Louisiana
Louisiana secures $25M for UL Lafayette workforce training, safety
VIDEO École Saint-Landry Open House at Sunset High
École Saint-Landry is opening the renovated Sunset High campus to the public, marking a return to the historic building where French immersion will now lead the way.
The University of Louisiana at Lafayette and its partners will receive nearly $25 million in federal funding for projects aimed at boosting workforce training, scientific research, public safety and national defense.
The money was approved by Congress as part of the federal government’s Fiscal Year 2026 budget and signed into law by President Trump, the school announced. University officials said the funding will support projects led or co-led by UL Lafayette in collaboration with federal agencies, private companies and other universities.
The four projects include:
- $5 million to create the Silicon Bayou Semiconductor Training Center, which will focus on training workers to manufacture the next generation of computer chips.
- $2.5 million to upgrade high-level biosecurity labs at the New Iberia Research Center to strengthen research on infectious diseases.
- $12 million for a joint cybersecurity research effort called Autonomous Recovery from Cyber Attacks (ARC), aimed at improving national security and defense systems.
- $5 million for the PHMSA National Center of Excellence for LNG Safety to advance safety research and workforce training in the liquefied natural gas industry.
University leaders said the funding will help strengthen Louisiana’s workforce, expand research capacity and support partnerships with industry and government.
The projects were backed by members of Louisiana’s congressional delegation, including U.S. Rep. Clay Higgins and U.S. Sens. Bill Cassidy and John Kennedy.
Kolluru said the funding will allow the university to grow programs that strengthen the state’s economy and support national priorities.
Workforce and chip manufacturing
The $5 million for the Silicon Bayou Semiconductor Training Center will help establish a semiconductor manufacturing training and research facility on campus. The university has committed a 12,000-square-foot building and invested $1.25 million to launch the center.
“We are grateful to Louisiana’s congressional delegation for their leadership and advocacy on behalf of these transformative projects and, ultimately, on behalf of Louisiana’s future,” UL Lafayette Interim President Dr. Ramesh Kolluru said.
The facility will operate in partnership with South Louisiana Community College and other stakeholders. Officials say it will help meet Louisiana’s workforce needs, support major industry investments such as First Solar and attract additional semiconductor companies to the state.
Infectious Disease Research Upgrades
The $2.5 million allocated to the New Iberia Research Center will expand and modernize its Bio-Safety Level 3 laboratory. These labs handle dangerous infectious agents that pose serious risks to public health.
Upgrades will include improved wastewater treatment systems, stronger security, enhanced access controls and new equipment for safely handling and disposing of hazardous materials. University officials said the improvements will boost national biosecurity research while meeting federal safety standards.
Cybersecurity and National Defense
The largest award — $12 million — will fund the Autonomous Recovery from Cyber Attacks initiative, a joint research project between UL Lafayette and Radiance Technologies.
The project aims to develop systems that can automatically detect and recover from cyberattacks without human intervention. Funding will be shared between the university and Radiance Technologies.
Leaders said the partnership strengthens UL Lafayette’s role in defense-related research and long-term federal security efforts.
LNG Safety and Training
The remaining $5 million will support the PHMSA National Center of Excellence for LNG Safety. Of that amount, $4.2 million will go directly to the center, while $800,000 will fund its Academic Research Consortium.
The consortium is co-led by UL Lafayette and partners including McNeese State University, Southern University and Texas A&M University. The center focuses on improving research, safety practices and workforce training related to the transportation and handling of liquefied natural gas.
University officials said the combined investments position UL Lafayette as a key partner in strengthening Louisiana’s economy and supporting national research and security priorities.
Aaron Gonsoulin is the General Assignment/Trending Reporter for The Daily Advertiser. Contact him at AGonsoulin@theadvertiser.com.
Louisiana
Louisiana Lottery Powerball, Pick 3 results for May 2, 2026
The Louisiana Lottery offers several draw games for those aiming to win big.
Here’s a look at May 2, 2026, results for each game:
Winning Powerball numbers from May 2 drawing
25-37-42-52-65, Powerball: 14, Power Play: 3
Check Powerball payouts and previous drawings here.
Winning Pick 3 numbers from May 2 drawing
9-3-8
Check Pick 3 payouts and previous drawings here.
Winning Pick 4 numbers from May 2 drawing
6-2-0-0
Check Pick 4 payouts and previous drawings here.
Winning Pick 5 numbers from May 2 drawing
6-2-4-2-6
Check Pick 5 payouts and previous drawings here.
Winning Easy 5 numbers from May 2 drawing
01-03-08-18-34
Check Easy 5 payouts and previous drawings here.
Winning Lotto numbers from May 2 drawing
17-19-21-32-36-41
Check Lotto 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.
Louisiana
Abortion pill dispute returns to Supreme Court
On Saturday, two companies that manufacture mifepristone came to the court in Danco Laboratories v. Louisiana, asking the justices to pause a ruling by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit in a lawsuit by Louisiana that reinstated the requirement that the drug, which is used in about 60% of abortions nationwide, be dispensed only in person. Danco and GenBioPro told the justices that the 5th Circuit’s order was “unprecedented” and “injects immediate confusion and upheaval into highly time-sensitive medical decisions.”
