Louisiana
A look back at Louisiana Democratic Gov. John Bel Edwards' eight years in office
BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) — It was 2012 and Louisiana was spiraling toward a historic budget crisis, with public colleges bracing for another round of cuts that campus leaders said were chasing away students and shuttering programs.
John Bel Edwards, then-a rural state representative, had had enough. He turned to a fellow lawmaker and said, “I’m running for governor.”
The Democrat went on to shock the country, defying near-universal predictions and winning Louisiana’s gubernatorial election in the reliably red state twice.
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Edwards, currently the lone Democratic governor in the Deep South, has reached his final two days in office after eight years. His tenure has been marked by successes — expanding Medicaid, joining climate change initiatives, climbing out of a budget deficit and investing in education — while navigating historical crises and facing challenges from a GOP-dominated legislature.
A decade ago, Edwards, a lawyer from a 4,000-person town in eastern Louisiana, had little name recognition as he campaigned for governor with a bare-bones team. Campaign strategists say a number of factors led to the longshot candidate’s victories: A scandal-ridden Republican opponent, Edwards’ military background and religious conservatism that attracted GOP voters, and a strong Democratic turnout from Black voters.
Edwards’ first act as governor — which he has described as the “easiest big decision” he made in office — was to expand Medicaid. More than 440,000 working poor and nonelderly adults enrolled within the first budget year, and Louisiana’s uninsured rate dropped from 22.7% to 9.4%.
Edwards entered office in crisis mode, inheriting a financial mess that included more than a $1 billion budget shortfall. The state has vastly improved financially, with an estimated $2.2 billion in extra revenue during last year’s legislative session.
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Financial woes weren’t the only crisis Edwards faced his first year: There were fatal floods, the shooting of Alton Sterling — a Black man killed by police — that triggered unrest and an ambush-style attack that left three officers dead.
During Edwards’ time in office there were around 50 state disaster declarations and 21 federal — from hurricanes, wildfires, threats to New Orleans’ drinking water supply to COVID-19. The West Point graduate says his Army experience influenced the way he managed crises, utilizing timely and accurate information to formulate a strategy and employ tactics.
During the start of the pandemic, Edwards and Republicans — including Gov.-elect Jeff Landry — came together in a bipartisan plea for people to do their part to avoid spreading the virus. It was a rare truce during a time of deep political divides nationwide.
Although a Democrat, Edwards’ stances on abortion and moderate pro-gun views appealed to some Republicans. Edwards said ahead of his reelection in 2019 former President Donald Trump urged the governor to switch parties.
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Edwards remained a Democrat, and in return Trump traveled to Louisiana to rally against him. Edwards won reelection.
Working across the aisle with a GOP supermajority also proved challenging and, at times, unsuccessful. Edwards wielded his veto powers — at one point blocking a bill prohibiting transgender athletes from competing on girls’ sports teams. In a rarity, lawmakers overrode two of the governor’s vetoes — passing into law a ban on gender-affirming care for transgender minors and overturning Edwards’ blockage of a new congressional map that lacked a second majority-Black district.
Lawmakers also halted a slew of Edwards’ goals, including increasing the minimum age and eliminating the state’s death penalty.
Perhaps one of the biggest moments of scrutiny of Edwards came following the deadly arrest of Black motorist Ronald Greene in 2019. The legislature put together a committee probing the death and to see if the governor was complicit in a cover-up of troopers. However, lawmakers abandoned their work in June without issuing any finding or hearing from the governor, despite Edwards saying he was willing to testify.
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Throughout his time in office, Edwards has maintained strong approval ratings among the public, continuously vowing to put people before politics.
In the Deep South state, which has had a front-row seat to the effects of climate change, Edwards put Louisiana on a path to reduce greenhouse gas emissions to net zero by 2050.
While Louisiana has tens of thousands of jobs tied to the oil and gas industry, efforts to expand Louisiana’s renewable energy industry have come to the forefront during Edwards’ administration.
Unable to run for reelection because of consecutive term limits, Edwards leaves office Monday and will join a New Orleans-based law firm where he will focus on bringing renewable energy deals to the state.
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Edwards says he has “no intention” to run for political office in the future, but he hasn’t outright ruled it out. For now, the governor said he is optimistic about Louisiana’s future and ready to go home.
Louisiana
Meta orders 10 gas-fired power plants for its Hyperion AI campus in rural Louisiana—more than triple the initial plans | Fortune
Meta will pay for a total of 10 gas-fired power plants—enough to power more than 5 million homes—to electrify its rapidly expanding plans for its massive AI data center complex in northeastern Louisiana, dubbed Hyperion.
