Lake Charles Mayor Nic Hunter and other local leaders will launch a unified effort today to receive appropriate federal funding, on the 11-month anniversary of Hurricane Laura. Brooke Thorington has more.
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Longtime Lake Charles Senator Ronnie Johns now has a new title, Commissioner of the Louisiana Gaming Control Board. Brooke Thorington has more.
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Construction is underway on a long-talked-about flood and hurricane protection project in the River Parishes. Jeff Palermo has the story…
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Lake Charles Mayor Nic Hunter and other community leaders will officially launch a unified effort today to advocate for appropriate federal disaster aid in the wake of Hurricanes Laura and Delta. Governor Edwards says while FEMA has been on the ground working, the area desperately needs community development block grant funding to assist residents.
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Senator Bill Cassidy says there were several natural disasters in 2020 across the country in addition to those which impacted Louisiana, like wildfires in the west. Cassidy says the Louisiana delegation has met with the Biden administration and other members of Congress about funding.
In addition to two hurricanes, southwest Louisiana has also been impacted by two other federal disasters, the February winter storms and the May 17th flooding this year.
Edwards says the state has demonstrated $3 billion of unmet needs and he’s spoken with state congressional members and others at the White House. Edwards says he’s very disappointed the area still does not have a disaster appropriation yet.
Today is the 11-month anniversary of Laura making landfall in Louisiana. Hunter will hold a press conference at 10 am today at the Lake Charles Civic Center.
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Longtime Lake Charles Senator Ronnie Johns has been appointed as Commissioner to the Gaming Control Board. Johns says he’s been interested in the post for more than a year.
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Governor Edwards announced the appointment on Friday and Johns says he’s honored the Governor felt he had the integrity to fill the position, a position which overseas quite a bit.
Johns says the commission has conducted itself with honor in the past and he plans to keep that tradition, but the position does have its challenges with gaming competition from neighboring states and the possible movement of a license from Bossier to St. Tammany Parish, which voters will decide in November.
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Johns says the gaming industry is the single largest source of revenue for the state budget from private industry. He says including the lottery, the gaming industry boosts the state general fund by almost a billion dollars annually.
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Bienville Parish in northwest Louisiana will be the home to a new 240-million dollar sawmill. It’s a joint venture between Hunt Forest Products located in Ruston and Canadian-based Tolko Industries. Louisiana Economic Development Secretary Don Pierson says the project will create 130 direct new jobs and nearly 400 indirect jobs
Pierson says the state-of-the-art sawmill will require about one-point-three-million tons of wood annually to produce an estimated 320-million board feet of lumber…
Hunt Forest Products and Tolko also developed a 115-million dollar lumber Mill in LaSalle Parish. Pierson says that the three-year-old facility employs 120 workers…
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Construction is underway on the West Shore Lake Pontchartrain Hurricane Protection Project which will provide 100-year hurricane and storm surge protection to 60-thousand residents in St. Charles, St. James, and St. John the Baptist Parishes. Governor John Bel Edwards says construction is expected to be completed in 2024
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In 2012, Hurricane Isaac flooded seven thousand homes in this area. Congress authorized the project in 2016 and allocated the funds two years later. Edwards says the 760-million dollar flood control project will span 18.5 miles…
Congressman Garret Graves led the effort in Congress to get the funding approved. Graves says the River Parishes will finally get the flood protection they deserve…
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The post-Drew Brees era really sets in today for the Saints as veterans report for training camp. Jameis Winston and Taysom Hill will compete against each other for the opportunity to replace Brees as the team’s starting quarterback. ESPN Saints reporter Mike Triplett says there’s a lot to like about both guys…
The focus during Saints training camp will be on the quarterback battle, but Triplett says there’s a lot of holes to fill on defense. He says several starters from last year’s team are no longer on the Black and Gold…
Triplett says for the Saints to repeat as NFC South champs, they need members of the 2020 draft class to really develop this year, guard Ceasar Ruiz, linebacker Zach Baun and tight end Adam Trautman in particular…