By Greg LaRose | Editor-in-Chief
We’re more than a week into hurricane season, and the federal government’s disaster response agency is still without a permanent leader — as has been the case since President Trump returned to office in January 2025.
Robert Fenton Jr., center, interim administrator for the Federal Emergency Management Agency, speaks to reporters Tuesday, June 9, 2026, at the annual Gulf and Atlantic Hurricane Summit at the Higgins Hotel in New Orleans. (Photo courtesy of WVUE-TV)
By Greg LaRose
Since President Donald Trump took office in January 2025, FEMA has 5,000 fewer employees, according to testimony last month from the U.S. House Committee on Homeland Security. The departures are attributed to firings and resignations. A coalition of local elected leaders and former government officials have organized to raise awareness of what they see as the Trump administration’s shortcomings on disaster response.
A jury convicted Jeffery Lee, 50, of the 1998 murders of Jimmy Ellis and Elaine Thompson during a pawn shop robbery. Lee was scheduled to be executed by nitrogen gas on Thursday, but a federal judge Tuesday ruled that it constituted cruel and unusual punishment. (Alabama Department of Corrections)
By Ralph Chapoco
A federal judge has ruled that Alabama’s nitrogen gas execution protocol constituted “cruel and unusual punishment,” throwing future uses of the controversial method into doubt. Alabama began putting people to death under the method in 2024 and has carried out seven executions since. Louisiana conducted its first nitrogen gas execution in March 2025.
LSU illustration
By Piper Hutchinson
Whether the University of New Orleans will retain its status as a research university after it rejoins the LSU system is uncertain, LSU System President Wade Rousse said. Restoring the UNO’s financial stability is a priority as it becomes LSU New Orleans on July 1, according to Rousse
By Anna Claire Vollers
As the U.S. Supreme Court pulls back from the landmark federal law designed to safeguard the voting rights of minorities, more states are stepping in to prohibit discrimination in state and local elections. State versions of the 1965 Voting Rights Act include some of the federal law’s approaches to fighting discrimination, including prohibitions against voter intimidation and vote dilution.
By Shauneen Miranda
A bipartisan pair of U.S. senators promoted their legislation to set national standards for college athletes’ compensation, calling the compromise bill the best available option. The sweeping bill is meant to combat many of the biggest challenges in college sports, but faces a long road to becoming law amid opposition from key figures, including major sports conferences.
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