Louisiana
Endangered whale spotted in western Gulf faces industrial dangers • Louisiana Illuminator
Evidence is mounting that an exceedingly rare whale, unique to the Gulf of Mexico, ranges farther west than previously thought, prompting new worries about the dangers it faces from heavy ship traffic and other industrial activities near Louisiana and Texas.
Scientists spotted two of the approximately 75 remaining Rice’s whales during an aerial survey of marine animals in the western Gulf last month. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration researcher Laura Dias saw one of the bus-size whales breaching the surface about 55 miles from Corpus Christi, Texas on April 11.
“I felt a wave of excitement and relief,” she said, describing the culmination of an “intense effort” to photograph the endangered whale species west of Louisiana. Found to be a distinct species just three years ago, the shy, deep-diving Rice’s whale remains largely a mystery. Scientists are racing to learn the basics, including how the whale eats, breeds and communicates, before the species goes extinct.
Recent audio recordings have also offered proof of the whale’s frequent travels in the western Gulf. A NOAA-led analysis of underwater sounds detected the whale’s distinctive “long moan” several times off the coasts of Louisiana and Texas, and offered the first evidence of the whale in Mexico’s waters.
“This is new knowledge and is critical for our understanding [of the whales] given how heavily industrialized that portion of the Gulf is,” said Melissa Soldevilla, a NOAA scientist who led the acoustical research.
The photos and recordings have upended the theory that the Rice’s whale rarely strayed from DeSoto Canyon in the eastern Gulf near Alabama and Florida.
Ships, oil and plastic
The new evidence was troubling for Michael Jasny, a marine mammal protection expert with the Natural Resources Defence Council.
“The vast majority of the risk this species faces is from vessel strikes,” he said. “There’s so much more vessel traffic in the central and western Gulf than there is in the east.”
Texas and Louisiana have several busy shipping hubs, including Houston, the U.S.’s fifth-largest container port, and Port Fourchon, which serves nearly all of the Gulf’s 3,200 active oil and gas structures.
Rice’s whales are “severely vulnerable” to ship strikes because they rest just below the surface at night, Jasny said. This behavior contrasts with most whales, which tend to be nocturnal. A dozing whale is less likely to notice an oncoming vessel, and the vessel’s crew is less likely to spot the whale in the dark.
In 2021, environmental groups petitioned NOAA to set a 10-knot speed limit around DeSoto Canyon. The proposal drew about 75,500 comments and strong opposition from the shipping and oil industries. In October, NOAA denied the petition in favor of an effort to get vessels to slow down voluntarily.
Jasny noted that NOAA adopted a similar 10-knot speed limit along the East Coast to protect the North Atlantic right whale, a species that’s also endangered but has a population that’s likely three times larger than the number of Rice’s whales.
Gulf Coast political leaders have expressed opposition to other measures to protect the whale, including a NOAA proposal to designate 28,000 acres in the Gulf as a new critical habitat.
On May 1, U.S. senators John Kennedy and Bill Cassidy of Louisiana and Cindy Hyde-Smith and Roger Wicker of Mississippi wrote a letter to NOAA warning against “unnecessary measures for the Rice’s whale at the expense of communities along the Gulf of Mexico.” The Republican senators believe whale-related restrictions on shipping and oil and gas development “would directly harm the economic activity and jobs.”
Rice’s whales are also threatened by oil spills, ocean trash, entanglement in fishing gear and noise, especially blasts from seismic airgun surveys that companies use to find offshore oil deposits.
BP’s Deepwater Horizon oil disaster in 2010 killed nearly 20% of the Rice’s whale population and likely caused widespread health problems and pregnancy failures, according to a NOAA-led assessment.
The growing problem of plastic pollution has also proved fatal for at least one of the whales. In 2019, a 38-foot-long male that washed up on a Florida beach was found to have been killed by a jagged piece of plastic that became lodged in its stomach.
Discovering a new species
The whale’s death had a silver lining, though. The carcass was a treasure trove of information for scientists and helped prove that the Rice’s whale is a distinct species.
Scientists had long thought Rice’s whales were a Gulf-dwelling variety of Bryde’s whales, another endangered species that ranges widely in the Atlantic and Pacific oceans. Rice’s and Bryde’s whales look almost identical. They grow to around 55 feet, weigh about 30 tons, use baleen to filter-feed and are part of what NOAA calls the “great whales,” a group that includes humpback, sperm and blue whales. But the dead specimen offered a rare opportunity to get a close look at the Rice’s whale’s organs, skeleton and DNA, all of which revealed clear differences.
A growing body of research indicates the whales’ behavior also sets them apart. While Bryde’s whales feed near the surface on a range of seafood, including krill, shrimp, herring and other small fish, Rice’s whales like to dive deep for one particular menu item: the silver-rag driftfish. And, unlike the free-ranging Bryde’s whales, Rice’s whales are homebodies, preferring to stick to the Gulf’s warm waters.
Some scientists wanted to name the newly-discovered species the “Gulf of Mexico whale” or the “American whale,” because it lives almost entirely in U.S. waters.
In the end, the NOAA scientists who confirmed the whale was a distinct species decided to name it in honor of Dale Rice, a biologist who first recognized some 60 years ago that the Bryde’s whales in the Gulf seemed different from other Bryde’s whales.
Regardless of what they’re called, Jasny hopes more Americans – especially Gulf Coast residents – come to appreciate this massive and mysterious animal, and understand how close it is to vanishing forever.
“This is a really remarkable species,” he said. “They’re unique to the Gulf and even the U.S. We want to make sure people realize how unique they are and how dependent they are on the habitat of the Gulf.”
This article first appeared on Verite News and is republished here under a Creative Commons license.
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.
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.
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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