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A student was killed and another victim injured when gunfire erupted during a high school football game in Louisiana Friday. The shooting broke out during halftime near the audience stands at Port Allen High School’s football field, according to the West Baton Rouge Parish Sheriff’s Office. Two people were struck by bullets: a 16-year-old male student and a 28-year-old woman. A medical helicopter landed on the field and rushed the two victims to the hospital, where the teen was pronounced dead.

Two people have died in the wildfires ravaging Louisiana as residents and leaders are desperate for rain to help quell the blazes. An 84-year-old woman in St. Tammany Parish was found unconscious Sunday when an official noticed a brush fire on her property, the Louisiana Illuminator reported Monday. The victim was taken to a hospital in New Orleans, where she died. Hers was the second fatality in recent weeks attributed to the state’s wildfires. “Although temperatures are expected to back down slightly from record levels this week, the forecast still doesn’t call for substantial rain — which first responders have...

A massive fire broke out at the Petroleum refinery in Louisiana on Friday, forcing the plant, which is one of the largest oil refineries in the US, to shut down The fire broke out at the Marathon Petroleum’s Garyville refinery Friday morning, WDSU-TV in New Orleans reported. While the fire was extinguished on Monday, it still remains shut down, according to NOLA.com, the website of the New Orleans Times-Picayune. The WSJ reported that the fire also led to a two-mile radius evacuation order. “Out of an abundance of caution, the facility began a shutdown process of units closest to the...

A Louisiana taxi driver turned the tables on an armed man who allegedly tried to rob him early Monday morning. The Jefferson Parish Sheriff's Office said an unidentified taxi driver in Metairie was in his cab before 1 a.m. on Monday when a suspect armed with a handgun demanded money from the cabbie, NOLA.com reported. Metairie is located less than 10 miles west of New Orleans. The cab driver had his own firearm and shot the suspect multiple times, police said. The suspect, later identified as 23-year-old Gerald Pope, was pronounced dead at the scene, NOLA.com reported. Jefferson Parish Sheriff's...

Scorching heat and a lack of rain have made much of Louisiana a tinderbox, causing wildfires across the state. As firefighters tackle the blaze, state officials are urging people not to go sightseeing for them — and to stop sending drones up to take pictures. "We have aircraft in the air and people’s drones are getting in the way," Department of Agriculture and Forestry Commissioner Mike Strain said. Strain emphasized that there is a statewide burn ban in place, and urged residents to be hypervigilant about fire risk. "It is imperative that everyone adhere to the burn ban and take...

Senator Bill Cassidy (R-LA) said Sunday on CNN’s “State of the Union” that special counsel Jack Smith had “almost a slam dunk” case against former President Donald Trump with the classified documents charges. Anchor Kasie Hunt said, “So, let’s talk now about the presidential race. We are 72 hours from the first Republican presidential debate. It’s going to be missing the front-runner, Donald Trump, the former president. He is facing federal charges over his efforts to overturn the election. And you did vote to convict him in his impeachment trial after January 6, you said, quote, because he is guilty....

Former President Donald Trump holds a commanding 65-point lead over Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis among Louisiana Republicans, the latest Nexstar Media/Emerson College found. Three-fourths of Louisiana Republicans, 75 percent, plan to support Trump. DeSantis came in second place with just ten percent support. Another ten percent remain undecided, the survey found.

LOS ANGELES — Emily Drabinski took over as president of the American Library Association in July with plans to tackle the pressing issues facing her profession, such as shoring up funding and fighting a record number of book ban attempts nationwide. She said she wants to make sure that the LBGTQ community and Black people see themselves reflected in the books on their library shelves. And she’s planning to prepare libraries for the consequences of climate change, pointing to the severe flooding this summer. But some Republicans have focused on a single tweet Drabinski sent over a year ago to...

NEW ORLEANS--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Former Attorney General of Louisiana, Charles C. Foti, Jr., Esq., a partner at the law firm of Kahn Swick & Foti, LLC (“KSF”), announces that KSF has commenced an investigation into Rivian Automotive, Inc. (NasdaqGS: RIVN). On November 15, 2021, the Company concluded its Initial Public Offering (“IPO”) raising gross proceeds of over $13.7 billion (before underwriting discounts, commissions, and estimated expenses). Then, on March 1, 2022, the Company announced steep price increases for its electric vehicles of 17%-20% that it blamed on “inflationary pressure on the cost of supplier components and raw materials across the world,” which...

A small, quiet Arkansas town home to just 11,100 people is set to become the epicenter of the US 'white gold' boom. Magnolia, a blue-collar town in the state's southern region, was once a locus for oil but is on track to become a major producer of lithium, dubbed 'white gold' because of its soft, silvery-white look and the fact it powers most modern tech - from cellphones to laptops and electric cars. Exxon Mobil is planning to build one of the world’s largest lithium processing facilities near the town, with a capacity to produce 75,000 to 100,000 metric tons...

