Louisiana
Voters casting ballots Saturday for candidates to fill vacant La. House of Representatives seat
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.
Louisiana
Can Louisiana environmental groups publish their pollution data? A judge’s ruling clarifies it.
“We’re not posting every day because we want to cautiously feel our way through,” Robertson said. “Just to be safe.”
Cindy Robertson sorts through donated food items at her home on Tuesday Oct. 31, 2023, in Sulphur, La.
Other plaintiffs in the case are not currently sharing air monitoring data, due to the CAMRA law as well as other hurdles. They include two groups in St. John the Baptist Parish, according to Tish Taylor, who leads Concerned Citizens of St. John, and Joy Banner, a founder of The Descendants Project.
In addition to uncertainty around the state law, Taylor said her organization is waiting for air monitoring results being analyzed by Colorado State University. Separately, funding from the EPA to maintain monitors in the parish expires at the end of the month. An EPA contract for St. John monitors also included its own restrictions around dissemination, according to the partner organization Deep South Center for Environmental Justice.
Louisiana
‘A little bit nervous’: Survivor of deadly Mall of Louisiana shooting makes emotional return
BATON ROUGE, La. (WAFB) – For the first time since surviving the deadly shooting at the Mall of Louisiana, Donnie Guillory made an emotional return to the mall on Wednesday, May 20.
Guillory was one of six people shot during the April shooting at the mall. Martha Odom, a high school senior from Lafayette, died from her injuries.
Guillory, a Special Olympics athlete, walked back through the mall with a special escort from Baton Rouge Police and the East Baton Rouge Sheriff’s Office.
“Everybody is here today to see me,” Guillory said.
Guillory spent several days in the hospital before returning home. His family said one of the things he talked about most during recovery was getting back to the mall, where he spent time almost every day before the shooting.
Still, returning was emotional.
“I’m a little bit nervous. Nervous a little bit,” Guillory said.
Guillory’s father, Charles, said the support from law enforcement has meant a great deal to their family since the shooting.
He praised officers not only for helping save his son’s life, but for remaining involved throughout his recovery.
“You hear him say he’s a bit nervous,” Charles Guillory said. “He spends so much time in there with so many friends, I’m glad he’s able to go in there without being anxious about it.”
While the visit marked an important step forward for Donnie, his father said concerns about public safety remain.
“It’s something we need to address, because it’s not going to do any good to be happy today and have a problem two weeks from now,” he said.
Charles Guillory said he hopes businesses and community leaders continue looking for ways to improve safety measures moving forward.
“They need to look at what the mall is going to do and what other businesses are going to do to protect their patrons,” he said.
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.
Louisiana
This mystery house is the most unique roadside attraction in Louisiana
Photos chronicle Louisiana history, culture and people
Bob Winans of Alexandria talks about the photos his father, the acclaimed Louisiana photographer Fonville Winans, took throughout his storied career.
When you’re driving along on a road trip, you may spot something unique on the side of the road and decide to pull over and explore.
Roadside attractions are often quirky landmarks that offer a nice reprieve from driving.
Fifty Grande, an American travel magazine, has compiled a list of the strangest roadside attractions in each state.
Abita Mystery House is Louisiana’s weirdest roadside attraction says Fifty Grande
Abita Mystery House, located in Abita Springs, is the weirdest roadside attraction in Louisiana, according to Fifty Grande.
This roadside attraction features a vintage service station, a 100-year-old Louisiana Creole cottage, an exhibition hall of memorabilia and junk, as well as the museum’s House of Shards.
The House of Shards is an old cottage decorated with thousands upon thousands of tile pieces, pottery shards, mirrors and glass. The building also houses an interesting collection of vintage bicycles.
Other exhibits at “Louisiana’s most eccentric museum” include a general store, car repair, comb collection, Airstream, “Bassigator,” “swamp ghost” and numerous art prints.
This folk-art environment, curated by Louisiana inventor and artist John Preble, is filled with thousands of found objects and homemade inventions. Here, visitors can observe artistic recreations of a Mardi Gras parade, New Orleans jazz funeral, rhythm and blues dance hall, haunted Southern plantation and more.
The weirdest roadside attraction in each state according to Fifty Grande
- Alabama: The Unclaimed Baggage Center
- Alaska: Igloo City
- Arizona: The Thing
- Arkansas: Thorncrown Chapel
- California: Chandelier Drive-Thru Tree
- Colorado: Rita the Rock Planter
- Connecticut: PEZ Visitor Center
- Delaware: Futuro House
- Florida: World’s Smallest Post Office
- Georgia: The Tree That Owns Itself
- Hawaii: Pineapple Garden Maze
- Idaho: Idaho Potato Hotel
- Illinois: World’s Largest Catsup Bottle
- Indiana: Martini-Drinking Pink Elephant
- Iowa: Future Birthplace of Captain James T. Kirk
- Kansas: World’s Largest Collection of the World’s Smallest Versions of the World’s Largest Things
- Kentucky: World’s Tallest Three Story Building
- Louisiana: Abita Mystery House
- Maine: Wild Blueberry Land
- Maryland: Vanadu Art House
- Massachusetts: The Paper House
- Michigan: Giant Uniroyal Tire
- Minnesota: Jolly Green Giant Statue
- Mississippi: The Frog Farm
- Missouri: BoatHenge
- Montana: Garden of One Thousand Buddhas
- Nebraska: Klown Doll Museum
- Nevada: International Car Forest
- New Hampshire: The USS Albacore
- New Mexico: International UFO Museum
- New Jersey: Lucy the Elephant
- New York: World’s Largest Pancake Griddle
- North Carolina: The World’s Largest Chest of Drawers
- North Dakota: The Enchanted Highway
- Ohio: World’s Largest Bobblehead
- Oklahoma: Winganon Space Capsule
- Oregon: Mill Ends Park
- Pennsylvania: The Haines Shoe House
- Rhode Island: The Big Blue Bug
- South Carolina: South of the Border
- South Dakota: The World’s Only Corn Palace
- Tennessee: Backyard Terrors Dinosaur Park
- Texas: Barney Smith’s Toilet Seat Art Museum
- Utah: Hole N” The Rock
- Vermont: Ben & Jerry’s Flavor Graveyard
- Virginia: Hugh Mongous
- Washington: Big Red Wagon
- West Virginia: World’s Largest Teapot
- Wisconsin: Al Johnson’s Goats on the Roof
- Wyoming: World’s Largest Elkhorn Arch
Presley Bo Tyler is the Louisiana Deep South Connect Team reporter for USA Today Network. Find her on X @PresleyTyler02 and email at PTyler@Gannett.com
-
Alabama2 minutes agoAMAZING AMERICA 250: Alabama BBQ Joints Keeping Tradition on the Fire
-
Alaska8 minutes agoOpinion: Alaska’s win-win constitutional solution – Homer News
-
Arizona14 minutes agoWhere to watch Colorado Rockies vs Arizona Diamondbacks: TV channel, start time, streaming for May 21
-
Arkansas20 minutes agoTurkey season was one of the best | Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
-
California26 minutes agoThey used to battle in CA elections. Now, they back the same candidate
-
Colorado32 minutes agoColorado residents who switch to heat pumps can expect more rebates this summer
-
Connecticut38 minutes agoEversource seeks 11% rate hike for Connecticut residents by next summer
-
Delaware44 minutes agoMike Purzycki was enough for Wilmington. We’ll miss him | Opinion