Latest Louisiana Headlines

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

Fitch Upgrades Louisiana Citizens Bonds

Sep 5 2011 // Louisiana’s property insurer of last resort has received a bond rating upgrade from a major ratings agency. Fitch Ratings raised the rating on two series of revenue bonds issued by Louisiana Citizens Property...

Tropical Depression Headed for Louisiana

Sep 2 2011 // A tropical depression that the National Hurricane Center says may intensify into a tropical storm is currently headed for the Louisiana coast. The tropical weather system may bring as much as 20 inches of rain to southern...

Louisiana Worker Insurance Program Valued at Up to $217M

Aug 31 2011 // The market value of a state worker health insurance program that Gov. Bobby Jindal is considering privatizing has been pegged between $133 million and $217 million, according to an audit released Aug. 29. The assessment by...

Man Sentenced to Life in Louisiana for Death of Insurance Agent

Aug 31 2011 // Calling the crime a “despicable act,” a Louisiana judge has sentenced a 22-year-old man to life in prison in the killing of a Georgia insurance agent during an armed robbery at the Waffle House. The Advocate...

Louisiana Citizens’ Bond Rating Upgraded

Aug 29 2011 // Fitch Ratings has upgraded the bond rating of Louisiana’s property insurer of last resort. State Insurance Commissioner Jim Donelon announced that the bond rating for Louisiana Citizens Property Insurance Corp....

Louisiana’s Suit Against Katrina Whistleblowers Dismissed

Aug 26 2011 // A federal judge on Aug. 24 dismissed a lawsuit by the state of Louisiana accusing two self-described whistleblowers of illegally copying and circulating documents containing confidential information about homeowners...

Year Old Gulf Oil Spill Claims Fund Has Paid $5 Billion

Aug 23 2011 // The Gulf Coast Claims Facility set up to handle claims from the BP oil disaster has paid out $5 billion after one year of operation. It has paid 204,434 individual and business with a total of 359,441 claims. Established...

Louisiana Man Gets Prison for Fraudulent BP Claim

Aug 22 2011 // A Houma man has been sentenced to one year in prison for fraudulently receiving money from the $20 billion claims fund that BP PLC established after the Gulf of Mexico oil spill. U.S. District Judge Jay Zainey also ordered...

La. First-Time Unemployment Claims Increase

Aug 14 2011 // First-time claims for unemployment insurance in Louisiana for the week ending Aug. 6 increased from the previous week’s total. The state labor department figures released Friday show the initial claims increased to...

La. Woman Pleads Guilty to Katrina Fraud

Aug 12 2011 // A Hammond woman pleaded guilty to fraudulently obtaining nearly $8,000 in disaster assistance from the American Red Cross after Hurricane Katrina. Thirty-year-old Tamara Morris faces a maximum sentence of 20 years in...

6 Louisiana Parishes Designated Disasters

Aug 12 2011 // State agriculture officials say six Louisiana parishes have been declared disaster areas because of the flooding of the Mississippi River this past growing season. Agriculture and Forestry Commissioner Mike Strain said...

Ex – La. Bank Employee Pleads No Contest to Theft

Aug 12 2011 // A former Hammond bank employee has pleaded no contest to a charge of felony theft in connection with the diversion of funds that should have gone to people who had made early cancellations of insurance policies. Amite, La....

Tax Renewal Election Before La. Voters

Aug 11 2011 // DeQuincy, La. residents will vote on a sales tax renewal that could help reduce property insurance premiums. Mayor Lawrence Henagan tells The American Press revenue from the half-cent sales tax is used to support public...

Man Arrested for LA Car Arsons Formally Charged

Aug 8 2011 // A convicted arsonist was charged Thursday with setting 10 fires in three days in the San Fernando Valley that burned cars, trucks and motorhomes as part of a larger spree that caused an estimated $1 million in damage. In...

LA Car Arson Suspect May Have Set Fires in Japan

Aug 5 2011 // Fire investigators tried to determine Wednesday whether a man arrested for investigation of a serial arson spree in the San Fernando Valley served time for torching bars and restaurants in Japan a decade ago while he was...

LA Arrests Man Suspected of Torching $1 Million-Worth of Cars

Aug 4 2011 // A man believed to be responsible for some of the 20 arson fires that have scorched vehicles in the San Fernando Valley was arrested Tuesday after a motorhome was set on fire and someone tried to ignite a truck. The...

Hurricane Recovery Jobs Remain in Louisiana as Funding Drops

Aug 1 2011 // Louisiana is winding down its hurricane recovery programs, but Gov. Bobby Jindal’s administration hasn’t cut much of the staff assigned to the work, even as other agencies across state government have faced...

Study: Workers’ Comp Drug Costs Higher in Texas, Louisiana

Jul 29 2011 // A new study indicates that Louisiana had the highest workers’ compensation prescription costs among the 17 states studied and that Texas also was among the states with the highest cost of prescription drugs per...

Contractor Will Not Increase Fund for LA Train Crash Victims

Jul 28 2011 // A contractor that employed the engineer blamed for the deadly 2008 crash of a Metrolink commuter train in Los Angeles won’t add more money to a $200 million victim’s compensation fund. Veolia Environment...

Boating Deaths in Louisiana Way Up From Last Year

Jul 28 2011 // After fatal boat wrecks a month apart, the Jefferson Parish Sheriff’s Office is launching a boater-safety campaign, distributing brochures to marinas and installing signs warning boaters to drive safely. One of the...