Louisiana
Louisiana interstate bridge Biden, Trump identified as notorious finally set to be replaced
Construction to replace Louisiana’s most notorious bridge on Interstate 10 could finally begin this year, ultimately clearing a national chokepoint for cross-country commerce.
Republican Gov. Jeff Landry and his Louisiana Department of Transportation Secretary Joe Donahue this week announced a financial “notice to proceed” for the new $2.3 billion Calcasieu River Bridge in Lake Charles.
“Since I took office in January, my administration has remained committed to getting this critical project off the ground,” Landry said in a statement. “Reaching the notice to proceed is proof of that dedication to the people of Louisiana, as well as our continued drive to improve and modernize Louisiana’s infrastructure.”
President Biden and former President Trump have both identified the existing 72-year-old Calcasieu River Bridge as a symbol of America’s aging infrastructure.
The old bridge, a narrow, steep structure, is an iconic landmark with more than 5,000 crossed flintlock derringer pistols on both side rails, but it provides a white-knuckle ride for those driving the vehicles that cross it.
It’s rated 6.6 out of 100 by the National Bridge Inventory and there were unconfirmed rumors that the Secret Service wouldn’t let Biden cross it when he visited Lake Charles in 2021.
The old bridge was built to have a 50-year capacity and carry about one-third of the 90,000 plus vehicles that cross it today.
Its reputation is national.
In 2019 then President Trump promised if he was reelected, “We’re going to build a new I-10 bridge (in Lake Charles).”
“It impacts our supply chain for the entire country,” U.S. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg told USA Today Network in 2023 when he visited Lake Charles to announce a $150 federal grant from the bipartisan Infrastructure Act.
Now the funding, about $1.2 billion federal and state money in hand with the balance to be raised in tolls after the new bridge is built, is finally locked down.
“A new bridge is long overdue, and clearing this hurdle puts our state closer than ever to seeing construction on this essential project,” Donahue said.
The state signed the public-private partnership agreement with Calcasieu Bridge Partners in January to build the new bridge, a project that’s 5.5-mile footprint will stretch from Lake Charles to Westlake. The Louisiana State Bond Commission approved the sale of private activity bonds for the project at its July 24, 2024 meeting.
Estimated construction time is seven years.
More: Garret Graves makes push to end Social Security penalty for teachers on way out of Congress
Greg Hilburn covers state politics for the USA TODAY Network of Louisiana. Follow him on Twitter @GregHilburn1.
That pageant feeds into the Miss Louisiana pageant, which is part of the Miss America system. The winner of Miss Louisiana Saturday night will move on to the Miss America pageant.
Addison’s pageant platform is encouraging girls to build confidence in themselves — Confidence to Career, Jackson said.
“She competed last night for the preliminary in talent and on stage question and will compete tonight in beauty and fitness,” Jackson said.
On Saturday at the beginning of the pageant, the field will be cut to 11 contestants, and then the top five.
“One of the top five will get a crown,” Jackson said.
The preliminary competitions and the pageant will be streamed on MissLouisiana.com and the Saturday pageant will be broadcast live on KNOE-TV.
“They let me see her for five minutes yesterday,” she said. “This is the experience of a lifetime. She is making friendships and relationships that will last a lifetime. We are so proud of her. Addison is such a sweet girl.”
She is the youngest of three sisters, Allison and Anna Claire Jackson.
Angela said her husband, Craig Jackson, is particularly excited and proud of all three of his daughters.
“He’s a great girl dad,” she said. “They think he hung the moon, and he did.”
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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