SUMMARY: Meteorologist Chase Ward reports dense fog across the area, reducing visibility to less than a quarter mile and creating driving hazards. Although light drizzle is present, no significant rainfall is expected. Fog will persist until 10 AM, with temperatures remaining in the upper 30s to mid-40s. Conditions are expected to improve by lunchtime, reaching highs in the upper 50s to lower 60s. High pressure will dominate, maintaining mostly clear skies in the following days. A weather front is anticipated late Wednesday, bringing potential showers but overall, temperatures will stay above average as we transition into March.

Areas of fog have started to develop this morning. Clouds also still linger but will decrease by this afternoon with calm winds. Overnight, temperatures will fall to the lower 40’s. Patchy fog cannot be ruled out. High pressure continues to keep conditions mostly clear and quiet. By Late Wednesday, a front will move across where patchy showers will be possible along the front. Temperatures will not fall that much and will remain in the 60’s and 70’s through the weekend.

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Louisiana man with execution date next month dies at Angola

by Greg LaRose, Louisiana Illuminator
February 23, 2025

Christopher Sepulvado, the 81-year-old man who was facing execution next month for the 1992 murder of his stepson, died overnight at Louisiana State Penitentiary in Angola, according to his attorney.

Shawn Nolan, who had represented Sepulvado, said was sent to a New Orleans hospital last week for a leg amputation. Doctors instead sent him back to Angola, and it is believed the infection ultimately claimed Sepulvado’s life, according to Cecelia Kappel, another attorney representing death row clients.

Doctors had previously determined Sepulvado, who had multiple serious ailments, was terminally ill and recommended hospice care at the time a judge set his execution date for March 17, according to Nolan.

“Christopher Sepulvado’s death overnight in the prison infirmary is a sad comment on the state of the death penalty in Louisiana,” Nolan said in a statement. “The idea that the State was planning to strap this tiny, frail, dying old man to a chair and force him to breathe toxic gas into his failing lungs is simply barbaric.”

Sepulvado would have the first person Louisiana put to death using nitrogen hypoxia, a method state lawmakers and Gov. Jeff Landry approved last year. The death penalty hasn’t been carried out in Louisiana since 2010, when Gerald Bordelon, 47, received a lethal injection for the kidnapping and murder of his 12-year-old stepdaughter, Courtney LeBlanc, in Livingston Parish.

Next on Louisiana’s execution calendar is Jessie Hoffman, 46, who was sentenced to die for the 1996 rape and murder of 28-year-old Mary “Molly” Elliot. Authorities said Hoffman abducted Elliot in downtown New Orleans and brought her to St. Tammany Parish, where he raped and murdered her, leaving her body in a remote area near the Pearl River.   

Hoffman is scheduled to die March 18, though attorneys are challenging Louisiana’s new execution method in court on behalf of 10 death row inmates. There are currently 57 people facing the death penalty in the state.

DeSoto Parish Judge Amy Burford McCartney issued a death warrant Feb. 12 for Sepulvado for the killing of  6-year-old Wesley Allen Mercer. Police said the boy was beaten and scalded to death. His mother, Yvonne Jones, was convicted of manslaughter and served more than seven years in prison. 

Sepulvado was previously scheduled to die by lethal injection in 2013, but his attorney successfully argued that Louisiana officials could not provide enough information on the drugs being used to execute him. The lack of those details constituted cruel and unusual punishment, a federal judge ruled.

Multiple execution dates for Sepulvado have since been handed down and subsequently suspended as lawyers for him and other death row inmates have challenged the use of lethal injection.

Sepulvado’s motion for reconsideration was denied in November 2022, but U.S. District Judge Shelley Dick, an appointee of former President Barack Obama, agreed Friday to reopen the case. 

This is a developing story.

Louisiana Illuminator is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Louisiana Illuminator maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Greg LaRose for questions: info@lailluminator.com.

The post Louisiana man with execution date next month dies at Angola appeared first on lailluminator.com

SUMMARY: New Orleans will experience steady rain through Sunday, with occasional heavy showers and some lightning, but no severe weather expected. Rain will continue overnight into Sunday morning, with temperatures in the 50s. While flooding is not anticipated, areas further south may see heavier rainfall, with totals ranging from 1 to 3 inches. The rain will taper off by Sunday evening. Monday’s weather looks favorable for rescheduled parades with temperatures reaching 62°F. The forecast for the week shows temperatures warming into the mid-70s by Wednesday, with a slight chance of rain on Thursday and clear weather for Friday and Saturday.

Meteorologist Payton Malone says expect steady rain on Sunday.

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