Louisiana
Louisiana’s health leadership changes open the door to medical misinformation • Louisiana Illuminator
The anti-vaccination crowd celebrated this week’s news that Dr. Joe Kanter is stepping down as Louisiana’s chief medical officer. In his role with the state health department, Kanter led efforts to slow the spread of COVID-19 and encouraged the public to get the vaccine.
He did so out of a sense of duty and without flinching as critics increasingly questioned the proven science behind the policy he enforced.
His departure was reason to rejoice for the science deniers who have been re-energized since Republican Gov. Jeff Landry won his election on promises he would stand firm against any public health measure he deems an encroachment on freedom. As attorney general, he took every opportunity to challenge and lash out at then-Gov. John Bel Edwards for the Democrat’s executive orders to contain the spread of COVID-19.
Louisiana officials’ continued emphasis on vaccinations has been in question since Landry’s election and his subsequent appointment of Dr. Ralph Abraham as state health department secretary. Kanter announced his exit less than two months into Abraham’s tenure.
Abraham, a former congressman and 2019 governor candidate, was a practicing physician before he took his seat in the U.S. House and a veterinarian before that.
Early in the pandemic, Abraham supported the off-label use of drugs to treat COVID that lacked federal regulatory approval, indicating he was open to alternatives at a time when researchers still hadn’t developed a vaccine.
“There are times when certain drugs need to be tried that have worked even anecdotally, give the patient the option, let them and their doctor make an informed decision,” Abraham told the Louisiana Radio Network in March 2020.
With regards to vaccines, there was an encouraging message from Abraham’s agency last week when it announced two cases of measles had been diagnosed in the New Orleans area. The Louisiana Department of Health reported that the infected individuals had not been immunized, and officials encouraged the public to obtain the MMR vaccine, calling it “highly effective and safe.”
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It remains to be seen if there will be a similar message regarding COVID-19 vaccines, as the virus continues to mutate into new strands and pose a public health threat. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is recommending a booster for older adults.
If Rep. Raymond Crews, R-Bossier City, had his way, Abraham and the health department would disregard the CDC’s recommendation.
Crews said as much Tuesday during a meeting of the House Health and Welfare Committee where Abraham made his first legislative appearance since taking his new job. The state representative took a shot at how the health department under the Edwards administration followed the federal health agency’s advice.
“It seemed to me the CDC told us what to do, and we went with it,” Crews told Abraham.
Crews also shared his dismay during the pandemic over health care professionals not being familiar with “experts,” whose names he shared in the committee meeting. They are:
- Dr. Pierre Kory, a physician who lost his certification from the American Board of Internal Medicine for “spreading false or inaccurate medical information.” He advocated for the off-label use of ivermectin to treat COVID, despite multiple studies showing the risk of using the antiparasitic. Kory also falsely claimed the COVID vaccine could adversely affect pregnancies and fertility.
- Dr. Peter McCullough, a cardiologist who also championed the use of ivermectin and hydroxychloroquine, a lupus and arthritis drug, to treat COVID. He insisted people under 50 didn’t need the COVID vaccine and falsely attributed an excessive number of deaths to the vaccine. McCullough also disputed the need for vaccines to achieve herd immunity from COVID, relying instead on people catching and surviving the virus.
- Dr. Geert Vanden Bossche, a Belgian veterinarian who sought to undermine confidence in the COVID vaccine, saying it will lead to “a global catastrophe without equal,” in order to promote his own “universal vaccine.” Immunologists have discredited Vanden Bossche’s supposed cure.
- Dr. Robert Malone, a physician popular in far-right circles who has conveyed conspiracy theories about the origins of COVID. He has also spread misinformation about vaccines.
“I mention those names, and they act like they’ve never heard of them,” Crews said.
That might be because the doctors he’s confronted are reputable and embrace data-driven, peer-reviewed science over dangerous quackery. Or those doctors might just have had the same response Abraham did after Crews’ comments: silence with a polite smile.
For the sake of public health, let’s hope our new health secretary doesn’t become an echo chamber for such medical misinformation, even when it supports the political agenda of his boss.
Louisiana
Louisiana’s LHSAA softball state tournament fields are set with the championships scheduled for Saturday
Louisiana’s LHSAA softball state tournament fields are set with the championships scheduled for Saturday originally appeared on The Sporting News. Add The Sporting News as a Preferred Source by clicking here.
The state tournament fields for Louisiana’s LHSAA softball championships are set with the semifinals scheduled for Friday, May 1.
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The championship games will then take place on Saturday, May 2, and there are currently three teams alive that are ranked in the MaxPreps national rankings. The Calvary Baptist Academy [Shreveport] Cavaliers are still riding high in the No. 3 position, competing for the state’s Select Division III championship while also harboring national title aspirations.
The No. 39 Sam Houston [Lake Charles] Broncos and the No. 44 Walker Wildcats, meanwhile, were both defeated this week in their pursuit of the LHSAA’s Non-Select Division I state championship. Walker was the #1 seed and lost in a stunning upset Tuesday night in the regionals to the #16 seed Central [Baton Rouge] Wildcats which, in turn, lost, 4-3, to the Hahnville [Boutte] Tigers in the quarterfinals on Friday.
WATCH: LOUISIANA LHSAA SOFTBALL ON THE NFHS NETWORK
Sam Houston was the #2 seed, meanwhile, and the Broncos also lost, 10-4, in the quarterfinals Friday to the #10 seed Live Oak [Watson] Eagles.
