Latest Louisiana Headlines

All the headlines from our Louisiana Topic Page, ordered by recency.

Louisiana Hospital: Judge’s Ivermectin Court Order Invites Lawsuits

Oct 6 2021 // A judge’s order to give the deworming drug ivermectin to a critically ill COVID-19 patient invites more lawsuits demanding unapproved drugs for life-threatening illnesses, a Louisiana hospital says. St. Tammany...

Louisiana Firestone Plant to Pay $4M to Settle Pollution Charges

Oct 5 2021 // A major manufacturer of synthetic rubber, Firestone Polymers LLC, has agreed to pay $4 million in fines and an environmental project and make numerous improvements to settle a long list of state and federal air pollution...

Entergy Faces $150K Fine for Violations at Louisiana Nuclear Plant

Oct 4 2021 // A federal agency is proposing a $150,000 fine against Entergy Operations Inc. for three violations at its nuclear power plant in Louisiana. The Nuclear Regulatory Commission on Oct. 1 announced the fine regarding...

Over 175 Bronze Vases Stolen from Louisiana Cemeteries

Oct 4 2021 // At least one person has been arrested after more than 175 bronze vases were stolen off graves in two southwest Louisiana cemeteries. More than 100 vases were stolen from Consolata Cemetery in Lake Charles and, next door,...

Study: Louisiana Auto Insurance Least Affordable in Nation

Oct 4 2021 // Louisiana has the least affordable auto insurance in the United States according to a recently published affordability index by Insurance Research Council (IRC). IRC’s affordability index measures the proportion of...

Ida Damage to Louisiana Agriculture at Least $584M

Oct 4 2021 // Hurricane Ida’s winds and floods did at least $584 million in damage to agriculture in Louisiana, experts at the LSU AgCenter estimate. More than half of that — $315.9 million — is timber damage, with...

Ida Damage Keeps Tens of Thousands of Louisiana Students Out of School

Sep 30 2021 // About 70,000 students across southeast Louisiana remain out of school because of Hurricane Ida’s destruction to classroom buildings a month ago, state Superintendent of Education Cade Brumley told lawmakers on Sept....

Reports: Explosion at Louisiana Chemical Plant Injures 5

Sep 29 2021 // Five people were injured in an explosion at a Louisiana chemical plant, news outlets reported. The explosion at the Westlake petrochemical plant near Lake Charles was reported late on Sept. 27, Louisiana State Police...

Louisiana Extends Hurricane Ida Insurance-Related Emergency Rule

Sep 28 2021 // Louisiana extended the emergency rule that allows suspension of insurance related statutes in the 25 parishes affected by Hurricane Ida, the insurance department said. The Louisiana Department of Insurance reported that...

Shell Plans Mid-October Post-Hurricane Restart for Louisiana Refinery

Sep 28 2021 // Royal Dutch Shell Plc tentatively plans the first restart of a production unit at its 230,611 barrel-per-day (bpd) Norco, Louisiana, refinery for mid-October, sources familiar with plant operations said on Monday. A Shell...

AgCenter: Ida Damage to Louisiana Agriculture at Least $584M

Sep 27 2021 // Hurricane Ida’s winds and floods did at least $584 million in damage to agriculture in Louisiana, experts at the LSU AgCenter estimate. More than half of that — $315.9 million — is timber damage, with another...

NTSB: Poor Communication Led to Fatal Towboat Crash in Louisiana

Sep 27 2021 // A fatal head-on crash between barges pushed by two towboats in Louisiana was caused by inadequate communication and failure to broadcast their total sizes, the National Transportation Safety Board says. The RC Creppel...

Louisiana’s Seafood Industry Struggling After Ida

Sep 24 2021 // Louisiana’s oyster farmers, crabbers, shrimpers and anglers are nothing if not adaptable, producing millions of pounds of seafood annually, often in water that was dry land a generation ago. They’ve fought off...

Lawsuit: Ida Power Outages in Louisiana Due to ‘Gum and Super Glue’ at Utility

Sep 23 2021 // A lawsuit alleges that Louisiana’s largest electric utility used a “bubble gum and super glue” approach to maintenance and construction that left customers sweltering in the dark without adequate sewage...

Louisiana Lawmaker: Residents Sleeping in Tents After Ida Damaged Housing

Sep 22 2021 // About 13,000 homes in Louisiana’s Terrebonne and Lafourche parishes were destroyed by Hurricane Ida and displaced parish residents have been sleeping in tents and “using the rubble to build their own sort of...

Arthur J. Gallagher Acquires Files Agribusiness in Louisiana

Sep 21 2021 // Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. acquired Bastrop, La.-based Files Agribusiness LLC, retail insurance agency specializing in federal crop insurance, agribusiness property/casualty and agricultural aviation coverages. Terms of...

Analysis: Ida’s Destruction May Help Louisiana’s Hurricane Laura Victims

Sep 20 2021 // Hurricane Ida’s thrashing left homes in mangled heaps across southeastern Louisiana, but in an uncomfortable twist, the storm might have been a boon to southwestern parishes still struggling to recover from last...

Insurers Ordered to Pay Louisiana Policyholders’ Ida Evacuation Expenses

Sep 20 2021 // Louisiana’s top insurance regulator on Sept. 7 directed insurance companies pay policyholders’ Hurricane Ida evacuation expenses. Directive 218, issued by Insurance Commissioner Jim Donelon, requires insurers...

Louisiana Restaurant Sued for Pregnancy Discrimination

Sep 16 2021 // Federal authorities have sued a Louisiana restaurant for allegedly violating federal law against pregnancy discrimination in hiring. The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) charged in a lawsuit that...

Allstate: Most August 2021 Cat Losses Occurred in Louisiana

Sep 16 2021 // The Allstate Corporation estimates catastrophe losses for August 2021 at of $876 million or $692 million, after-tax. The bulk of those losses are the result of Hurricane Ida and the majority occurred in Louisiana, the...