Louisiana
Is I-69 coming to north Louisiana?
On Wednesday, Oct. 16, U.S. Senator Bill Cassidy announced that I-69 will be coming to north Louisiana with the Port of Caddo-Bossier I-69 Connector.
Eric England, Executive Director of the Port of Caddo-Bossier, said, “Today is one of the most incredible days in the Port’s history. I-69 will have a presence in Louisiana, connecting the Port of Caddo-Bossier to Interstate 49.”
This $22.6 million U.S. Department of Transportation INFRA grant will connect I-49 to the future I-69 Corridor Project Frontage Road. Cassidy said, “The Caddo-Bossier I-69 connector will be yet another reason companies choose to invest in North Louisiana and allow us to build an economy for 2050.”
Cassidy said the infrastructure bill’s focus on economic development and community growth in Northwest Louisiana will be achieved, in part, by generating more jobs, which will incentivize families to stay in Shreveport, Bossier, and surrounding areas.
Cassidy noted that Louisiana’s road and bridge infrastructure requires substantial investment, with $5.9 billion allocated through infrastructure bills. The INFRA grant provides an additional funding boost, increased by four times the amount available for localized and regional projects, beyond the initial $5.9 billion.
“The Northwest Louisiana DOTD put together a proposal, applied to the dollars,” Cassidy said. “They’re pulling it down. This is what I hoped would happen and this is what’s happening.”
This connector will alleviate Port traffic on Highway 1, LA Highway 3132, Bert Kouns and the Inner Loop. England said, “We’re going to have a direct shot from the Port to I-49 so that 18-wheelers can access the nation’s interstate system from the Port.”
This is the first leg of I-69 in Louisiana, and according to England, it was something many never thought they would see in their lifetime. I-69 is a mid-continental highway that connects Laredo, Texas, to Port Huron, Michigan. This connector will be the first of I-69 in this area.
England said that construction on this 10-mile connector can be seen as soon as late 2025. “This project is in design already,” England said.
More: What did Jeff Landry talk about while visiting Shreveport?
Makenzie Boucher is a reporter with the Shreveport Times. Contact her at mboucher@gannett.com.
Louisiana
After redistricting battles, Southern gathers for Juneteenth celebration: ‘Continue the fight’
Hundreds of community members, alumni and students gathered Thursday to observe Juneteenth on the Southern University campus in Baton Rouge.
The theme of the festivities was “celebrating freedom through culture and community,” but weeks after Louisiana’s bitter redistricting battles, the speakers Thursday morning had one message driving their remarks: Get out and vote.
“Freedom does not come in on the wheels of inevitability,” Louisiana Supreme Court Associate Justice John Michael Guidry said to the crowd. “But it takes the prodigious work and the tireless efforts of those who are willing to continue the fight.”
Great Beginnings summer camper Myni, 4, gets a hello kitty face painting during Southern’s Juneteenth celebration on Thursday, June 18, 2026 in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. Staff photo by Michael Johnson
The speech kicked off a day of discussions and cultural events centered on the holiday of Juneteenth, which commemorates June 19, 1865, when Union Gen. Gordon Granger brought news of emancipation to enslaved people in Texas more than two years after the Emancipation Proclamation was issued.
Speakers at Southern emphasized the need for protection of hard-won rights for Black Americans in the context of redistricting. The sentiments followed a contentious state legislative session that ended with the elimination of one of Louisiana’s two majority-Black congressional districts after the U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling in Louisiana v. Callais.
“That Voting Rights Act is under attack,” Guidry said. “There’s voter intimidation, there’s voter suppression, there are voter ID laws and all types of laws and legal decisions that are trying to deny us our right to vote, and we are the ones who have to go forward and litigate these issues.”
The day opened with a libation ceremony and a rendition of “Lift Every Voice and Sing” by Southern University student Claire Floyd.
Southern University alumnus Jeanet Cazenave said she felt it was important to celebrate Juneteenth on campus as not only a relative of the first dean of Southern University but also a descendant of the GU272, a group of enslaved individuals who were sold to plantations in Louisiana in 1838 by Jesuit priests to pay the debts of what is now Georgetown University in Washington, D.C.
Juneteenth “means everything,” Cazenave said. “It means the past, the present and the future.”
BATON ROUGE, La. (KLFY) — Governor Landry has officially declared Louisiana under state of emergency.
The state emergency declaration covers Avoyelles, Lafourche, Pointe Coupee, St. Landry, St. Tammany and Terrebonne parishes.
The declaration was issued Thursday following the impacts of Tropical Storm Arthur, which brough rainfall and strong storms to parts of the state on June 17 and 18.
Officials said the National Weather Service has confirmed three tornadoes tied to the storm system.
Officials also reported record or near-record rainfall totals in Avoyelles and Pointe Coupee parishes over a 12-hour period.
The order allows the Governor’s Office of Homeland Security and Emergency Preparedness to coordinate resources and provide assistance to local governments if needed.
Certain state purchasing and bidding requirements have been temporarily suspended to speed up emergency response efforts.
The declaration took effect immediately and will remain in place through July 18 unless it is lifted or extended.
State officials are urging residents to stay weather aware, avoid flooded roadways and follow guidance from local emergency managers.
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