RSS Feed

Cane crop impresses observers

Fri, 05/22/2020 - 10:31am

BRUCE SCHULTZ LSU AgCenter

ST. GABRIEL — The LSU AgCenter sugar cane specialist said farmers are pleased with the progress of the current crop.
Kenneth Gravois said farmers have benefitted from favorable weather and good growing conditions since planting last summer and fall.
“The best thing for the 2020 crop happened in the November and December with a relatively dry harvest season for 2019,” he said.
Dry conditions in the first part of harvest were nearly ideal, although wet weather returned in mid-December and lingered until March.
An early freeze hit the sugar cane-growing region on Nov. 13, but the winter was fairly mild after that, Gravois said.
Warm and dry spring weather has allowed farmers to get in the fields for plowing, timely herbicide and fertilizer applications, and laser leveling of fallow fields, he said.
Some farmers are noticing a problem with the sugarcane variety L 01-299 used for seed cane. The variety appears to be susceptible to root disease problems, and its problems were worsened by the wet winter. Some fields that were used for seed cane in 2019 have been plowed out.
“But for the crop as a whole, farmers are pleased,” Gravois said.
Harvest in 2020 could be as high as 500,000 acres, he said, compared with the 2019 crop of 482,000 acres.
Those acreage increases are likely in the northern area of the sugarcane-growing region in St. Landry, Rapides, Pointe Coupee and Avoyelles parishes. Research plots were planted last year at the AgCenter Dean Lee Research Station near Alexandria to test cold tolerance of different varieties.
About 20% of the sugarcane harvested last year was third-year or older planting.
One of the biggest concerns of farmers is not in the fields, however.
The sugar cane industry is highly dependent on migrant labor under the guest worker programs, and getting workers into the country is becoming a bigger challenge, Gravois said.
Many farmers were able to get their workers into the U.S. before the coronavirus pandemic lockdown.
“There were situations where the labor was delayed,” Gravois said. “We need the guest worker program to get the crop out of the field.”
Sugarcane mills are also concerned about getting their workers under the guest worker program into the U.S.
“Right now, that path forward is not very clear,” he said.
The American Sugar Cane League and the Louisiana Farm Bureau Federation are working on that problem, he said.

Jim Bradshaw: When schooners hauled lumber to 'Island City'

Fri, 05/22/2020 - 10:27am

JIM BRADSHAW

The railroad that was finally built across the southwest Louisiana prairies in 1880 united two halves of the region that were growing independently, and quite differently, from each other before it came along.
One half faced toward the east and New Orleans for most of its commerce, but most of the communities west of the Mermentau River did as much, or more, business in Galveston. A lot of that trade was built around lumber.
In 1868, three years after the close of the Civil War and a dozen years before the first railroad, a letter to the Lake Charles Echo, signed only “Calcasieu,” noted that “the 20 steam saw mills of Calcasieu Parish furnish the chief supply of the Galveston lumber trade.”
In those days “Imperial” Calcasieu — so called because it was said to be as big as some European empires — also included what are today Allen, Beauregard, Jeff Davis and Cameron parishes.
Fourteen of the mills “Calcasieu” wrote about were on that river, the other six were on either the Mermentau or the Sabine.
The writer said 30 sailing schooners carried lumber to Galveston and brought all sorts of things back home.
That number of schooners seems low to me. By the late 1860s Calcasieu mills were turning out more than 1.5 million board feet of lumber each month, which seems to me to be more than 30 boats could easily haul. But it may not have required many more than that.
The schooners used in the lumber trade could typically carry from ten to sixty thousand board feet of lumber each trip.
The keeper of the lighthouse at the mouth of the Calcasieu kept a record of boats entering and leaving the river and of what they were carrying.
In each of the first three months of 1869, according to the Echo, he logged 100 or more boats heading into the Gulf, together carrying about 1.2 million feet of lumber each month. He also recorded more than 100 boats entering the river from the Gulf in each of those months.
Those numbers, the newspaper pointed out, “only refer to the Calcasieu River. Both the Mermentau and the Sabine Rivers do considerable business of the same nature.”
One hundred trips does not require 100 boats.
A good many of the goings and comings counted at the lighthouse were almost certainly the same boats going back and forth. With a steady breeze a one-way trip took 26 hours, according to “Calcasieu,” so they could make several round trips to Galveston each month.
However many there were, the south Louisiana boats helped make Galveston a busy place.
“It seems strange that the largest parish in Louisiana should be restricted in its commercial interests almost exclusively to Texas,” “Calcasieu’s” letter continued, “and yet this has always been the case. … At present, with the exception of one or two schooners making an occasional trip to New Orleans, the merchants and farmers of Calcasieu have no freight communication with the Crescent City except by way of Galveston.”
It appears, if the writer can be believed, there wasn’t much that New Orleans offered that couldn’t also be found in the “Island City.”
“The Galveston market with its separate flesh, fish, fruit and vegetable stalls, its refreshment stands, and, at sunrise, its thronging masses of buyers representing many nations and almost all colors reminds you forcibly of the French Market in New Orleans,” the writer said.
The shipping in the harbor, the elegant street cars, the rush of drays, the numerous restaurants, lager beer, liquor, and ice cream saloons, and the daily and nightly auctions are to the Louisianian so many reminiscences of his own Crescent City.”
And, if a bit of family history is any indication, food, liquor and other fine amenities were not the only good things to be found in Galveston.
My grandmother’s grandfather, Daniel Goos, was one of the pioneer Calcasieu millers and the owner of a fleet of schooners that hauled his lumber to Galveston, Matamoras, Mexico, and points west.
He was also the proud father of 10 daughters.
Half of them married men who lived in, worked in, or sailed from “the beautiful Island City.”
A collection of Jim Bradshaw’s columns, "Cajuns and Other Characters," is now available from Pelican Publishing. You can contact him at jimbradshaw4321@gmail.com or P.O. Box 1121, Washington LA 70589.

