Several lawmakers who voted for the bill spoke on the floor to express their frustration with the fund, which many have described as a Band-Aid on a large wound.
Source: Louisiana Illuminator
Christiaan Mader
Christiaan Mader founded The Current in 2018, reviving the brand from a short-lived culture magazine he created for Lafayette publisher INDMedia. An award-winning investigative and culture journalist, Christiaan’s work as a writer and reporter has appeared in The New York Times, Vice, Offbeat, Gambit, and The Advocate.
Unemployment in the Lafayette metro area ticked up .4 points in 2022. The region also saw the sharpest decline in labor force in the state, shedding 1,700 workers.
All of Louisiana’s nine metro areas’ unemployment rates increased from November to December 2022 as well, with the state seeing its rate increase for the first time since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Source: The Advertiser
Louisiana continues to rank as the unhealthiest state in the nation every year and actually got worse from 2021 to 2022. One of the key drivers is poverty.
Source: Louisiana Illuminator
Between 1958 and 2012, according to the 2014 National Climate Assessment, the amount of rain falling in the biggest storms grew by 37 percent in the Midwest, 27 percent in the South, and 71 percent in the Northeast. Do last century’s weather records still hold water? Some researchers have concluded they don’t.
Source: Slate
The Ernest J. Gaines Black Heritage Stamp, is now available at US Postal Service stores and, may be purchased online.
Source: KATC
How governor, legislators will tackle insurance crisis
Gov. John Bel Edwards called legislators into a special session to address Louisiana’s worsening insurance crisis. Top officials say thousands could lose homes without a fix.
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Factors to be considered in selecting a site include cost, size of the property, walkability, whether demolition is needed, development potential of surrounding property, traffic and road conditions, regional accessibility and amenities near the property.
Source: The Advocate
More than 5,500 pages of complaints were released to the Louisiana Illuminator in response to a public records request. The records include all complaints submitted during the seven-day period immediately following the tip line’s inception on Nov. 28, 2022.
The vast majority of complaints submitted to the tip line were spam. Dozens of users submitted the entire script of Jerry Seinfeld’s “Bee Movie.”
Source: Louisiana Illuminator
Estrada was fired in February 2021 by then-Chief Thomas Glover for excessive use of force in a November 2020 arrest. Video surveillance from inside the jail showed Estrada push a handcuffed man, Dennis Lazard, against the wall and strike him in the abdomen to force him to sit after requests to sit were ignored.
Source: The Advocate
Melanie Brevis, co-founder of Lafayette Citizens Against Censorship, was reading a prepared statement during the public comment section of the meeting when Robert Judge, the board’s chair, informed her she was “out of order.”
Two Lafayette Parish Sheriff’s deputies, who were paid security at the meeting, approached her and escorted her out of the meeting.
Source: KATC
Applications for the 2022 ArtSpark program can be submitted through the online application at acadianacenterforthearts.org until February 24, 2023.
Source: KATC
Centanni will be running to succeed Conrad Comeaux, who has served as assessor since 2001.
Source: The Advertiser