Louisiana

THIBODAUX, La. -- Republican Billy Tauzin III conceded a narrow loss to succeed his retiring father in the House after a runoff election in Cajun country. After an examination of parish (county) vote totals throughout the district, Tauzin lost by 569 votes to Democrat Charles Melancon in Saturday's runoff, according to the secretary of state's office. The final tally was 57,611 for Melancon to 57,042 for Tauzin. Tauzin's campaign issued a statement Tuesday in which he congratulated Melancon and offered his assistance.

Louisiana House members disagreed Thursday over whether they should use nearly $270 million in one-time money to piece together next year's budget or if they should more deeply cut public colleges and health care programs. The $25 billion spending plans under discussion would pay for agency operating expenses and programs in the new fiscal year that begins July 1. At issue is how much one-time cash legislators want to patch into the budget to pay for continuing services.

First-time claims for unemployment insurance in Louisiana for the week ending Nov. 5 increased from the previous week's total. The state labor department figures released Monday show the initial claims increased to 3,678 from the previous week's total of 3,435. The figure was lower than it was for the comparable week a year earlier, when there were 3,974 initial claims. The four-week moving average, which is a less volatile measure of claims, decreased to 3,442 from the previous week's total of 3,454.

The final returns in Louisiana showed Rick Santorum not only handily defeated Mitt Romney in the Republican presidential primary Saturday, he easily outdistanced the efforts of the last conservative Christian candidate trying to derail a GOP frontrunner. In 2008, Louisiana voters gave a victory to Mike Huckabee, despite the substantial delegate deficit facing the former Arkansas governor and minister. But Huckabee, who trailed eventual Republican nominee John McCain by 512 delegates going in, won by the slimmest of margins, 43 percent to 42. This year,...

HOUSTON -- Thirteen fugitives wanted for violent crimes in Louisiana have been captured in Texas after applying for federal aid as evacuees from Hurricane Katrina, authorities said yesterday. Investigators with the attorney general's fugitive unit found the 11 men and two women in November and December, using aid information that was provided by the Federal Emergency Management Agency. The list identified 29 violent fugitives in Texas. Among the 16 still at large are three wanted in connection with killings.

WASHINGTON - One of the finest Cajun-style restaurants in the nation can be found in the heart of the nation's capital. Jeff Tunks is the guiding force behind Acadiana, named one of the best new restaurants of 2006 by Esquire magazine. The chef, who with some partners also launched popular local restaurants Ceiba, DC Coast, and TenPenh spent four years in New Orleans and developed a strong affinity for the cuisine. Tunks calls Acadiana "a contemporary interpretation of a Louisiana fish house" although the decor belies that sort of casualness.

MORGANZA, La. — Water from the inflated Mississippi River gushed through a floodgate yesterday for the first time in nearly four decades and headed toward thousands of homes and farmland in the Cajun countryside, threatening to slowly submerge the land under water up to 25 feet deep. As the gate was raised, the river poured out like a waterfall, at times spraying 6 feet into the air. Fish jumped or were hurled through the white froth and within 30 minutes, 100 acres of what was dry land was under about a foot of water.

NEW ORLEANS -- Louisiana will waive its sales tax for holiday shoppers this weekend, trying to lift an economy battered by hurricanes Katrina and Rita. The state will suspend its 4 percent tax for three days starting today, the first time Louisiana has done so and the first time any state has made such a move during December. The promotion applies to items priced at less than $2,500 and could prompt a rush for household goods as people restock storm-damaged homes. Many stores are extending hours.

DOYLINE, La. -- More than 10 explosions rocked a bomb recycling plant in northwestern Louisiana yesterday, forcing the evacuation of an entire town and more than 400 prisoners from a nearby jail, authorities said. No injuries or deaths were reported. A fire at the Explo Systems Inc. site at Camp Minden triggered a major explosion involving two military bombs about 8:30 a.m., State Police said. In the ensuing hours, more than 10 explosions -- some intense, some minor -- went off inside the plant as the fire continued to burn and thick smoke billowed from...

NEW YORK - When John Mosca set a bowl of blue crab claws drenched in garlicky Italian dressing on the bar at the Louisiana restaurant that bears his family name, he would not say much. He did not need to. Customers fortunate enough to have found their way to Mosca's, west of New Orleans, and to be sitting at the bar when such a gift arrived knew there was history in that bowl. With a poker face and sly humor, Mr. Mosca presided over a roadhouse restaurant as humble as it was in demand.

