Louisiana

NEW ORLEANS (AP) — New Orleans Mayor LaToya Cantrell reinstituted a citywide indoor masking mandate Friday and said all city employees and contract workers will be required to get COVID-19 vaccinations as Louisiana deals with skyrocketing numbers of new infections and hospitalizations.

BAY MINETTE, Ala. (AP) — Two youths who escaped from a juvenile facility in Louisiana were in custody following a standoff that led to the shutdown of Interstate 65 in southwest Alabama, authorities said Friday.

NEW ORLEANS (AP) — A once-popular bicycle sharing operation is returning to New Orleans.

Mayor LaToya Cantrell's office announced Wednesday that the Blue Bikes program is returning, with 500 bikes expected to be available at hubs around the city by Sept.

VALLEY, Ala. (AP) — Two Georgia residents were arrested in Louisiana and a third person in Alabama in a killing earlier this month that police said was linked to a marijuana deal.

Jacob Christian Moedl, 19, of Notasulga was jailed Monday in the slaying of Antavious Lawenton Sharpe, 23, news outlets reported.

LAFAYETTE, La. (AP) — A millionaire businessman in Louisiana has pleaded guilty to having his estranged wife abducted in a scheme that ended when the suspected kidnappers drowned while trying to flee from an officer who saw them driving down an interstate shoulder.

BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) — State education leaders cite multiple possible factors behind the high employee turnover at Louisiana’s Department of Education.

The Advocate reports that in April, May and June a total of 43 of 529 employees left the department.

CAMARILLO, Calif. (AP) — The average U.S. price of regular-grade gasoline rose 2 cents over the past two weeks, to $3.22 per gallon.

Industry analyst Trilby Lundberg of the Lundberg Survey said Sunday that gas supply is abundant, which could keep prices from spiking further.

SHREVEPORT, La. (AP) — A former tax preparer from north Louisiana has been sentenced to more than two years in prison for defrauding the Internal Revenue Service, the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Shreveport said Friday.

SHREVEPORT, La. (AP) — A Louisiana junior college is using federal COVID-19 relief money to eliminate student debt for anyone who has attended over the past year.

The offer from Southern University at Shreveport should help students who faced financial hardships during the pandemic return to school without worrying about owing money, university Chancellor Rodney Ellis announced Friday.

BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) — A routine update of Louisiana’s social studies standards for K-12 public schools has been delayed amid criticism the proposed benchmarks would paint an overly negative picture of America on race relations and other issues.

BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) — Two Louisiana State University graduates have given the veterinary school’s wildlife hospital a total of $110,000.

Richard P. Sivicek of Illinois gave $100,000 to establish a fund to pay for treatment and food for injured and resident wildlife, the School of Veterinary Medicine said in a news release Wednesday.

NEW ORLEANS SAINTS (13-5)

CAMP SITE: Metairie, Louisiana

LAST YEAR: In the final season of quarterback Drew Brees’ 20-year, record-setting career, and with considerable help from versatile running back Alvin Kamara and the NFL’s fourth-ranked defense, the Saints made the playoffs as a No.

BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) — A longtime state lawmaker from the Lake Charles area resigned Friday from the Senate to take the helm of Louisiana's gambling regulatory board.

Gov. John Bel Edwards appointed Republican Ronnie Johns, of Sulphur, as chairman of the Gaming Control Board.

THIBODAUX, La. (AP) — A 71-year-old man has died after his boat took on water and he was not wearing a life vest, the Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries said Friday.

John Sutton of Thibodaux was following another boat when his 15-foot vessel began to take on water about noon Thursday in Grand Bayou, a news release said.

BOSSIER CITY, La. (AP) — A Louisiana city is putting the brakes on new vehicle purchases after the purchase of a $77,000 vehicle for its new mayor.

The Bossier City Council this week adopted a resolution that places a moratorium on vehicle purchases until a policy can be developed.

NEW ORLEANS (AP) — With the daily average of new COVID-19 cases surging to numbers not seen in months, New Orleans officials issued an advisory Wednesday “strongly recommending” people resume wearing masks indoors, hoping to avoid the kind of virus-related shutdowns that devastated the city's tourism economy in 2020.

BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) — Ten Louisiana residents are accused in scams that defrauded pandemic unemployment programs in California and Louisiana out of more than $1 million, Louisiana Attorney General Jeff Landry said.

NEW ORLEANS (AP) — The National Audubon Society is merging its Arkansas, Louisiana and Mississippi offices into a regional office called Audubon Delta, the nonprofit conservation group said Tuesday.

MARRERO, La. (AP) — Authorities in Louisiana prepared Tuesday to drain part of a canal in a swampy, heavily wooded park near New Orleans in a search for the remains of a missing child.

Jefferson Parish Sheriff Joe Lopinto told reporters that it’s part of an effort to bring some sense of closure to the family of 4-year-old Ellis Baudean.

BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) — Former Louisiana Senate Secretary Glenn Koepp, a lawyer who worked in the Senate for decades before rising to the chief administrative officer's position, has died. He was 76 years old.

BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) — The commissioner of Louisiana’s Office of Motor Vehicles is encouraging people who come into OMV facilities to use masks as the state reports a surge in COVID-19 infections.

Search crews are entering their fifth day on the water in a national park in Louisiana in hopes of finding the body of a 4-year-old boy who went missing.

Ellis Boudean disappeared in the water at Jean Lafitte National Historical Park and Preserve Thursday evening, WVUE-TV reported.

DOYLINE, La. (AP) — Authorities say a north Louisiana police officer was fatally shot and a suspect in his death also died following exchanges of gunfire Saturday evening.

State police say it happened Saturday evening in the village of Doyline.

BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) — Louisiana State University professor Nathan Kalmoe’s book about the Civil War has won awards from two professional associations.

“With Ballots and Bullets: Partisanship and Violence in the American Civil War” has awards from both the International Society of Political Psychology and the American Political Science Association, the university said in a news release Friday.

BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) — Louisiana's new legislative auditor, whose office reviews the financial books of state and local government agencies, is getting a higher pay package than his predecessor, under a salary agreement negotiated with lawmakers behind closed doors.

BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) — The state of Louisiana is asking residents for the best places to go birdwatching.

People have until Sept. 30 to submit nominations to be included in the redesigned Louisiana Birding Trails, the Office of Tourism said in a news release.

NEW ORLEANS (AP) — A 49-year-old Alabama man serving time for sending anthrax hoax letters has been convicted of sending similar letters from a federal prison in Louisiana.

The conviction for sending four envelopes of white powder from the prison in Oakdale to the U.S.

BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) — The nation's only historically Black university system will be searching for a new leader.

The Southern University System in Louisiana announced Friday that its president and chancellor, Ray Belton, will be retiring in the fall.