The Current Media

Gov. Jeff Landry has scheduled a major economic development announcement in Abbeville on Aug. 24 at 11 a.m. It’s all but certainly about SpaceX, unless the governor is about to troll the entire state. The time, date and location — Magdalen Place — are the only details revealed in the media advisory issued Friday morning. This week, Landry has circulated hundreds of invites to movers and shakers around the state, according to the Times-Picayune.

Last week, as students returned to schools across the district, Superintendent Francis Touchet and a small team of Lafayette Parish School System administrators embarked on his annual tour of the district’s 44 schools. “It gives me an opportunity to put my eyes on the campuses and to see their readiness, as far as making sure that the facilities are looking good,” Touchet said.

In a much anticipated meeting, just a week after the ten year anniversary of the destructive 2016 floods, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers said it will clear debris and trash along the Vermilion but provided no clear path forward for fully dredging the silted river. For the Corps, dredging the river has always been primarily a navigation project, in accordance with its role, but locals have rallied around dredging as a central fix for drainage problems in Lafayette Parish after the 2016 flood.

Forty-four Catholic dioceses and religious orders across the country have sought bankruptcy protection since clergy sexual abuse claims began forcing the issue two decades ago. Two of them are in Louisiana, and a third may be next. The Archdiocese of New Orleans filed for Chapter 11 in May 2020. The Diocese of Alexandria followed on Oct. 31, 2025, becoming the 41st U.S. diocese to take that route.

This story was first reported by Verite News, a member of the Deep South Today network, and republished with permission. President Donald Trump promised to sign an executive order on his first day back in office that would kill offshore wind. In the Gulf of Mexico, his administration finally achieved that goal — more than 500 days later — by promising to sign something else: a very big check.

This story was first reported by Louisiana Illuminator and republished with permission. When young children and teenagers get into trouble, the question often comes quickly: Where were their parents? That question is again shaping public policy in communities across the country, as state and local lawmakers and prosecutors increasingly look for ways to respond to concerns about youth crime and public disorder.

Here is a selection of items on the agendas for this week’s meetings of the City and Parish councils. To see the full agendas, check out the links below: Parish Council City Council Joint Council Ridge Road Drainage Project. The council is looking to acquire right-of-ways for a drainage project that will stretch from Coburn Supply along Ridge Road to Coulee Ile des Cannes. No significant items. Grant Funding.

In another contentious insurance debate, the Lafayette Parish School Board narrowly voted to keep its voluntary benefits administrator, dealing a blow to board member Jeremy Hidalgo, who had pushed for a competitive bidding process for the lucrative contract.

The Acadiana region has largely remained quiet on the data center front, as corporations like Meta and Applied Digital build out their energy-intensive operations in largely rural areas such as Richland Parish or near Boyce, a town of just shy of 900 people, in Rapides Parish. But decisions regarding the power generation for these centers, which are within the purview of the Louisiana Public Service Commission, could potentially affect ratepayers across the state.

When Wayne Miller, assistant chief of the Pecan Island Volunteer Fire Department, spotted survey crews taking soil samples in the area on Aug. 10, he suspected they might be testing the strength of the marshland to determine the best spot to build an aerospace facility. And finally, he had somewhere beyond the front porch to take his concerns — StopSpaceX.