Federal prosecutors convicted Randy Schenck for human trafficking and identity theft in 2019 and sentenced to 25 years in prison. His accomplice, Dominique Berry, claimed she was a trafficking victim and testified against Schenck. She was sentenced to 45 months.

The core of the federal case against the two came from a fact-finding mission Bob Arthur personally spearheaded with help from investigative journalist David Lohr and two private detectives. Through police records and interviews, they pieced together a cross-country string of incidents where Berry arranged to meet men online for a date — similar to how she met Shawn Arthur — drug them at Schenck’s direction and then rob the unconscious victim.

Berry admitted in a recorded jailhouse interview in Georgia with Lohr and a private eye that she had drugged Shawn Arthur so that she and Schenck and other accomplices could rob him.

Despite the overwhelming evidence against Schenck and Berry, a Jefferson sheriff’s investigator refused to treat Shawn Arthur’s death as a homicide.

And despite several pleas from Bob Arthur, Connick declined to bring the case before a grand jury to let its members decide if he should bring state charges against the suspects.

Attorneys with the Tulane First Amendment Clinic filed a lawsuit on Bob Arthur’s behalf against Connick in January after the DA’s office sent him a bill for more than $18,000 for copies of the investigative records he had requested. The cost was $5,560 if he wanted digital copies of more than 37,000 pages the district attorney produced. The cost was eventually waived after the Tulane Clinic filed its lawsuit.

In addition to seeking public records the DA’s office has yet to provide to Arthur, the suit also challenges the initial fees. The attorneys argue they are exorbitant and could deter the public from asking the district attorney for records they’re entitled to receive.

“These are public documents that are created with our taxpayer dollars. They should be provided for actual cost. (The district attorney) shouldn’t be getting an income from public records requesters,” Tulane First Amendment Clinic attorney Melia Cerrato said Thursday after a hearing in the case.

Family knows more records exist

Among the records the lawsuit seeks are documents that would detail deliberations within Connick’s office when prosecutors decided whether or not to bring Shawn Arthur’s case before a grand jury. Bob Arthur also wants the privilege log, which lists documents the DA’s office has refused to provide, with explanations of why they should be exempted from Louisiana’s public records law.

Judge June Berry Darensburg granted a request from Arthur’s lawyers to review those records and keep them under seal, meaning they will not become part of the public case documents.

Richard Stanley, the district attorney’s lawyer in the case, told the judge those records would be provided within five days. The judge said she intends to review them within 15 days.

As for other records Arthur wants produced, Stanley said in court they do not exist.

When asked after the hearing about other records he believes are being withheld, Arthur said they should include email correspondence between the DA and coroner’s office during the investigation into his son’s death. Lohr, the investigative journalist, and WDSU-TV reviewed copies of those emails the coroner’s office provided in response to a public records request.

Arthur insists the coroner and sheriff did nothing to avoid what he considers a conflict of interest between the agencies that rendered them unable to conduct a fair investigation into his son’s death. Dr. Marianna Eserman, the forensic pathologist who performed the original autopsy on Shawn Arthur, was married at the time to an investigator on the case, Sgt. Travis Eserman with the sheriff’s office.

The sheriff’s office maintains Sgt. Eserman’s involvement in the case was minor. Police reports show that Travis Eserman interviewed Shawn Arthur’s former fiance, and Bob Arthur said the detective also took part in two interviews with his family at the sheriff’s office.

Shawn Arthur, photographed in New Orleans. (Courtesy Arthur family)

Sgt. Esserman also met Bob Arthur at his hotel to collect four empty capsules the family found at the apartment. After Shawn’s body was removed, investigators allowed Bob Arthur and his youngest son, Travis, inside. Among their findings were four more open drug capsules under a newspaper.

“How did they miss the drugs that were laying on the floor when we lifted up the paper? There’s capsules right there on the floor,” Travis Arthur told WDSU-TV.

One of the emails from the coroner’s office stated there was a conflict of interest policy that did not allow Marianna Esserman to perform an autopsy on a case in which her husband was part of the investigation team. The coroner’s office was not notified that Shawn Arthur’s case was a possible homicide, the email said.

Among the records the DA has provided to Bob Arthur is a 52-page supplemental investigative report from the sheriff’s office by Detective Kurt Zeagler, who led the investigation into Shawn’s death. Throughout the report, Zeagler paints the Arthurs as uncooperative and attempts to poke holes in the family’s investigation that became the basis of federal indictments and felony convictions.

“It’s obvious he has egg on his face” for a mishandled investigation, Bob Arthur said about Zeagler’s viewpoint in the report.

In Zeagler’s words, Bob Arthur used “a contentious tone” in multiple emails in three days after Shawn’s death as well as during in-person meetings in the days that followed. Questions for the Arthurs about Shawn’s alcohol and drug use “fell upon deaf ears,” the detective wrote.

To support their narrative of Shawn Arthur being a frequent drinker, detectives tracked Shawn’s debit card use prior to his death to show a pattern of purchases at bars, convenience stores and other places that sold alcohol. Bob Arthur said he and his sons told detectives Shawn was not a heavy drinker and never used illegal drugs.

Zeagler’s report also mentions Shawn’s use of a dating app and chat discussions with women about his sexual preferences, neither of which Bob Arthur said have anything to do with the cause of his son’s death.

Detective sows doubt in jailhouse interview

The detective also characterized the private detective’s jailhouse interviews with Berry as “disconcerting” and that her answers were based on “generalizations.” The Arthurs provided journalists with audio copies of the interviews, in which Berry admitted she had been arrested in California for drugging and robbing a man she met online. Zeagler’s report confirms this admission.

