LOUISIANA

Democrat Gary Chambers Jr. is running to unseat Louisiana Sen. John Kennedy. Chambers follows in the footsteps of other politicians who have used attention-grabbing ads to up their name recognition.

Though vaccination was superior to prior infection during the Alpha wave, the Delta variant changed that, according to new CDC data.

A hospital in New Orleans says it has identified two patients infected with a rare, drug-resistant fungus — the first time it's been found in Louisiana. Candida auris has already been found in Washington, D.C., and at least 20 other states including Georgia, Florida and Texas, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The fungus is a harmful form of yeast that can be resistant to the most common antifungal drugs.

The Democrat said in the ad that he wants to "destigmatize the use of marijuana," a pathway to legalization and "forgive those arrested due to outdated ideology."

A federal court has again rejected a Louisiana pastor's lawsuit over Gov. John Bel Edwards' past COVID-19 restrictions on public gatherings.

(Except not really.) (Unless they actually happen.)

In the last five years, from 2017 through 2021, the total cost of these billion-dollar disasters has been $742 billion, according to NOAA.

Damage wrought by Hurricane Ida in the U.S. state of Louisiana and the flash floods that hit Europe last summer have helped make 2021 one of the most expensive years for natural disasters.

Nearly 130 years later, Louisiana Governor John Bel Edwards granted a posthumous pardon to Homer Plessy.

Homer Plessy's arrest 130 years ago led to one of the most criticised Supreme Court decisions in US history.

Plessy was arrested trying to board a "whites-only" train car. The Supreme Court's decision in Plessy v. Ferguson ushered in an era of laws that kept schools, housing and other venues segregated.

Plessy's refusal in 1892 to leave a Whites-only railcar led the Supreme Court to uphold the principle of racial segregation.

Louisiana’s governor has pardoned the Black man whose 1892 arrest for refusing to leave an all-white railroad car led to the ruling that cemented “separate but equal” into U.S. law for half a century.

A winter storm is blanketing streets in and around the nation's capital, closing government offices and schools and grounding the president's helicopter. (Jan. 3)

An online fundraising campaign is raising money for a family that lost three siblings in a crash one week before Christmas.

Dylan Hopkins broke the Independence Bowl record for completion percentage in wind and driving rain, connecting on 19 of 23 passes for 189 yards and three touchdowns in UAB’s 31-28 victory over No. 12 BYU on Saturday.

“Oh my goodness, this is just heartbreaking.”

"I have zero recollection of the video and the disturbing language used during it," the judge told Louisiana news station KLFY News 10.

The man was arrested on Dec. 13.

518 overall recruit in the 2022 class, according to the 247Sports Composite rankings, flipped his commitment from Notre Dame to Michigan on Wednesday. He becomes the second receiver in Michigan’s 2022 class but might not be the last. 131 recruit nationally, is expected to make his announcement at 3 p.m. Wednesday, and the Wolverines are believed to be the favorite. four-star receiver Tyler Morris, ranked No. The Wolverines’ 2022 class ranks No.

An indictment issued by a federal grand jury in New Orleans, Louisiana, was unsealed charging former Amite City Police Chief Jerry Trabona and current Amite City Councilmember Kristian Hart with criminally violating federal election laws as part of a scheme to pay for votes in a federal election. According to the indictment, Trabona, 73, of Amite City, and Hart, 49, of Amite City, conspired to and did unlawfully pay voters to cast their ballots for certain candidates during the 2016 Open Primary Election and the 2016 Open General Election in Tangipahoa Parish, Louisiana. Trabona and Hart are each charged with conspiracy to buy votes and multiple counts of buying votes. Smith pleaded guilty before U.S. District Judge Lance Africk on Nov. 29, and Batiste pleaded guilty before U.S. District Judge Martin L.C. Polite Jr. of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division and U.S. Attorney Duane A. Evans of the Eastern District of Louisiana made the announcement.

Ronald Greene’s mother chastised Louisiana state lawmakers Monday for not acting quickly enough to hold state troopers accountable for her son’s deadly 2019 arrest, saying the Black motorist’s death at the end of a high-speed chase was a “murder” that's been covered up, sugarcoated and mired in bureaucracy.

