Louisiana
Republican Louisiana senator in tough primary after Trump backs opponent
The power of Donald Trump’s endorsement will be put to its latest test on Saturday, when Louisiana holds primary elections in which the US senator Bill Cassidy, who voted to impeach the president following the January 6 insurrection, then tried to make amends by casting the pivotal vote to confirm Robert F Kennedy Jr as health secretary, stands a chance of losing his party’s nomination.
An incumbent Republican running for a third term representing a deeply Republican state, Cassidy would normally be a shoo-in for re-election. But in January, Trump abruptly said that the US representative Julia Letlow should run against Cassidy and offered his endorsement, underscoring his continued willingness to seek revenge against anyone in the Republican party who has crossed him.
The president’s campaign to oust a senator of his own party – the sort of thing that was unheard of in previous administrations, but not under Trump – may have achieved the desired effect. Letlow promptly jumped into the Republican Senate primary, as did state treasurer and former representative John Fleming. An Emerson College poll released last month showed Cassidy in third place among likely Republican voters, with Fleming and Letlow neck and neck for the lead.
“This is a primary that is mostly about Trump,” said Robert Hogan, a Louisiana State University political science professor, adding that the president’s spurning of Cassidy was probably the “death knell” for his time in the Senate.
Should he indeed lose re-election this year, Cassidy would join a growing list of Republicans whose political careers have ended at Trump’s hands. Earlier this month, five of the seven Republican Indiana state senators who halted a Trump-backed effort to gerrymander the state in Republicans’ favor lost their primaries. In North Carolina, Republicans are in a high-stakes battle to keep hold of one of their Senate seats because Thom Tillis has opted to retire, after breaking with Trump last year over his top domestic policy bill.
A gastroenterologist who co-founded a clinic serving uninsured patients in Baton Rouge, Cassidy served in the House of Representatives before beating the Democratic senator Mary Landrieu in 2014. During Trump’s first term, he was an architect of the failed Republican effort to repeal the Affordable Care Act.
His relationship with the president soured following the assault on the Capitol by the president’s supporters, after which Cassidy and six other Republicans voted to convict Trump in the Senate, but the effort came up short. Cassidy later supported a fruitless attempt to establish an independent commission investigating the insurrection, and called on Trump to end his 2024 re-election bid after his indictment for allegedly possessing classified material.
Louisiana’s Republican party censured Cassidy in 2021 for his vote in Trump’s trial, and the senator’s political peril intensified when Trump returned to the White House last year.
Cassidy cast the deciding vote to advance vaccine skeptic Kennedy’s nomination to lead the Department of Health and Human Services out of the Senate health committee, which he chairs. The decision flew in the face of the senator’s training as a physician and his stated support for immunizations, and was widely seen as an attempt to smooth things over with the president.
Trump’s endorsement of Letlow made clear the senator’s effort was insufficient. Cassidy has meanwhile criticized some of Kennedy’s policies as secretary, and opposed Trump’s attempt to have the wellness influencer Casey Means confirmed as US surgeon general, leading Trump to blame the senator for having to withdraw her nomination.
In Louisiana, changes to the primary system probably worsened the prospects for Cassidy’s political career. In 2024, the Republican governor, Jeff Landry, a prominent Trump supporter, worked with the legislature to change the rules of the state’s US Senate primaries so that candidates are nominated only by party members and unaffiliated voters. Ron Faucheux, a veteran political strategist in Louisiana, said he suspected the changes were intended to ensure that Republicans like Cassidy who fall out of favor with Trump have no avenue to remain in office.
“The new primary system is geared to help staunch, conservative, pro-Trump candidates get elected, because it’s geared to nominate them on the Republican side and putting them in the runoffs against Democrats, [who] nobody thinks can win,” he said.
Cassidy’s campaign has acknowledged the difficulty of this year’s re-election campaign, and said their goal is for the senator to finish in the top two of the primary, and advance to a runoff election scheduled for next month.
“The mission is pretty simple. It’s to go out, get as many votes as we can on Saturday and position ourselves well for the runoff election to come in June,” campaign consultant Mark Harris told reporters this week.
Both of Cassidy’s challengers have sought to convince voters they are the president’s choice, with Letlow noting her endorsements from both Trump and Landry, and Fleming’s campaign distributing photos of him posing with the president.
Cassidy has meanwhile focused on criticizing Letlow, saying that the race was hers to lose. Dubbing her “Lib Letlow”, his campaign has seized on comments she made in support of campus diversity programs while interviewing to lead the University of Louisiana at Monroe. Letlow has since publicly repudiated those initiatives.
If there’s a saving grace for Cassidy, it could be unaffiliated voters, whose views have not been captured in polls, Faucheux said. But even if Cassidy makes it to a runoff, the president’s opposition will present a significant headwind.