Zeagler also wrote that Berry wasn’t aware she was being recorded during three days of interviews. Like Louisiana, Georgia law allows recording in secret as long as one party to the conversation consents. Courts have ruled that the interviewer can be that one person, plus Lohr clearly identified himself as a journalist to Berry.

Lohr was the first to report on Berry and Schenck’s multi-state series of crimes, with 11 victims in seven states, in a HuffPost article. The Jefferson coroner’s reclassification of Shawn Arthur’s death from accidental to underdetermined came two weeks after Lohr’s report was published.

Detectives were able to identify Berry early in their investigation based on a fingerprint left on a liquor bottle in Shawn Arthur’s apartment but were not able to locate her.

“It should be noted that Berry is a documented prostitute that operated under numerous identities and traveled extensively, which hampered the investigator’s ability to locate and interview Berry relative to this investigation,” Zeagler wrote.

After learning through Arthur’s investigation where Berry was being held, Zeagler went to Georgia to conduct his own interview with her in April 2018. Berry told Zeagler she did not remember being with Shawn Arthur the night he died, according to his investigative report. She did acknowledge in detail the steps she and Schenck used to drug and rob victims she met online. They included the specific drugs placed in capsules that were slipped in their drinks.

Similar capsules with traces of the same drugs were found in Arthur’s apartment, police tests discovered. An amended autopsy report confirmed the presence of those drugs in Shawn’s system and said they were a “contributory” cause of his death. Pathologist Marianna Eserman explained that, in this instance, “contributory meant the drugs had between .001% and 99% to do with the death of Shawn Arthur,” Zeagler’s report said.

Bob Arthur has said the coroner’s amended report leaves enough wiggle room for the sheriff’s office to stick by its story that Shawn’s drinking led to his death.

Trial could explore records search process

In Thursday’s court hearing, which Bob Arthur traveled from Missouri to attend, Judge Darensburg implied the District Attorney Connick’s waiver of public records fees might settle the matter of the charges being excessive.

Cerrato told the judge if it’s determined that the district attorney’s office withheld records from Arthur, knowingly or accidentally, she could potentially put employees on the witness stand in a trial. Darensburg suggested a deposition of those employees could produce the answers Cerrato wants, expressing reluctance over the cost to the public for a full trial.

Any costs for the trial would fall solely on the district attorney’s side because the Tulane First Amendment Clinic is not charging Bob Arthur for its services. In response to questions from the Illuminator, Connick’s office said via email that Stanley, a New Orleans-based attorney, is paid $350 an hour to handle various matters for the district attorney.

Cerrato said it’s not certain how many records the DA might be holding back, making it all the more important to know who conducted the searches within the office and how.

“That’s a question we don’t really know because every single time we file a petition, then they dump a bunch of records,” Cerrato said. “So it’s like, is their search good? Obviously not, because this has happened twice now. It’s taken over a year and a half.”

Editor’s note: The Tulane First Amendment Clinic has provided legal representation and guidance to the Louisiana Illuminator.

Louisiana Illuminator is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Louisiana Illuminator maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Greg LaRose for questions: info@lailluminator.com. Follow Louisiana Illuminator on Facebook and X.

Louisiana Gov. Jeff Landry believes had the Ten Commandments been in the classroom of the man who tried to kill former President Donald Trump, they could have stopped his assassination attempt well in advance.

Landry’s comments came Thursday in an interview with Nexstar Television at the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee and were first reported by WVLA-TV’s Shannon Heckt.

The governor stands behind a new Louisiana law that will require every K-12 public school classroom, as well as those on college campuses that receive state money, to display the Ten Commandments.

Parents have sued to stop the law from being enforced, and Landry was asked to justify the expense of defending what many believe is an unconstitutional measure. The governor said the benefit of the Ten Commandments displays will far outweigh the state’s legal costs.

“I would submit that maybe if the Ten Commandments were hanging on (Thomas Crooks’) wall at the school that he was in, maybe he wouldn’t took a shot at the president,” Landry said.

In an interview with Nexstar Media, in defense of state spending on the Ten Commandments lawsuit @LAGovJeffLandry says he believes if the Ten Commandments was in the classroom of Thomas Crooks, the man who shot Trump, he may not have done it. #lalege #lagov pic.twitter.com/Lokjf4cW4g
— Shannon Heckt (@ShannonHeckt) July 18, 2024

Crooks opened fire at a Trump campaign rally Saturday in Butler, Pennsylvania, injuring the pending Republican presidential nominee, killing one attendee and seriously injuring two others. Secret Service agents returned fire and killed Crooks, who had avoided security measures to perch some 150 yards away on the roof of a building.

Louisiana schools will have until Jan. 1, 2025, to place posters at least 11 by 14 inches in every classroom. The commandments could go up as soon as next month when students return to school.

Nine families have sued the state, arguing the new law amounts to the state endorsing a religion and conflicts with the First Amendment. They filed a preliminary injunction July 8 to stop schools from posting displays while their court case plays out.

U.S. District Court Judge John deGravelles of Louisiana’s Middle District in Baton Rouge, an appointee of former President Barack Obama, is presiding over the case. If he grants the injunction, it would prevent Ten Commandments displays from going up once the school year begins.

Louisiana Illuminator is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Louisiana Illuminator maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Greg LaRose for questions: info@lailluminator.com. Follow Louisiana Illuminator on Facebook and X.