Inmates harvest turnips at the Louisiana State Penitentiary in Angola, La. U.S. District Court Judge Brian Jackson issued a temporary restraining order Tuesday giving the state department of corrections seven days to provide a plan to improve conditions on the so-called Farm Line at Louisiana State Penitentiary, otherwise known as Angola. Gerald Herbert/Associated Press

Amid blistering summer temperatures, a federal judge ordered Louisiana to take steps to protect the health and safety of incarcerated workers toiling in the fields of a former slave plantation, saying they face “substantial risk of injury or death.” The state immediately appealed the decision.

U.S. District Judge Brian Jackson issued a temporary restraining order Tuesday, giving the state department of corrections seven days to provide a plan to improve conditions on the so-called Farm Line at Louisiana State Penitentiary, otherwise known as Angola. The expansive penitentiary occupies land that once was a plantation.

Jackson called on the state to make changes to policies dealing with heat. He pointed to everything from inadequate shade and breaks from work and a failure to provide workers with sunscreen and other basic protections, including medical checks for those especially vulnerable to high temperatures. However, the judge stopped short of shutting down the farm line altogether when heat indexes reach 88 degrees Fahrenheitor higher, which was what the plaintiffs had requested.

The order comes amid growing nationwide attention on prison labor, a practice that is firmly rooted in slavery and has evolved over the decades into a multibillion-dollar industry. A two-year Associated Press investigation linked the supply chains of some of the world’s largest and best-known companies – from Cargill and Walmart to Burger King – to Angola and other prison farms, where incarcerated workers are paid pennies an hour or nothing at all.

Last year several men incarcerated at Angola and the advocacy group Voice of the Experienced (VOTE) filed a class-action lawsuit alleging cruel and unusual punishment and forced labor in the prison’s fields. The men, most of whom are Black, said they use hoes and shovels or stoop to pick crops by hand in dangerously hot temperatures as armed guards look on. If they refuse to work or fail to meet quotas, they can be sent to solitary confinement or face other punishment, according to disciplinary guidelines.

As temperatures across the state continue to rise, “dealing with the heat in Louisiana has become a matter of life and death,” Jackson wrote in his 78-page ruling. “Conditions on the Farm Line ‘create a substantial risk of injury or death.’”

Lydia Wright of The Promise of Justice Initiative, an attorney for the plaintiffs, applauded the decision.

“The farm line has caused physical and psychological harm for generations,” she told the AP, adding it is the first time a court has found the practice to be cruel and unusual punishment. “It’s an incredible moment for incarcerated people and their families.”

Ken Pastorick, a spokesman for Louisiana’s Department of Public Safety and Corrections, said the department “strongly disagrees” with the court’s overall ruling and has filed a notice of appeal with the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals.

“We are still reviewing the ruling in its entirety and reserve the right to comment in more detail at a later time,” he said.

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A federal judge in southwest Louisiana ended the Biden administration’s pause on approving new liquified natural gas export plants on Monday, siding with 16 Republican Attorneys General.

The lawsuit was one of several launched against the U.S. Department of Energy after the agency announced it would temporarily halt approval of new gas export permits in January. The pause came as the federal agency looked to reassess whether the boom in U.S. gas export development is in the public’s interest, including its impacts on the climate.

Louisiana Attorney General Liz Murrill led the lawsuit, joined by Alabama, Alaska, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Kansas, Mississippi, Montana, Nebraska, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Texas, Utah, West Virginia and Wyoming.

In his decision, District Court Judge James Cain, Jr. opposed the pause, calling it “completely without reason or logic.” The reversal marks a win for Republican officials and industry advocates pushing for the U.S. to sell its gas globally.

“This is great news for Louisiana, our 16 state partners in this fight, and the entire country. As Judge Cain mentioned in his ruling, there is roughly $61 billion dollars of pending infrastructure at risk to our state from this illegal pause,” Attorney General Liz Murrill said. “LNG has an enormous and positive impact on Louisiana, supplying clean energy for the entire world, and providing good jobs here at home.”

A climate legal battle

Cain largely agreed with much of the coalition’s arguments in his ruling, though he dismissed 13 of the lawsuit’s 16 allegations against the Biden administration. He found enough substance in the states’ argument that the pause might be outside the energy department’s statutory authority and may have violated the Congressional Review Act.

Some experts say the injunction could be challenged and reviewed by the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals, though the Department of Energy didn’t respond when asked about its next steps.

Cain, a Trump appointee, tried to overturn another climate measure by the Biden administration in 2022. That Louisiana-led lawsuit tried to prevent the federal government from updating its estimate of the cost of the damage from emitting greenhouse gasses into the atmosphere, a metric known as the social cost of carbon. The Fifth Circuit Court ultimately overruledCain and dismissed the state’s lawsuit in 2023.

