SHREVEPORT, LA – Big news is coming from Trader Joe’s. The very popular grocery chain is opening several new locations and Louisiana is one of the lucky states to land a new store.

Trader Joe’s is opening more stores in 13 states.

Where Are the Current Trader Joe’s in Louisiana?

Metairie

2949 Veterans Blvd

Baton Rouge

3535 Perkins Rd

The Trader Joe’s website says stores are planned in these locations:

Hoover Alabama

Yucaipa, Tracy, Tarzana, Sherman Oaks and Northridge California

Westminster Colorado

Town Square Maryland

Boston Massachusetts

Woodbridge/Iselin New Jersey

Glenmont and Tottenville New York

San Antonio Texas

Oklahoma City Oklahoma

Berwyn and Exton Pennsylvania

Myrtle Beach South Carolina

Bellingham Washington

Brookland/Washington, D.C.

Friendship Heights/Washington, D.C.

READ MORE: What to do to bring Trader Joe’s to Shreveport

Where Is the New Trader Joe’s Opening in Louisiana?

Sorry to say Shreveport is not in the plan for a Trader Joe’s right now, but New Orleans will be getting another store. The newest one in Louisiana will be opening at 2501 Tulane Avenue in the Mid-City area.

Louisiana has amassed “unprecedented” power in the U.S. House of Representatives led by a one-two punch of Republican Speaker Mike Johnson of Shreveport and Majority Leader Steve Scalise of Jefferson Parish.

Despite having a relatively small delegation of six members, Louisiana wields an enormous amount of influence up and down its delegation, including Republicans Johnson, Scalise, Clay Higgins of Lafayette and Julia Letlow of Start and Democrats Troy Carter of New Orleans and Cleo Fields of Baton Rouge.

“It’s an unprecedented amount of power,” said Pearson Cross, a professor of political science at the University of Louisiana at Monroe. “Louisiana is punching way above its weight. It has more concentrated power than California (with 52 representatives).”

Never before has one state held the top two positions in the House with Johnson holding the speaker’s gavel and Steve Scalise as majority leader.

Both also have become prolific fundraisers, with Johnson reporting raising a record $24 million during the first quarter for his Grow the Majority committee as House Republicans seek to hold their slim majority during the 2026 elections.

“After we successfully defended our majority in 2024, the American people are enthusiastic about keeping House Republicans on offense in 2026,” Johnson said in a statement. “While we deliver our commonsense America First agenda, we are also building a massive campaign war chest by hitting the ground running in the first quarter. … I look forward to continuing to lead the fight ensuring House Republicans are ready to grow our majority this cycle.”

But besides Johnson and Scalise, Louisiana has a deep bench of members in leadership roles.

Higgins is chairman of the House Oversight Panel’s Subcommittee on Federal Law Enforcement in the 119th Congress.

He also has a seat on the House Armed Services Committee as Louisiana’s only representative on that panel, critical to support Barksdale Air Force Base and Fort Johnson, and House Homeland Security.

Letlow sites on the powerful Appropriations Committee that controls the nation’s purse strings and was elected to the panel that determines what Republicans get plum committee seats in the House.

She has recently been mentioned as a possible challenger to Louisiana Sen. Bill Cassidy, a fellow Republican, but has not confirmed interest in the race.

After Letlow won a seat on the House Republican Steering Committee in November, prominent Capitol reporter Jake Sherman of Punchbowl News tweeted: “Louisiana… has an insane amount of influence in Congress.”

Meanwhile, Carter was elected to serve as first vice chair of the Congressional Black Caucus, increasing the state’s unmatched clout. As a member of the House Transportation Committee, he was among those who crafted the final language in the House on the $1.2 trillion Infrastructure Act.

He also serves on Homeland Security as the ranking member over Emergency Management and Technology.

Fields was elected last fall to represent the state’s new Black-majority 6th Congressional District that includes Baton Rouge and Shreveport as the population centers. Fields is back in Congress after first serving three decades ago. He serves on the House Financial Services Committee.

More: As Julia Letlow’s influence grows in Congress, she opens new office in this Louisiana city

Greg Hilburn covers state politics for the USA TODAY Network of Louisiana. Follow him on Twitter @GregHilburn1. 

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.