Louisiana
Why a voting rights advocate says AG Murrill could be tanking Louisiana’s redistricting case • Louisiana Illuminator
The U.S. Supreme Court hasn’t set a date for when it will hear the challenge against Louisiana’s majority-Black 6th Congressional District as an illegal racial gerrymander, but one invested onlooker has made it clear where she stands on the case in the meantime.
In doing so, she claims Louisiana Attorney General Liz Murrill, who’s defending the map, is content to lose the case because it will lead to the removal of the state’s second majority-Black district in Congress.
It’s an allegation Murrill firmly refutes, despite having strenuously defended a prior map in federal court that had just one majority-Black district.
Marina Jenkins, executive director for the National Redistricting Foundation, told reporters last week her group’s “friend of the court” brief (as an outside party to the case) filed Dec. 26 calls on the Supreme Court to keep the current map in place.
Her organization, which is aligned with the Democratic Party, maintains politics, not race, factored into the crafting of the new 6th District. Specifically, Louisiana’s Republican leaders decided who would be sacrificed among their GOP congressional incumbents, she said.
Also, Jenkins suggested that Murrill’s heart might not be in the task of defending the current map.
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Even though Louisiana wants the court to keep the current map in place, she said Murrill and state Solicitor General Benjamin Aguiñaga are trying to undermine the portion of the federal Voting Rights Act that prohibits discrimination on the basis of race, Section 2.
“The state of Louisiana has presented outlandish arguments intending to undermine precedent on Section 2 claims, going as far as to say that the state has no obligation to comply with federal law and vote dilution claims,” she said, referencing prior cases when Murrill stood behind maps that watered down Black voting strength.
Murrill firmly rejected Jenkins’ claims Thursday when reached by the Illuminator.
“We absolutely disagree with everything that she said,” the attorney general said in an email from her spokesman. “We have vigorously defended this map, and we look forward to continuing to defend the map at the United States Supreme Court.”
Louisiana filed its own brief Dec. 19 that explains why it supports the map, Murrill said.
“Our brief urges the Supreme Court to uphold [the map] and provide clarity to states that, like Louisiana, are forced into endless litigation every time a new census requires redistricting,” the attorney general wrote.
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A group of non-Black 6th District voters sued in February to throw out the new version of the 6th District state lawmakers had approved the month before. A federal district judge ruled in the plaintiffs’ favor, and the U.S. 5th Circuit Court of Appeal upheld that decision.
The Supreme Court has agreed to hear an appeal but gave its OK to use its boundaries for the Nov. 5 election. State Sen. Cleo Fields, D-Baton Rouge, won his way back to Congress in that race, having previously represented the 4th District from 1993-97. Coincidentally, the federal courts rejected that version of the 4th District because it was deemed an illegal racial gerrymander.
This is not the first time Murrill and the National Redistricting Foundation have crossed paths.
The group, founded in 2017, filed one of its very first lawsuits a year later against Louisiana for its congressional map that had just one majority-Black district out of its six U.S. House seats. The case timed out with the 2020 Census, which required a new round of congressional reapportionment anyway.
The foundation, with the NAACP’s Legal Defense Fund leading the way, successfully challenged a congressional map approved in 2022 – one that’s Murrill job to defend as attorney general – with just one majority-Black U.S. House seat in Louisiana. Before that decision could be appealed, its fate became clear in 2023 when the U.S. Supreme Court rejected Alabama’s congressional map that also shorted the state’s Black population.
At the time, legal analysts said the case for a second Black congressional district in Louisiana was even stronger than Alabama’s. So when Republican Gov. Jeff Landry took office in January, he and Murrill conceded the court fight over the 2022 map, and state lawmakers then convened for a special session to update the lines for the 6th District.
