By Piper Hutchinson | Reporter
Another mass shooting happened in Louisiana, just days after eight children were killed in Shreveport. One teenager was killed and five other people were injured Thursday at the Mall of Louisiana in Baton Rouge. Read more and see a related commentary below.
Rep. Brian Glorioso listens to discussion in the House Insurance Committee on April 23, 2026. (Wes Muller/Louisiana Illuminator)
By Wesley Muller
Fierce debate this week in the Louisiana Legislature over a criminal defendant’s right to waive their right to a jury trial led to accusations of “tyranny” with some lawmaker-lawyers questioning the constitutionality of a proposal that has the backing of the attorney general.
An aerial view of the Cameron LNG export facility in Cameron Parish on May 18, 2022. (Halle Parker/Verite News)
By Halle Parker, Verite
In the early 2010s, an explosion in natural gas development kicked off a new boom in Louisiana petrochemical and energy developments. A 2014 report projected the “transformative” trend would lead to a “tidal wave” of jobs. But more than a decade later, a new analysis found that the number of jobs has instead flatlined, despite $90 billion in capital investment across the energy and manufacturing sectors.
A Louisiana black bear photographed at Dewey Wills Wildlife Management Area in Central Louisiana. (LDWF photo)
By Elise Plunk
A bill close to final passage would establish a Louisiana bear hunting license for landowners from out of state, but it’s not automatically issued when a qualifying hunter applies for one.
By Kevin Hardy
Nitrate is a natural component of soil, but has become a growing problem for drinking water systems because of crop farming’s use of nitrogen fertilizers and runoff of nitrogen-rich manure from livestock operations. Researchers are increasingly questioning whether the federal threshold should be lowered as more studies find links between even low levels of nitrate consumption and cancer and birth defects.
COMMENTARY
By Andrea Hagan
Sunday’s fatal shooting of eight children in Shreveport, and the figurative and literal pain of their mothers, will linger like a persistent heartbeat. The city’s Cedar Grove community will still be wrestling with the disbelief that this happened where they live. And the question will remain for months and years to come: Why?
D.C. DIGEST
NEWS FROM THE STATES
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