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While President Obama insists on playing endless rounds of golf during his Martha’s Vineyard vacation, Donald Trump will be visiting Louisianans impacted by the worst flooding since Hurricane Katrina. Fox News’s Carl Cameron is reporting Trump is changing his campaign schedule to visit with victims of the flooding on Friday....

Louisiana was devastated by record-level flooding last week, when an astonishing 630 inches of rain fell in a 72-hour-period, hitting both southern Louisiana and parts of Mississippi.The situation has left the community devastated. Scott McKay at The American Spectator describes: As of this writing, some 20 of the state’s 64 parishes are now under a disaster declaration, with another handful likely to follow as the state’s rivers swell beyond their banks and spill into streets and homes. More — well more — than 40,000 homes have been destroyed, and well north of 40,000 people have evacuated. The sheriff in Livingston...

Between Wednesday night and Thursday morning, the broadcast networks of NBC, ABC, and CBS presented several reports on the “massive” and “historic” flooding devastating Louisiana, even comparing storm damage to that suffered during Superstorm Sandy and Hurricane Katrina. However, the one thing missing from the coverage was a single mention of the President of the United States, Barack Obama. On Wednesday’s NBC Nightly News, anchor Lester Holt proclaimed: “Now to the flooding disaster still impacting tens of thousands of people in the south. That massive tropical system that devastated Louisiana is now bringing new flash flood watches to Texas. This...

(Phys.org)—A team of researchers from Belgium and the U.S. has identified the active site of an iron-containing catalyst that has raised hopes for designing a practically useful catalyst that might make converting methane to methanol a possibility. In their paper published in the journal Nature, the researchers describe their efforts, what they discovered and why they believe their findings may lead to a practical way to convert methane to a more efficient energy resource. Jay Labinger, with the California Institute of Technology offers a News & Views piece outlining the work done by the team in the same journal issue....

EDGARTOWN, Mass. (AP) — President Barack Obama is unlikely to break from a New England vacation to survey flood damage in Louisiana, despite calls for him to visit and meet with responders and victims. The White House insists Obama is not indifferent to the suffering of thousands who were washed out of their homes in the Baton Rouge and Lafayette areas of the state. At least 13 people have died as a result of the flooding, and at one point 11,000 were in shelters. That number has dropped as water levels have receded.

They're known as the "Cajun Navy," and in recent days they've become possibly the nation's most important neighborhood watch.

BATON ROUGE, LA. – Crossover pop icon Taylor Swift has donated $1 million to help Louisiana flooding victims, who have been suffering from Hurricane Katrina-like flooding in the state’s capital of Baton Rouge and neighboring parishes. “We began The 1989 World Tour in Louisiana, and the wonderful fans there made us feel completely at home,” Swift told CNN in a statement. “The fact that so many people in Louisiana have been forced out of their own homes this week is heartbreaking. I encourage those who can to help out and send your love and prayers their way during this devastating...

The White House said Mr. Fugate “briefed the president on the resources that have been provided to support the response and recovery.” Mr. Obama directed FEMA to use “all resources available” to help in the recovery. But there were no changes in travel plans announced for the president, who is scheduled to stay on the island until Sunday.

Louisiana has been hit by devastating flooding, and thousands of people have lost everything. Eleven people have died.President Obama is currently vacationing on Martha's Vineyard, and aside from signing a disaster declaration five days ago, has otherwise not commented on the situation. (He did, however, have time to go to a Hillary Clinton fundraiser.)Compare this to pop star Taylor Swift. Swift, who began The 1989 World Tour in Louisiana last year, said that she appreciated her fans in Louisiana and was heartbroken by the devastation in the state. She then pledged to donate $1 million in relief money and encouraged...

Exxon Mobil Corp. began shutting units at the fourth-largest refinery in the U.S. as record flooding in Louisiana sent tens of thousands fleeing from their homes. The Baton Rouge refinery in Louisiana has begun shutting units as the flooding threatened an off-site liquefied petroleum gas storage facility, a person familiar with operations said Wednesday. The plant, located along the Mississippi River, can process 502,500 barrels of crude a day into gasoline, diesel and other fuels.

