Investigation
An investigation into England Airpark, the economic development authority governing a decommissioned Air Force base in Alexandria, Louisiana. The district operates with its own board and its own rules, and answers to almost no one: records shielded by non-disclosure agreements, decisions made with little public notice, and a bad habit of ignoring public records requests they don't like. At stake is whether a public authority can keep governing in the dark.
The England Authority is an appointed board that owns and runs the former England Air Force Base — now Alexandria International Airport and England Airpark — as a political subdivision of Central Louisiana. None of its ten commissioners is elected by the public; every seat is filled by appointment.
The England Authority's director says no incident prompted its proposed permit rules for protests at the airport — the nation's top deportation-flight hub. A sheriff's office request did; the text posts Wednesday, with a vote in August.
EEIDD answers to ICE for a facility that will hold children and women in federal custody. LaSalle controls the operation and the records behind its federal bills.