Meta’s agreement with New Orleans–based Entergy, announced March 27, is to build and finance seven new power plants in Louisiana. That comes on top of plans approved last year to build three gas power plants for the sprawling AI hub. The 10 power plants with 7.5 gigawatts of capacity would represent a more than 30% increase to Louisiana’s entire grid capacity, not even counting up to 2.5 gigawatts of renewable energy capacity, including battery storage, that Meta also agreed to help fund.
Meta initially announced plans for a $10 billion investment in December 2024 for a 2,250-acre data center campus in northeastern Louisiana in rural Richland Parish. But Meta recently, and quietly, acquired an additional 1,400 acres, as Fortune reported in February. In October 2025, Meta entered a joint venture with funds managed by Blue Owl Capital to finance, build, and operate the Hyperion campus with up to $27 billion in total development costs, seemingly ensuring the mega-campus will serve as a long-term, multiphase AI hub.
Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg has said Hyperion would cover a “significant part of the footprint of Manhattan.”
“Our Richland Parish data center serves as a symbol of the ambition and scale of next-generation AI infrastructure,” said Rachel Peterson, Meta vice president for data centers, in a statement. “We are building foundations for the future of AI innovation right here in the United States. We’ve been working closely with Entergy since early on-site planning to ensure our power needs are met and, importantly, so that Entergy’s other consumers aren’t paying our costs.”
The Louisiana Public Service Commission will still need to approve the projects. The previous three power plants received regulatory authorization last year.
Entergy’s stock jumped 7% on March 27, lifting its market cap to a new record high of about $50 billion. The stock has risen almost 125% in two years.
Entergy is emphasizing that Meta is paying for the projects, rather than shifting the costs to other ratepayers. Entergy argues that the deals will save Louisiana taxpayers billions of dollars over several years.
The 10 power plants are estimated to cost nearly $11 billion. Critics contend ratepayers could be stuck with the bill after 15 years, which is the length of the contractual terms, if Meta no longer requires so much power after that span.
“This agreement reflects what’s possible when strong partners align around long-term growth and value,” said Phillip May, president and CEO of Entergy Louisiana, in a statement. “Working with our customers, regulators, and state leaders, we are making targeted investments that strengthen reliability, support economic development, and deliver meaningful benefits to customers—all while keeping energy rates affordable.”
Louisiana’s recent tax reforms have improved the state’s competitiveness, but lasting economic growth will stall without a stronger workforce. That is why enacting policies to help businesses meet their workforce needs must start now.
Across industries, employers continue to report difficulty finding workers with the skills required for their jobs. At the same time, many Louisianans struggle to connect with opportunities that offer good-paying jobs and long-term career paths.
This disconnect is the reason Public Affairs Research Council and Leaders for a Better Louisiana are joining forces to call for the state’s renewed and sustained focus on workforce development, particularly in the ongoing legislative session.
This is not simply a labor shortage. It is a persistent mismatch between the needs of businesses and the preparation, awareness and mobility of our workforce.
If Louisiana wants to fully capitalize on its economic reforms, infrastructure investments and emerging industries, we must strengthen the systems that connect education and training to the needs of employers.
The challenge is visible in the data.
Steven Procopio, president of Public Affairs Research Council, has been with the organization for 10 years.
Louisiana’s labor force participation rate hovers around 58% — 43rd worst among states and several points below the national average. That gap represents over 100,000 working-age adults who are neither working nor actively seeking work. Even modest improvements would translate into significant gains for families, businesses and the state’s economy.
At the same time, the state reports roughly 124,000 jobs open statewide, compared with about 88,000 individuals actively seeking employment. This imbalance reflects issues involving workforce solutions for employers, skills relevance and alignment in education and the ability of individuals to navigate from education or training into the available jobs.
These pressures are unfolding at a pivotal moment for Louisiana’s economy.
The state has seen significant jobs announcements and capital investment in recent years across manufacturing, energy, technology and other sectors. While these projects create opportunity, these announcements alone do not guarantee broad-based prosperity.
Without a workforce prepared at the necessary scale with the right skills or employers able to address their talent shortages, Louisiana risks constraining growth and limiting the benefits of that investment.
This is not a failure of workers or employers: It is a systems challenge.
Louisiana’s workforce development, education and economic development efforts often don’t operate in alignment. Students struggle to understand how academic choices connect to careers. Employers struggle to find training partners responsive to rapidly changing skill needs. Workforce programs are difficult to navigate, fragmented across agencies and inconsistent in their coordination.
Barry Erwin
Improving outcomes requires strengthening these connections. Better career counseling can help students make informed decisions about education and training pathways. Clearer workforce signals can help institutions align programs with high-demand fields. Stronger partnerships among business, higher education and workforce agencies can accelerate the transition from classroom to career.
Louisiana already has examples of progress to build upon.
