Louisiana
PIC: Randy Travis Inducted Into Louisiana Music Hall of Fame
Adding to his list of accolades, Randy Travis has been inducted into the Louisiana Music Hall of Fame.
The veteran country artist joins an elite group of artists that includes Elvis Presley, Louis Armstrong, Little Richard, Tim McGraw and many others.
The “I Told You So” hitmaker was enshrined during a special ceremony on May 27, during the annual Cajun Country Jam’s Memorial Day Festival in Denham Springs, La. Travis was brought on stage to receive his honor in front of the crowd.
“Over the years Randy Travis has made many stops and new fans along the way in the great state of Louisiana,” Cajun Country Jam promoter Scott Innes remarked. “We are delighted and honored to have had Randy on our stage!”
Travis began his career in Shreveport, La., under the name Randy Ray. His first studio recordings were created at Paula Records. Those first tracks were the foundation of a storied career that has helped him sell more than 25 million records. He is one of the biggest multi-genre record sellers and was recently inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame in 2016.
Before suffering a near fatal stroke in 2013, the “Diggin’ Up Bones” artist had won seven Grammys, 11 ACM Awards, five CMA Awards, 10 American Music Awards and eight Dove Awards from the Gospel Music Association, among other honors.
Travis has been undergoing physical therapy since his stroke, and with the help of his wife Mary, he’s been able to regain some of his motor skills, speech and even his singing voice. The country icon continues to make improvements with his health.
Top Randy Travis Songs – His 10 Greatest Hits
Louisiana
Elementary school next to controversial Louisiana chemical plant to shut down next year
An elementary school a few hundred feet from an industrial plant that emits a likely cancer-causing chemical will close next year, the St. John the Baptist Parish School Board voted on Thursday, a landmark decision that follows a long push for action by environmental and community activists.
The 300 pre-kindergarteners through fourth graders who attend Fifth Ward Elementary School in Reserve will be relocated to two schools in the district.
The school board’s decision to close the school came amid a slew of legal battles involving the future of Fifth Ward Elementary, as well as the federal Environmental Protection Agency. Denka Performance Elastomer, which neighbors the elementary school, is the only facility in the country to emit chloroprene, classified as a likely carcinogen by the EPA.
The school is also in a U.S. census tract with the highest risk of cancer from air pollution in the country, according to an EPA report. The federal agency sent a letter in 2022 to the Louisiana Department of Environmental Quality suggesting that Black residents in the area were subjected to adverse health impacts because of Denka.
Average chloroprene emissions this August at the two fenceline monitors closest to the school were more than four times the figure the EPA cautioned against in its 2022 letter.
The Tokyo-based synthetic rubber manufacturing company makes products such as gloves and wetsuits.
The school board meeting grew tense at times, as members tussled over the future of the school and whether the planning committee that had initially approved the closure had been transparent.
Raydel Morris, who represents the district where Fifth Ward is located, opposed shuttering it, and raised concerns over the physical building being left to decay after the school closed. He added that if the impetus for closing the school was for “chemical reasons,” moving students to one of the nearby schools wouldn’t affect their risks from air pollution.
“We’re taking them from the front yard to the backyard,” he said.
Most of the heated discussions revolved around transparency and economics. The school has a declining enrollment and operates at less than 50 percent capacity, one board member noted.
But the legal battles and the nearby chemical plant loomed large. Nia Mitchell-Williams, who voted in favor of the school closure, noted that if they didn’t make a decision, the board would be leaving Fifth Ward’s future in the hands of a judge.
“That’s the real elephant in the room,” Mitchell-Williams said.
The former segregated Black school will see its final term this year, and in the 2025-2026 school year, students will either attend East St. John Preparatory or LaPlace Elementary. The motion passed on a vote 7-4.
After the closure, East St. John Preparatory will be renamed as Fifth Ward Preparatory, to preserve the name and history of the originally all-Black segregated school. Mitchell-Williams proposed this motion at the request of alumni of the school, she said.
Future of Fifth Ward
The vote comes after a federal judge in New Orleans in late October heard arguments in a desegregation case against the St. John school board. Lawyers with the NAACP’s Legal Defense Fund argued that Fifth Ward should be shut down and its students should be moved to LaPlace Elementary School four miles away.
While the civil rights lawyers applauded the move to shut down the school, they opposed the school board’s plan to divide the students between East St. John Preparatory Academy, a middle school, and LaPlace Elementary.
Victor Jones said that East St. John Prep is still located too close to the Denka plant and is not designed for the younger elementary school children. The Legal Defense Fund wants to see all the Fifth Ward students and faculty kept together and moved to LaPlace Elementary. The lawyers also want Fifth Ward to be shut down immediately.
“We won’t be satisfied until the school is closed,” Jones said.
Louisiana
Louisiana AG’s Office office urges people to report racist text messages
MONROE, La. (KNOE) – People across the country and here in the ArkLaMiss are reporting receiving a racist spam text message.
The text states the person has been selected to pick cotton at a plantation.
“These types of spam texts are vile, threatening and only intend to divide us,” said the Louisiana Attorney General’s Office in a statement to KNOE.
The Attorney General’s office says to contact your local FBI field office by calling 1-800-CALL-FBI or 1-800-225-5324 or visiting FBI.gov/tips.
WATCH: KNOE Latest Video
Copyright 2024 KNOE. All rights reserved.
Louisiana
Special session regarding tax reform Wednesday
BATON ROUGE, La. (WAFB) – Governor Jeff Landry and the state legislature held the special session regarding tax reform on Wednesday afternoon.
The focus of the special session is to restructure the outdated tax system and grow the economy. The goal is to move towards a flat income tax for individuals and businesses and expand state sales tax to more services and items.
The current structure has led to impending budget shortfalls, leading to cuts in other key areas like higher education and healthcare.
November 25 is the deadline to complete the proposed tax reforms with then some measures going to a vote of the people.
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