BATON ROUGE, La. (WAFB) – Many voters in Baton Rouge and St. George are headed to the polls Saturday (March 14).

A special election is taking place to fill the vacant Louisiana House District 69 seat. It opened up after former Louisiana State Representative Paula Davis announced her resignation in December.

“This decision has not come lightly, but I believe the time is right to step away from public office and embrace the next chapter of my personal and professional life,” Davis said.

Four candidates are vying for the open seat. They are Democrat Angela Roberts and Republicans Paul Sawyer, Adam Beach, and Lynn Coxe Graham.

The polls are open from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. According to the Louisiana Secretary of State’s Office, anyone in line by 8 p.m. will be allowed to cast their ballot.

When going to vote, you should bring a valid ID with you, which can be a Louisiana driver’s license, a digital license via the LA Wallet App, a Louisiana Special ID card, or a generally recognized picture identification card like a passport.

For information about your polling place and to view a sample ballot, you can visit the Louisiana Secretary of State’s website.

Voters in parts of the New Orleans area are also headed to the polls Saturday. Residents are choosing the next state senator for Louisiana Senate District 3 and a state representative for Louisiana House District 100.

Click here to report a typo. Please include the headline.

Click here to subscribe to our WAFB 9 News daily digest and breaking news alerts delivered straight to your email inbox.

Watch the latest WAFB news and weather now.

Copyright 2026 WAFB. All rights reserved.

When you think of long shorelines in the U.S., your mind most likely goes to Florida or California.

While Florida does have the second-most shoreline in the U.S., Louisiana is not far behind.

Louisiana may not be known for sandy, swimmable beaches, but it is among states with the most shoreline in the U.S.

Louisiana has the third longest shoreline in the U.S. according to WorldAtlas

Louisiana has the third most shoreline, with total shorelines in the state equating to 7,721 miles, according to WorldAtlas.

Louisiana’s amount of shoreline is no surprise, as the state borders the Gulf of Mexico and its coastline is home to a maze of wetlands, bayous, estuaries, barrier islands and tidal waterways.

All of these waterbodies add up under the NOAA’s definition of shoreline, with edges where land and tide-influenced water making up shoreline mileage, says WorldAtlas.

While Louisiana is not exactly known for its beaches, the state has approximately 397 miles of direct coastline, and the longest beach in the state, Holly Beach, spans 17 miles and can be found in Cameron Parish, according to A-Z Animals.

10 states with the longest shorelines according to WorldAtlas

1. Alaska: 33,904 miles
2. Florida: 8,436 miles
3. Louisiana: 7,721 miles
4. Maine: 3,478 miles
5. California: 3,427 miles
6. North Carolina: 3,375 miles
7. Texas: 3,359 miles
8. Virginia: 3,315 miles
9. Michigan: 3,224 miles
10. Maryland: 3,190 miles

Presley Bo Tyler is a reporter for the Louisiana Deep South Connect Team for USA Today. Find her on X @PresleyTyler02 and email at PTyler@Gannett.com

A Roman Catholic priest in the south-west Louisiana diocese where the US church’s clergy abuse scandal effectively started decades ago has been formally charged with three counts of felony indecent behavior with a juvenile.

A bill of information from the district attorney for Acadia parish charges 37-year-old Korey LaVergne with three counts of felony indecent behavior with a juvenile who was 15 at the time of the alleged offenses.

Court documents charge LaVergne with “willfully, unlawfully, knowingly and intentionally [committing] lewd or lascivious acts upon [the] juvenile” – or in the presence of the minor – on or about 1 January 2024. The charges contend that LaVergne had the “intention of arousing or gratifying the sexual desires of either person”.

A document dated 11 March filed by LaVergne’s attorneys state that the clergyman opted to waive his formal arraignment and in writing pleaded not guilty to the charges outlined in the bill of information.

LaVergne is a priest for the diocese of Lafayette, Louisiana. Another Lafayette diocese priest named Gilbert Gauthe brought the Catholic clergy abuse crisis to the US’s collective conscience by pleading guilty in 1985 to molesting several boys he encountered through his ministry.

He served 10 years in prison and now lives in Texas, and he has continued to be named in civil lawsuits from victims seeking damages from the Lafayette diocese over their abuse at Gauthe’s hands.

LaVergne’s formal charges came after he was arrested in mid-January on the same three counts referred to in the bill of information.

At the time, records showed that LaVergne, the pastor at the St Edward Catholic church in the community of Richard, posted bail of $15,000 less than 90 minutes after being jailed. That secured his release from custody while the case proceeds.

A week after his arrest, the Guardian obtained the investigators’ initial report on the case, which stated that LaVergne had been jailed after local authorities were told that the clergyman had “inappropriately touched a child” over the course of a year.

The Lafayette news station KADN reported on 16 January that another priest had reported the allegations against LaVergne to authorities prior to his arrest.

A pretrial hearing in the case has been tentatively scheduled for 12 June after LaVergne’s attorney filed a series of standard court motions, records show.

Neither LaVergne nor his attorney immediately responded to requests for comment from the Guardian on Friday regarding the formal charges.

LaVergne faces a maximum sentence of seven years in prison and up to $5,000 in fines.

Generally, under Louisiana law, indecent behavior with a juvenile can be punished with up to seven years in prison.

The state defines the offense as “any lewd or lascivious act … in the presence of any child under the age of 17”. The law also states that messages – including texts – and actions alleged to constitute grooming can fall under the offense.