10+ south Louisiana festivals worth a day trip this fall – [225]

Published

1 year ago

September 1, 2024

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10+ south Louisiana festivals worth a day trip this fall – [225]

By Olivia Deffes
September 1, 2024

Sept. 13

Yacht Rock Beer Fest

Sugar Mill Pond in Youngsville

Slam free beer samples and dance along to live music performances covering some yacht rock hits.

Sept. 26-29

Louisiana Sugar Cane Festival

Main Street in New Iberia

Celebrate Louisiana’s sweetest crop with parades, car shows, live entertainment and more.

Sept. 27 + 28

NOLA Coffee Festival

New Orleans Ernest N. Morial Convention Center

Have some cups of joe with two days of coffee education, barista demos and tastings from over 25 roasters.

Oct. 2-6

St. Tammany Parish Fair

St. Tammany Parish Fairgrounds

Step right up! This fair celebrates 115 years of rodeos, pageants, music, food, exhibits, rides and more.

Oct. 4-6

Louisiana Cattle Festival & Fair

Downtown Abbeville

Moo-ve it on over to Abbeville for cattle shows, parades, tasty eats and plenty of room for a few fais do-dos.

Oct. 16-27

New Orleans Film Festival

Various locations

Grab the popcorn. This Oscar-qualifying film fest gathers movie fans for screenings of over 150 films.

Oct. 26

Sweet Dough Pie Festival

Grand Coteau Town Park

Get your sweet treat fix with sugary desserts stuffed with custards and fruity fillings made by pastry chefs and home bakers.

Nov. 2

NOLA Zydeco Fest

Crescent Park

Taste and see what Louisiana Creole culture has to offer with flavorful cuisine, art vendors, dance classes and more.

Nov. 7-10

Port Barre Cracklin Festival

Veteran’s Memorial Park

Follow the savory smell of deep fried cracklins to find a carnival, pageants, live swamp pop music and more.

Nov. 9 + 10

Covington Three Rivers Art Festival

Downtown Covington

Hundreds of local artists pop up in Covington for this outdoor, juried festival.

Nov. 9 + 10

Tremé Creole Gumbo Festival

Louis Armstrong Park

Feast on gumbo varieties while listening to the sweet stylings of brass bands.

Nov. 21-24

Southern Screen Festival

Downtown Lafayette

Film lovers and moviemakers can participate in screenings, panels, parties and more.

Nov. 16

Beignet Festival

New Orleans City Park Festival Grounds

Sample sugar-dusted and savory stuffed beignets, and enjoy live music, an art market and a beer garden.

This article was originally published in the September 2024 issue of 225 Magazine.

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Louisiana races to hire AI workers as majority of pilot projects fail

Published

6 hours ago

January 8, 2026

Press Room

Louisiana races to hire AI workers as majority of pilot projects fail

Nearly all corporate artificial intelligence pilot projects fail to deliver measurable business value, according to new research — a finding that comes as Louisiana companies accelerate AI hiring faster than the data workforce needed to support it.

A national analysis by data consultancy DoubleTrack found that 95% of generative AI pilot projects fail to produce measurable profits, a rate that researchers attribute largely to weak data infrastructure rather than shortcomings in AI technology itself.

Despite that failure rate, Louisiana employers are hiring AI specialists far faster than data infrastructure workers. The study found Louisiana companies posted 151% more AI and machine-learning jobs than data infrastructure roles, ranking the state among the most imbalanced AI labor markets in the country.

According to the analysis, Louisiana employers advertised 548 AI-related positions compared with 218 data infrastructure jobs, meaning companies are hiring more than two AI specialists for every data engineer or platform specialist; the reverse of what experts recommend.

According to the study, industry consensus suggests that organizations should hire at least two data infrastructure professionals for every AI specialist to ensure that data is reliable, integrated, and usable. Without that foundation, AI systems often stall or are abandoned.

The consequences are already visible nationwide. Research cited in the report shows 42% of companies scrapped most of their AI initiatives in 2025, more than double the abandonment rate from the year before.

The findings carry particular significance for Louisiana as the state courts data centers, advanced manufacturing and digital infrastructure projects, including large-scale developments proposed in Caddo and Bossier parishes. While such projects promise billions in capital investment, they depend on robust data pipelines, power reliability and utility coordination — areas that require deep data infrastructure expertise.

Data centers, in particular, employ relatively few permanent workers but rely heavily on specialized data engineers to manage system redundancy, cybersecurity, data flow and integration with cloud and AI platforms. A shortage of those workers could limit the long-term impact of the projects Louisiana is working to attract.

The report also raises questions for workforce development and higher education. Louisiana universities have expanded AI-related coursework in recent years, but researchers say data engineering, database management and system integration skills are just as critical — and often in shorter supply.

Only 6% of enterprise AI leaders nationwide believe their data systems are ready to support AI projects, and 71% of AI teams spend more than a quarter of their time on basic data preparation and system integration rather than advanced analytics or model development, according to research cited in the study.

Those infrastructure gaps can have ripple effects beyond technology firms. Utilities, energy producers, health systems and logistics companies — all major pillars of Louisiana’s economy — increasingly rely on AI tools that require clean, connected data to function reliably.

