Louisiana
LDH announces waste-fighting initiatives, other priorities Monday
BATON ROUGE – State health officials announced a variety of collaborations Monday intended to fight waste, fraud and abuse in agency programs, and pledged to reduce overdose deaths among pregnant women.
LDH top brass, including Surgeon General Ralph Abraham, Secretary Bruce Greenstein and Undersecretary Drew Maranto explained the agency’s plans to make sure that public money is well spent.
A new task force will involve collaboration with other government entities, including cross-referencing information from the Office of Motor Vehicles to make sure Louisiana Medicaid recipients don’t have driver’s licenses in other states.
A collaboration with the University of Louisiana at Lafayette will use artificial intelligence for state-specific data analysis. The health department’s Program Integrity Unit also will work with the attorney general’s office to identify potentially problematic billing patterns.
The health department also announced that it will move away from a single pharmacy benefits manager for the Medicaid program, in hopes of improving the efficiency of that process.
Louisiana also hopes to dramatically reduce maternal deaths from accidental drug overdoses, which have become the leading cause of maternal deaths.
Dr. Pete Croughan, LDH deputy secretary, outlined a successful program that has reduced maternal deaths from accidental opioid overdose in at Our Lady of the Angels in Bogalusa.
Using its processes, the state plans to reduce overdose deaths in pregnant women by 80 percent in three years, he said.
Croughan introduced Rachel Hernandez, who talked about her addiction, pregnancy and recovery.
Hernandez said she’s a 29-year-old recovering addict and the mother of a 4-year-old daughter. She credited the program at Our Lady of the Angels for her and her daughter’s lives.
She said she had lost her job, home, family, vehicle and phone because of her addiction and was sleeping in parks and public restrooms.
“I was completely hopeless,” she said. “I had nothing.”
Then she found out she was pregnant as a result of an unhealthy relationship. She also was told by others that seeking help for her addiction would result in her losing custody of her child, making her afraid to get medical care. She said she was trapped and “completely lost.”
She was arrested and taken to a hospital, where she expected to face stigma and judgment for being a drug-addicted, homeless pregnant woman. She wore a black and white striped prison uniform, was in handcuffs and had deputies with her.
The doctor “started talking to me like I was normal,” which hadn’t happened in a long time, she said.
In that encounter, she found a safe space, respect and accurate information about how to manage her pregnancy and her addiction to avoid dangerous withdrawal that could harm her unborn child.
She was treated with withdrawal-prevention medications and had a smooth labor and delivery. Her daughter had to be weaned off the medication after she was born.
Medical staff kept her informed about that process and her daughter’s health. Today she is sober and she and her daughter are thriving, she said.
State Surgeon General Ralph Abraham said that contact tracers handling the first reported measles case in the New Orleans area learned about one older measles case while examining the current patient’s contacts. He said the older case is not communicable now.
Louisiana
Louisiana’s John Foster finishes second on ‘American Idol.’ Jamal Roberts of Mississippi wins.
After rocketing to “American Idol’s” top 3, Louisiana teen John Foster finished second in the ABC singing competition series during its grand finale on Sunday night.
Grabbing the “Idol” title was Jamal Roberts, 27, of Meridian, Mississippi, an elementary school physical education teacher.
Roberts’ finale songs included “First Time” and “Just My Imagination (Running Away With Me)”.
Mississippi’s Jamal Roberts won the ‘American Idol’ title on Sunday night. Louisiana teen John Foster finished second.
Finishing third was Breanna Nix, 25, a stay-at-home mom from Denton, Texas.
Foster started off the finale with a bang, performing his first solo song of the night, “Courtesy of the Red, White and Blue (The Angry American)” by the late Toby Keith.
“Now, John. Now, now, John. That’s the way you run for office. I mean, you run — you run. That’s the way you work it for ‘American Idol,’” judge Lionel Richie said.
“You know, it’s the time to pull out all the stops and you’re pulling out all the stops. I’m so proud of you and all you have accomplished about this whole competition,” judge Carrie Underwood said. “I felt like I was at a John Foster concert.”
“Yeah. Your growth … Your voice has gotten better and, and everything has grown. It’s been a privilege, a privilege to watch that happen. It’s been amazing,” judge Luke Bryan added.
Foster’s songs for the finale
Later in the show, Foster returned to the stage for his second solo song, “Take Me Home, Country Roads,” a hitmaker for ’70s folk/country artist, the late John Denver.
“I just want to see that birth certificate one more time,” Richie joked with Foster, alluding to the maturity and polish of his vocals. “And secondly, for all of you out there, vote, vote, vote.”
Underwood followed him by saying, “Of course, the country boy would have an amazing hometown welcome. That was such a great thing to watch.”
“Yeah, that, that hometown piece, I mean, woo, I can’t take that,” Bryan chimed in. “It was really beautifully done. And hell, I’ve never seen a crawfish that big. I need to, can that thing come to Tennessee?”
Foster rode a giant Mardi Gras-style crawfish float in Wednesday’s homecoming parade in Addis.
The Louisiana singer and Bryan later teamed up for a performance of Randy Travis’ 1988 hit, “Deeper Than the Holler,” a mid-tempo ballad.
The top three finalists opened the three-hour live coast-to-coast broadcast with a performance of Queen’s “We Are the Champions.”