A technology that keeps Norway's fjords ice-free in winter could help prevent devastating hurricanes in the Gulf of Mexico in the future.

Jurors heard a 911 recording of a man’s threats and a woman’s pleas for her life, then convicted the man of attempted manslaughter and endangering her two children during a domestic abuse incident, authorities in Louisiana said. The call had gone through when Wade Ostarly, 39, of Covington, grabbed and pocketed the woman’s phone early Aug. 26, 2019, District Attorney Warren Montgomery said in a news release Friday. The jury convicted Ostarly on Thursday of attempted manslaughter, two counts of domestic abuse aggravated assault with child endangerment and one count each of illegal use of a weapon during a crime of violence and of possessing a firearm after being convicted of domestic abuse battery.

A police officer in Louisiana is accused of using a patrol car while off duty to illegally hunt deer at night without a hunting license, authorities said Wednesday. Javarrea Pouncy’s three companions included a convicted felon who was illegally carrying a firearm and also didn’t have a hunting license, the Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries said in a news release. It said wildlife agents heard gunfire while patrolling Sunday night and came upon a vehicle spotlighting for deer in an open field on private property.

At least 17 people on board the Norwegian Breakaway tested positive for COVID-19, including one probable case of the omicron variant. The cruise line said that all confirmed cases are asymptomatic.

Insurance companies operating in Louisiana will be charged at least $100 million to pay claims of two failed property insurers who went belly up in Hurricane Ida’s aftermath.

Police said Jonshel Alexander and a man were shot inside a vehicle in New Orleans and she was pronounced dead at the scene.

A former Louisiana sheriff pleaded guilty to a federal bribery charge on Wednesday, weeks after a state jury convicted him of sexually abusing boys. Rodney J. “Jack” Strain, who lost a reelection bid in 2015 after five terms as St. Tammany Parish's sheriff, appeared in court in shackles and an orange prison jumpsuit, news outlets reported. Federal prosecutors dropped 15 other charges when Strain pleaded guilty to a single count of bribery involving federal funds.

A Louisiana man pleaded guilty today to conspiracy to defraud the IRS. Lackey worked as an employee for two commercial construction companies, SES Construction Consulting Group (SES) and Global Technical Solutions (GTS). To hide his income from the IRS, Lackey had his SES and GTS wages paid to R&O Renovations and Reconstructions (R&O), a company he owned. For the 2012 through 2017 tax years, Lackey did not file corporate income tax returns for R&O or personal income tax returns with the IRS. Lackey’s co-conspirators furthered the scheme by falsely classifying Lackey as a contractor of SES and GTS rather than an employee.

A Louisiana marketer was sentenced today to 30 months in prison in the Southern District of Mississippi for his role in a multimillion-dollar scheme to defraud TRICARE and private insurance companies by paying kickbacks to distributors for the referral of medically unnecessary prescriptions. TRICARE is the health care program for uniformed service members, retirees and their families. The conduct resulted in more than $180 million in fraudulent billings, including more than $50 million paid by federal health care programs. Shoemaker pleaded guilty on Aug. 12 to conspiracy to defraud the United States and solicit, receive, offer, and pay illegal kickbacks. In addition to the term of imprisonment, Shoemaker was ordered to pay restitution and forfeit all assets traced to his ill-gotten gains.

An oil tanker hit an offshore oil platform at night off Louisiana because its Turkish operating company didn’t give the ship’s master time to recover from days of sleepless travel, federal investigators have found. The master, or person in charge of sailing the Atina, had traveled from Istanbul and told investigators “he was tired from having no sleep for over 50 hours,” according to a National Transportation Safety Board report made public Tuesday. The crash early Oct. 17, 2020, did an estimated $72.9 million in damage — $72.3 million to the platform SP-57B and the rest to the tanker Atina, the board said.

