Lawmakers from both sides of the aisle are joining forces on national legislation aimed at reclassifying crawfish processors. Andrew Greenstein reports.
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Construction is underway on a 30-million-dollar renovation to the Shrine on Airline. Kace Kieschnick reports.
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Louisiana lawmakers from both sides of the aisle are sponsoring legislation that would reclassify those who work on crawfish farms. Congressmen Troy Carter, Cleo Fields and Clay Higgins are joining forces in proposing what’s known as the CRAW Act. Andy Brown with the Louisiana Farm Bureau says Congress had gotten it wrong by not classifying crawfish processors as agricultural workers.
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By reclassifying them as agricultural workers, crawfish processors would be eligible for the uncapped H-2A visa program instead of having to secure a capped H-2B visa. Brown says the current arrangement could be detrimental to food security, as evidenced this year by the shortage of crawfish peelers.
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Brown says these workers are not taking any jobs away from Americans, who he says on a whole simply do not find that work very a-peel-ing.
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The Shrine on Airline is receiving a 30-million-dollar renovation to convert the baseball stadium into a multi-use venue hosting football, soccer, concerts and more. Jefferson Parish is putting 15-million-dollars in pandemic relief funding towards the project. Executive Director of the Jefferson Parish Economic Development Commission Jerry Bologna says it’s an investment in the community.
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Construction is scheduled to be completed June of next year.
While the stadium has already received interest from minor league football and soccer teams, its primary function will be a home for high school sports. Bologna says the renovation will add visitor sideline seating for the first time, a must for high school football in the area.
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The transformation will also add a stage to host concerts and festivals. Bologna says an entertainment venue in the area has proven to be successful.
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He hopes the investment in the Shrine will spur development along the Airline corridor.
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Last Thursday’s torrential rainfall in Avoyelles Parish is one step closer to being an official state record. A volunteer observer with the Community Collaborative Rain, Hail and Snow Network measured 29.06 inches of rain within a 12-hour period three miles southeast of Cottonport. Jonathan Brazzell (“Brazil”) with the National Weather Service is among a team of meteorologists who are now verifying that measurement.
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Brazzell says the team, which also includes State Climatologist Jay Grymes, has verified the volunteer’s rain reading from that day.
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And once it becomes official, it would annihilate the previous record of 22 inches, set in Hackberry on August 29th, 1962. Brazzell says there are indications that some areas got even more than 29.06 inches.
Cut 11 (07) “…around 30 inches.”
To put those numbers in perspective – those areas of Avoyelles Parish got seven times more rainfall in 12 hours than what the Las Vegas metropolitan area gets in one year.
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East Baton Rouge Parish Pastor Tony Spell said he had a right to defend his family and church by fighting a neighbor who he claims threatened to kill and rape his family. Spell and his attorney blamed the Central Police Department for a failure to respond to numerous complaints made about the family, but Police Chief Roger Corcoran refutes the claim.
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Corcoran says his department has record of only five incidents involving the Spells in the last four years, and only one of those was a complaint, which a detective followed up with.
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Corcoran says even if the department had received several complaints, the Spells would have been redirected to the sheriff’s office.
The East Baton Rouge Parish Sheriff’s Office has charged Spell with second-degree battery, and Corcoran says he will not interfere with their investigation. Spell’s attorney alleged that Central Police were working with the neighbors against Spell. Corcoran denies the allegation.
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