Friday's headlines: Louisiana Senate approves new congressional map; Tulane psychiatrist arrested; j

Added: 2026-05-30

[00:00:00]Good afternoon. Thanks for joining us on the WWL Louisiana News at 4. I'm Devon Bartalada. Here are today's top headlines. Louisiana lawmakers passed a new congressional map eliminating one of the state's two majority black house districts. The approval comes a month after the US Supreme Court struck down the state's current map, saying it was racial gerrymandering. Lily Cummings joins us from the capital with more.

[00:00:21]Lily, >> in a 28-10 vote, the Senate approved the map, but not without push back from Democrats.

[00:00:27]>> These bills finally pass. Excuse me. The amendments have been concurred in >> New Orleans senators Royce Duples and Gary Carter Jr. argued the map is racially gerrymandered and will cause Louisiana to enter more litigation. The bill's author, Senator Jay Morris of West Monroe, says that happens with every map that's drawn. So far, Duplexes says the state has spent upwards of $3 million for lawsuits surrounding our congressional maps. The map now gives Republicans a 5 to1 edge, leaving only one majority minority district held by Congressman Troy Carter. The map was amended by the House after a lengthy debate on Thursday. The changes shifted boundaries in the Acadiana region and some precincts in Jefferson, Orleans, and Tangaho. Plus, it split St. Bernard Parish into two. We spoke with Duplexus and Morris shortly after today's vote.

[00:01:14]What's your message to voters right now?

[00:01:16]>> My vote, my message to voters is to not be discouraged. This is a huge setback for our state, a huge setback for our country, but we've overcome worse. not be discouraged and take advantage of your right to vote because right now you have politicians who are trying to choose their voters when voters should be choosing their politicians. And if we don't see this as a reason to wake up and go out and vote in better elected representatives, then I don't know what we can do. But this is our moment to wake up as a nation, not just as a state.

[00:01:43]>> It would be a sad if race and party were synonymous. Uh they're not. although admittedly uh more African-Americans are Democrats these days. Uh but um we just can't look at that. We have to look past that.

[00:02:01]>> Two noticeable differences at the capital today. The speed at which today's legislation was passed and the lack of citizens here to protest the map. Reporting from the capital, Lily Cummings, WWL Louisiana.

[00:02:14]In other top headlines today, a two-lane professor and psychiatrist has been arrested after a man was shot outside a mid city home. Saturday, police were called to the 3200 block of Bank Street.

[00:02:24]The suspect, Bruce Love Lace, was arrested and booked on a charge of aggravated seconddegree battery.

[00:02:29]According to arrest records obtained by our partners at nola.com. The shooting happened after an argument turned physical. Those records also show Love Lace had called the police to a neighboring address multiple times in the past month and residents said the property had become a growing source of frustration. Tulain confirmed that Love Lace has been placed on administrative leave pending further review of the facts in the case. Right now, a Texas jury is deciding the fate of a Catholic priest charged with sexual assault.

[00:02:56]Anthony Odong, who once served in Luling, is accused of using his position as a spiritual adviser to coersse women into having sex. Investigators believe Odong may have abused as many as 10 women while ministering in Texas and the arch dascese of New Orleans. Odong has denied wrongdoing.

[00:03:14]Hurricane season begins Monday and Energy New Orleans says it's working quickly to replace wooden power poles with hundreds of steel poles that can withstand higher winds. This is part of a 100 million dollar power grid strengthening plan which involves 63 projects and more than 3,100 structures.

[00:03:31]And Winston Reed has been covering the story for us today. Winston, not everybody's so confident that their lights are going to stay on this this hurricane season.

[00:03:38]>> Well, no, because you know, last week we just had a major power outage where 10,000 people were out with power. This was in the uh St. Rock, St. Claude uh neighborhoods, Florida area and Mariny, which is in Councilman Green's um district. And that is where the press conference was today with Energy New Orleans and Councilman Green. did ask about those power outages, not only last week, but the power outage earlier this month where 7,000 were out with power, >> but they assure that they are continuing to strengthen the grid with those steel power poles that you may have seen in your neighborhood. And they say that the work is continuing. We just mentioned the $100 million investment. You know, the big message from Councilman Green is that, >> you know, we're always going to need to continue to upgrade the infrastructure.

[00:04:24]It's never going to stop. In fact, at the end of this year, once they finish the 63 projects, they plan to go to city council and ask for more money to continue to strengthen the grid. So, the work never stops.

[00:04:34]>> So, when we're talking about these specific power poles, if you haven't seen them in in your neighborhood yet or haven't seen them working on them, can you describe to me what they look like and why they're so great?

[00:04:43]>> I was They kind of look like the Iron Giant or like Terminator or something like they're like steel like dark matte steel poles. Um they they do look very structurally sound compared to the old wooden poles. I mean visually they they would give me confidence, but you know we would just have to see you know how we fare this hurricane season. Um again we just had a power outage in those neighborhoods. U 300 plus poles were installed in Councilman Green's uh district. Now this is a district that covers parts of Lake View, Gentilly, St. Claude, St. Rock. So it's very widespread. They plan to actually install about 189 more poles. Wow.

[00:05:22]>> But, uh, we'll see, you know, how we fare out this hurricane season and which districts really, you know, get hit the hardest.

[00:05:29]>> Yeah, absolutely. All right. Your full story is coming up tonight.

[00:05:31]>> Yep. At 5 and 6.

[00:05:33]>> Five and six. All right. Thank you so much, Winston. We appreciate it. And in case you missed it, you can still watch our hurricane special. Our weather team breaks down this year's hurricane outlook and sits down with local leaders about how they are keeping you safe. You can stream it on the WWL app on your phone or TV for