Let’s start with the price you pay for gasoline. The statewide average for regular gas is now at $3.99. For comparison is was $4.16 not so long ago…$3.37 a month ago and $2.68 one year ago. Louisiana AAA’s Don Redman says the Russian invasion of Ukraine made an already bad situation much worse, and where fuel costs go hinges on Russia for now…:

CUT 12  (09)        “…those prices back down.”

He advises you try to budget for $4-a-gallon gas for the spring & summer.

The U.S. Highway 11 Bridge – connecting Slidell to eastern New Orleans by cutting across a part of Lake Ponchartrain – reopened today, after being closed for over 4 years for rebuilding. DOTD spokesman Chris Welty says the span reopens just in time for hurricane season…:

CUT 15  (12)        “…and Orleans Parish.

The bridge had been closed since 2018.

A federal judge in Baton Rouge has ruled the state’s 2019 truth in labeling law as unconstitutional. The Louisiana Legislature passed the law in an effort to prevent food companies from labeling a veggie burger as a “tofu burger,” because it doesn’t contain meat or “cauliflower rice,” when it’s broccoli, not rice. Ag Commissioner Mike Strain says the state will appeal the ruling…:

CUT 09(10)      “…defending the law.”

But Vice President of Policy at the Good Foods Institute Jessica Almy says consumers are not confusing by these products and the law was an attempt to control buying behavior…:

CUT 08(08)      “…in Louisiana supermarkets.”

Just one day after lawmakers voted to override the governor’s veto of a congressional district map passed in February, a coalition of civil rights groups is suing to block it. The suit alleges the map violates the Voting Rights Act by denying one-third Black congressional representation in a state that has one-third Black voters.