President Barack Obama emerged from his Martha’s Vineyard vacation for a fundraiser, but he didn’t mention any of the devastating events currently affecting the United States. In Milwaukee, six businesses were set on fire, four officers were injured, shots were fired, and police cars were damaged after a black police officer shot a convicted black criminal who refused to drop a stolen handgun. In Louisiana, flooding has damaged thousands of homes forcing more than 20,000 rescues after some parts of the state have suffered from over 30 inches of rain. The death toll from the floods is currently at seven.

You know something is a big deal when politicians start fighting for credit — and camera time. Given the "thank me" glomming going on in Baton Rouge these days, clearly news that the federal government will pony up enough cash to fix the disaster that is Interstate 10 westbound off the Mississippi River Bridge is one of those hallelujah moments. There was Gov. John Bel Edwards on Thursday (Aug. 4), at old McKinley High School with U.S. Rep. Cedric Richmond by his side, telling the world Louisiana will be getting between $20 million and $25 million in FASTLANE grant money...

BATON ROUGE, LA (WAFB) - A woman survived a near-drowning in Louisiana floodwater thanks to some men on a boat who arrived at the perfect time, and it was captured on a dramatic video. The woman's convertible was about two-thirds submerged and she can be heard asking for help. "Oh my God, I'm drowning," the woman can be heard saying from inside the car. Three men pull up in a boat and try to break a window on the car to free the woman, but they aren't successful. The car keeps sinking and one of the men jumps out of...

Americans seem to be hungry to Make America Great Again as they fill up venues again and again for billionaire presidential candidate Donald Trump, and the Baton Rouge River Center in Baton Rouge, AL is no exception. Trump attracted so many supporters that the rally was delayed as they waited for the thousands of people who were in a line wrapping around the arena to make their way in. Trump’s attendees smashed the previous record of legendary musician Elton John who pulled in 8,000 fans to hear him play. The Donald filled the seats with an estimated 12,000 supporters. **SNIP**...

More rain Saturday was expected to swamp already soggy ground across Louisiana and other parts of the Gulf Coast, as Louisiana's governor announced that crews had rescued more than 1,000 people, some of whom were clinging to trees to stay safe. Officials said at least two people had died in the floods. Gov. John Bel Edwards declared a state of emergency as rescue workers in the southeastern part of the state braced for more rain. The state's emergency management office called it a "historic flood event." In a 24-hour period, Baton Rouge reported as much as 11.34 inches of rain....

Jerry Larpenter, sheriff of Louisiana's Terrebonne Parish, appears to have launched a crackdown—on critics of Jerry Larpenter. The Intercept reports that six of Larpenter's deputies raided another police officer's home this week in a bid to find the author of the ExposeDAT blog, which calls itself an "underground watchdog group" devoted to exposing corruption. After a search warrant was executed, investigators seized computers and cellphones from the home of Wayne Anderson, a former parish deputy who now serves in the police force of Houma, the parish seat. He's accused of defaming insurance agent Tony Alford in several blog posts, including...

Pete Fountain, the famed New Orleans jazz clarinetist whose 60-year career was marked by performances for presidents and a pope, making him an international ambassador for the music and culture of his hometown, has died. He was 86. http://www.wwltv.com/mb/news/local/no-music-legend-pete-fountain-dies-at-86/289509950

Simulated sunlight powers a solar cell that converts atmospheric carbon dioxide directly into syngas. Credit: University of Illinois at Chicago/Jenny Fontaine ********************************************************************************************************************** Researchers at the University of Illinois at Chicago have engineered a potentially game-changing solar cell that cheaply and efficiently converts atmospheric carbon dioxide directly into usable hydrocarbon fuel, using only sunlight for energy. The finding is reported in the July 29 issue of Science and was funded by the National Science Foundation and the U.S. Department of Energy. A provisional patent application has been filed. Unlike conventional solar cells, which convert sunlight into electricity that must be stored...

When David Duke announced in the Louisiana last week that he would be running for Senate, GOP Chairman Reince Priebus swiftly sent out a tweet assuring America that the former Ku Klux Klan grand wizard’s “hateful bigotry [has] no place in the Republican Party; the RNC will never support his candidacy under any circumstance.”

BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) — Former Ku Klux Klan leader David Duke, an avowed white supremacist, officially signed up Friday to run for U.S. Senate in Louisiana. ... In a video released on his website before he signed up, Duke said, "I'm overjoyed to see Donald Trump and most Americans embrace most of the issues that I've championed for years. My slogan remains America first."