A hydrogen release triggered a brief fire that injured two workers at a new Air Products and Chemicals Co. plant in Luling, La. Company spokesman Art George says the leak was contained to the plant site Monday. The St. Charles Parish emergency office says the release was reported about 11:45 a.m. — and there was no threat to the public. The emergency office says one of the injured workers suffered burns to 40 percent of his body and the other injured a hand. Both were taken to a hospital.

WASHINGTON - Rick Santorum won the Louisiana Republican presidential primary Saturday, beating front-runner Mitt Romney in yet another conservative Southern state. "We're still here. We're still fighting. We still believe, as this race really shows," Santorum told supporters in Green Bay, Wis. Although the victory gives Santorum bragging rights and at least eight more delegates, it does not change the overall dynamics of the race; the former Pennsylvania senator still dramatically lags behind Romney in the hunt for delegates to the GOP's summertime nominating convention.

Casey Wittenberg won the Louisiana Open on Sunday for his first Nationwide Tour title, closing with a 6-under 65 for an eight-stroke victory. The 27-year-old former Oklahoma State player opened with round of 66, 66 and 63 and finished at a tournament-record 24-under 260 at Le Triomphe Country Club. He earned $90,000. "It's a great feeling," said Wittenberg, the runner-up in the 2003 U.S. Amateur to Nick Flanagan. "I've put a lot of hard work into my game. I've probably underachieved to where I thought I might be at this point in my life, but golf's a humbling...

GOLDEN MEADOW, La. - Here on the side of Louisiana's Highway 1, next to Raymond's Bait Shop, a spindly pole with Global Positioning System equipment and a cellphone stuck on top charts the water's gradual encroachment on dry land. In 1991, this stretch of road through the marshlands of southern Louisiana was 3.9 feet above sea level, but the instrument - which measures the ground's position in relation to sea level - shows the land has lost more than a foot against the sea. It sank 2 inches in the past 16 months alone.

WASHINGTON - On Friday, the two-year anniversary of President Obama's health care law, Mitt Romney ramped up his criticism of the plan by calling it an "unfolding disaster," while also announcing a new advisory board that would help guide the former Massachusetts governor's health care policies. "It was always a liberal pipe dream that a 2,700-page, multitrillion dollar federal takeover could actually address the very serious problems we face with health care," Romney said in Metairie, La., with a "Repeal and Replace Obamacare" sign behind him. "Sadly, the law itself is fast...

Five people were killed early Friday when a driver going the wrong way crashed into another vehicle on Interstate 10 outside New Orleans, closing the westbound lanes for nearly five hours, state police said. Louisiana State Trooper Nick Manale said a driver in a Jeep Grand Cherokee was traveling eastbound in the westbound lanes of I-10 near LaPlace just before 3 a.m. and crashed head-on with another vehicle with four people inside. The car traveling the wrong way burst into flames.

GOLDEN MEADOW, La. - Here on the side of Louisiana's Highway 1, next to Raymond's Bait Shop, a spindly pole with Global Positioning System equipment and a cellphone stuck on top charts the water's gradual encroachment on dry land. In 1991, this stretch of road through the marshlands of southern Louisiana was 3.9 feet above sea level, but the instrument - which measures the ground's position in relation to sea level - shows the land has lost more than a foot against the sea. It sank 2 inches in the past 16 months alone.

BATON ROUGE, La. - Gory and bucolic all at once, cockfights have drawn crowds to small-time pits and full-blown arenas in towns around Louisiana for generations. By week's end, they'll be against the law. Everywhere. On Friday, Louisiana will become the last state to outlaw the rooster fights, a move that cockfighting enthusiasts say marks the end of a rich rural tradition. "The culture, the custom of the Cajun people, it's gone," said Chris Daughdrill, who breeds fighting roosters in Loranger (lor-AHN-zher)

The federal prison here was on lockdown Sunday night after fights broke out on New Year's Eve among inmates at the facility in rural north Louisiana. Prison spokesman Steven Niles said the fighting broke out shortly before noon Saturday at the U.S. Penitentiary, the maximum-security segment of the federal prison complex there. Niles said five prisoners were taken to local hospitals for treatment. By Sunday, he said, four had been returned to the prison. Injuries to the other inmate were not believed to be life-threatening.