Louisiana

4 young, endangered whooping cranes are ready for the Louisiana wild. See their journey.

Published

1 year ago

December 4, 2024

4 young, endangered whooping cranes are ready for the Louisiana wild. See their journey.

A rare bird species that once vanished from Louisiana is making a steady comeback as four more whooping cranes were released into the wild last month.

The release of the young birds, which were raised at a facility on the Westbank, is part of a years-long effort to bring the endangered species back to Louisiana.

The whooping crane is one of the rarest bird species in the world, according to the Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries. They are large-bodied birds that can grow up to five feet tall with wingspans of up to eight feet, and can live up to 30 years in the wild.

Over the past seven years, the Audubon Nature Institute and the Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries has released over 50 cranes into the White Lake Westland Conservation Area in Vermillion Parish. Many of the birds, including the four released last month, were hatched and raised at Audubon’s facility.

“We’re making great strides,” said Richard Dunn, the facility’s assistant curator, “and we’re starting to see the results of what we’re doing.”

Every year, staffers name the baby cranes according to a theme, Dunn added. This year’s theme was pasta shapes, so the four released cranes were named Gigli, Vermicelli, Fiori and Gemelli.

Lafayette-based professional photographer Kelly Morvant spotted a family of whooping cranes in a field in rural Acadia Parish — note the juvenile crane visible in the grass.

Provided photo by Kelly Morvant

Whooping cranes, which are white with distinctive red heads and black facial markings, once roamed the state as both non-migratory and migratory species. But their numbers began to dwindle as humans converted their habitat into farmland and hunted the birds, whose feathers became popular clothing accessories.

By 1950, the last living whooping crane in Louisiana was transported to a wildlife refuge on the Texas coast.

But in 2011, the state started an effort to reintroduce the birds into the wild. That first year, ten young cranes entered the conservation area in Vermillion Parish.

Since 2017, when Audubon joined the effort, the environmental organization has released 55 cranes, 31 of which were hatched at the Freeport-McMoRan Audubon Species Survival Center. With the addition of the four new birds, there are now 77 whooping cranes across the state and over 700 nationwide, Dunn said.

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Skylar McMillan with the Audubon Nature Institute boards a boat with the four juvenile Whooping Cranes after they were tagged Tuesday, Nov. 7, at White Lake Wetlands Conservation Area. The birds were taken to a holding pen pending their release into the wild.

Jim Smilie

“The addition of these young cranes is another important step in restoring a once-thriving species to the Louisiana landscape,” Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries Secretary Madison Sheahan said in a statement.

Staff from the Audubon Institute and the state wildlife department raised the baby birds at the Westbank facility. This year, most of the young cranes, called “colts,” were hatched from eggs that came from a migratory flock in Wisconsin, but one chick came from an egg laid by Louisiana cranes. Two unreleased birds were kept at the facility for future breeding.

The goal of the program is to create a self-sustaining population of non-migratory whooping cranes in the state, part of a national push to move the birds from endangered to threatened. In Louisiana, a self-sustaining population of whooping cranes would require about 120 birds with 30 reproducing pairs to survive in the wild for a decade.

“This is the point of what we do,” Dunn said, “see the birds increase in the wild.”

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Louisiana

Louisiana Lottery Powerball, Pick 3 results for March 2, 2026

Published

5 minutes ago

March 3, 2026

Press Room

The Louisiana Lottery offers several draw games for those aiming to win big.

Here’s a look at March 2, 2026, results for each game:

Winning Powerball numbers from March 2 drawing

02-17-18-38-62, Powerball: 20, Power Play: 2

Check Powerball payouts and previous drawings here.

Winning Pick 3 numbers from March 2 drawing

3-9-9

Check Pick 3 payouts and previous drawings here.

Winning Pick 4 numbers from March 2 drawing

4-1-1-0

Check Pick 4 payouts and previous drawings here.

Winning Pick 5 numbers from March 2 drawing

0-5-2-9-5

Check Pick 5 payouts and previous drawings here.

Feeling lucky? Explore the latest lottery news & results

Are you a winner? Here’s how to claim your lottery prize

All Louisiana Lottery retailers will redeem prizes up to $600. For prizes over $600, winners can submit winning tickets through the mail or in person at Louisiana Lottery offices. Prizes of over $5,000 must be claimed at Lottery office.

By mail, follow these instructions:

Sign and complete the information on the back of your winning ticket, ensuring all barcodes are clearly visible (remove all scratch-off material from scratch-off tickets).
Photocopy the front and back of the ticket (except for Powerball and Mega Millions tickets, as photocopies are not accepted for these games).
Complete the Louisiana Lottery Prize Claim Form, including your telephone number and mailing address for prize check processing.
Photocopy your valid driver’s license or current picture identification.

Mail all of the above in a single envelope to:

Louisiana Lottery Headquarters

555 Laurel Street

Baton Rouge, LA 70801

To submit in person, visit Louisiana Lottery headquarters:

555 Laurel Street, Baton Rouge, LA 70801, (225) 297-2000.

Hours: 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., Monday through Friday. This office can cash prizes of any amount.

Check previous winning numbers and payouts at Louisiana Lottery.

When are the Louisiana Lottery drawings held?

