Hurricane Beryl is a life threatening Category 4 storm as it enters the Caribbean. Mel Bridges has more.
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After a unanimous vote, Dr. Wade Rousse (rhymes with moose) will serve as the next president of McNeese State University. Jeff Palermo has more.
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Hurricane Beryl is a Category 4 storm as it moves into the Caribbean. Beryl is the first hurricane in what is expected to be a very busy season. LSU climatologist Barry Keim says this early start is due to factors such as abnormally warm sea surface temperatures.
Keim says Beryl has already set a record for the earliest Category 4 hurricane to form in a season, as most category 4 hurricanes occur in August.
Keim says Beryl is likely to miss Louisiana. The National Hurricane Center’s official forecast has Beryl hitting the Yucatan peninsula later this week, but Keim says there are a couple of models showing a turn towards the Gulf Coast.
Whether Beryl threatens Louisiana or not, Keim encourages residents to start hurricane prepping if they haven’t already.
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After a unanimous vote by the University of Louisiana System, Dr. Wade Rousse (rhymes with moose) will serve as the next president of McNeese State University. Rousse says he could hardly sleep the night prior, as he was so excited to get to work as university president.
Rousse says he and his team are focusing on seeing construction projects and building updates through, and making sure every student and faculty knows how their time at McNeese will help them in the workforce. He thinks all this should help curb McNeese’s declining enrollment rate.
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McNeese was hit hard by Hurricane Laura in 2020 and is facing around a 21% decline in enrollment. Rousse hopes that ongoing facility upgrades in addition to his focus on ensuring each part of the university has a clear goal will help bring McNeese back.
Rousse previously served various roles at McNeese, most recently as executive vice president.
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Ville Platte Farmer Richard Fontenot has been elected the 13th president of the Louisiana Farm Bureau. Fontenot, a rice, soybean, and crawfish farmer was elected Sunday at the organization’s 102nd convention. He says the honor is humbling.
Among the biggest issues Fontenot says the industry is facing is the lack of a current Farm Bill. He says farmers need that safety net to receive the financial lending they need to put their crops in.
The other issue he says farmers face is labor, the expectation of labor rates, and being able to remain sustainable with the price of commodities they currently receive.
Fontenot praised the staff and LFB and acknowledged the new generation of delegates who were also elected, and he vowed to work together to engage and motivate members in new ways.
Fontenot previously served as Third-Vice President of the LFB for nine years