The Current Media

Mayor-President Monique Boulet recently announced the first-ever funding commitment for a construction project associated with the I-49 Connector, partly covering the cost of a new elevated interchange at Kaliste Saloom Road and U.S. Highway 90.

The parents of Martha Odom, a 17-year-old who was shot and killed at the Mall of Louisiana in April, have filed a wrongful death and negligence lawsuit against the mall’s owner. Also named in the suit are the mall’s operator/manager, its security contractor and Markel Lee, the person accused of firing the gun. The lawsuit was filed on Oct. 7 in East Baton Rouge Parish’s 19th Judicial District Court.

When Preslie Such and Raeleigh Boyd graduated — Such from Louisiana State University and Boyd from UL Lafayette — the two noticed how difficult it was to find the art supplies they needed in the wild. “You have all these tools while you’re in school and you have the space and you have your community, and then you graduate and like you’re just kind of kicked to the curb,” says Such. So, while still working their nine-to-fives, they began developing a business plan.

The riddle with documenting a thing is that the act of observing it changes that thing, its nature shifting under a watchful eye. A photographer’s presence, say, alters the way a subject exists and then appears in the final image made. The act of photographing something or someone will always include capturing at least a trace of the seer, somehow. In order to net the most accurate, or honest, depiction of a moment, a photographer has to be the most unobtrusive observer he can be.

This story was first reported by Verite News, a member of the Deep South Today network, and republished with permission. Several state lawsuits against the company behind a major liquefied natural gas terminal under construction in Cameron Parish have been temporarily halted by a judge.

SpaceX is coming to town with $100 billion in investment. That’s supposed to create 3,000 new direct jobs and 8,100 new indirect jobs. In response, Louisiana has rolled out the red carpet with an unprecedented incentive package to land the deals. But what do these numbers actually mean? I thought it was worth taking some time to provide some context, the numbers behind the numbers, so to speak. Let’s start with those 3,000 new jobs.

Here is a selection of items on the agendas for this week’s meetings of the Lafayette City and Parish councils. To see the full agendas, check out the links below: Parish Council City Council School System. Superintendent Francis Touchet will be providing his regular and general update on the state of the Lafayette Parish School System.

Ever heard of the Lafayette Metropolitan Expressway? No? Well, as conversations about the future of the I-49 connector have gained momentum again, so has a long-dormant proposal to build a “loop” around the western edge of Lafayette instead. Risen from the crypt in the appropriate season, the Lafayette Metropolitan Expressway Commission met for the first time in years last week to restart discussions on the semicircular “loop” that would run through Carencro, Ossun, Judice and Maurice.

Mayor-President Monique Boulet’s administration secured $50 million in federal and state funding for an interchange at Kaliste Saloom Road and U.S. 90. The project would transform 2.2 miles of Kaliste Saloom and 3.5 miles of U.S. 90 into an elevated interchange to improve safety and reduce congestion, according to a Lafayette Consolidated Government announcement. The interchange is considered to be part of the larger Interstate 49 Connector project.

Since announcing Starbase Louisiana in August, SpaceX has started hiring. A handful of postings have hit job boards as the $100 billion spaceport gets off the ground. The deal has been nearly universally lauded among Vermilion Parish public officials as a huge win for a parish that’s relied on dwindling oil and gas royalties. Payments will be spread across the Vermilion Parish Police Jury, school board, sheriff and tax assessor.