Louisiana’s former health secretary who spent months advising Gov. Jeff Landry on health care matters now has the highest publicly funded salary of any woman in state higher education.
LSU agreed to pay Courtney Phillips $475,000 annually as its vice president of health affairs and chief health officer, a job that had been vacant for years. Her pay is the seventh-largest publicly funded salary at LSU and the 13th largest among all state higher education and executive branch employees, according to state Civil Service Commission data from March.
The university provided information about Phillips’ salary to the Illuminator in response to a public records request. The LSU Board of Supervisors must sign off on her compensation before she becomes a permanent employee. She started work this past Monday.
LSU President William Tate said Phillips was hired to “maximize the system’s healthcare-related financial well-being, enhance operational efficiency, develop new revenue streams, and leverage strengths across campuses.”
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“It’s an investment in talent,” LSU spokesperson Todd Woodward, who works for Tate, said.
“Our practice with all high-level positions is to research similar jobs (when possible) across the country. Her compensation is actually lower than the pay for similar positions (some up to $1 million),” Woodward said in a statement.
Phillips’ pay is one of the highest in all of state government. She makes more money than Southern University System President Dennis Shields and Louisiana Community Technical College System President Monty Sullivan.
“I think it’s extreme,” LSU Board of Supervisors member Jay Blossman said of Phillips’ salary, noting it was unusual for someone who does not oversee any campuses to be paid so much. He intends to raise questions when Phillips’ confirmation comes before the board.
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LSU coaches Brian Kelly and Kim Mulkey earn considerably more than Phillips, but only because private funding comprises the bulk of their pay. The portions of Kelly’s and Mulkey’s salaries that are state-funded are $400,000 each, less than what Phillips makes.
LSU Athletic Director Scott Woodward’s state-funded pay is $525,000, according to his contract, but he also receives money from private sources to boost his income.
Other LSU personnel listed with higher pay than Phillips’ in the database include five men: Dr. David Guzick, chancellor of LSU Health Sciences Center in Shreveport ($900,000); Tate ($725,000); Dr. Philip Schauer, a professor at Pennington Biomedical Research Center ($523,611); John Kirwan, executive director of Pennington Biomedical Research Center ($475,860); and Roy Haggerty, LSU vice president and provost ($475,602).
As a conservative Republican, Gov. Landry is generally critical of how Louisiana higher education institutions spend their money. “I don’t want money going to higher education,” the governor declared in February when he tried to block a proposed multibillion-dollar health care foundation from giving grants to almost all Louisiana universities and colleges. When it comes to Phillips, however, Landry’s office declined to comment this week on her new role or salary at LSU, even though she has been helping the administration with health care policy matters in recent months. Phillips served as secretary over the Louisiana Department of Health from 2020 to 2023 under Gov. John Bel Edwards, a Democrat, but also has extensive experience working for Republicans. She did not return phone calls and text messages for comment this week.
Before joining the Edwards administration, Phillips served as chief executive officer of the Nebraska Department of Health and Human Services and executive commissioner of Texas Health and Human Services. Earlier in her career, she worked as a state health care agency leader under Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal.
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She is considered one of the foremost experts on public health care funding in Louisiana, particularly on issues related to the state Medicaid program.
As health secretary for Edwards, Phillips was responsible for carrying out the Democratic governor’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic and subsequent vaccine campaign, which Landry often criticized. Nevertheless, Landry tapped Phillips to serve on his health care advisory transition team after he won the October governor’s race and was preparing to take over state government.
Once he took office in early January, Phillips continued to work with Landry’s leadership at the state health department, sometimes showing up to the state health department building to help in person, according to three people with knowledge of the agency. The three people did not want to comment on the record about Phillips’ work with the health department for fear of professional repercussions.
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A state ethics law blocks Phillips, as a former state agency head, from being paid as a private contractor or consultant for Louisiana’s health department until next spring, when she is two years removed from her time as health secretary.
Phillips is not prohibited from working for a public college or university.
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Other executives at state agencies have also ended up at Louisiana’s universities. Kimberly Lewis served as Edwards’ revenue secretary for six years before leaving to become LSU’s chief administrative officer in 2022.
State Rep. Jack McFarland, who oversees Louisiana’s state budget for lawmakers, said he likes Phillips personally and found her to be an excellent health care secretary, but her salary gives him pause, especially as Louisiana heads into a financial downturn next year. “It does concern me that we are doing this at a time when everyone is asking for additional revenue,” said McFarland, R-Jonesboro.
A Pentecostal pastor in Louisiana charged with sexually molesting a teenage girl in his church has been convicted of indecent behavior with a juvenile – but was acquitted of the more serious crime of statutory rape.
Milton Otto Martin III, 58, faces up to seven years in prison and must register as a sex offender after a three-day trial in Chalmette, Louisiana, resulted in a guilty verdict against him on Thursday. His sentencing hearing is tentatively set for 15 January in the latest high-profile instance of religious abuse in the New Orleans area.
