TOLEDO BEND, La. (AP) - The expiration of licenses for the authorities that run the Toledo Bend reservoir is almost a year away. But the renewal process has begun. The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission licenses the Sabine River Authorities in Louisiana and Texas to operate Toledo Bend because of the... more »
NEW ORLEANS (AP) - Thousands of victims of BP's 2010 Gulf oil spill will participate in a new process for economic-loss and medical claims associated with the accident. The Deepwater Horizon Claims Center, run by court-appointed administrator Patrick Juneau, will open 18 intake centers across the Gulf Coast next week... more »
BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) - The Jindal administration has decided to seek competitive proposals from health insurance companies that want to offer taxpayer-funded policies to about 830,000 Medicaid patients, mostly children. The change came after physicians, hospitals and other health-care providers objected to the initial plan, which allowed any company... more »
HOUMA, La. (AP) - The administrator of the $20 billion victims compensation fund that BP set up after the massive Gulf of Mexico oil spill is considering making a significant concession following strong criticism from residents about the claims process. The issue involves the current requirement that wages people have... more »
BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) - State wildlife and fisheries regulators have taken the first step toward reopening waters west of the Mississippi Delta to commercial fishing. Officials say the Department of Wildlife and Fisheries has began sampling crab, shrimp and finfish in Terrebonne and Timbalier bays, which were closed earlier... more »
FDA and NOAA Agree with LDWF on Sampling in Closed Fishing Areas East of the Mississippi River Last week, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and National Oceanic Atmosphere Administration (NOAA) concurred with the Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries' (LDWF) request to begin the process to re-open state waters... more »
NEW ORLEANS (AP) - BP says its engineers have begun pumping heavy drilling mud into the blown-out Gulf of Mexico oil well in hopes of choking it for good. BP spokesman John Barnes says crews launched the so-called "static kill" process Tuesday at 3 p.m. Central time to plug up... more »
CANCUN, Mexico (AP) - Cancun prosecutors said Wednesday they have begun extradition proceedings for a TV producer being sought in his wife's death at a posh hotel in this Caribbean resort after officially confirming he is not in Mexico. Quintana Roo state assistant attorney general Rodolfo Garcia said his office... more »
BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) - A bill pushed by Gov. Bobby Jindal that would rewrite the evaluation process for public school teachers is headed to debate in the Louisiana House. The proposal would rate teachers in part on student test scores and make it easier to dismiss them if they... more »