News

Five whooping crane chicks have hatched and fledged this summer in southwest Louisiana, marking a major milestone in the Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries whooping crane reintroduction project. The five chicks are the most to hatch in one year in the nascent project, which launched in 2011.
The first chicks hatched in 2016 with one chick fledging, followed by three chicks hatching in 2017, also with a single fledgling surviving.

Abbeville High School senior Raj Patel moved to the U.S. from India in 2010 when he was in the fifth grade. Patel, along with his parents and older sister, Krishna moved in with their Aunt in Texas. He says that he enjoyed school in Texas, but when his parents’ work moved to Louisiana, the entire family packed up and made the move.

Renee Fontenot Free, a Lake Charles native, has announced she is a candidate for secretary of state in the Nov. 6 election.
Her announcement includes the following.
Free attended McNeese University and then moved to Baton Rouge to attend Southern Law School. Upon graduation, Fontenot worked for a judge and practiced law before working in the Civil Division of the Attorney General’s office from 1990 to 2004, serving as section chief beginning in 1995.