Authorities who investigated Martin, the pastor of Chalmette’s First Pentecostal Church, spoke with several alleged molestation victims of his. But the jury in his case heard from just two of them, and the charges on which he was tried pertained to only one.
That victim’s attorneys – John Denenea, Richard Trahant and Soren Gisleson – lauded their client for testifying against Martin even as members of the institution’s congregation showed up in large numbers to support him throughout the trial.
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“That was the most courageous thing I’ve ever seen a young woman do,” the lawyers remarked in a statement, with Denenea saying it was the first time in his career he and a client of his needed deputies to escort them out the courthouse. “She not only made sure he was accountable for his crimes – she has also protected many other young women from this convicted predator.”
Neither Martin’s attorney, Jeff Hufft, nor his church immediately responded to requests for comment.
The documents containing Martin’s criminal charges alleged that he committed felony carnal knowledge, Louisiana’s formal name for statutory rape, by engaging in oral sex with Denenea’s client when she was 16 in about 2011. The indecent behavior was inflicted on her when she was between the ages of 15 and 17, the charging documents maintained.
A civil lawsuit filed against Martin in parallel detailed how he would allegedly bring the victim – one of his congregants – out on four-wheeler rides and sexually abuse her during breaks that they took during the excursions.
The accuser, now about 30, reported Martin to Louisiana state police before he was arrested in March 2023. Other accusers subsequently came forward with similar allegations dating back further. Martin made bail, pleaded not guilty and underwent trial beginning on Tuesday in front of state court judge Darren Roy.
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Denenea said he believed his client’s testimony on Wednesday was pivotal in Martin’s conviction, which was obtained by prosecutors Barry Milligan and Erica Moore of the Louisiana attorney general’s office, according to the agency.
As Denenea put it, it seemed to him Martin’s acquittal stemmed from uncertainty over whether the accuser initially reported being 16 at the time of the alleged carnal knowledge.
State attorney general Liz Murrill said in a statement that it was “great work” my Milligan and Moore “getting justice for this victim”.
“We will never stop fighting to protect the children of Louisiana,” Murrill said.
Martin was remanded without bail to the custody of the local sheriff’s office to await sentencing after the verdict.
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The lawsuit that Denenea’s client filed against Martin was stayed while the criminal case was unresolved. It can now proceed, with the plaintiff accusing the First Pentecostal church of doing nothing to investigate earlier sexual abuse claims against Martin.
The plaintiff also accused the Worldwide Pentecostal Fellowships to which the Chalmette church belonged of failing to properly supervise Martin around children, and her lawsuit demands damages from both institutions.
Martin’s prosecution is unrelated to the clergy molestation scandal that drove the Roman Catholic archdiocese of nearby New Orleans into federal bankruptcy court in 2020 – but the two cases do share a few links.
State police detective Scott Rodrigue investigated Martin after also pursuing the retired New Orleans Catholic priest Lawrence Hecker, a serial child molester who had been shielded by his church superiors for decades. Rodrigue’s investigation led to Hecker’s arrest, conviction and life sentence for child rape – shortly before his death in December 2024.
Furthermore, Denenea, Trahant and Gisleson were also the civil attorneys for the victim in Hecker’s criminal case.
Newlab New Orleans is deepening its energy-tech ambitions with a new partnership alongside JERA, Japan’s largest power generator, to accelerate next-generation carbon capture solutions for heavy industries across Louisiana and the Gulf Coast, The Center Square writes.
The collaboration brings JERA Ventures into Newlab’s public-private innovation hub, where startups gain access to lab space and high-end machinery to commercialize technologies aimed at cutting emissions and improving industrial efficiency.
The move builds momentum as Newlab prepares to open its fifth global hub next fall at the former Naval Support Activity site, adding New Orleans to a network that includes Riyadh and Detroit. JERA’s footprint in Louisiana is already growing—from a joint venture on CF Industries’ planned $4 billion low-carbon ammonia plant to investments in solar generation and Haynesville shale assets—positioning the company as a significant player in the state’s clean-energy transition.
Federal immigration authorities are keeping a tight lid on key details as “Catahoula Crunch” closes its first week in southeast Louisiana, Verite writes.
The operation—one of Department of Homeland Security’s largest recent urban crackdowns—began with raids at home-improvement stores and aims for 5,000 arrests, according to plans previously reviewed by the Associated Press. While DHS publicly highlighted arrests of immigrants with violent criminal records, AP data shows fewer than one-third of the 38 detainees in the first two days had prior convictions.
Meanwhile, advocacy groups report widespread fear in Hispanic communities, with residents avoiding hospitals, schools, workplaces and even grocery stores amid sightings of federal agents.
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Business impacts are already visible: restaurants and Hispanic-serving corridors like Broad Street appear unusually quiet, with staff shortages forcing menu cuts and temporary closures. School absenteeism has doubled in Jefferson Parish, and protests have spread across New Orleans and surrounding suburbs as local leaders demand transparency around federal tactics.