Powerball: 9:59 p.m. CT Monday, Wednesday and Saturday.
Mega Millions: 10 p.m. CT Tuesday and Friday.
Pick 3, Pick 4 and Pick 5: Daily at 9:59 p.m. CT.
Easy 5: 9:59 p.m. CT Wednesday and Saturday.
Lotto: 9:59 p.m. CT Wednesday and Saturday.

This results page was generated automatically using information from TinBu and a template written and reviewed by a Louisiana editor. You can send feedback using this form.

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Louisiana

National Guard deployment in New Orleans extended for six months

Published

12 hours ago

March 2, 2026

Press Room

National Guard deployment in New Orleans extended for six months

NEW ORLEANS — The Louisiana National Guard announced Monday that 120 troops will remain deployed in New Orleans through August.

The six-month extension comes after 350 Guard members deployed to New Orleans in late December, in the run-up to New Year’s and other high-profile events like the Sugar Bowl. The troops, which had mainly clustered in the city’s historic French Quarter, had been scheduled to depart in the aftermath of Mardi Gras.

New Orleans is one of several Democrat-run cities, such as Washington and Memphis, Tennessee, where the federal government deployed armed troops under the administration of President Donald Trump. Hundreds of federal agents also converged on Louisiana in December as part of a separate immigration crackdown in and around New Orleans.

During his State of the Union address last week, Trump touted the deployment in New Orleans as a “big success.” In January, Trump credited the troops with reducing the city’s violent crime within a week of their deployment. City police data shows violent crime rates have significantly declined over the past three years in parallel with national trends.

According to a press statement from the Louisiana National Guard, the remaining guard members will serve as a “visible presence to deter criminal activity in New Orleans.”

New Orleans Mayor Helena Moreno, a Democrat who initially opposed the deployment, said that the troops would benefit the city in the coming weeks. She pointed out that National Guard troops had assisted the city during last year’s Mardi Gras in the aftermath of a vehicle-ramming attack in the French Quarter that killed 14 people on New Year’s Day.

“I continue to support the partnership with the LA National Guard to assist in our major events and there are several coming up in the next few weeks,” Moreno said in a statement.

While Moreno did not address which events she referred to, visitors flock to New Orleans in the spring for events like the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival.

Louisiana Gov. Jeff Landry, a Republican and staunch Trump ally, requested the deployment of the National Guard last September, citing rising violent crime rates in New Orleans despite the data showing crime was down.

“This continued deployment will help us combat violence in New Orleans and other parts of Louisiana,” Landry wrote on the social platform X on Monday, noting Louisiana had also sent National Guard troops to Washington, D.C., last year.

Kate Kelly, a spokesperson for Landry, said the federal government would cover the cost of the extended deployment. She did not respond to a question about whether Guard members would be deployed outside New Orleans.

Maj. Gen. Thomas Friloux, adjutant general of the Louisiana National Guard, said in a statement the troops had already worked closely with other city, state and federal agencies to improve public safety during a stretch of high-profile events in the city, including the flood of visitors over Mardi Gras and the city’s carnival season.

“We remain committed to those partnerships as we continue supporting efforts to keep the City of New Orleans safe for residents and visitors,” Friloux said.

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Louisiana

Jury selection begins Monday in one of Louisiana’s largest auto insurance fraud cases

Published

1 day ago

March 2, 2026

Press Room

Jury selection begins Monday in one of Louisiana’s largest auto insurance fraud cases

NEW ORLEANS (WVUE) – Jury selection begins Monday in what prosecutors describe as one of the largest auto insurance fraud cases in Louisiana history, with two local attorneys set to stand trial on charges that include fraud and obstruction of justice.

Attorneys Vanessa Motta and Jason Giles are accused in an alleged scheme in which drivers — referred to as “slammers” — were paid to intentionally crash into 18-wheelers, file injury lawsuits and allow attorneys to collect the settlements. Both have pleaded not guilty.

63 people have been charged in the case. Many have already pleaded guilty. Motta and Giles are being tried together.

Criminal defense attorney Craig Mordock, who is not directly involved in the case but has been following it closely, said the scope of the litigation is significant.

“You have 10 years of personal injury cases and almost… almost a billion dollars in recovery. That’s all at issue,” Mordock said. “So yeah, this could go two to three weeks.”

Motta’s defense team has advanced a narrative that she was manipulated by a co-defendant.

“There is a compelling narrative that’s been advanced by Vanessa Motta’s lawyer in terms of her being manipulated by one of the co-defendants… about being manipulated by him and him having a prior federal conviction for fraud,” Mordock said.

Motta’s team originally claimed she did not know the crashes were staged. In 2024, her team told FOX 8 she is the victim.

Mordock said Giles faces a more difficult defense.

“I don’t see a favorable juror for one of the other lawyer defendants, Jason Giles. There’s not a clear theory of innocence. This is basically a standard white-collar prosecution where knowledge and intent are going to be the issue,” Mordock said.

The case carries what Mordock described as a shadow. In September 2020, key witness Cornelious Garrison was killed in New Orleans four days after his name appeared in an indictment. Garrison’s admitted killer, Ryan Harris, is expected to testify.

The judge in the case is also allowing the slain witness’s recorded descriptions of the alleged scheme to be admitted at trial.

Mordock said Louisiana drivers have a direct stake in the outcome.

“As your average Louisianan, the idea would be you would save… because the people committing this fraud have been wrapped up. The insurance companies are going to know how to look for this,” Mordock said.

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