Job candidates rarely know when hidden artificial intelligence tools are rejecting their resumes or analyzing their video interviews. But a New York City Council bill passed in early November would ban employers from using automated hiring tools unless a yearly bias audit is reported. (Nov. 19)

Montgomery played a key role in the debate over life sentences for juveniles.

A Louisiana hospital received an unlikely visitor: a deer. Officials said that shortly after 2 p.m. on Nov. 15, an injured deer entered Our Lady of the Lake Regional Medical Center in Baton Rouge before taking the escalators to the second floor, WBRZ and other news outlets reported.

In recent years, hundreds of people once destined to spend the rest of their lives in prison after being convicted of crimes as juveniles have gone free.

The I-14 Corridor across Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama and Georgia will be built primarily by incrementally upgrading existing highways.

The I-14 Corridor across Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama and Georgia will be built primarily by incrementally upgrading existing highways.

A federal court has declined to lift its stay on the Biden administration’s vaccine mandate for businesses with 100 or more workers.

The Louisiana Board of Pardons voted unanimously to pardon the namesake of the U.S. Supreme Court's 1896 "separate but equal" ruling.

The Louisiana Board of Pardons voted unanimously to pardon the namesake of the U.S. Supreme Court's 1896 "separate but equal" ruling.

The American workers allege in the suit that they were being paid $7.25-$9 an hour while white South African workers were paid $11.83.

City officials believe a $3,500 annual payout to young people could help solve the "unbanked" problem plaguing the Big Easy.

A Louisiana board has voted to posthumously clear Plessy's conviction for refusing to leave a whites-only train car in New Orleans in 1892. The governor will have the final say.

A federal appeals court has temporarily halted the Biden administration’s vaccine requirement for businesses with 100 or more workers.

“We are a gumbo company, and we specialize in authentic Creole Louisiana gumbo,” said Janel Turner, owner/chef of Kreole Queenz, who moved to Michigan from New Orleans with her husband, Sidney Turner, a few years ago. Kreole Queenz opened for business Oct. 27 at downtown Saginaw’s SVRC Marketplace. The restaurant is open from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Wednesday through Saturday inside the SVRC Marketplace, 203 S. Washington Ave. Would you like MLive to feature your restaurant in Michigan’s Best Local Eats? Read more on MLive:Michigan’s Best Local Eats: Tia’s is Saginaw’s only drive-thru soul food restaurantMama Kay’s Restaurant opening in Saginaw with ‘homecooked, affordable’ menuMichigan’s Best Local Eats: Flamin’ Hot Cheetos elotes are bestseller for Saginaw’s Cob KingCircus Time Snacks Express opens at Bay City mallMichigan’s Best Local Eats: Treat yourself to pumpkin s’more ice cream, ‘Kake Shakes’ and more

A Louisiana man who owns construction and building inspection businesses, along with his brother and sister who were employed by the construction businesses, pleaded guilty today to conspiracy to defraud the IRS. Randy Farrell also conspired with Matthew Reck, who pleaded guilty to conspiring to defraud the IRS on July 7. Since 2007, Randy Farrell has also co-owned a building inspection business, IECI & Associates LLC (IECI). To help conceal the income he received from IECI, Randy Farrell directed IECI to issue checks payable to nominees in amounts under $10,000 and then cashed the checks, keeping the funds for himself. Randy Farrell, David Farrell and Ruiz are scheduled to be sentenced at a later date.

Ella Conrad's mom started listening to doctors and following the science — going from a QAnon follower to a vaccine advocate for her state.

Republican governors, lawmakers and attorneys general are forming a wall of opposition to President Joe Biden's plan to require vaccinations or COVID-19 testing at all private employers of 100 workers or more.

Faith leaders and activists across the world are increasingly joining the fight against climate change driven by a moral imperative to preserve creation for future generations.

A group of dads showed up at a Louisiana school after 23 students were arrested in a rash of fights.

U.S. governors are taking a seat at the table as international leaders gather in Scotland at a critical moment for global efforts to reduce fossil fuel emissions and slow the planet's temperature rise.