When state legislators were given options in January, the NAACP and NRF backed a bill that created a more compact majority-Black seat out of the 5th District anchored in Northeast Louisiana and held by U.S. Rep. Julia Letlow, R-Start. The GOP-dominated Legislature instead chose to create a 6th District that stretches awkwardly between Baton Rouge and Northwest Louisiana, largely keeping intact Letlow’s district and the 4th District U.S. House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-Shreveport, represents
Jenkins was asked why her organization is now defending the new 6th District rather than suing to revive the revised 5th District it originally supported. She said it’s more important for justices to issue a ruling that ends a federal court pattern of “moving the goalposts” on the Voting Rights Act.
“This has been sort of a nonstop attack against enforcement of voting rights, protections for voters of color,” she said.
Republican attorneys general in other states have followed Louisiana’s redistricting court saga closely. Fourteen of them filed an amicus brief in a separate NAACP LDF lawsuit that argues state lawmakers underrepresented Black voters when they redrew districts for the Louisiana House of Representatives.
Murrill defended the Louisiana House map and didn’t join her Republican peers in the brief.
NAACP Legal Defense Fund attorney Jared Evans said at the time the stakes in that case extend well beyond Louisiana.
“They know that if Section 2 is upheld, there are a lot of states that need to have additional … Black districts in their [state] house maps, but also in the congressional map, in the state school board maps and all of the other political boundaries,” Evans said.
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Jenkins highlighted another common thread between Louisiana and other states where Republicans have fought to constrain Black voting strength. The outside law firm Murrill has hired to assist the state in its defense, Holtzman Vogel, also defended what Jenkins called “egregious gerrymanders” in political maps for North Carolina and Ohio.
Drew Ensign, the Holtzman Vogel attorney working on Louisiana’s case, previously worked with Landry and Murrill when they led 24 states in a challenge of the Biden administration’s rejection of Trump-era immigration policy.
Jenkins argues further that race and politics are intertwined. While drawing district lines based on racial makeup is illegal, she noted lawmakers are allowed to take politics into account — making the existing 6th District legally sound.
She contends that the Republican-led Louisiana Legislature and Landry steered the redistricting process to sacrifice Congressman Garret Graves, R-Baton Rouge from the 6th District.
Graves had fallen out of favor with Landry after choosing to back business lobbyist and longtime friend Stephen Waguespack in the 2023 governor’s race. He had also lost support from Louisiana’s hardcore GOP sect who viewed Graves as insufficiently supportive of Rep. Steve Scalise’s failed bid for U.S. House speaker.
“The Legislature had multiple pathways to create a … compliant map, but testimony from legislators showed that the boundaries of the new district were designed with political interests top of mind, specifically the uniquely partisan goal of favoring one incumbent,” Jenkins said, referring to Letlow.
With Republicans now in control of Congress, the outcome of this case isn’t likely to affect whatever momentum the incoming Trump administration builds for at least a couple of years. But if historical election patterns hold true and Democrats attain House control in the 2027 midterms, Louisiana’s two majority-Black seats might be key to that swing.
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Volunteers from five Louisiana regions completed beautification projects as part of the Church’s annual Youth Conference in Lafayette
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More than 260 youth and adult volunteers from The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints spent Thursday morning giving back to one of Lafayette’s most popular public spaces.
On July 9, the volunteers completed the project at Moncus Park. The volunteers, who were in Lafayette for the Church’s annual Youth Conference at the University of Louisiana at Lafayette, traveled from stakes in Monroe, Alexandria, Baton Rouge, Denham Springs and Slidell to participate in the two-hour service project, according to a news release.
Working across the park, the group helped improve the 100-acre community destination, which serves as a gathering place for recreation, events and outdoor activities throughout the year.
The project also highlighted the role volunteers play in helping maintain public spaces that thousands of Lafayette residents enjoy.
The service project was part of the Church’s annual Youth Conference, which combines faith-centered learning with opportunities for community service.
“As followers of Christ, we believe one of the most meaningful ways to show our love for God is by serving our neighbors,” Karl Winegar, Stake President of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints over the Lafayette and Baton Rouge areas, said. “Strong communities are built when people care for one another, and service gives these young people an opportunity to put their faith into action.”
