Louisiana will hold a special election Feb. 15 for open state Senate seats in Baton Rouge and Lafayette. 

A runoff, if needed, will be held March 29, on the same ballot as Gov. Jeff Landry’s proposed tax and criminal justice state constitutional amendments.

Sens. Cleo Fields, D-Baton Rouge, and Jean-Paul Coussan, R-Lafayette, are leaving the Louisiana Legislature to take their new positions in Congress and on the Public Service Commission, respectively. Their resignations will leave Senate districts 14 and 23 open.

The candidate qualifying period for both Senate seats will take place Jan. 7-9.

State Rep. Larry Selders, R-Baton Rouge, and former state school board member Carolyn Hill, D-Baton Rouge, have both said they will run to replace Fields. State Rep. Brach Myers, R-Lafayette, and Broussard Councilman Jesse Regan, also a Republican, have said they will run to replace Coussan.

Recently, there have been sightings of unidentified drones flying above New York, New Jersey and other Northern states.

In Louisiana, there haven’t been many drone sightings, except for one drone that was spotted flying in Mandeville in the southern part of the state.

Drone sightings in the U.S.

The flying of personal drones is a hobby many individuals take part in, however, after recent drone sightings, people are becoming suspicious of these drones.

After concerns increased regarding the drones flying in the northeastern part of the country, law enforcement conveyed that the drones do not appear to be a threat to public safety. However, lawmakers have in turn called for more restrictions on who should be allowed to fly drones.

In addition to this, the FBI and other agencies have begun investigating these drones, and have asked individuals to share videos, photos and other information about the drones.

While the drone situation is still being investigated, officials from the FBI and other agencies have released reports assuring citizens that the drones do not pose a threat to public safety or national security, and that the drones are not the handiwork of a malicious foreign body.

Can you shoot down a drone in Louisiana?

Say you spot one of these unidentified drones flying over your property in Louisiana, would you be allowed, under state law, to shoot it down?

Under federal law, it is illegal to shoot down an aircraft, even if it’s unmanned. The Federal Aviation Administration says that shooting an unmanned aircraft could result in a civil penalty from the FAA and/or criminal charges from federal, state or local law enforcement.

Federal law also says that anyone who damages, destroys, disables or wrecks any kind of aircraft in U.S. airspace will be subjected to fines or be sentenced to up to 20 years in prison.

Also, individuals who attempt to fire at a drone could potentially face charges for reckless endangerment and criminal mischief if a lawfully operated aircraft is damaged.

In relation to this, the Department of Homeland Security has the authority to deal with unmanned aircrafts through the Preventing Emerging Threats Act of 2018.

Kevin Janda, center, Meta director of Data Center Strategy, speaks with Gov. Jeff Landry, left of Janda, after an event in Rayville, La., Wednesday, Dec. 4, 2024, to announce that Meta will build an artificial intelligence optimized data center in Richland Parish.