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Search: How millions will be spent at Louisiana colleges and universities  • Louisiana Illuminator

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Search: How millions will be spent at Louisiana colleges and universities  • Louisiana Illuminator


Louisiana’s colleges and universities are taking home millions for construction and other budget needs. It’s perhaps the last such funding boost before the loss of state tax revenue could slash a quarter of a billion dollars from their operations in the 2026-27 academic year. 

The state budget for fiscal year 2024-25, which started Monday, includes approximately $589 million in immediate construction for higher education and around $93 million for research, campus security and other special projects. 

Unless state lawmakers make sweeping constitutional changes, higher education and public health care are likely to face drastic cuts once a 0.45% portion of the state sales tax expires June 30, 2025.

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Building boon 

The state construction budget, detailed in House Bill 2, provides allocations for each state university system, including an investment in the planning process for a new LSU library at its main campus. Overall, it includes less immediate money for campuses than the previous year, and it lays out promised funds for upcoming years. 

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Projects in the LSU System are slated to receive about $186 million this year. In addition to planning a new library — more money will be delivered when construction is underway — around $65 million has been allocated for a new science building, and another $51 million was set aside for renovations at the medical education building laboratory at LSU Health Sciences Shreveport. 

The Southern University System will receive about $67 million. The largest portion, $22 million, will be used for a new science, technology, engineering and math complex at the main campus in Baton Rouge. 

The University of Louisiana System is slated to receive around $136 million. That includes $16 million to renovate the health science complex at the University of Louisiana Monroe and $14 million to replace a major academic building at Northwestern State University. 

The Louisiana Community and Technical College System will receive around $34 million. Its biggest project is $21 million for a new building and campus development at Baton Rouge Community College 

Search through a complete list of projects receiving funding this year in the state construction plan in this interactive chart. 

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Extra cash 

Each system is slated to receive a little extra cash for special projects, research and campus improvements. 

LSU will receive $6 million for graduate assistantships, a continuation of an investment made last year to increase the minimum stipend for degree-seeking graduate assistants. The LSU AgCenter will receive $4 million to modernize equipment and an additional $2 million for research and extension-related projects. 

In the University of Louisiana System, Grambling State University will receive $250,000 for new uniforms for its World Famed Tiger Marching Band, Nicholls State University will receive $125,000 for campus police equipment and the University of Louisiana Monroe will receive $4 million for its pharmacy school.

The Southern University System will receive $3 million for accreditation-related expenses at Southern University New Orleans, $1 million for crime prevention in Baton Rouge and $250,000 for the workforce development center at Southern University Shreveport. 

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Search through a complete list of projects receiving funding this year in the state construction plan in this interactive chart. 



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Louisiana

Louisiana AG to launch full review of New Orleans security plan after Bourbon Street attack: report

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Louisiana AG to launch full review of New Orleans security plan after Bourbon Street attack: report


Louisiana’s top attorney plans to open a full review into the security planning that went into the Sugar Bowl and New Year’s Eve as concerns continue to mount about whether New Orleans officials could have done more to prevent the deadly attack on Bourbon Street that killed 14 people and injured dozens more, according to a report.

NOLA.com reported that Louisiana Attorney General Liz Murrill said she plans to make a formal announcement on Monday about the full review, noting that New Orleans Police Superintendent Anne Kirkpatrick has pledged to provide her complete support and cooperation.

New Orleans locals and visitors have been questioning why a temporary barrier intended to prevent cars from entering Bourbon Street, where Shamsud-Din Jabbar drove a truck through a New Year’s crowd in the early morning hours of Jan. 1, was set down instead of up, allowing vehicles to pass. 

The temporary metal barriers were installed on Bourbon Street and other areas of the French Quarter in mid-November as the city was in the process of removing old bollards and replacing them with stainless steel bollards. That work was expected to continue through January.

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NEW ORLEANS BARRICADE OVERSIGHT IN ‘TARGET AREA FOR TERRORISM’ DURING PRIME SEASON RAISES CONCERNS

Attorney General of Louisiana Liz Murrill speaks to the media during a press conference on January 1, 2025, in New Orleans, Louisiana. (Attorney General of Louisiana Liz Murrill )

Official recommendations for New Orleans’ security measures in the French Quarter, as part of a $2.3 billion infrastructure project that began in 2017, included the installation of new bollards on Bourbon Street to prevent mass casualty events that the FBI identified as a potential threat in the popular tourist area.

Security recommendations for the area included street cameras, a central command center, better lighting and high-quality bollards that are also used by the U.S. government near its official buildings.

NEW ORLEANS ATTACK: INVESTIGATION CONTINUES, AS FBI SAYS NO OTHER SUSPECTS INVOLVED

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Tourist walk past temporary barriers on Orleans and Bourbon Street

Tourist walk past temporary barriers on Orleans and Bourbon Street, Thursday, Jan. 2, 2025 in New Orleans.  (AP Photo/George Walker IV)

Former FBI official Bill Daly, a security and risk management adviser, told Fox News Digital that the “Achilles’ heel” in the Jan. 1 tragedy was that the temporary measures used on New Year’s Eve did not provide the same level of protection as was previously intended, designed and envisioned in the 2017 report. 

“Temporary barricades are used extensively. They’re used, for instance, by the New York City Police Department in Times Square, to close off all the side streets leading to Times Square,” Daly said. 

