Louisiana
La. car and truck dealers drive $19.2B in 2023, how other industries manage transportation
MONROE, La. (KNOE) – According to the Louisiana Automobile Dealers Association’s June 2024 economic impact report, the state’s franchised new car and heavy truck dealers collectively generated $19.2 billion in total sales in 2023.
General Manager Jeff Churchwell of Northeast Louisiana Power Cooperative, Inc. said he normally buys gently used bucket trucks for their linemen but was forced to buy a new truck due to a long wait period.
“It’s $240,000. So, I typically don’t buy one – brand new, but they had no slightly used trucks. So, I put in an order, and my salesman told me that… he said – well, your spot in the queue is for 28. I said, ‘28 months?’ He said no… 2028,” said Churchwell.
President and CEO Coulter McMahen of LADA stated the industry continues to be an economic driver – having a combined payroll amounting to $1.5 billion dollars for the dealerships’ employees. The association’s economic impact report said Louisiana’s new car and heavy truck dealerships employed an average of 55 Louisiana residents earning over $75,000 annually in 2023. The association explained that this kind of compensation contributes significantly to statewide economic enthusiasm, generating more than $325 million in state and federal income taxes combined.
“Our industry provides consumer choice, accessibility and market competition for buyers. It also offers steady careers for employees, all contributing to Louisiana’s prosperity and advancement,” said McMahen.
But for other industries, it comes with a challenging cost to obtain and maintain trucks to make sure crews are out in the communities doing their jobs; and Churchwell said, most importantly, keeping linemen safe.
“We have a good number of trucks, so with hurricane season – what it really does, is – it limits the availability to go help others. So, if your fleet is down and one of my co-op brothers in south Louisiana that gets hit – it does make it difficult and that’s when you have to depend on… you call in contractors,” said Churchwell.
LADA reported that new vehicle sales alone contributed a substantial $672 million in sales tax revenue for Louisiana. The recently released economic impact report also writes that state dealerships contributed more than $18 million to nonprofit organizations.
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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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