MONDAY — The headlines write themselves now. Another week, another storm, another round in Lafayette’s miniature constitutional crisis and another lapse in coronavirus aid. Also this week, the councils will take up final approval of the upcoming budget for Lafayette Consolidated Government, culminating an unusually chaotic budget process that’s, at times, been a venue for social justice activism. — Christiaan
Help us hit 500 responses. So far, we’ve heard from more than 350 readers on our Community Agenda 2020/Policing in Lafayette survey. Some folks think things are fine just how they are. Others want radical change. But there’s a lot of common ground, too. Once we hit 500 responses, we’ll publish what we heard and use the agenda to guide our reporting. Take two minutes and share your thoughts with us here.
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CORONAVIRUS UPDATES: Phase 3 anxiety
▸ The gist: Advancing to the next reopening phase, even modified, means risking another rebound. The late summer wave has abated, as evidenced by substantially fewer people hospitalized with COVID-19 and declining rates of positive tests, but the pandemic is a fire that can be quickly refueled. Epidemiologists warn that returns to restaurants, to campus and to football stadiums will create more cases. Many will proceed into the next stage holding their breath.
Here’s the data, changes reported since Saturday, the beginning of the CDC week:
- 157,974 (+1,800) cases statewide; 5,082 (+50) deaths
- 22,968 (+173) cases in Acadiana (LDH Region 4); 568 (+13) deaths
- 8,706 (+94) cases in Lafayette Parish; 121 (+5) deaths
- 59 hospitalized in Acadiana, (-5) net change from Saturday
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Council Preview 9/15: Overriding mayor’s veto of a lawyer for the City Council, money for rental assistance, controversial “no standing” law
The gist: While Tuesday’s meetings shouldn’t hit marathon status, there’s still a lot to cover, including some brewing controversies: a parishwide “no standing” ordinance fought by the ACLU advocates for the homeless, a proposal to spend $3.5 million in parish dollars to fix a dilapidated garage, and a public hearing for 16 different properties whose owners are protesting their assessed values. Here are few of the big ticket items:
- Overriding the mayor-president’s veto of the City Council’s push to hire its own lawyer. It’s the latest round in an escalating constitutional tilt between the City Council and mayor-president.
- $3.5 million to fix the Buchanan garage in Downtown Lafayette. The expense would virtually zero out the balance on a fund that pays maintenance and improvement costs for the parish jail and courthouse.
- “No standing” ordinance is back on the docket for final adoption. The administration says it's about “congestion.” Critics such as the ACLU say it’s overly broad and unconstitutional. Housing advocates say it “criminalizes” homelessness.
- $400,000 to tenant-based rental and utilities assistance. The re-allocation includes $100,000 originally committed to Lafayette’s business grant program.
Geoff Daily has the full rundown and background on Tuesday’s council agendas here.
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In Brief
▸ Call her Hurricane Sally. The storm is lumbering eastward and has intensified into a Category 2 hurricane. Heavy rains will hit Southeast Louisiana overnight, and a hurricane warning has been issued from Morgan City to the western Florida panhandle, according to the 4 p.m. advisory from the National Hurricane Center. Sally will most likely make landfall around Pascagoula, and the eastward drift will reduce the impact on New Orleans, at one time expected to take a direct hit. This is still a dangerous storm, and authorities are urging residents near the impact zone to take it seriously.
▸ Cajuns off to historic start. An ESPN televised, first-ever road win against a ranked opponent, No. 25 Iowa State, quickly led to more firsts for the Ragin’ Cajuns. After Saturday’s 31-14 upset, UL was ranked No. 21 in the Amway Coaches Poll and No. 19 in the AP writers poll — the first such dual ranking in the school’s football history.
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▸ Stopgap unemployment extension is almost out of money. Louisiana’s jobless caught a brief break when President Trump reupped emergency jobless benefits by executive order. The break is already over. Trump’s endaround on congressional gridlock gave most jobless Americans $300 a week — down from $600 earlier in the pandemic — but the repurposed emergency aid is almost tapped out. Gov. John Bel Edwards confirmed last week the FEMA-backed checks will stop. About one in five workers in the state has filed new or continued unemployment claims.
▸ Local media petitions court for access to Pellerin records. The Acadiana Advocate, KATC-TV3 and The Daily Advertiser are asking the court to dismiss an order sealing access to information related to the Aug. 21 police shooting death of Trayford Pellerin. At the request of the officers who fired the fatal shots, District Judge David Smith last week issued a temporary restraining order blocking the release of body camera footage, the names of officers and other evidence. Smith will decide at a 10 a.m. hearing Tuesday whether to make that protective order permanent until the end of the criminal investigation into the officers’ conduct. Lawyers for the media companies claim the restraining order violates procedural law because there was "no proof of immediate and irreparable injury, loss or damage." They also argue that sealing the record of the restraining order is a violation of the U.S. Constitution and Louisiana law because it acts as a "gag order" and violates the public's free speech rights and the right of the press to report on public proceedings.
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Mostly relevant reads
An oral history of pandemic life told by Black essential workers Medium
Police accountability: A curated collection of links The Marshall Project
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