DoubleTrack recommends companies adopt a 2-to-1 hiring ratio, with two data infrastructure hires for every AI specialist, to reduce failure rates.

“The businesses most at risk aren’t the ones moving slowly on AI,” said Andy Boettcher, the firm’s chief innovation officer. “They’re the ones who hired aggressively for AI roles without investing in data quality and infrastructure.”

As Louisiana pushes to position itself as a hub for data-driven industries, researchers say closing the gap between AI ambition and data readiness may determine whether those investments succeed — or quietly join the 95% that do not.

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Louisiana

Women and men in Louisiana experience different kinds of violence, study finds

Published

18 hours ago

January 8, 2026

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Women and men in Louisiana experience different kinds of violence, study finds

BATON ROUGE, La. (Louisiana Illuminator) – More than half of adults in Louisiana have experienced physical violence during their lifetime but what those acts look like largely depends on the victim’s gender, according to an annual survey conducted last year.

In Louisiana, gun violence is much more likely to be carried out against men, while severe intimate partner violence — sometimes referred to as domestic abuse — is much more likely to happen to women, showed the result of a study by Tulane University, the University of California San Diego and the National Opinion Research Center at the University of Chicago.

“Violence is a gendered issue. It is different if you are a man or a woman or a boy or a girl,” Anita Raj, executive director of the Newcomb Institute at Tulane University and the study’s lead author, said in an interview.

Raj’s survey, the Louisiana Study on Violence Experiences Across the Lifespan, is the only comprehensive research of its kind conducted in the state. It was administered online in English and Spanish between May 13 and June 18, 2025, to more than 1,000 Louisiana residents 18 and older.

The survey shows Louisiana residents experience violence at an alarmingly high rate. Eight percent of people surveyed said they were subjected to physical violence in the past year, including 3% who said they were threatened with either a knife or a gun.

Who commits the violence and what form it takes largely depends on the victim’s gender.

Over half of women (58%) who had experienced physical violence within a year of the survey reported their spouse or partner were responsible for the incidents, compared with just 14% of men. Most men (53%) who had experienced physical violence in that time period said they were targeted by a stranger, compared with just 5% of women, according to the report.

Men were much more likely to be subjected to gun violence than women, however; 4% of men reported they had been threatened or attacked with a gun in the year before the survey was taken, compared with just 1% of women, according to the report.

Yet women (13%) were more likely to experience sexual harassment and sexual violence than men (6%). Almost one in four women (23%) surveyed also said they had been subjected to forced sex during their lifetimes, compared with 7% of men.

Severe intimate partner violence, sometimes called domestic violence, was also much more prevalent for women.

Almost 25% of women reported they had been subjected to potentially lethal forms of intimate partner violence — such as choking, suffocation, burns, beatings and use of a weapon — during their lifetimes. Only 6% of men reported being the victims of life-threatening violence from a spouse or dating partner.

Mariah Wineski, executive director of the Louisiana Coalition Against Domestic Violence, said the study’s findings align with what domestic violence shelters and other victim advocacy groups see on a daily basis.

“Many times, the most dangerous place for a woman is in her home or in her relationship,” Wineski said.

Intimate partner violence is more widespread among younger people. Twelve percent of respondents who are 18-24 years old and 15% of those ages 25-34 experienced violence and controlling behavior from a partner in the year before the survey was taken. Only 1-2% over people 55 and older reported the same problem.

Raj and Wineski said prevention programs aimed at reducing intimate partner violence need to start with adolescents in order to have the greatest impact.

“It is much more effective to change the attitudes and beliefs of a child or adolescent,” Wineski said. “They are at a better place in their lives for learning all sorts of new things, including how to interact with other people.”

Programs that promote economic stability and lift people out of poverty also help curb violence, according to Raj’s report.

Survey participants who reported not having enough money for food or other basic necessities were five times more likely to have experienced physical violence in the past year and six times more likely to experience intimate partner violence. People who are homeless were nine times more likely to experience intimate partner violence, according to the report.

“Policies that expand women’s economic and political participation, promote safety in workplaces and public spaces, and protect LGBTQ+ people advance not only equity but also safety for all,” the report concluded.

Louisiana Illuminator is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Louisiana Illuminator maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Greg LaRose for questions: info@lailluminator.com.

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Louisiana

USDA picks Louisiana lawmaker to lead state’s rural development efforts. See who it is.

Published

1 day ago

January 7, 2026

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USDA picks Louisiana lawmaker to lead state’s rural development efforts. See who it is.

“All of the communities that surround it are going to need to be built up,” Romero said. “They’re going to need, you know, extra hospital space and rural clinics and restaurants.”

USDA’s rural development section supports economic development, job creation and services like housing, health care, first-responder services and utility infrastructure, according to its website.

Romero resigned from his seat in the Louisiana Legislature on Dec. 14 and began his new job with the federal government the next day, he said.

He’s replacing acting Director MaryAnn Pistilli and will be based in Alexandria, though he’ll regularly travel the state and meet with local leaders and officials, he said.

The former state lawmaker said Gov. Jeff Landry helped put his name forward for the appointment.

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