House committee hears budget bill that lean on COVID aid

Fri, 05/22/2020 - 10:24am

MARIA MARSH, LSU Manship School News Service

BATON ROUGE — A House committee on Thursday pushed forward a package of bills that closely reflected the revised budget plan that Gov. John Bel Edwards presented in response to a loss of more $1 billion in revenue from the coronavirus shutdown.
The House Appropriations Committee advanced without objection a spending plan that would allocate nearly $1.2 billion of federal aid dollars from a COVID-19 relief act to prevent harsh budget cuts that many Louisianans feared would be a byproduct of the pandemic.
The plan would not only balance this year’s budget but also alleviate much of the nearly $900 million in budget cuts that legislators had feared would be needed in the next fiscal year, which starts July 1.
But the plan still includes a $22 million cut to higher education, a $40 million cut to the Louisiana Department of Health and smaller cuts to other services. Higher education and healthcare tend to receive the most cuts because the state constitution and laws mandate many other expenditures. TOPS scholarships, however, would remain fully funded.
Edwards had proposed a budget prior to the outbreak that would have boosted funding for higher education by $35 million and added $25 million for early childhood education. He also had proposed $1,000 pay raises for K-12 teachers for the second year in a row.
But he had to drop all those plans for spending increases after the virus hit and the economic shutdown slashed projected tax collections.
Edwards and House budget leaders were often at odds in recent years on how to raise and spend money. But Jay Dardenne, Edwards’ commissioner of administration, said he and Rep. Jerome “Zee” Zeringue, R-Houma and the new appropriations chairman, were almost entirely on the same page in their budget plans.
“We agree on a lot more than we disagree,” Dardenne said.
Republicans also were impressed at how Dardenne had figured out how to maximize the revenue that the state could draw from the federal COVID-19 relief act. The money can be used only for virus-related expenditures, and Dardenne said the state will receive $1.8 billion in federal aid.
“This seems like very good news,” Rep. Gary Carter, D- New Orleans, said.
“We were expecting some drastic measures that may have to be taken in the budget. I’m just so pleased.”
While the plan was a rare moment of bipartisanship, there was a point of contention during a discussion on Medicaid.
Rep. Tanner Magee, R-Houma and the second-ranking Republican in the House, said he does not feel that he was presented with enough information from the administration about this and other topics to feel confident in making a decision.
“We’re changing the formula in which hospitals are being paid or reimbursed — whatever you’d like to call it,” Magee said. “We’re rolling out all of these programs, and nobody wants to seem to complain that we’re not getting enough information.”
Magee noted his growing frustrations over the past weeks at a lack of information that he feels that legislators are receiving from the Edwards administration and other offices, like the Louisiana Health Department.
“I really don’t know, and I want to know,” he said. “I want to be able to inform my constituents on that. Because really when we talk about ‘public access,’ I am the public access. They elected me.”
The full House will begin debate on the budget Tuesday and will send whatever it passes to the Senate. The Legislature must pass a budget before the new fiscal year begins on July 1.
If it cannot pass it by the time this session ends on June 1, lawmakers or the governor will have to call a special session in June to finish working on it.

