Louisiana
Insurance Commissioner Jim Donelon visits Slidell’s first home to receive a fortified roof under new grant program
SLIDELL, La. (WVUE) – Insurance Commissioner Jim Donelon stopped by one of the first homes to get a fortified roof in Louisiana through a new state program.
The Slidell home is owned by Alicia Craige, who says she applied for one of the state grants when the application process began, and it paid off.
Under the Louisiana Fortify Homes Program, Craige was awarded a $10,000 grant to harden her roof.
“I actually had nine contractors come out to my home. I wanted a lot of estimates and once I did that within about two weeks my roof was up,” said Craige.
She was among the first to be awarded one of the grants and one of the first to install a new fortified roof.
Before getting any work done, grant recipients are required to hire an evaluator.
Craige hired Derek Najdowski of Fortified Inspectors, LLC.
“We get into the attic, check the roof structure and everything else, and once a house qualifies, then she can move on to the next step and select a roofer,” said Najdowski.
After getting the green light from Najdowski, Craige picked from the list on the Insurance Department’s website, which names contractors who are certified to do fortified roofing work.
Jason Cox of Taylor Made Services Roofing did the work on Craige’s home. He explained what installing a fortified roof entails.
“It’s a sealed roof deck system plan and simple, hurricane-proof, 130-mile-an-hour wind rate shingle,” he said.
Donelon said 3,000 grant applications have been approved and are moving through the process of verifying whether the homes have the required property insurance, including wind and hail coverage and a homestead exemption.
FOX 8 was at the location and asked Donelon if the pace of the program was meeting his expectations.
“It truly does because this is a complex program that is just now being rolled out in Louisiana. It’s been in place in Louisiana for four years and we’ve copied virtually verbatim their legislation,” said Donelon.
Donelon, who leaves office in January after serving as insurance commissioner for nearly 20 years, calls the grant program for hardier roofs one of the highlights of his time as the state’s insurance industry regulator.
“It truly is because I like regulators in Minnesota because of ice storms and North Carolina before us have copied Alabama,” said Donelon.
Craige says the process of being awarded a grant was smooth, and she would recommend the program to others.
However, no more grants are to be issued this year. Still, Donelon hopes his successor, Tim Temple, and the legislature will continue the program.
Under a new state law, insurers must give discounts to people who have certified fortified roofs.
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The NFL announced on Thanksgiving that the Super Bowl LIX pre-game telecast will feature singers and musicians from New Orleans and Louisiana.
Jon Batiste, who grew up in Kenner and attended St. Augustine High School and the New Orleans Center for Creative Arts, will sing the national anthem in the Caesars Superdome ahead of kickoff.
Troy “Trombone Shorty” Andrews, who grew up in Treme, will team up with contemporary Christian singer and Lafayette native Lauren Daigle to perform “America the Beautiful.”
Louisiana
Louisiana (LHSAA) high school football playoffs: quarterfinals schedule, matchups, times, scores, 2024 brackets
The Louisiana high school football playoffs continued last week, and now it’s time for Round 3 — the state quarterfinals.
Stick with High School on SI for complete coverage of the 2024 LHSAA football playoffs.
Here are the Louisiana high school football playoff brackets, with matchups and game times for every LHSAA division:
(1) Vermilion Catholic vs. (8) St. Edmund
Friday
7 p.m.
(12) Kentwood vs. (13) Southern Lab
Friday
7 p.m.
(3) Covenant Christian vs. (11) Ouachita Christian
Friday
7 p.m.
(2) Ascension Catholic vs. (7) Riverside Academy
Friday
7 p.m.
(1) Haynesville vs. (9) Welsh
Friday
7:30 p.m.
(4) Jeanerette vs. (12) General Trass
Friday
7 p.m.
(6) Logansport vs. (19) Franklin
Friday
7 p.m.
(2) South Plaquemines vs. (7) Mangham
Friday
7 p.m.
(1) Dunham vs. (9) Lafayette Christian
Friday
7 p.m.
(4) Jewel Sumner vs. (5) Bunkie
Friday
7 p.m.
(3) Calvary Baptist vs. (6) Episcopal
Friday
7 p.m.
(2) Isidore Newman vs. (7) Catholic – N.I.
Friday
7 p.m.
(1) St. James vs. (9) Pine
Friday
7 p.m.
(4) Kinder vs. (5) Union Parish
Friday
7 p.m.
(3) Oak Grove vs. (6) Sterlington
Friday
7 p.m.
(7) Jena vs. (15) Loreauville
Friday
7 p.m.
(1) Archbishop Shaw vs. (8) John F. Kennedy
Friday
7 p.m.
(5) Madison Prep vs. (13) Istrouma
Friday
7 p.m.
(3) E.D. White vs. (6) Vanderbilt Catholic
Friday
7 p.m.
(7) Leesville vs. (18) Booker T. Washington – N.O.
Friday
7 p.m.
(1) Franklinton vs. (8) Lakeshore
Friday
7 p.m.
(4) Franklin Parish vs. (5) Iowa
Friday
7 p.m.
(6) Plaquemine vs. (14) Opelousas
Friday
7 p.m.
(7) North DeSoto vs. (18) Cecilia
Friday
7 p.m.
(1) Edna Karr vs. (8) St. Thomas More
Friday
7 p.m.
(4) Catholic – B.R. vs. (5) Archbishop Rummel
Friday
7 p.m.