Nearly two years ago, the Supreme Court ruled that doctors and medical groups opposed to abortion did not have a legal right to sue, known as standing, to challenge the Food and Drug Administration’s expansion of access to mifepristone.
The 2024 case, FDA v. Alliance for Hippocratic Medicine, was filed in federal court in Texas by several individual doctors who are opposed to abortion on religious or moral grounds, as well as medical groups whose members are opposed to abortion. The plaintiffs asked U.S. District Judge Matthew Kacsmaryk to rescind both the FDA’s initial approval of the drug in 2000 and its 2016 and 2021 expansions of access to the drug, arguing that mifepristone is unsafe and that the process that the FDA used to approve the drug was flawed.
The FDA, as well as several leading medical groups, countered that, based on extensive evidence, mifepristone is safe and effective. Kacsmaryk, however, suspended the FDA’s approval of the drug and the agency’s later changes, made in 2016 and 2021, to the conditions on the use of the drug – which included allowing the drug to be used through the 10th week of pregnancy, allowing health-care providers who are not physicians to prescribe the drug, and permitting it to be prescribed without an in-person visit.
The FDA and Danco, which manufactures mifepristone, appealed to the 5th Circuit. The court upheld the part of Kacsmaryk’s ruling that rolled back the agency’s 2016 and 2021 changes that had expanded access to mifepristone.
In April 2023, the Supreme Court temporarily put the 5th Circuit’s ruling on hold, ensuring continued access to the drug. In June 2024, it reversed the lower court’s ruling and sent the case back to the lower courts.
In his opinion for the court, Justice Brett Kavanaugh acknowledged what he characterized as the challengers’ “sincere legal, moral, ideological, and policy objections” to elective abortion “by others” and to FDA’s 2016 and 2021 changes to the conditions on the use of the drug. But the challengers could not contest those changes, he said, because they had not shown that they would be harmed by the FDA’s mifepristone policies; under the Constitution, these kinds of objections are not enough to bring a case in federal court.
In October 2025, Louisiana filed its own lawsuit in federal court to seek the reinstatement of the in-person dispensing requirement. It emphasized that it had standing to sue because it had “incontrovertible evidence that … doctors and others are (as the Biden administration intended) sending streams of mifepristone by mail into Louisiana for the express purpose of causing thousands of abortions in Louisiana every year. That conduct directly violates Louisiana’s abortion laws, which – subject to very narrow exceptions (such as to save the life of the mother) – bar virtually all abortions, and prevents Louisiana from protecting the lives of unborn babies despite the promise of Dobbs” v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, the Supreme Court’s 2022 decision holding that the Constitution does not confer a right to an abortion. “That conduct has directly generated medical emergencies that harm Louisiana women,” the state wrote, “and emergency room visits that harm the state.”
Rosalie Markezich, an individual plaintiff who joined the state’s lawsuit, said that in 2023 she was coerced into taking abortion drugs “that her boyfriend obtained via the U.S. Postal Service from a doctor in California.” If the in-person dispensing requirement had been in effect, she said, she “would have received the protection of a private in-person medical appointment,” during which she would “have been able to tell a doctor that she did not want an abortion.”
After a federal judge put the case on hold while the FDA conducts its own review of mifepristone’s safety, Louisiana went to the 5th Circuit, asking that court to re-impose the requirement while litigation continues. The court of appeals ruled that Louisiana has a right to sue because, by allowing mifepristone to be prescribed by telehealth and sent by mail, the “FDA ‘opened the door for mifepristone to be remotely prescribed to Louisiana women,’” even though Louisiana generally bars abortion.
In their emergency application, the drug companies tell the justices that, like the doctors and medical groups in 2024, “Louisiana is not required to ‘prescribe or use mifepristone’ or to ‘do anything or to refrain from doing anything’ as a result of FDA’s actions.” The companies argue that the 5th Circuit should have applied the same analysis that the Supreme Court used in holding that the doctors and medical groups did not have standing in 2024. They stress that the Supreme Court “has already held that claims of downstream financial harm by doctors who provide follow-up care for treating complications after a medication abortion is too attenuated” to provide standing to sue. Here, they say, “Louisiana’s theory—that it can base standing on having to pay those doctors if someone who received FDA-approved mifepristone through the mail seeks follow-up care to treat a complication—is a more attenuated version of the” theories that the court specifically rejected two years ago. And Louisiana’s claim that it is injured because of the disconnect between federal law and its own state law is not the kind of injury that courts can review, they said.
The drug companies also ask the court to issue a short-term order, known as an administrative stay, that would put the 5th Circuit’s ruling on hold while the justices consider their request.
The drug companies’ request goes initially to Justice Samuel Alito, who handles emergency requests from the 5th Circuit. Alito is likely to ask Louisiana to respond before acting on the companies’ request.
Louisiana
Thoroughbred season has opened at Louisiana Downs
SHREVEPORT, La. (KSLA) – Beginning Saturday, and running through September 30, thoroughbred racing returns to Louisiana Downs.
Saturday, the historic venue will celebrate ‘Kentucky Derby’ Day, by having watch parties of the big event, alongside having live racing.
After this weekend, Louisiana Downs will race on a Monday and Tuesday schedule, with post start times slated for 4:05.
Exceptions to the normal schedule include a July 3 date to celebrate Independence Day.
Copyright 2026 KSLA. All rights reserved.
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