Vitalant sees critical blood shortage

Fri, 05/22/2020 - 10:21am

Vitalant, the nonprofit, independent blood collector with a location in Morgan City, has declared a critical shortage of blood as supplies have been significantly impacted by the coronavirus pandemic.
Shelter-in-place orders led to 950 blood drives canceled since early March in this region alone, resulting in a loss of over 19,000 uncollected blood donations. That, coupled with a resumption of surgeries and other medical procedures as stay-at-home restrictions were lifted, has caused a 25% increase in the need for blood during the past several weeks.
All blood types are critically needed right now, with an especially high need for type O, A-negative and B-negative red blood cells. In addition, platelets are always needed by patients for cancer treatments, surgeries and emergencies. Because of its short shelf life — only 5 days — the supply of platelets must be continually replenished.
Donors are strongly urged to give blood as soon as possible by going online to vitalant.org or calling 877-258-4825 (877-25-VITAL).
“We strive to maintain a 4-day supply of blood just to provide what patients need, and currently we’re at less than half that for certain blood types,” said Dr. Ralph Vassallo, Chief Medical Officer at Vitalant.
“It’s absolutely vital—a matter of life or death for some—to have enough blood collected and readily available on hospital shelves when patients need it.”
In Louisiana, Vitalant must collect 250 blood donations per day to meet patients’ transfusion needs. Every two seconds, someone needs blood. Vitalant urgently needs donors to make an appointment today to ensure a stable blood supply.
Vitalant recently released its Because of You, Life Doesn’t Stop campaign, calling on all donors to take action now and give blood or convalescent plasma to meet immediate and ongoing needs. Recovered COVID-19 patients have immune-boosting antibodies to the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus in their plasma, which can be given to patients currently fighting COVID-19.
“The public responded when thousands of blood drives were canceled—more than 100,000 units of blood lost—at the beginning of the pandemic,” said Cliff Numark, Chief of Marketing. “We are in the aftermath and we need to let people know that without donating blood today, life could stop for hospital patients.”
The U.S. Surgeon General and Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) have designated blood donation as an essential activity, encouraging healthy and eligible donors to continue to donate even amidst COVID-19 response measures. From coast to coast, all Vitalant centers continue to deploy strict precautionary measures to ensure the safety of donors, patients and staff, including:
• Taking donors’ temperatures upon check-in (staff self-monitor their temperatures)
• Requiring face masks or cloth-based face coverings (donors and staff)
• Disinfecting donor-touched and other high-touch areas often and after every donation
• Ensuring social distancing to keep donors and staff safe.
For more information on donating blood, view the PSA. To join the larger conversation about blood and plasma donations visit: Twitter, Instagram and Facebook and use the hashtag #VitalToLife.

Shutdown opens door for repayment of Katrina debt

Fri, 05/22/2020 - 10:17am

MORRIS KAHN and BILL McNUTT

Editor's Note: One of the writers of this opinion piece is Morris Kahn of Morgan City.