“My guess is that a runoff would be tough for Cassidy, because even though there’s a lot of personal animosity between Letlow and Fleming in the campaign, I think a lot of their voters would tend to be pretty strongly pro-Trump voters,” he said.
A friend recently returned from a vacation to Sweden and shared photos from his trip, mentioning a word I hadn’t heard before: fika.
Something about the way he used the word on his social media post pulled me in. The word sounded like something I would appreciate.
Loosely translated, a fika is a Swedish coffee break.
I don’t drink coffee. I’ve never been to Sweden, but I was right about appreciating the word and what it represents.
I decided to contact my friend Erika Sunnegardh. She’s a Swede, an international opera soprano who made her Metropolitan Opera debut in 2006 — and my go-to source for all things Swedish.
I messaged her and learned she was on a boat off the coast of Portugal. Even so, she took the time to send me a voice message with her take on fika.
She said it’s been around for several hundred years, but the word itself took hold around 1910. Cleverly, the word came about by someone rearranging the letters of the Swedish word for coffee, kaffi. She said that it started as something women did, gathering over coffee to meet and talk. She used the word “lighthearted” to describe its origins.
Eventually, fika became a part of everyday Swedish life.
She emphasized that fika is about much more than coffee.
Logistically, sweet treats are mandatory. They call them fika bread — cinnamon rolls, cardamom buns, pastry or the like.
However, cookies are also a part of fika. She shared a detail that struck me as deeply Swedish.
“Tradition has it you should treat seven different kinds of cookies,” she said. “No less, because then you’re stingy, and no more, because then you’re showing off. Seven is the magic number.”
According to the Visit Sweden website, there are seven specific types of cookies that are the most traditional fika cookies: Brussels cookies, chocolate slices, dream cookies (a type of meringue cookie that melts in the mouth), raspberry caves, oat biscuits, nut biscuits and chessboards (two-tone shortbread cookies).
Sunnegardh told me that morning and afternoon fika are a part of daily life in Swedish workplaces. Work stops. Everybody leaves their desk. Someone may stay to cover the office phones, but fika happens, lasting 10 or 15 minutes — never more than 20. People bring their own treats and their personal phones are down. Tea is permitted for the noncoffee drinkers.
Lemon and chocolate Hubig’s Pies, cut open to show their fillings, make a decadent coffee break snack. Chocolate rejoined the lineup for flavors as the beloved New Orleans hand pie continues its gradual return to the full spectrum of flavors. (Staff photo by Ian McNulty, NOLA.com | The Times-Picayune)
“It simply is what it is,” Erika told me from her boat. “It can’t be degraded or weirded out by any digital thing. I have never heard of anyone skipping fika just because the world has changed.”
I recognized fika from the start.
Not from Sweden, but from Mississippi.
My parents’ home was fika central.
Throughout the day — almost any day — usually mid-morning or mid-afternoon, people knocked on the door and were welcomed in. My mother would put on coffee. Somehow, there was almost always cake.
People sat down and visited, and the day went wherever it went. Now that I think about it, they usually stopped by in the mornings around 10 and in the afternoons around 2, which coincides nicely with the Swedish tradition.
My parents led productive, even busy lives, but I never remember Mom not sitting to visit when guests arrived — and my dad too when he was home.
They didn’t call it fika, of course. They didn’t call it anything. It was just how things were.
Things stayed that way for my parents until my dad died and my mother moved away from our family home to be closer to my youngest brother.
The tradition was not passed to the next generation. Dropping by unannounced is unheard of now. We rarely sit and visit without an agenda. We schedule coffee weeks out.
I do like calling it fika.
Names change things.
What was an interruption becomes a ritual. What felt like lost time becomes the point.
If fika is the word that gets people to put their phones down and sit with each other — really sit, with something sweet nearby and no particular reason to leave — then I am for it.
My mother never needed a word for it. She just opened the door.
MARSHALL, Texas (KETK) – A man is currently wanted after police said he kidnapped his ex-girlfriend in Marshall on Saturday, before fleeing into Louisiana.
The Marshall Police Department reported that their dispatch got a call requesting a welfare check at a property in the 1300 block of East Pinecrest Drive at around 7:29 a.m. on Saturday. Officers who responded to the scene met a woman who said she had just been kidnapped by her ex-boyfriend.
The officers determined that the woman had escaped from her ex-boyfriend and that he fled from the scene before they arrived. Marshall PD identified the ex-boyfriend as Jamichael Brown.
Brown’s vehicle was later found abandoned in Greenwood, La. Then, Marshall PD joined with the Joint
Harrison County Violent Crime and Narcotics Task Force, the Waskom Police Department, the Greenwood Police Department and the Caddo Parish Sheriff’s Office to conduct a joint search of the area near his vehicle but Brown was not found.
