Louisiana Workforce Commission provides hope to unemployed with free online service

In the grim years after Hurricane Katrina, Insurance Commissioner Jim Donelon was desperate to find companies willing to sell homeowners insurance in southern Louisiana. Armed with a $100 million pool, the state offered insurers millions of dollars in government grants if they could sell a certain number of policies in parishes near or below Interstate 10 and stick around at least five years.

State lawmakers will convene at noon Monday for a seven-day special session devoted exclusively to one item: putting $45 million into an incentive fund to lure more property insurers into the Louisiana marketplace. The session will not solve our state’s spiraling insurance crisis all at once. It could, however, mark a critical first step toward reversing what Insurance Commissioner Jim Donelon calls “an existential crisis for Louisiana’s residents and economy.”

Black students are more than five times as likely to attend a D- or F-rated public school as White students, according to a state audit released Monday morning. About 41% of Black students attend a school at the bottom of the grading scale compared to 8% of White children, a report by Legislative Auditor Mike Waguespack says.

With roaring flares and stacks that billow clouds of smoke and vapor, it’s no secret that oil refineries harm the air. But the toxic chemicals spilling out of refineries as wastewater also pose environmental risks, especially in Louisiana, where eight facilities ranked among the top oil operations that pollute public waterways, according to a nationwide study.

Fast growing grocery chain Aldi should begin construction on its first Baton Rouge-area location in the next couple of weeks. Work is set to begin soon on a store in the Settlement at Shoe Creek, said Heather Moore, a division vice president for Aldi USA. The Central store is one...

Improvements have begun at the St. Landry Parish Animal Shelter after forming a partnership with a national animal rights organization. A recent news release sent by parish government indicated St. Landry has agreed to partner with the Bissell Foundation to help improve conditions at the shelter, which accepts an estimated 1,500 animals each year.

WASHINGTON — Louisiana lawmakers, lobbyists, and business executives headed home Sunday — many to participate in a special session that starts Monday — from what organizers privately surmise was the most popular Washington Mardi Gras ever. Though Washington Mardi Gras ostensibly is for municipal, parish and state...

Louisiana's State Capitol may be glowing in purple, green and gold when Mardi Gras rolls around on Feb. 21. "It's a possibility," said Jacques Berry, Policy and Communication director for the state Division of Administration. "The state lit it in red and green for Christmas." It also was bathed in...

Kratom has become a cause for concern in Louisiana, with two parishes banning it and two others considering a ban for fear of more drug addiction. Kratom is a plant native to southeast Asia and is colloquially known as thang, kakuam, thom, ketum and biak, according to a 2020 fact sheet produced by the U.S. Department of Justice and Drug Enforcement Administration.

The St. Martin Parish Sheriff’s Office aims to make crime response more efficient with the addition of a mobile crime scene unit, a transportation van turned crime scene analysis hub that helps investigators save time getting equipment to parish crime scenes. Investigating and processing crime scenes involves many tools.

St. Landry Parish law enforcement agencies are searching for an inmate who escaped from custody Thursday, according to the St. Landry Parish Sheriff's Office. Deputies say Raymond Latrelle Howard, 31, was at the St. Landry Parish Courthouse about 3:30 p.m. Thursday when he escaped. At the time, he was wearing...

An Opelousas man was arrested after law enforcement officials say he shot another man during an altercation in the Arnaudville area on Saturday. St. Landry Parish Sheriff’s Office deputies responded to a shooting complaint in the 200 block of Halfway House Road and found a man suffering from a gunshot wound. The victim said he was driving on Meche Road in the Arnaudville area when one of his passengers advised him that a Nissan Sentra was attempting to flag down their vehicle, Sheriff Bobby Guidroz said in a statement.