While crops like corn and rice are seeing a good harvest this year, Louisiana Agriculture Commissioner Mike Strain estimates it will take years for the state crawfish industry to bounce back from last year’s historic drought. Strain says while the Agriculture and Forestry Commission plans for almost any disaster a farmer could face, they were blindsided by last year’s drought.
Cut 4 (10) “…dry up the ponds.”
Last season, crawfish prices reached as high as $14 per pound due to the drought.
The state is preparing to roll out GUMBO 2.0 ensuring every community, no matter how small, has high-speed internet. Director of the State Office of Broadband Development Veneeth Iyengar (ai·uhn·gaar) says $1.36 billion of federal funds is dedicated to the project.
Cut 6 (11) “…economic development”
Iyengar says the broadband initiative is a high priority for Governor Jeff Landry.
Over 1200 farmers in Louisiana who experienced documented discrimination in federal farm lending programs before January 2021 will receive a combined 77 million dollars in financial assistance from the USDA. New Orleans Congressman Troy Carter says the money is going to some of Louisiana’s Black farmers.
Cut 9 (08) “… end-all-be-all.”
A man who allegedly shot into a crowd of a thousand people in Many (Manny) has been arrested after an overnight manhunt. Detective Wade Seegers with the Sabine Parish Sheriff’s Department says 21-year-old Julius Winfield IV faces charges including attempted first-degree murder and terrorizing in connection to the shooting in July. Seegers says police spotted Winfield in his car yesterday near Pleasant Hill…
Winfield has been booked into the Sabine Parish Detention Center.