It’s National Oyster Day but how is the state’s oyster industry fairing? Brooke Thorington has more.
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Five years ago Louisiana enacted the most comprehensive criminal justice reform in state history. The goal was to safely reduce the state’s high imprisonment rate, but now there’s a change. Marsanne Golsby has more.
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It’s National Oyster Day and the Bayou State is very familiar with the well-loved seafood, but the local industry has been in serious recovery mode thanks to the last two hurricane seasons. Oyster Task Force Chairman Mitch Jurisich says they are starting to see oyster spawns.
He says Ida wiped out the Houma area, and in Plaquemines Parish, they lost about 30 percent of their crop, and other areas lost as much as 80 percent.
In addition to hurricanes, freshwater released from the Bonnet Carre spillway also damaged oyster beds. But Jurisich, a third-generation oyster farmer says Louisiana still holds a claim to fame with oysters.
Even though the industry is in recovery mode, Jurisich says they are hopeful they will continue to rebound and that the current and future hurricane seasons are kind. He says as long as there are oysters to be harvested, farmers will continue to take pride in their work.
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So in honor of National Oyster Day be sure to consume some Louisiana oysters today.
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Based on data collected by the Public Affairs Research Council, Louisiana has the second highest incarceration rate in the country. PAR President Steven Procopio says Mississippi was number one…
Following Mississippi and Louisiana, Arkansas, Oklahoma and Alabama rank in the top five for the highest incarceration rates. Procopio says once you get past the top five, the incarceration rate really falls off…
Procopio says a major issue in Louisiana and the rest of the country is the number of inmates who return to prison within five years after being released. He says the three-year recidivism rate for those convicted of crimes in Louisiana is 34-percent
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Police Baton Rouge arrest a 20-year-old Houma man for the alleged rape of an underage girl. BRPD spokesman Sgt. L’Jean (EL-gene) McKneely says 20-year-old Kwan Allen made contact with the 16-year-old girl via social media; representing himself being much younger. McKneely says he courted the girl online , via SnapChat, for weeks before enticing her to a meeting at the Mall of Louisiana…:
McKneely says the victim’s 8-year-old sister was waiting in the teen girls’ car, while the assault was occurring in Allen’s vehicle. He says the victim did the smartest thing next; she went straight home and then to a hospital, where a sexual assault kit was performed..:
The girl could not fight Allen off because he was so much bigger. The attack occurred in late May. A warrant was issued for Allen’s arrest in early June, and he was apprehended Wednesday and charged with sexual battery and 2nd degree rape. McKneely says parents need to be aware of their children’s online activities…:
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The Great American Seafood Cook is Saturday in New Orleans and Amanda Cusey of Lake Charles will try to beat out 13 other chefs from around the country to be named the Queen of American Seafood. Lt. Governor Billy Nungesser says Cusey is the executive chef at Lake Charles’s “The Villa Harlequin”….
Cusey received her Cordon Bleu training in England and worked at several restaurants in England Ireland until she became a head chef at Italian inspired pop-up restaurant in Dublin.
Opening ceremonies are at 11:15 at the New Orleans Convention Center and Nungesser says the cooks have a limited amount of time to cook up their best seafood dish in front of a live audience and nationally acclaimed judges…
Each dish will be scored based on presentation, creativity, composition, craftmanship and flavor. Biloxi, Mississippi chef Austin Sumrall won last year. Nungesser says it’s great to have tis competition in New Orleans, which has the best tasting seafood in the world…