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Gov. Edwards announces fourth round of vaccine lottery winners
BATON ROUGE – The fourth round winners of Louisiana’s COVID-19 vaccine lottery were announced Friday morning. 32-year-old Shreveport resident Coty Hemperley and 13-year-old New Orleans resident Nevada Charity won the Wednesday drawing, which was conducted by the Louisiana Lottery Corporation and overseen by the Louisiana Legislative Auditor. Hemperley received the fourth $100,000 cash prize and […]
Gov. Edwards announces $34M will be used in statewide flood mitigation projects
Around $34 million in federal funds will be used on flood mitigation projects throughout the state, Gov. John Bel Edwards announced in a Thursday news release. The Council on Watershed Management approved13 flood risk reduction projects that were recommended by steering committees for Louisiana watershed regions. The total includes $3.43 million for East Natchitoches drainage […]
LSU will require negative COVID-19 test or proof of vaccination for returning students
BATON ROUGE – To hold in-person classes again during one of the highest surges in COVID-19 since the pandemic began, LSU will require negative COVID-19 tests for arriving students. In the COVID-19 Roadmap released Wednesday, LSU announced that all students must provide evidence of a negative COVID-19 test taken within five days before arriving on […]
Louisiana Association of Business and Industry urges residents to follow COVID-19 safety precautions, avoid another shutdown
BATON ROUGE – The Louisiana Association of Business and Industry, the state’s largest business organization, urged Louisianians to follow Gov. Edwards’ COVID-19 guidelines in a Tuesday press release, saying the economy is “too fragile” to take another shutdown. LABI President and CEO Stephen Waguespack encouraged vaccinations, saying with increasing COVID-19 cases and students returning to […]
Louisiana’s water districts can now apply for funding to carry out repairs and upgrades
With applications now open, Louisiana communities will have until Sept. 24 to apply for funding to fix their community water and sewer systems. Water systems that apply can receive up to $5 million in funding, using money allocated from federal pandemic aid, with potentially more funding available for water systems that consolidate with others. The […]
Gov. Edwards reinstates statewide mask mandate for Louisiana
Facing some of the worst COVID-19 statistics the state has seen and flanked by doctors from across Louisiana who said their hospitals are filled to capacity, Gov. John Bel Edwards said Monday that he is reinstating a statewide face mask mandate. The mandate will include everyone 5 and up, and will be in effect in all […]
Days before Louisiana water districts can apply for aid, program guidelines are incomplete
Lawmakers on the Louisiana Legislature’s Water Sector Commission announced at a Friday meeting at the Greater Lafourche Port Commission in Cut Off that the state’s struggling water districts will be able to access an application portal Sunday Aug.1. Those communities will be seeking a portion of $300 million in federal pandemic aid the Legislature set […]
Low vaccination rates among incarcerated youth, staff at juvenile facilities, leads to concern
Though everybody over age 12 is eligible for COVID-19 vaccinations, only 27% of Louisiana’s incarcerated youth have been inoculated against the deadly virus, an official with the Office of Juvenile Justice said Thursday, and only 36% of the staff at the state’s juvenile facilities have been. “They have received all the information and we really […]
Champion speller Zaila Avant-garde encourages Louisianians to get V-A-C-C-I-N-A-T-E-D
BATON ROUGE – Trying a novel approach to increase vaccination rates among young Louisianians, Gov. John Bel Edwards released public service announcements starring National Spelling Bee Champion and Guinness Book World Record Holder Zaila Avant-garde on Thursday. The14-year-old Harvey resident won the 2021 Scripps National Spelling Bee July 8 becoming the first Black winner from […]
With Louisiana’s opioid overdose cases increasing, activists work to raise awareness
BATON ROUGE – Lilly Harvey’s daughter fatally overdosed on opioids, and Harvey struggled with opioid addiction herself. In memory of her lost daughter, she has been working to raise awareness of the overdose crisis in her Winnsboro community, including creating an advocacy group called “Millie Mattered.” “I tried to reach out to others who had […]
As Louisiana COVID-19 numbers keep going up, epidemiologists worry about the future
BATON ROUGE – Louisiana’s COVID-19 numbers keep getting worse. On Tuesday, the state marked the highest single-day increase in COVID-19 hospitalizations since March 2020, the month the virus was first detected in the state. There were 169 more COVID-19 patients hospitalized than there were Monday for a total of 1,390 and 45 more people on […]
Masks, virtual classes are challenging for Louisiana students who can’t hear or see
BATON ROUGE – The requirements to submit to daily temperature checks, wear masks, repeatedly wash hands and stay apart from one another has made education in the time of the novel coronavirus tedious and difficult for all students. However, students whose hearing or vision is impaired have had even more challenges to endure to learn […]