Winegar added that, as they work alongside the community, a bigger purpose is being taught for the volunteers.
“They are learning that even simple acts of kindness can strengthen relationships, meet needs, and make a lasting difference in the lives of others,” Winegar said.
Aaron Gonsoulin is the General Assignment/Trending Reporter for The Daily Advertiser. Contact him at AGonsoulin@theadvertiser.com.
BATON ROUGE, La. (Louisiana Illuminator) – Hundreds of meticulously labeled vials filled with mosquitos line colorful plastic trays inside a freezer at the Louisiana Animal Disease Diagnostic Laboratory in Baton Rouge.
Each vial sitting atop the frosty shelves, aligned in rows like egg cartons on a grocery store shelf, contains up to a hundred mosquitoes sent to the lab from across the state. Scientists can extract information hidden within the mosquitos’ DNA to help stop the spread of diseases to humans and keep infections at bay.
“Look at your electric bill,” said Alma Roy, director of the lab housed at Louisiana State University. When it costs more to keep your home comfortably cool, that’s when the airborne pests — and the viruses they carry — flourish and circulate.
“When it’s wet and hot, the mosquito is out there reproducing and biting,” Roy said.
The spindly black bugs aren’t picky about what they bite, picking up diseases like West Nile virus from animals like birds and passing them on to humans.
The Louisiana Arbovirus Surveillance Program helps health professionals, entomologists and local mosquito control districts stay apprised on where a disease crops up.
Mosquito control organizations at the parish level across the state capture mosquitoes and pack them into vials. The vials are stuffed into small white boxes and shipped weekly to the lab in Baton Rouge. Around 30 of Louisiana’s 64 parishes participate in the voluntary surveillance program every year, according to the Louisiana Department of Health.
Each year the lab tests 25,000 vials of mosquitos, which are called pools in the lab. In total, the tests involve up to 2.5 million individual insects, but it can’t be done one mosquito at a time.
“We take the whole pool and puree them,” Roy said.
Lab technician Tarra Hardy adds a mixing solution and a copper ball to mash up the pool before a machine blends the sample.
The result resembles a small mosquito smoothie, which is placed into a machine that analyzes the contents and shows its findings on a computer screen. Colorful spikes on a graph show when a sample tests positive for West Nile, eastern equine encephalitis or St. Louis encephalitis — the most common diseases the lab detects.
Hardy said it only takes around 48 hours for the lab to test a sample, so mosquito control personnel can get information on where a disease is spreading fast enough to contain it.
Sarah Michaels, a clinical associate professor with Tulane University’s Department of Tropical Medicine and Infectious Disease, works as a medical entomologist who focuses on insects that carry diseases passed by arthropods, known by scientists as arboviruses. This includes mosquitos, ticks and flies that can be vectors for disease.
The ability of the testing lab in Baton Rouge to turn around its test results quickly allows local mosquito abatement efforts to get out in front of mosquito-borne diseases before they spread, Michaels said. With the geographic location of a positive test result pinpointed, abatement crews can go on the offensive, and the public can take preventative measures.
“That’s kind of why it’s important for us to know if the virus is circulating locally, so we can give people information so they can take precautions to protect themselves against mosquito bites,” she said.
Spraying insecticide by truck, plane or helicopter kills the adult mosquitoes, and Michaels said larvicide is applied in areas with standing water, to halt their development. This typically uses naturally occurring bacteria only harmful to developing mosquito eggs.
The majority of West Nile cases reported to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control are between June and October, with steep drop offs when cooler temperatures curb mosquito breeding.
But Michaels described how, with summertime temperatures starting sooner and lasting later in the year and frequent storms bringing in standing water perfect for mosquitoes to live and reproduce in, keeping a watchful eye is more important than ever.
