RedEye BR

The university's foundation surpassed $1 billion for the first time, a reason to celebrate. But it's far behind most other SEC schools. The LSU Foundation ended June 30, 2025, with assets of $1.09 billion, crossing the ten-figure threshold for the first time. Buoyant markets helped, as did the most ambitious fundraising campaign in the university’s history. Why it matters: The Foundation is one of LSU’s financial flywheels.

The Chicago firm is working on every stop on Baton Rouge's "string of pearls." Hunden Partners, a Chicago consulting firm most Baton Rouge residents have never heard of, will play a significant role in the latest reimagining of downtown and the proposed LSU arena project.

A leader who helped turn Music City into a destination will be in a group to transform Raising Cane's River Center one, too.

Make no mistake, Baton Rouge is a coffee city. But for those among us with a refined palate, an affection for their English ancestry and a preference for the joy that is black tea, there's no better cup being steeped in what's nominally a coffee shop than French Truck's Metropolitan English Breakfast. Having sampled Earl Grey and English/British Breakfast teas from the Baton Rouge coffee shop gamut, the pyramid bags at French Truck are simply the best—and there's no close second.

Any Louisiana college president—public or private—can create a fully armed police department with one signature and a $10,000 bond. Why it matters: A state that professes a deep love for small, efficient government responds by making it easier to crank up a new police force than to open a bar. Only in Louisiana does "limited government" somehow produce more badges—and bureaucracy.

Here and around the country, people are switching to battery-powered mowers for their homes. From Baton Rouge to communities nationwide, Americans are trading gas mowers for battery-powered models—a cultural turning point in a country where gasoline power once seemed as American as the flag and apple pie. Why it matters: In a parish growing hotter due to climate change, the shift could reduce greenhouse gas emissions and other air pollutants.

Louisiana is aging faster than the nation, straining a tax code built for a younger state. Louisiana's population is aging faster than the national average, and the state's recent tax swap just steered its budget onto a collision course with a financial iceberg. Why it matters: The state rewriting its tax code last year, while its Medicaid program is already under financial strain, means Baton Rouge taxpayers will absorb both bills, whether anyone's watching the demographic clock or not.

Baton Rouge is missing the chance to tell its story to the audience it craves the most. Thousands of incoming LSU freshmen moved into their dorms this weekend to kick off Welcome Week, the tail end of an enrollment boom that's reshaping everything from Burbank Avenue construction to freshman headcounts. Not one stop on the week's schedule leaves campus.

Illinois is on a run. The size of its new scoreboard is a bet that the team will win many more football games. LSU will not win this year’s national championship for college football’s largest scoreboard. Before the season has even begun, Illinois has secured the title, unveiling a 17,315-square-foot screen—the equivalent of 1,621 60-inch televisions. By that measure, Tiger Stadium’s scoreboard is a punt on first down.

With AI, Louisiana may accelerate its already aggressive strategy to get rid of hepatitis C. OpenAI’s nonprofit arm has committed $100 million to using artificial intelligence for combating hepatitis C, with Louisiana among the first four states set to benefit. Why it matters: One undeniable benefit of AI is its potential to improve public health.