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La. public radio, TV stations seek help Aid sought after ‘devastating’ funding cuts
BY JENNA ROSS
Staff writer
Five minutes into a national news program airing Friday afternoon on KEDM, a public radio station in Monroe, a familiar voice spoke up. “Federal funding for public radio was just eliminated by an act of Congress,” Jay Curtis, the station’s general manager, told listeners as
part of a request for support. “But one thing will always be true: You have the power to make a big difference right now.” Public radio and television stations across the U.S. were grappling with news of dramatic cuts in funding on Friday after Congress passed the so-called rescission package that slashes $9 billion from a host of federal programs.
On air and by email, stations in New Orleans, Baton Rouge and other Louisiana cities quickly turned to listeners and donors, notifying them of the cuts and asking them for help. Filling the gap will be difficult, if not impossible, station leaders said. The bill claws back $1.1 billion from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, which in turn
funds NPR, PBS and member stations across the country. Republicans have argued that taxpayer money should not be spent on public media when, according to Sen. John Kennedy, RMadisonville, “Americans can find the same content — in many cases, better content — online for free.” But station leaders say that especially in rural areas, public media is a rare source for high-quality news and information, essential during hurricanes and other emergencies.
LSU announcing legend Dan Borné retiring
Paul Maassen, general manager of WWNO in New Orleans and WRKF in Baton Rouge, the state’s two largest public radio stations, said that in targeting national news organizations like National Public Radio, lawmakers are hurting local stations that are generally popular. WWNO in New Orleans will lose $220,000 a year in federal funds, and WRKF in Baton Rouge will lose about $150,000. That’s about 8% of those stations’ annual budgets.
ä See STATIONS, page 4A
Southern University expels fraternity Omega Psi Phi booted after hazing death investigation BY QUINN COFFMAN Staff writer
LSU FILE PHOTO By STEVE FRANZ
LSU public address announcer Dan Borné is retiring after more than three decades as the announcer for the Tigers’ football and men’s basketball games.
Run lasted 38 years at Tiger Stadium Staff report LSU public address announcer Dan Borné is retiring as the announcer for the Tigers’ football and men’s basketball games, the university announced Friday. Borné’s decision ends his run of 38 years of calling LSU football games at Tiger Stadium and 36 years as the voice of men’s basketball games inside the Pete Maravich Assembly Center.
“I would like to thank LSU and our fans for so many seasons of fond memories,” Borné said in a statement. “It’s been a great honor and I deeply appreciate it. I’m 79 years old and it’s time to retire and return the microphone. I’ll be spending more time with our family and we’ll always bleed purple and gold!” LSU football won three national titles and six SEC championships during his time as the public address announcer at Tiger Stadium. Borné, who took a leave of absence before the 2024 football season, coined the phrase, “chance of rain — never!” before the start of football games. He
also got the crowd excited headed into the fourth quarter by stating, “The sun has found its home in the western sky. It is now Saturday night in Death Valley!” Handling the public address announcing duties in Borné’s stead last season was Bill Franques, the longtime in-game stadium announcer at Alex Box Stadium for LSU baseball. Before Franques taking over the reigns last season, Tiger Stadium has only had two full-time PA announcers since 1955. Longtime WAFB weather forecaster Sid Crocker held the role for 30 years until 1985. Borné stepped into the position the next season.
The Omega Psi Phi fraternity has been expelled from Southern University’s campus after the school’s Division of Student Affairs found the frat responsible for the hazing death of Caleb Wilson. While the announcement was made Friday, the expulsion has been in effect since April 24, a spokesperson for Southern said. Beta Sigma, the chapter of Omega Psi Phi on Southern’s campus, will now lose recognition as a student organization, be denied all rights and privileges that come with recognition, and must remove all identifiable markers from campus. This stripping of fraternity images includes the fraternity’s plot and would entail the removal of benches, trees, monuments and any other identifying items. The move comes nearly five months after the death of 20-year-old Southern mechanical engineering student Caleb Wilson, who collapsed in a Baton Rouge warehouse after being punched repeatedly in the chest during an Omega Psi Phi ritual. Wilson’s death was originally shrouded in mystery, with fraternity brothers first reporting he had been hit in the chest while playing basketball at a local park. They delivered Wilson to the hospital in nothing but a pair of socks and sweatpants. As details emerged, Baton Rouge police arrested three frat brothers considered as leaders in ritual that resulted in Wilson’s death. Caleb McCray, 24; Kyle Thurman, 25; and Isaiah Smith, 29, were each arrested on a count of criminal hazing for
ä See FRATERNITY, page 4A
$28 million in after-school grants restored for Louisiana Trump administration had withheld money
BY PATRICK WALL, MARIE FAZIO and ELYSE CARMOSINO Staff writers
Louisiana is set to receive nearly $28 million for after-school programs that had been held up by President Donald Trump’s administration, easing fears that schools would have to cut services for students next month when they return from summer break. Schools and nonprofits like the Boys & Girls Club rely on the money to run summer and afterschool programs that serve an es-
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timated 30,000 Louisiana students, advocates said. It is part of $1.3 billion for after-school programs that the U.S. Department of Education is expected to release to states in the coming days, following a weekslong delay while the Trump administration reviewed whether the programs align with the president’s priorities. But nearly $5 billion in education grants that schools had expected to receive on July 1 remains frozen. The federal money, which Congress approved earlier this year, pays for teacher training and programs for migrant students, English learners, adult literacy, arts and science education and violence prevention in schools across
the country. Advocates and educators have decried the funding delay, saying it upended plans for the coming school year and could disrupt critical services, including after-school programs that provide a safe space for students and child care for working parents. This week, 10 Republican senators — though none from Louisiana — wrote a letter urging the administration to release the congressionally approved money. On Friday, advocates cheered the news that the after-school grants were being restored while calling for the rest of the money to
STAFF FILE PHOTO By LESLIE WESTBROOK
Jenny Schneider, supervisor of kindergarten through second-grade literacy in Rapides Parish, works with kindergarten student Kyrei Johnson as part of a summer reading program on June 16 at J.B. Nachman ä See GRANTS, page 5A Elementary School in Alexandria.
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101ST yEAR, NO. 19