A federal grand jury in Shreveport, Louisiana, returned an indictment charging Jared Desadier, 43, with assaulting an arrestee in Ouachita Parish. The two-count indictment charges Desadier with willfully depriving an individual of his right to be free from unreasonable seizure and with witness tampering. The indictment further alleges that Desadier attempted to cover up his misconduct by engaging in misleading conduct towards his supervisors. Specifically, the indictment alleges that after the arrestee complained in the presence of supervising officers that he had been assaulted, Desadier claimed that he had not touched or harmed the arrestee and blamed the arrestee’s injuries on a fall. The case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Brian Flanagan of the Western District of Louisiana and Trial Attorney Thomas Johnson of the Civil Rights Division.

A federal grand jury in Shreveport, Louisiana, returned an indictment yesterday charging a Louisiana man with fraudulently obtaining more than $1.1 million in Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) and Economic Injury Disaster Loan (EIDL) Program loans. According to the indictment, Tolliver falsified information in the loan applications and supporting documents, including falsely claiming that some of his businesses had over 100 employees. In total, Tolliver sought more than $7.6 million in PPP and EIDL Program loans and obtained more than $1.1 million. Tolliver is charged with two counts of wire fraud and three counts of money laundering. The Fraud Section leads the Criminal Division’s prosecution of fraud schemes that exploit the PPP.

Extreme winds and heavy downpours battered neighborhoods in Texas and Louisiana.

The Fair Fight Political Action Committee says its donation to the RIP Medical Debt nonprofit will benefit residents in 5 Southern states, part of Fair Fight Action's advocacy for Medicaid expansion.

Residents of and around Jean Lafitte, La. say they haven't seen storm damage like this before. And they say the federal government could have done more for them as it did for the city upriver.

The political organization led by prominent Democrat Stacey Abrams is branching out into paying off medical debts.

SAGINAW, MI — Kreole Queenz is one of the newest vendors to join downtown Saginaw’s SVRC Marketplace. The new restaurant, which specializes in authentic Louisiana food, opens for business at 10 a.m. Wednesday, Oct. 27. “I’m super excited about this new journey,” she said, noting that becoming a small business owner was a lifelong dream. The restaurant will be open from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Wednesday through Saturday inside the SVRC Marketplace, 203 S. Washington Ave. It joins other marketplace vendors including Saigon Sandwich Co., Makin’ Bacon, Delicious Sweets Bakeshop, Mini Donut Delight Factory and others.

The film industry and its unions provide guidelines on how to deal safely with prop guns on movie sets.

Declaring an impasse in contract talks with striking union workers, global spirits producer Heaven Hill said Monday it will start hiring permanent replacement workers for bottling and warehouse operations in Kentucky.

Trump launched a series of insults at Cassidy, declaring "he could not even be elected dog catcher today, the great people curse him."

Data: CDC; Note: Data represents 30% of Americans across 16 jurisdictions: Alabama, Arizona, Arkansas, Colorado, Connecticut, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Louisiana, Massachusetts, Michigan, Nebraska, New Mexico, New York City, Seattle/King County, Wash., Utah and Wisconsin; Chart: Danielle Alberti/AxiosEven vaccinated Americans who are 80 or older are at higher risk of dying from the coronavirus than anyone — vaccinated or not — under the age of 50, according to CDC data.Why it matters: The vaccine

"Elections are about winning," Cassidy told "Axios on HBO." adding that if Trump does run, he won't be voting for him.

A former Louisiana State Police trooper has pleaded not guilty to a federal charge in the 2019 beating of a man whose injuries included a broken jaw and broken ribs.

Authorities say the restoration of a southwest Louisiana island is proving wildly popular with the many species of birds it was rebuilt for.

Louisiana is letting men on death row share at least one of their daily meals and enjoy other time together, settling a 2017 lawsuit alleging inhumane conditions.

A lawsuit filed by the ACLU of Louisiana is alleging sheriff's deputies in that state beat a Black man so brutally in 2019 that they broke his nose and left eye socket.

The Biden administration is moving to protect workers and communities from extreme heat.

Bands of heavy rain have been pummeling parts of the Alabama Gulf Coast and the Florida Panhandle.