The M.J. Foster Promise Program is funding working-age adults to earn credentials in high-demand fields. Industry partnerships, apprenticeships and technical training programs are expanding in key sectors. Regional collaborations are demonstrating how employers and educators can work together to meet workforce needs. These efforts show that targeted investments and intentional alignment can produce real results.
But isolated successes are not enough. Louisiana must scale what works and remove barriers that limit participation.
That means simplifying how individuals access education and training, strengthening coordination across agencies and institutions, improving transparency around outcomes and ensuring accountability for results. Workforce development should function as an integrated strategy, not a collection of disconnected programs.
The stakes extend beyond economic development. Workforce policy is also economic mobility policy. When Louisianans can access training that leads to stable, well-paying careers, families benefit. Communities benefit. Employers benefit. The state benefits.
Conversely, when individuals remain disconnected from opportunity, the consequences are felt in lower incomes, reduced growth and widening inequality.
Louisiana has meaningful economic opportunity ahead. The question is whether the state can connect its people to that growth at the scale required. Workforce development is the bridge between economic development and shared prosperity for Louisiana families. We believe that workforce reform is one of the urgent issues Louisiana leaders must address during the 2026 legislative session.
Louisiana
ULM Pelican Cup 2026: Student entrepreneurs win $140,000 in Louisiana’s premier startup competition
MONROE, La. (KNOE) – Months of planning came down to 90 seconds. For one Louisiana State University Shreveport team, that pitch was worth $50,000.
RX Connect, a prescription navigation app developed by LSUS graduate students, took first place in the graduate division of the 2026 ULM Pelican Cup competition. The team also won the elevator pitch competition, earning an additional $2,000.
Team leader Kurtis Alton said the journey tested his commitment. He works full-time, attends school and has a family.
“Questioning myself whether it’s worth putting in all the effort,” Alton said. “This isn’t the first competition, but I learned from what I didn’t gain prior so I can implement it here to get better. I didn’t give up.”
RX Connect addresses a problem in the healthcare system: what happens when a prescription can’t be filled. The app helps patients navigate the system to find solutions.
Team member Wendy Alton said there were moments of doubt during development, but she believed in the vision.
“There were moments that I told myself, where are we going?” she said. “But I know that in my heart, he had the passion, he had the drive. And I just believed that this was going to be something.”
Graduate division winners
The Pelican Cup competition is open to students from any major at any Louisiana university. Faculty advisor Mike McDaniel said the winning proposal will change lives beyond the team.
“Where they have taken this idea and then turned it into this winning proposal that will change lives, not only theirs, but all of the patients in our healthcare system that need this help immensely,” McDaniel said.
First Place – $50,000
RX Connect (Louisiana State University Shreveport)Team Leader: Kurtis Alton Team Members: Jyotish Batra, Wendy Alton Advisor: Mike McDaniel Also won Elevator Pitch Winner – $2,000
Second Place – $25,000
Hustlr (University of Louisiana Monroe)Team Leader: Dylan Hayden Team Members: Chase Gunn, Nokia Masengu Advisors: Joyce Zhou
Third Place – $10,000
Bio-Pod (University of Louisiana Lafayette)Team Leader: Natasha Syed Team Members: Matthew Hasling, Mansu Acharya Advisor: Jonathan Shirley
First, second and third place faculty advisors receive $3,000.
Undergraduate division winners
Social Bridge AI, a University of Louisiana Monroe team, won $25,000 in the undergraduate division. The platform uses artificial intelligence to help people with autism practice communication and social skills through roleplay.
Team leader Anjan Mandal said the company will stay rooted in Louisiana.
“I’m glad that we have started this company from Louisiana and we’re going to impact the millions and millions of lives in the whole United States, but we’ll start that from Louisiana,” Mandal said. “We win that money. We’re going to put that money in our company and that company will be only from Louisiana.”
First Place – $25,000
Social Bridge AI (University of Louisiana Monroe)Team Leader: Anjan Mandal Team Members: Roshani Pathak, Pradeep PoudelAdvisors: Prasanthi Sreekumari
Second Place – $15,000
Xplify (University of Louisiana Monroe)Team Leader: Damir Filaretov Team Members: Viktor Motov, Connor Pauley, Katie McCullars Advisor: Veronika Humphries Also won Elevator Pitch Winner – $2,000
Third Place – $10,000
Sensory Sync (University of New Orleans)Team Leader: Pranish GhimireTeam Members: Simant Singh, Krish Neupane Advisor: Shafin Khan
First, second and third place faculty advisors receive $3,000.
Competition organizers said they have seen teams develop from classroom concepts into businesses with millions of dollars in investment.
Copyright 2026 KNOE. All rights reserved.
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