He explained that in New York City, authorities place cement blocks on the sidewalk and in the middle of the street as temporary barricades, and also use some vehicles like garbage trucks and dump trucks to block the road.

NEW ORLEANS TERROR SUSPECT’S BROTHER SAYS ATTACK IS SIGN OF ‘RADICALIZATION’: REPORT

A barricade on Bourbon Street (right) is back up on Jan. 2, the day after the terrorist attack, while a barrier on another street in the French Quarter (left) appears down on Jan. 2.

A barricade on Bourbon Street (right) is back up on Jan. 2, the day after the terrorist attack, while a barrier on another street in the French Quarter (left) appears down on Jan. 2. (Kat Ramirez for Fox News Digital)

Along with the investigation from Murrill, some city council members said they plan to conduct their own investigations into the security measures that were in place on the morning of the attack.

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Murrill told NOLA.com she has spoken with City Council member Helena Moreno as well as District Attorney Jason Williams and other officials, adding that she intends to speak with others about her plans for a full review into security.

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“Everyone is committed to getting a complete picture of what was done or not done and, importantly, what needs to change so we can prevent this from ever happening again,” she said.

Murrill’s office did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital’s request for comment on the matter.

Fox News Digital’s Audrey Conklin, Garrett Tenney and Ashley Papa contributed to this report.

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VIDEO: FBI shares footage showing New Orleans terrorist in French Quarter before deadly rampage • Louisiana Illuminator

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VIDEO: FBI shares footage showing New Orleans terrorist in French Quarter before deadly rampage • Louisiana Illuminator


NEW ORLEANS – The FBI has released video — some of it obtained from terrorist Shamsud-Bin Jabbar — that shows him in the French Quarter in the hours before he killed 14 people and injured dozens more, and his view as he rode a bicycle through the historic district exactly two months earlier.

The footage comes from French Quarter surveillance cameras and scenes Jabbar recorded on Meta glasses in October, during what the FBI said was the first of two trips he took to New Orleans before his early New Year’s Day massacre. 

Authorities recovered three homemade bombs they said Jabbar placed in small coolers, including two that he’s seen on video placing on Bourbon Street. One of the explosive devices was found in the pickup truck he drove after he sped through a crowd of pedestrians and was killed in a shootout with police.

Also recovered from the truck was what the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms considers a remote detonation device. Jabbar, a 42-year-old IT professional and U.S. Army veteran from Texas, could have used it to set off the bombs had New Orleans police not responded soon enough, ATF Special Agent in Charge Joshua Jackson said during a news conference Sunday.  

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The FBI compiled all of the footage it shared into a single video that’s nearly four minutes long. The timestamps that follow detail the content of the segments:  

0:00 – Jabbar recorded footage on Meta eyeglasses Oct. 31 during his bike ride in the French Quarter and Canal Street. The FBI said Jabbar was wearing Meta glasses early Wednesday, but there is no indication he used them to record or live stream his attack. 

1:36 – Jabbar recorded himself wearing Meta glasses looking into a mirror at a home investigators say he rented during his October trip to New Orleans.   

1:41 – French Quarter surveillance video recorded at 1:53 a.m. Wednesday shows Jabbar with a blue cooler that investigators said had an improvised bomb inside. The FBI said Jabbar left it at the intersection of Bourbon and St. Peter streets, and it was found a block away at Orleans Street after “multiple unknowing Bourbon Street visitors grabbed the cooler’s handle and moved it.”

2:20 – At approximately 2:20 a.m., surveillance footage shows Jabbar leaving the second explosive device inside a “bucket-style” cooler at Bourbon and Toulouse streets. The video shows him standing next to a trash can receptacle as visitors walk and dance around him. 

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At one point, Jabbar is seen waving his hand while looking down Bourbon Street, then he walks away from the cooler. Investigators did not address who or what Jabbar might have been waving to or why during Sunday’s news conference. 

2:42 – A still image from surveillance video clearly shows Jabbar walking down Governor Nicholls Street. The FBI said he was returning to his truck to pick up the second cooler. The brown long coat he is seen wearing was recovered from the truck at the scene of the deadly attack.   

3:00 – Jabbar is seen on surveillance video walking up and down Governor Nicholls Street. 

Federal investigators provided an update on their continuing investigation Sunday, saying they still believe Jabbar acted alone. However, they continue to look into trips they say Jabbar took to Egypt and Canada over the summer. He also traveled to the Atlanta and Tampa, Florida, areas. 

Lyonel Myrthil, the FBI’s special agent in charge of its New Orleans office, said investigators are trying to determine who Jabbar might have come into contact with during his travels.

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Mayor LaToya Cantrell said she has asked the Biden administration to provide an expert who can assess the city’s terrorism vulnerabilities ahead of the Super Bowl, which takes place Feb. 9 at the Superdome, and Mardi Gras. 

Carnival season officially begins Monday and culminates on Fat Tuesday, March 4.

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🔴 LIVE TORNADO CHASE – Significant Tornado Threat in Louisiana – January 5, 2025 {J}

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🔴 LIVE TORNADO CHASE – Significant Tornado Threat in Louisiana – January 5, 2025 {J}


The Texas Storm Chasers are actively monitoring and documenting severe weather events across East Texas, Louisiana, and Mississippi. Stay informed on their activities and receive timely updates on the latest weather warnings by following their journey. @JasonCooleyTSC 1/5/25

#storm #severe #weather #sky #hail #twister #wind #rain #flood #IRL #livetv #TEXAS

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