A Louisiana man who is the oldest living World War II veteran in the United States has marked his 112th birthday.

Strengthening off of the Gulf Coast Monday, Tropical Storm Nicholas is threatening to soon make landfall in Texas, possibly as a hurricane.

The National Hurricane Center in Miami says Nicholas has strengthened to a Category 1 hurricane ahead of its expected landfall in Texas.

Tropical Storm Nicholas is expected to strengthen as it heads for the Gulf Coast.

At 400 PM CDT (2100 UTC), the center of Post-Tropical Cyclone Nicholas was located near latitude 32.0 North, longitude 92.7 West. The post-tropical cyclone is moving toward the north near 2 mph (4...

Small businesses from Louisiana to Connecticut are facing an uncertain recovery after being walloped by Hurricane Ida and its residual rains and flooding last week.

A swath of the Florida Panhandle was under a tropical storm warning after Tropical Storm Mindy made landfall Wednesday night.

Louisiana health officials are revoking the licenses of seven nursing homes that were evacuated to a warehouse where residents died after Hurricane Ida amid conditions deemed squalid and unsafe.

President Joe Biden will visit all three 9/11 memorial sites to commemorate the 20th anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks and pay his respects to the nearly 3,000 people killed that day.

Less than a week after Hurricane Ida battered the Gulf Coast, President Joe Biden walked the streets of a hardhit Louisiana neighborhood on Friday and told residents “I know you’re hurting."

Less than a week after Hurricane Ida battered the Gulf Coast, President Joe Biden walked the streets of a hardhit Louisiana neighborhood on Friday and told local residents, “I know you’re hurting, I know you’re hurting.”.

Since Hurricane Ida, life in Louisiana’s Plaquemines Parish is a mix of frustration and a little adventure.

Hurricane Ida may not pack the strong winds it once had when it hit Louisiana, but it’s still dumping an insane amount of rain in its path, including on New York City.

President Joe Biden is pledging robust federal help for the Northeastern and Gulf states battered by Hurricane Ida and for Western states beset by wildfires.

The Michigan Humane Society is gathering its best trained and experienced team members to send them to New Orleans and help with a response to Hurricane Ida.

Before reaching the seawalls, levees and other flood controls that shield New Orleans, Hurricane Ida's storm surge also encountered natural barriers that can help blunt the impact of storms.

A new report from the United Nations weather agency finds the world is getting several times more weather disasters than in the 1970s.

Main Street in the Louisiana town of Houma resembles a canyon of rubble after Hurricane Ida.

Response to disasters such as Hurricane Ida falls primarily to state and local officials, but the federal government is playing an important support role.

Ida caused mass devastation on Grand Isle, a Louisiana town on a narrow barrier island that bore the full power of the Category 4 storm Sunday.

Response to disasters such as Hurricane Ida falls primarily to state and local officials, but the federal government is playing an important support role.

Tropical Storm Ida was downgraded from a hurricane overnight Sunday and was one of the most powerful hurricanes to ever make landfall in the mainland U.S.

Louisiana communities battered by Hurricane Ida are now dealing with the possibility of weeks without power in the stifling, late-summer heat.

Gas prices in Michigan have gone down six cents in the last week.

A storied New Orleans jazz site where a young Louis Armstrong once worked toppled when Ida blew through Louisiana as one of the most powerful hurricanes to ever hit the U.S. The Karnofsky Tailor Shop where a young Louis Armstrong worked collapsed Sunday during the storm.

Mississippi Gov. Tate Reeves said Monday that state and local emergency responders conducted 20 rescues from flooded areas in the state’s three coastal counties.

Hurricane Ida made landfall Sunday, wreaking havoc on the Louisiana coast, and leaving major cities like New Orleans without power.

Here are this morning's top stories.

Tropical Storm Ida was downgraded from a hurricane overnight Sunday and was one of the most powerful hurricanes to ever make landfall in the mainland U.S.

Watch live satellite images and an animated forecast cone of Hurricane Ida as it churns through the Caribbean Sea toward the Gulf Coast.