Latest Louisiana Headlines
All the headlines from our Louisiana Topic Page, ordered by recency.
Ban on Handheld Phone Use While Driving Passes Louisiana House
May 25 2021 // Louisiana drivers would have to use a handsfree device or put their cellphones on speaker mode to talk on the phone while driving or risk a fine from police, under a proposal that won House backing. Republican Rep. Mike...
$41M Recovered for Louisiana Consumers After Hurricane Claims Complaints
May 24 2021 // Complaints over insurance claims arising out of the three hurricanes that struck Louisiana last year have resulted in a recovery of $41 million for consumers as of the end of April, Louisiana insurance regulators say. The...
Louisiana Sets Up $30M Buyout Program for Flood-Prone Lake Charles Neighborhood
May 23 2021 // Louisiana is offering a $30 million voluntary buyout program to residents of a neighborhood that has flooded three times in recent years, Gov. John Bel Edwards said on May 21. Recent rains brought the latest floods to the...
Louisiana, Texas Brace for More Heavy Rain and Flooding
May 21 2021 // Heavy rain across the eastern Texas and western Louisiana Gulf Coasts may bring more flooding on Friday, the National Weather Service said, with rainfall-related deaths rising to five in Louisiana. Of the five deaths, four...
Louisiana Private Flood Insurance Bill Returned to House from Senate
May 20 2021 // A Louisiana bill that would make it easier for private flood insurance carriers to offer flood insurance in the state has been sent back to the House to contemplate amendments added by the Senate. House Bill 577, by Rep....
NTSB: Louisiana Offshore Lift Boat Flipped While Lowering Legs, Turning
May 19 2021 // An offshore oil industry boat had begun to lower its legs and was trying to turn to face heavy winds when it flipped in the Gulf of Mexico off Louisiana last month, according to a preliminary federal report released on May...
Heavy Rains Flood Homes, Cars in South Louisiana
May 19 2021 // Heavy rains that swept across southern Louisiana flooded homes, swamped cars and closed a major interstate on May 18. The brunt of nature’s fury was taken once again by Lake Charles, in a coastal zone still...
State of Emergency in SW Louisiana as Severe Weather Continues
May 18 2021 // State offices in the Louisiana parishes of Ascension, Calcasieu, East Baton Rouge and Iberville were ordered closed Tuesday, May 18, due to extreme flooding, the governor’s office reported. A day earlier, Gov. John...
Louisiana ‘Justice Lab’ Aims to Expose, Litigate Claims of Police Bias
May 17 2021 // A woman forced to the ground by two sheriff’s deputies in an arrest recorded by her son. Demonstrators tear-gassed and hit by rubber projectiles while protesting the death of George Floyd. A man stunned with a Taser...
Louisiana Crawfish Processor Sued Over Low Wages, Overtime Pay
May 17 2021 // Two migrant workers from Mexico are suing a Louisiana crawfish processor over wages they say fell well below the minimum wage. The federal lawsuit filed in Alexandria says the two routinely worked 10 or more hours a day,...
Higginbotham Expands in Louisiana with Haik Insurance
May 13 2021 // Fort Worth, Texas-based independent insurance and financial services firm, Higginbotham, has partnered with Haik Insurance, an independent broker in Lafayette, Louisiana, to establish Higginbotham’s third office in...
Louisiana Insurance Agent Arrested on Fraud Charges
May 12 2021 // A Louisiana insurance agent was arrested on May 10, following an investigation by Louisiana State Police into allegations of insurance fraud. The Louisiana Department of Insurance had revoked the property/casualty producer...
NTSB: Lack of Monitoring Aggravated $900K Louisiana Shipyard Fire
May 7 2021 // A 2020 fire at a Louisiana shipyard in April 2020 that caused $900,000 in damage was able to start and spread without notice because no one was continually monitoring the vessel while fire detectors were shut off during...
Ahead of Biden Visit, Louisiana Seeks More Hurricane Disaster Aid
May 6 2021 // U.S. Sen. Bill Cassidy has asked President Joe Biden, ahead of his May 6 visit to Louisiana, to back disaster aid to help the state with recovery from the 2020 hurricanes. Louisiana’s Republican senior senator and...
Louisiana House Passes Bill to Expand Medical Marijuana Program
May 4 2021 // Patients in Louisiana’s medical marijuana program would be able to smoke raw cannabis, rather than rely on the more processed forms of marijuana currently available, if the Senate agrees to a bill that easily won...
Louisiana State Roadways Finally Cleared of 2020 Hurricane Debris
May 4 2021 // Eight months after Hurricane Laura devastated southwest Louisiana, the state transportation department has finished removing storm debris from state roadways. The Department of Transportation and Development said it...
Update: Louisiana Bill Would Ban Insurance Rates Based on Gender, Race, More
May 3 2021 // A bill currently before the Louisiana Senate Insurance Committee and backed by Gov. John Bel Edwards would ban certain discriminatory practices in auto insurance rate determinations. Senate Bill 55, introduced by Sen. Jay...
Lawsuit Over U.S. Wage Rule Focused on Louisiana Crawfish Processors
Apr 30 2021 // Federal regulators are using an illegally adopted rule and unreliable research in allowing Louisiana crawfish processors to hire foreign workers at “depressed and stagnated wages” — wages that also hold down...
Louisiana 2020 Hurricane Insured Claim Costs Still Rising
Apr 30 2021 // Insurers have increased by 25% since the end of last year estimates of the claims costs for three hurricanes that struck Louisiana in 2020, according to the state insurance department. The Louisiana Department of Insurance...
Louisiana Refineries to Pay $5.5M for Lake Charles-Area Contamination
Apr 28 2021 // Nine oil refineries and chemical companies in the Lake Charles area have agreed to pay the federal government $5.5 million for their contamination of parts of the northern Calcasieu River estuary. The settlement was...