Foster, a biology major at LSU who just finished his freshman year, first grabbed the judges’ attention during his audition in Nashville, Tennessee. He brought each of them a Louisiana care package of boudin, beef jerky, pork sausage and Benoit’s Cajun seasoning from his family’s business, Benoit’s Country Meat Block in Addis.
Foster’s audition song, “Don’t Rock the Jukebox” by Alan Jackson, prompted judge and former “Idol” Underwood to ask for another song that would more fully showcase his vocals.
“Goodbye Time” by Conway Twitty proved the perfect choice, with Bryan singing along and the other judges pleased with what they heard.
“There’s such a sweet spot in your voice, and that really brought that out,” Underwood said.
“You’ve got a lot of great tools. That last song really showed us that,” added Bryan.
One successful week after another
Foster went on to prove himself week after week — whether it was with performances of Elvis’ “Jailhouse Rock,” Travis’ “I Told You So” or his home-state favorite, Garth Brooks’ “Callin’ Baton Rouge.”
His tearful original song, “Tell That Angel I Love Her” about his high school friend who was killed in a tragic accident, was in sharp contrast to the lively and fun “Bare Necessities” from “The Jungle Book,” demonstrating his versatility.
“When you open your mouth on this song, you’re country, but you’re also storytelling country,” Richie told Foster after his “Tell That Angel” performance. “Now whether that’s old, new, happening now, later, whatever the case may be, it was so believable and I heard every word of every part of your story — and that’s what great music is about.”
Foster told the judges that he wrote the song for Maggie Dunn. Dunn and another friend, Caroline Gill, both of Brusly, were killed on New Year’s Eve 2022 when an Addis police officer ran a red light during a high-speed pursuit.
Foster also sang the song at his mini-concert in Plaquemine on Wednesday night, capping off his hero’s welcome home-state visit, which was documented in the Sunday-night finale, including footage of Foster becoming emotional during his performance of “Tell That Angel I Love Her” at his hometown concert.
If you missed Sunday night’s show, it will be available on Hulu starting Monday.
Louisiana
Louisiana’s John Foster sings in ‘American Idol’ Sunday finale — here’s how to watch and vote
‘American Idol’s’ current top 10 are, from left, Canaan James Hill, Breanna Nix, Slater Nalley, Thunderstorm Artis, Kolbi Jordan, Mattie Pruitt, Gabby Samone, Louisiana’s John Foster, Jamal Roberts and Josh King. At far right is the season’s artist-in-residence Jelly Roll.
Historic Nottoway Plantation, the largest antebellum mansion in the U.S., burned to the ground this week after a fire broke out on Thursday. There have been no reports of injuries or deaths connected to the fire.
Fire crews worked to extinguish the flames with water reportedly being poured onto the rubble as long as 18 hours after the fire started, according to Fox 8. As of Saturday, the cause of the fire was still under investigation.
“Some staff members stated they had gone into the museum and there was smoke. When they returned, the whole room was in flames,” Iberville Parish President Chris Daigle told Fox 8, adding that it was “a total loss.”
Fire crews move in a line around the now fully engulfed the Nottoway Plantation on Thursday, May 15, 2025, in White Castle, La. (Michael Johnson/The Advocate via AP)
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Daigle noted in a post on the Iberville Parish Government’s Facebook page that “The loss of Nottoway is not just a loss for Iberville Parish, but for the entire state of Louisiana. It was a cornerstone of our tourism economy and a site of national significance.”
The 64-room mansion was built by John Hampden Randolph in the late 1850s, according to multiple sources. It sat on more than 53,000 square feet and — in addition to the dozens of rooms — it contained 365 doors and windows and 22 white columns, Fox 8 reported. The property overlooked the Mississippi River.
Firefighters from Baton Rouge battle a blaze as flames burst from the roof of the Nottoway Plantation on Thursday, May 15, 2025, in White Castle, La. (Michael Johnson /The Advocate via AP)
NJ WILDFIRE SCORCHES 13,500 ACRES AS FIREFIGHTERS WORK TOWARD CONTAINMENT
Randolph first arrived in Louisiana in 1841 and began by planting cotton, but ultimately shifted to sugar cane, according to the LSU Scholarly Repository. The scholarly repository article also notes that the mansion was named “Nottoway” after the county in Virginia where his ancestors lived.
U.S. Department of the Interior records cited by Axios show that Randolph owned 155 slaves and 6,200 acres of land by 1860.
In addition to the luxurious mansion, the property also featured several trees that are over 100 years old, several of which are more than 120 years old, according to Nottoway Plantation’s website.
Light smoke can be seen from a handful of active hot spots as crews remain on scene after a fire on Thursday engulfed the historic Nottoway Plantation, Friday, May 16, 2025, in White Castle, La. (Hilary Scheinuk/The Advocate via AP)
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In modern times, the mansion and the surrounding property functioned as a museum, resort and wedding venue. Nottoway Plantation’s website states that it sat on 31 acres, which included 40 overnight rooms, a bar, a restaurant, event space, a pool, tennis courts and more.
“While its early history is undeniably tied to a time of great injustice, over the last several decades it evolved into a place of reflection, education, and dialogue,” Daigle wrote in the Facebook post. “Since the 1980s, it has welcomed visitors from around the world who came to appreciate its architecture and confront the legacies of its era. It stood as both a cautionary monument and a testament to the importance of preserving history — even the painful parts — so that future generations can learn and grow from it.”
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