“Mosquito season, which is getting longer and longer here, is kind of near the peak of it right now, June through September,” she said. “Surveillance really zeroes in on where and when it’s happening, and then hopefully can suppress those mosquito populations before that becomes widespread and puts more people at risk.”
West Nile was first detected in the United States in Queens, York, in the late 1990s and spread around the country. The virus was first detected in Louisiana in August 2001 when an infected crow in Kenner tested positive. That fall, it showed up in horses from three coastal parishes, along with Louisiana’s first human West Nile case.
Case numbers climbed to their highest point nationally in 2003 with about 9,800, and the count has remained relatively stable below 3,000 cases over the past 10 years.
“It can be mild and transient, but it can be really severe as well,” Michaels said
West Nile virus is relatively uncommon, affecting less than 5,000 people in the United States in a typical year, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control. By comparison, the most prominent flu strain in 2024-25 infected more than 51 million people, the CDC reported.
While most cases of West Nile don’t produce any symptoms, those that do usually cause mild, flu-like reactions like fever and muscle aches. Symptoms can last anywhere from days to weeks.
If the virus enters the central nervous system, it can result in complications such as brain swelling and paralysis. Less than 1% of people infected develop symptoms this severe, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control, but some cases can require hospitalization or even result in death.
Louisiana recorded four West Nile-related deaths last year and three in 2024. No human infections have been reported this year as of early July.
Louisiana Illuminator is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Louisiana Illuminator maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Greg LaRose for questions: info@lailluminator.com. Follow Louisiana Illuminator on Facebook and X.
Copyright 2026 Louisiana Illuminator. All rights reserved.
NEW ORLEANS (WVUE) – Louisiana health officials are tracking a rise in cases of cyclosporiasis, a stomach illness caused by a parasite that can be found on contaminated food or in contaminated water.
The Louisiana Department of Health has confirmed 23 cases of Cyclospora infection in the state, according to information obtained by Louisiana Illuminator. One person has been hospitalized, and no deaths have been reported in Louisiana.
The number is slightly above Louisiana’s recent average. LDH said the state has averaged 20 reported cases over the same time period during the past five years.
“Because many of these cases are still under investigation, this number is preliminary and subject to change,” an LDH representative said.
Cyclospora is a microscopic parasite that causes an intestinal illness called cyclosporiasis. The CDC says people can get sick after eating food or drinking water contaminated with the parasite.
The illness is often associated with fresh produce. Past outbreaks in the United States have been linked to items such as leafy greens, herbs and berries.
Symptoms usually begin about a week after a person eats or drinks something contaminated, though the CDC says symptoms can appear anywhere from two days to two weeks or more after infection.
The most common symptom is watery diarrhea, sometimes with frequent and explosive bowel movements. Other symptoms can include stomach cramps, bloating, nausea, fatigue, loss of appetite and low-grade fever.
If left untreated, the illness can last from a few days to more than a month. Symptoms can also go away and then return.
Health officials say cyclosporiasis is not likely to spread directly from one person to another. The CDC says Cyclospora must spend at least one to two weeks in the environment after passing in a bowel movement before it becomes infectious.
Cases typically rise during warmer months. The CDC considers May 1 through Aug. 31 the yearly cyclosporiasis season.
Louisiana is not the only state tracking cases. The CDC said in its June 16 update that it had received reports of 145 domestically acquired cases in 17 states, with 20 hospitalizations and no deaths. Federal officials said there was no evidence at that time of one single multistate outbreak linking all cases, but several clusters remained under investigation.
Since that update, some states have reported larger increases. Michigan has reported one of the largest outbreaks in the country, with over 700 cases.
Federal and state health officials have not identified a clear source for the current illnesses.
The CDC says people with symptoms should contact a health care provider. Testing for Cyclospora may require a specific lab test that is not always part of routine stool testing.
Health officials recommend washing hands before handling food, rinsing fresh produce under running water and cooking vegetables when possible. Washing produce can reduce the risk, though it may not remove all Cyclospora from contaminated food.
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