Louisiana
Landry’s plan to send Louisiana National Guard to Texas border brings cost questions
NEW ORLEANS (WVUE) – Gov. Jeff Landry’s stated desire to deploy Louisiana National Guard troops to Texas to assist with border security brings with it questions of cost.
Landry, along with a dozen other Republican state governors, visited the Texas-Mexico border on Saturday (Feb. 3), appearing with Texas Gov. Greg Abbott for a summit and press conference centered on illegal immigration.
Texas has been preventing federal border patrol agents from using an area in Eagle Pass to process migrants crossing into the state.
“We’re going to be coming back and asking our legislative leadership to find the money necessary to send our National Guard troops here to support Texas,” Landry said.
During a Monday appearance on the Fox News channel’s Fox & Friends, Landry was asked more about his plans.
Gov. Landry says he wants to send Louisiana National Guard troops to southern border of Texas
“Texas has always been a great big brother to the state of Louisiana,” he said. “They’ve always helped us in our time of need. And now, it’s time for Louisiana to reciprocate. To send National Guard troops down there to help Gov. Abbott and the Texas National Guard to seal the border.”
Retired Army Lt. General Russel Honoré told Fox 8 that Landry has the authority to order such a deployment.
“The governor has command of the Louisiana National Guard,” Honoré said. “It comes to a question that he has proposed to discuss with the legislature, because that deployment would have to come out of the budget of the state of Louisiana.
Honoré, whose two sons are in the Louisiana National Guard, says members of the service have previously assisted at the border.
“Our National Guard has been to the border before and served honorably there,” he said. “But they were under something we called Title 32, which is reimbursed under the federal government. This would be a state-to-state event.”
Honoré said if Louisiana sends Guard members to Texas, their personal incomes could be affected.
“Many of them work, so they’ll be losing,” Honoré said. “They’d be away from their jobs. Many of them will take pay cuts, because the federal government pays them for housing and what we call ‘separation pay.’ The states don’t pay that.”
Honoré said Abbott would set the rules of engagement for Louisiana guardsmen tasked to his state.
“Once they go into Texas, they go into a mission that is determined by the governor of Texas. The rules of engagement, as far as what are they to do at the border, that would come out in something they call ‘standard operating procedures,’” Honoré said.
Dillard University political analyst Dr. Robert Collins said National Guard members tend to be deployed for extreme weather or disaster events.
“There are rare occasions when national guardsmen have been deployed from one state to a different state,” Collins said. “But in just about every situation where we can see in the past, it has been specifically to respond to a natural disaster or a mass casualty event — a hurricane, a tornado.”
The National Guard was deployed for Hurricane Katrina in 2005. And Honoré was in charge after the storm and subsequent levee failures and flood swamped New Orleans.
“When Hurricane Katrina hit, our National Guard was in Baghdad (Iraq), and we brought them back home a little earlier to take care the people of Louisiana, because that’s their No. 1 mission,” Honoré said.
Collins said he thinks Landry will face pushback from some state lawmakers.
“I can’t imagine that’s going to be a popular request, at a time when we’re expecting next fiscal year to have a deficit, and so the state legislature is going to have to deal with that,” Collins said.
On Capitol Hill, the U.S. Senate is working to pass a bipartisan bill to deal with border immigration. But leaders of the Republican-led House of Representatives say the legislation will be “dead on arrival” in the lower chamber.
Honoré is conscious of the political dynamics surrounding border protection.
“The underpinning of all this is the political argument at the national level on securing the border, and all that’s got to be sorted out,” he said.
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Louisiana ranks among the top 10 most affordable states to retire, according to a new study from Retirement Living, a national journal of retirement research.
Researchers analyzed each state’s housing costs, living expenses and tax friendliness to compile the ranking. Louisiana, they say, is the eighth most affordable state for retirees.
In Louisiana, the median monthly rent for a one-bedroom apartment is $932, the median home sale price is $255,000, monthly grocery spend per capita is $272, the average price per gallon of regular gas is $4, the average Medicare Advantage monthly premium is $13.35 and the average effective property tax rate is 0.55%.
West Virginia is the most affordable state to retire, followed by Mississippi, Alabama, Oklahoma, Arkansas, Kentucky, Missouri, Louisiana, Indiana and Kansas. Researchers describe the South as “the sweet spot for an affordable retirement.”