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Calvary Baptist Academy, meanwhile, will try to keep its national and state championship hopes alive after winning their two games this week against the #16 seed Fisher [Lafitte] Gators (15-0) and Bunkie Panthers (8-0). They’ll take on the D’Arbonne Woods Charter Timberwolves in Friday’s semifinal with the winner advancing to take on the winner of the Notre Dame [Crowley] Pioneers vs. the Parkview Baptist [Baton Rouge] Eagles.
LHSAA Non-Select Brackets
LHSAA Select Brackets
Key dates for the Louisiana LHSAA softball playoffs
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DATE |
PLAYOFF DEADLINES |
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5/1/26 |
Semifinals |
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5/2/26 |
State Tournament |
National Top 50 contenders by division
Louisiana has three teams ranked in the national Top 50 in the latest MaxPreps rankings. However, it’s likely that Sam Houston and Walker will drop out this coming week after failing to even make the state tournament.
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Division III Select
The Calvary Baptist Academy [Shreveport, LA] Cavaliers are the state’s top-ranked team, checking in at No. 3 nationally. They earned a first-round bye before winning their first two playoff games this week by a combined score of 23-0. They are 35-1 on the season ranked behind the Barbers Hill [Mt. Belvieu, TX] Eagles and the Murrieta [CA] Mesa Rams.
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Louisiana
“Who Killed Roxanne Sharp?” podcast leads to 4 arrests in decades-old murder of girl in Louisiana
Louisiana police say a podcast helped them solve the decades-old killing of a 16-year-old girl and announced Friday that four men now face criminal charges in connection with her rape and murder.
In 1982, teenager Roxanne Sharp was killed in the woods of St. Tammany Parish, about 30 miles north of New Orleans. Police struggled to solve the case due to a lack of evidence and witnesses willing to come forward. But then, investigators approached a local media company, which agreed to produce a podcast, “Who Killed Roxanne Sharp?” renewing public interest in the case after its six-part series aired last year.
Louisiana State Police spokesperson Marc Gremillion credited the podcast with generating crucial tips from the public and prompting new witnesses to approach investigators.
“It helped our investigators piece together where Roxanne was days before to the time she died, to where we’re at now,” Gremillion told The Associated Press. “It was a very large help with getting that message out to the public, and then, therefore, those witnesses getting back to us.”
Over the past few days, police charged four men with aggravated rape and second-degree murder: Perry Wayne Taylor, 64; Darrell Dean Spell, 64; Carlos Cooper, 64; and Billy Williams, Jr., 62.
Cooper and Taylor were already in prison on unrelated charges, and Williams and Spell were arrested earlier this week. Sharp was an acquaintance of the four arrested suspects and was known to frequent the neighborhood where they lived, Gremillion added.
“We appreciate the hard work and love that has been shown to Roxanne Sharp’s case,” Sharp’s niece, Michele Lappin, said in a statement on behalf of her family. “We hope that with justice will come healing and closure for our family, her loved ones, and the community.”
Billy Williams Jr.’s son, Billy Williams III, said his father is innocent of the crime.
“He thinks they’re putting him in for something he didn’t do,” the younger Williams said. “He says he would never in his life hurt anyone.”
The St. Tammany Parish clerk of court did not have attorneys listed for any of the suspects. Family members of Spell, Cooper and Taylor did not respond to requests for comment via phone numbers associated with them.
“When we started the podcast, we kind of thought nobody cared – we were quickly corrected,” said Charles Dowdy, vice president of Northshore Media, which produced the podcast. “A lot of people stepped up and said they knew Roxanne, they remembered her, they were friends with her.”
Dowdy recorded audio as investigators recreated the crime scene using measuring tapes to mark the exact locations where Sharp’s body was found and where other pieces of evidence were uncovered.
“It clearly showed that she’d been grabbed on the street and dragged into the woods,” Dowdy said.
Police had once thought the case solved after serial killer Henry Lucas claimed responsibility for Sharp’s murder. But Lucas, known for making false confessions, later retracted his claim, and other evidence disproved his connection to the murder.
St. Tammany Parish resident Justin Joiner, 39, told the AP that his father, a Covington police officer, had been one of the first law enforcement to arrive at the scene of Sharp’s death and remained frustrated about the lack of closure for the rest of his life. He kept a briefcase full of his notes on the case until he passed away last year.
“It’s been a big black cloud on the community,” Joiner said. “Nobody would talk about it — it was hush, hush, you talk about it in your house, not in public.”
Joiner added that the podcast opened up discussion about the case across generations and throughout the community.
“Cold cases don’t close themselves,” Covington Police Department Chief Michael Ferrell said in a statement. “They close because people show up, year after year, and refuse to quit. That is exactly what our agencies did, and today, Roxanne and her family finally have the justice they have waited so long for.”
District Attorney Collin Sims echoed that sentiment.
“This case is a powerful example of what persistence, collaboration, and advancements in investigative technology can accomplish. For more than four decades, this victim and her family have waited for answers,” Sims said in a statement. “Today’s arrests reflect our unwavering commitment to pursue justice—no matter how much time has passed—and to hold those responsible fully accountable.”
Podcasts have helped law enforcement solve other cold cases recently. Last year, detectives in Illinois solved a missing person’s cold case and credited the podcast “Somebody Knows Something,” which the Elgin Police Department itself launched. In 2024, a sheriff in South Carolina credited a podcast with helping to identify a 1975 cold case victim, formerly known as “Mr. X.”
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