(6) Teurlings Catholic vs. (19) John Curtis Christian
Friday
7 p.m.
(2) Alexandria vs. (10) C.E. Byrd
Friday
7 p.m.
(1) Neville vs. (24) Chalmette
Friday
7 p.m.
(4) Central – B.R. vs. (21) West Monroe
Friday
7 p.m.
(3) Ruston vs. (6) Southside
Friday
7 p.m.
(2) Airline vs. (10) Destrehan
Friday
7 p.m.
To get live updates on your phone — as well as follow your favorite teams and top games — you can download the SBLive Sports app: Download iPhone App | Download Android App
Louisiana
Genetic testing shows more Gulf of Mexico shrimp at Louisiana seafood market, festival • Louisiana Illuminator
A joint WVUE-TV Fox and Louisiana Illuminator investigation into shrimp sold at festival and market vendors in the New Orleans area found most of the samples to be domestic.
The results could indicate retailers and event organizers are becoming more careful about how they label and present their dishes.
The samples of shrimp were collected from nine vendors at an area seafood market in early November and from five vendors Oct. 6 at the Gretna Heritage Festival. Only one of the samples, which came from a non-restaurant vendor at the Gretna Fest, tested positive as foreign. All nine samples from the seafood market were from the Gulf of Mexico, the analysis found.
The testing was performed by SeaD Consulting, a food safety technology company that recently developed a rapid seafood species identification test. Dave Williams, a Houston resident, developed the process in collaboration with Florida State University microbiologist Prashant Singh.
“I grew up in the fishing communities,” Williams said. “It’s important to me.”
Their technology examines tissue for specific DNA markers unique to a species of Asian shrimp commonly raised in aquaculture farms.
The Illuminator and WVUE-TV Fox 8 independently collected the shrimp samples and shipped them to Singh’s laboratory at Florida State, following an industry standard chain-of-custody protocol.
Last month, SeaD Consulting used its own team to collect seven samples from the inaugural Louisiana Shrimp Festival in New Orleans. Testing from that event showed all seven samples were domestic, though that was expected considering the event served as a fundraiser for local shrimpers.
Those results are a far cry from those seen at the Louisiana Shrimp & Petroleum Festival in Morgan City, where four out of five vendors evaluated during the Labor Day weekend event were serving shrimp that tested positive for foreign genetic markers.
A similar story unfolded a few weeks later at the National Shrimp Festival in Gulf Shores, Alabama, on Oct. 12. Testing by SeaD Consulting at that event revealed four out of five samples were farm-raised imports.
News of the Louisiana Shrimp & Petroleum Festival results sparked immediate outrage from consumers and public officials who have been trying for years to address the ongoing problem of imported seafood. State Rep. Jessica Domangue, R-Houma, publicly excoriated Shrimp & Petroleum Festival organizers for allowing its vendors to undermine Louisiana’s unique culture and “openly violate Louisiana law” for years.
Williams said he believes word of his testing has gotten out to festival and market organizers, prompting them to consider stricter rules for food vendors. He has now turned his attention to the restaurant industry, which he said has been more resistant to change.
“We don’t want to stop people promoting their product in a manner that helps them sell it,” Williams said. “So if they’re going to put boats on the wall, if they’re going to have nets, if they’re going to imply that they’re local, then, for God’s sake, serve local product.”
State laws require restaurants and anyone else selling seafood in Louisiana to label it as such, but the state never adequately funded enforcement of the laws. Ambiguity in state law prevented health inspectors from levying fines even after recording more than 2,600 violations since 2019. Lawmakers rectified that issue with legislation passed in May, calling for stricter enforcement.
Laws at the federal level have seen a recent step-up in enforcement.
Last summer, U.S. Food & Drug Administration agents arrested the owners of an iconic Mississippi Gulf Coast restaurant and their seafood wholesalers on charges related to a decades-long fish substitution scheme. The individuals pleaded guilty to felonies ranging from wire fraud to mislabeling seafood.
In the wake of that case, the Federal Trade Commission adopted new guidance in October to clarify that restaurant decor, imagery, menu descriptions and slogans that suggest their seafood is local could be illegal if the restaurant is not actually serving domestic catch, according to Reuters.
According to some estimates, upwards of 80% to 90% of seafood consumed in the U.S. is imported. The foreign seafood industry has a number of problems. Some seafood companies have been caught using slave labor for commercial fishing and processing, and testing of imported seafood in Louisiana revealed the presence of banned veterinary chemicals that are potentially harmful to humans.
Louisiana shrimper and seafood retailer David Chauvin said the influx of cheap imported shrimp has decimated the domestic industry.
“For us to compete with imported shrimp, we can’t,” he said. “If we keep going down this road, we’ll be out of business.”
Chauvin said he believes regular genetic testing at restaurants and festivals could make a big difference for the industry. He and other shrimpers have been asking for tighter regulations for years, but he said there are many big businesses making a lot of money from the status quo. The state should at least require all state institutions, such as schools and prisons, to prohibit serving imported shrimp, he said.
Chauvin’s idea was actually included in legislation Louisiana approved in May that will take effect Jan. 1. The new law will require all local school districts, state agencies and state institutions that serve seafood to use only domestic shrimp and crawfish. It will also set much stricter country-of-origin laws for restaurants, prohibitions against vague menu descriptions, clear enforcement authorizations for state agencies and much higher fines for labeling violations by retailers and wholesalers.
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