That could happen with this ruling as well, said Dan Grossman, the Environmental Defense Fund’s Associate Vice President of Global Energy Transition. But, even if it doesn’t, Grossman said the lack of a pause is unlikely to have any practical consequences. Any LNG export permits approved now would take years before the facility is constructed and the first gas shipment is sent overseas.

“But I think the message that it’s sending – which is we just need to produce and export, produce and export without considering these issues that are clearly within the public interest – is misguided,” Grossman said.

With or without the pause, the Department of Energy will continue updating its review of whether the export of natural gas is in the public interest. The agency said it’s comprehensively reviewing the impacts to the climate, domestic economy, public health, and other factors. In the six years since the Department of Energy’s last public interest review, U.S. exports of natural gas have exploded.

The country is now the world’s largest exporter of natural gas, with export capacity expected to triple by 2030 as more export plants either expand or come online. It’s also the world’s largest natural gas producer, and Grossman said the country needs a deeper understanding of the global impact of U.S. natural gas development.

“If we’re comfortable being the largest fossil energy producer, and we’re serious about addressing climate change, then analyses like this absolutely have to happen,” he said.

White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre saidthe Biden administration was disappointed by the ruling but will continue to make climate change a priority.

“While congressional Republicans and their allies continue to deny the very existence of climate change, President Biden is committed to combating the climate crisis with every resource available,” Jean-Pierre said.

Though natural gas burns more cleanly than coal, leaking methane — a climate superpolluter — throughout the whole process from drilling to piping to shipping could mean U.S. gas is as dirty if not dirtier than coal.

The ruling came as much of the U.S. is dealing with a protracted, sweltering heat wave reminiscent of summer 2023 — which was deemed the hottest summer on record, possibly even in 2000 years. Last summer signaled the impact that greenhouse gas emissions are having on the planet and forecasters suspect this year’s will be similar.

Ground zero for LNG

The Gulf Coast is at the center of the push to build more liquified natural gas export terminals. More than a dozen have been proposed in southwest Louisiana and east Texas.

Breon Robinson, a Lake Charles native and organizer with Healthy Gulf, is one of the people living in the heart of the LNG buildout. Though she supported the pause on new development, she agreed with Grossman that the ruling isn’t a big loss.

“Everything that was already here, everything that has already continually destroyed and made communities in this area sacrifice zones, it just continued work as usual,” she said.

After watching the Supreme Court overturn major precedents like the Chevron doctrine and other decisions over the past few weeks, Robinson said Cain’s ruling didn’t come as a surprise. She is more focused on the energy department’s review. She hopes it results in a meaningful decision that helps mitigate the changing climate. Lake Charles is both a hub for the oil and gas industry and deeply vulnerable to the increasingly extreme weather like hurricanes.

“It’s becoming like a state of emergency,” Robinson said. “It’s getting to a point where these natural disasters are becoming … stronger to where you’re telling people that it’s gonna just be too fast, where people just have to sit in place instead of move to safety.”

The Department of Energy hasn’t provided an update on its review, though it’s expected to be complete by next January after the election in November. Environmental and industry advocates alike are still waiting to weigh in on the department’s assessment.

Phony political fundraising is big business for scammers, and these calls are targeting people in Louisiana.

Politics is big business in the state of Louisiana, and according to Chris Babin with the Better Business Bureau of Acadiana, it’s making scammers rich through these phone campaign phone calls.

In Louisiana, we are very passionate about how we feel when it comes to political candidates. We are very outspoken and we don’t hesitate to make our feelings known.

What’s the Nature of the Current Scam?

A robocall is what starts off the process. You get the robocall saying your candidate “needs” money, and they make everything sound like an emergency. The call tries to make you believe that your favorite candidate’s opponent is raising way more money than your candidate. Don’t fall for it.

If you say you will give them a donation, you then will be switched over to a real person who wants your credit card information. And, there you go. They will steal your money by making charges.

And, they can take all of your personal information and steal your identity. No matter how much you like a candidate and hope they win, you don’t want to lose everything you have worked so hard for.

3 Easy Steps to Help Prevent Scammers From Getting Your Money

Babin says there are several ways that you can prevent yourself from being scammed. He says they recommend the following:

Screen Your Calls – If you get a call and you don’t recognize it, you don’t have to pick it up. You can also check the number with whitepages.com to see if it’s a real organization.

Don’t Respond to Unsolicited Robocalls – Scammers can fake the Caller ID. Businesses are only allowed to call you using robocalls with your written permission.

Register with the Do Not Call Registry – While this is not going to stop scammers from calling you, it will prevent other marketing-type calls. You can register at Donotcall.gov or by calling 888-382-1222.