He’s currently wanted for prior warrants on charges of violation of bond conditions and assault of a pregnant person, along with a new warrant for aggravated kidnapping, which was secured by Marshall PD on Saturday.
Marshall PD said Brown should be considered armed and dangerous and they’ve asked the public not to approach him. Anyone who sees him is asked to call 911 or local law enforcement.
Anyone with information about this case is also asked to call the the Marshall Police Department Criminal Investigation Division at 903-935-4575.
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Louisiana
Louisiana drivers warned not to leave these 10 everyday items in parked cars as June heat builds
LOUISIANA (KNOE) – As June temperatures climb across Louisiana, safety experts are warning drivers to take certain everyday items out of their vehicles every time they park.
NOAA climate normals show typical June highs reach about 90°F in New Orleans, 91°F in Baton Rouge and 93°F in Shreveport. Research from Arizona State University found a car parked in direct sunlight on an 80°F day can reach 120°F inside within an hour. Dashboard temperatures can top 165°F on a 95°F afternoon.
That means a quick stop at a gas station in Monroe, a grocery run in Arkansas or a school pickup in Mississippi can damage belongings, spoil medicine and food, and increase the risk of a fire.
Below are 10 items Louisiana drivers should remove from their cars when they park.
1) Aerosol cans
Products such as hairspray, deodorant, spray sunscreen, dry shampoo and spray paint are pressurized. Many aerosol labels warn against temperatures above 120°F, a level ASU testing shows a vehicle can reach within 60 minutes on an 80°F day.
2) Medication
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) says many medicines should be stored between 68°F and 77°F. Insulin products commonly carry guidance to stay below 86°F once in use. A 2024 Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology study found EpiPens lost 41.6% of epinephrine potency after three months at 122°F.
Drivers should not leave inhalers, antibiotics, thyroid medication, birth control or emergency allergy injectors in the glovebox.
3) Sunscreen
The FDA warns sunscreen containers should be kept out of excessive heat and direct sun. High heat can break down active ingredients, leaving users with less protection than the SPF label suggests.
4) Food and groceries
The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) says perishable food should not sit in the 40°F to 140°F “danger zone” for more than two hours — or more than one hour when the outside temperature is above 90°F.
That one-hour limit can arrive quickly during Louisiana summers, especially for eggs, dairy, meat and seafood.
5) Eyewear
High heat can damage plastic frames and some lens coatings. Many optical materials become vulnerable once temperatures rise above about 130°F. ASU testing shows dashboards can exceed 165°F on a 95°F day, hot enough to warp frames or harm polarized, photochromic and anti-reflective coatings.
6) Lighters and matches
Disposable butane lighters often carry warnings to keep them away from heat above 50°C (122°F). That is below the dashboard temperatures measured in parked-car heat studies, making a lighter left near a windshield a preventable fire risk.
7) Glasses cases and clear water bottles
Fire services have warned that clear bottles and other magnifying objects can focus sunlight onto upholstery or paper. In demonstrations, focused sunlight has been measured above 200°F, which can scorch vehicle interiors.
8) Important documents
Passports, Social Security cards, laminated IDs, parking tickets and thermal receipts can warp, fade or blacken in extreme heat. Thermal paper commonly reacts around 150°F, a temperature that can be reached on a dashboard on a hot summer afternoon.
9) Pets and children
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) says an average of 38 children die in hot cars in the U.S. each year, and KidsAndCars.org has tracked more than 1,170 child hot-car deaths since 1990.
The American Veterinary Medical Association (AVMA) reports that on a 70°F day, a car can reach 89°F within 10 minutes and 104°F within 30 minutes.
Louisiana law allows certain emergency rescue actions for children or animals in distress, but safety groups stress the simplest rule: Never leave children or pets in a parked vehicle, even briefly.
10) Lithium-ion devices (including vapes)
Devices such as vapes, phones, laptops, power banks and e-bike batteries use lithium-ion cells that are generally designed to operate safely up to around 140°F — below the dashboard heat recorded in summer car tests.
The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) logged 89 lithium-battery incidents on U.S. aircraft in 2024, including 15 involving vapes or e-cigarettes. Anker recalled more than 1.1 million PowerCore 10000 power banks in 2025 over overheating risks.
Shane Margereson of Ecigone, which works with vape and lithium-battery products, said drivers should watch for warning signs such as swelling, a sweet chemical smell, discoloration or a device feeling warm when it has not been used.
“The simplest rule of all: treat it like your phone,” Margereson said. “Never leave it on the dashboard, in the glovebox or in direct sunlight.”
Heat-safety reminder
If you must leave items in a vehicle, move them out of direct sun, keep them low in the cabin, and shorten stop times. When possible, take heat-sensitive products inside with you.
Copyright 2026 KNOE. All rights reserved.
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