A lecturer at LSU has been barred from teaching at the university after he left a profanity-laced voicemail to a Louisiana State Senator who voted in favor of a ban on gender-affirming healthcare for children. Professor Marcus Venable is alleged to have left the angry message on the cellphone of Republican State Senator Mike Fesi after he voted yes on House Bill 648. The bill called the 'Stop Harming Our Kids Act' - bans hormone treatments and puberty-blocking drugs, gender-affirming surgeries and other related care for anyone under the age of 18. Fesi justified his position based on the anecdotes...

GOP LA Senator John Kennedy Sen. John Kennedy (R-LA) stated that he thinks the Justice Department will do “whatever they can to make sure that President Trump is the nominee, because that’s who President Biden wants.” And Biden “thinks President Trump is the only person he can beat.” Kennedy said, “I don’t know what the facts are. I haven’t seen the indictment yet. I will say, in terms of the politics — and this is the cynical point of view — but I think some Americans are drawing this conclusion, that President Biden and President Trump have a co-dependency, President...

The Louisiana House of Representatives and the state Senate on Tuesday overrode Democrat Gov. John Bel Edwards’ veto of a bill that makes offering so-called gender-affirming care to minors illegal. The bill will now become law and takes effect on January 1, 2024.Both GOP-dominated bodies were able to achieve the required two-thirds majority, with the House voting 76-23 and the Senate 28-11.The law will put an end to the disturbing practice of surgeries and hormone therapies for minors experiencing gender dysphoria who think they can change their sex. Despite what “the experts” tell you, the science on the benefits of...

In a rare move, the Louisiana legislature has voted to override Democrat Governor John Bel Edwards’ veto of a bill that shields children from life-altering sex-change procedures. The bill, called the “Stop Harming Our Kids Act,” will prevent doctors from performing transgender procedures like double mastectomies on girls who identify as boys and administering puberty blockers and cross-sex hormones to children. “Today was a huge win for the children of Louisiana! I’m proud of my colleagues in the state legislature for standing up to protect the children of our great state. We made it clear today that our children are...

Page 1 EQUALITY NOW New York: 250 West 57 Street, #1527, New York, NY 10107, USA ▪ Tel:+1 212-586-0906 • Fax:+1 212-586-1611 • Email: info@equalitynow.org London: 6 Buckingham Street, London WC2N 6BU, UK • Phone:+44 (0) 20-7839-5456 • Fax:+44 (0) 20-7839-4012 • Email: ukinfo@equalitynow.org Nairobi: PO Box 2018 KNH 00202, Nairobi, Kenya • Tel: +254 20-2719-832 • Fax: +254 20-2719-868 • Email: equalitynow@kenyaweb.com Sex Tourism: Addressing the Demand for Trafficking Testimony by Jessica Neuwirth, President of Equality Now Thank you for this opportunity to testify before you, and thank you for your interest in and support for efforts to...

PLAQUEMINE - A series of explosions at the Dow chemical plant along the Mississippi River triggered panic in parts of the capital area late Friday night. Iberville Parish Sheriff Brett Stassi told WBRZ that six explosions were detected at the facility around 9:30 p.m.. Witnesses living nearby caught video of massive flames and said the shockwave was felt from miles away, including in parts of Baton Rouge. All plant personnel has since been accounted for, and the firefighters appeared to have the flames under control as of around 11 p.m.

* House Republicans published messages showing doctors said lab leak 'likely' * Defective redactions have meant more private Slack chats have been uncovered ******************************************************** A renowned scientist who led the condemnation of the Covid lab leak theory privately believed it was 'highly likely', leaked messages show. Dr Kristian Andersen, a Danish evolutionary biologist, co-authored a now-notorious research paper published in March 2020 that denounced the origin scenario as a conspiracy theory and xenophobic. Yet Slack messages obtained by DailyMail.com show how just weeks before the publication of that paper, Dr Andersen told colleagues the idea of a lab leak was...

It was just about week ago that we highlighted a mysterious trend that was sweeping the U.S.: citizens were receiving unsolicited packages of seeds, with return addresses from China, for apparently no reason at all. Now, the U.S. has started to identify "14 types of plants" that the seeds belonged to, revealing a “mix of ornamental, fruit and vegetable, herb and weed species,” according to the NY Times. Cabbage, hibiscus, lavender, mint, morning glory, mustard, rose, rosemary and sage have all been identified. Osama El-Lissy of the U.S. Department of Agriculture Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service said: “This...

As questions continue to swirl about President Biden's cognitive abilities and competency for the job of leader of the free world, Sen. John Kennedy, R-La., proffered that the criticisms may be the product of the president's comparatively scant public appearances and press conferences. **SNIP** "It's not how old you are. It's what kind of shape your in mentally and physically are. I think a majority of Americans believe that President Biden has changed a lot in the last two years," he said. "Many Americans believe that he can't finish a sentence without taking a nap. I'm not saying that's fair,...

A federal judge has made a historic ruling by partially granting an injunction that blocks various Biden administration officials and government agencies like the Justice Department and the FBI from working with big tech firms to censor posts on social media. The injunction came in response to a censorship-by-proxy lawsuit brought by attorneys general in Louisiana and Missouri, who have accused Biden administration officials and various government agencies of pressuring social media companies to suspend accounts or take down posts. The judge, Terry A. Doughty, wrote in the July 4 judgment (pdf) that various government agencies, including the Cybersecurity and...