The most expensive state to retire, meanwhile, is California, followed by Hawaii, Washington, Oregon, Colorado, New Jersey, Massachusetts, Utah, New York and Minnesota.
Read Retirement Living’s full report here.
BATON ROUGE, La. (WAFB) – With hurricane season approaching, the Louisiana Coastal Protection and Restoration Authority is bringing the community together to prepare before a storm forms.
“We can’t stop disasters from happening. We can’t stop hurricanes from happening. But what we can do is equip our communities with the resources that they need to prepare for these storms ahead of time,” said Jayda Morris, CPRA outreach manager.
The agency hosted an event featuring interactive storm simulations and a full model of the Mississippi River.
“If you do it now, like on a sunny day like today, you’re ready to go for the rest of the season,” Jay Grymes said.
El Niño may reduce storms, but Louisiana still at risk
State Climatologist Jay Grymes said an El Niño pattern may reduce the number of storms in the Atlantic but warned against a false sense of security.
“In those 25 years, Louisiana, some part of the state has been impacted by 29 storms. That’s one a year, regardless of El Niño. So that should tell you something,” Grymes said.
He said the bigger concern is storms that can form in the Gulf with little warning.
“If we’re going to get a storm, it very possibly could be one that bubbles up in the Gulf and doesn’t give us five or seven days to track it coming our way. It gives us 40 hours to get ready for a landfall. So it’s imperative that you go ahead and do it now,” Grymes said.
Preparation goes beyond stocking water
Preparing now includes walking through yards, checking trees, and knowing whether everyone in the family can survive two weeks without power.
PhD students with the LSU College of the Coast and Environment gave the community a virtual reality experience that puts users inside a storm.
“If they wear the goggles or play with the Apple Vision Pro, they can understand how high will the flood be, and they can know how dangerous is the hurricane scenario,” said Yixuan Wang.
The VR simulation uses real historical data to show users what compound flooding looks like in New Orleans and surrounding areas. The goal is to make the science real for people who can’t picture what a flood map means.
“It’s just to let you understand the environment. We will add the audios, the different sound of the wind and the storm. And you can see how tense of the rainfall around you,” Wang said.
Organizers said the event is about making sure that when a storm threatens the area, families already know their plan.
Information from the event is available on CPRA’s website. Hurricane season runs through Nov. 30.
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BATON ROUGE, La. (WAFB) – Louisiana homeowners can get financial help to upgrade their roofs and ensure they can better stand up to strong storms.
According to the Louisiana Department of Insurance, registration for next Louisiana Fortify Homes Program lottery opens at 8 a.m. on Monday, June 1. The registration period will stay open through 5 p.m. on Friday, June 19.
Under the latest round of the program, 3,000 grants of up to $10,000 will go out. After applying, homeowners will get placed into a lottery and will be randomly selected.
There are many specific benefits of having a roof upgraded through the Louisiana Fortify Homes Program. Officials said the roofs have stronger shingles that can protect against hail up to two inches wide, sealed roof decks to help prevent water damage, and stronger edges to keep wind from getting underneath.
Homeowners with a fortified roof can also get a certificate to receive a discount on insurance premiums.
“At the end of the day, this program is about more than just roofs,” said Louisiana Insurance Commissioner Tim Temple. “It is about protecting families, it is about strengthening communities, and it is about putting Louisiana in a stronger position—both physically and economically—to face the challenges ahead.”
Only people living in Ascension Parish, Livingston Parish, Assumption Parish, Tangipahoa Parish, Acadia Parish, Calcasieu Parish, Cameron Parish, Iberia Parish, Jefferson Parish, Jefferson Davis Parish, Lafayette Parish, Lafourche Parish, Orleans Parish, Plaquemines Parish, St. Bernard Parish, St. Charles Parish, St. James Parish, St. John the Baptist Parish, St. Martin Parish, St. Mary Parish, St. Tammany Parish, Terrebonne Parish, and Vermilion Parish are eligible to apply for the latest round of the program.
People living in a newly built home, mobile home, or condominium are not qualified.
For a detailed list of eligibility requirements, click here.
If a person registered for the program previously, he or she must do so again. The person will also need to provide the following information:
- A homestead exemption on the primary residence.
- A policy of insurance that provides wind coverage for the primary residence.
- A flood insurance policy on the primary residence if it is in a special flood hazard area.
For more information about applying, click here.
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