The state of Louisiana, New Orleans, and Tulane University have an opportunity to repay the athletic kindness and generosity bestowed upon them 15 years ago when the devastation of hurricane Katrina slapped our world. Today’s crisis does not come from the Gulf of Mexico but from across the Pacific. Instead of thinking in terms of Category 5 storms and tropical cyclones, we deal with P.P.E. and coronavirus ventilators.
The decision by the California State University System to only operate online this fall has put a big question mark in the football and athletic programs at San Diego State, Fresno State, and San Jose State. NCAA President Mark Emmert said: “If you don’t have a college campus open, you can’t have college sports.” Already reeling from the cancellation of spring sports, the thought of no women’s soccer, volleyball, or lacrosse, and men’s soccer, along with the gridiron, is a painful kick in the shins to student athletes, alumni, students, and sports fans.
We call on Tulane to become a refuge and home to one of these California based athletic programs that are in jeopardy of losing an entire season. As the Southern Methodist football program in Dallas, Texas learned in 1986, even a single year without competing can take two decades or more to repair.
All this brings back the indelible memory of the August 2005 weekend the Cajun state heard the news of the upgrade of the Katrina to a category 5 storm. Millions backed the car out of the driveway and rattled out of town, complete with 10 hour waits on the Interstate. For today’s college students, ages 3 to 6 at the time, they have little to no memory.
Fifteen years ago, a brave Tulane president, Scott S. Cowen, determined that a closed campus would not mean no sports, accepted the amazing invitations by other universities to take in all their sports teams to allow them to compete as their campus closed.
Southern Methodist University (and later Louisiana Tech) took in the football team. Baseball and women’s basketball were welcomed at Texas Tech, Women’s volleyball at Rice, men’s and women’s golf remained in Dallas at SMU along with the determined Athletic Director Rick Dickson and a small staff. Six teams — men’s basketball, women’s swimming & diving, men’s and women’s tennis, women’s volleyball and women’s soccer — headed to Texas A&M. Part of the women’s track and field squad later joined the football team in Ruston.
The NFL was also damaged. The Saints played their first home game at the Meadowlands in New York. Hurricane Katrina forced the team out of the Superdome and they played the rest of their home schedule at San Antonio’s Alamodome or LSU’s Tiger Stadium. The same fate will likely fall the Rams, the Chargers, and the 49ers.
Louisiana is a quintessential patriotic state, home to National World War II Museum.
But unlike our last half dozen wars , the battle with the coronavirus is not a remote affair for Louisianians. At one point we rivaled New York as the epicenter of battle. All the more reason for a generous outreach to these California brothers in shoulder pads and sisters with Lacrosse sticks.
The proud alumni, football, and athletic fans of San Diego State, Fresno State and San Jose State will defend the honor of their programs with the tenacity of Gen. Andrew Jackson and his Army at the Battle of New Orleans in 1812. But, they need a home just as Tulane needed one in the mid 2000’s.
Tulane, and perhaps LSU, the University of Louisiana, and other colleges should extend a lifeline to one or more of the California schools to offer their facilities for them to train and their stadiums for them to play. All of this assistance is much easier than in 2005, when the Tulane athletes had to enroll and actually attend class at the schools who hosted them. Today, these student athletes can continue to take classes online from their universities.
There seems to be a fundamental disagreement about what’s possible — or appropriate — at the top levels of college athletics in the coronavirus world. Louisiana must innovate, lead, and adapt just as surely as Mr. Andrew Higgins did with his NOLA-based boat company in 1940. He did not wait for the war to come to him. He purchased a large portion of the Mahogany crop of the Philippines to prepare in case America came into this earlier global conflict. Yes, those “Higgins boats” LCVP landing craft were made of Mahogany because that type wood floats high in the water.
We call on Tulane to return the favor they received 15 years ago from SMU, Texas A&M, Texas Tech, Louisiana Tech, the University of Alabama at Birmingham, to offer the football team from one of these three stranded college programs refuge for this coming Fall semester.
The doubters and naysayers have already written off the women’s and men’s athletic programs at Fresno State, San Diego State and San Jose State for this fall, just as it looked like Katrina has finished off the Tulane Greenwave. But like the Londoners and the buzz bomb, the Navy at Pearl Harbor, and the Marines at Bataan, their total demise was premature. Help was, and should be on the way.
In his famous press release late on a unbelievably hot and humid Friday afternoon in August of 2005, University President Cowen said although no classes would be held on the Tulane campus during the Fall semester, the Green Wave teams would continue to compete, to “carry the torch, be the face and represent the name” of Tulane University while its students, faculty and staff were displaced around the country.
Football and athletics at Fresno State, San Diego State, and San Jose State this Fall will not be about winning and losing. It will be about perseverance. For millions of people affected in the coronavirus world, each time these teams take the field, it will give the most important thing in any crisis. Hope. Let us give each other, and well as these institutions that hope.
Morris Kahn is a 1978 Tulane graduate, lifelong Louisiana resident from Morgan City and national board member of State Funeral for World War II Veterans.
Bill McNutt is the national chairman of state Funeral for World War II Veterans. He lives in Dallas.

Ways to bond with your new infant

Fri, 05/22/2020 - 9:06am

A parent’s job begins the moment a woman learns she is pregnant. Upon receiving such news, women typically make important changes to ensure the well-being of the fetuses growing inside them.
Once a child is born, the first few weeks with baby certainly can be a whirlwind. During this period, pediatricians note how important bonding with parents is for a baby’s development. Parents may be unaware that the touches, cuddles and feelings of safety and security provided by them help set a foundation for emotional well-being, which can last throughout their child’s life.
According to Jeff Simpson, Ph.D., adjunct professor of psychology at the University of Minnesota and an author of a study about childhood attachment, babies who were securely attached to their mothers by 12 months old (turning to her for comfort when exploring an unfamiliar place) were more likely to come out of an argument in their early 20s still feeling connected to their partners.
Simpson surmises that the ability to trust, love and resolve conflict develops in part from how people are treated as infants.
The Australian parenting website Raising Children Network says repeated human contact like singing, cuddling, talking, touching and gazing into each other’s eyes enables a newborn’s brain to release hormones that help his or her brain to grow. This, in turn, helps to develop memory, thought and language.
New parents may wonder what they can do to foster strong bonds with their babies. The following are some strategies to build those bonds.
—Breastfeed baby. Breastfeeding provides more than nutrition. The close contact during nursing helps the child to hear mom’s heartbeat and gets skin-to-skin contact.
—Make eye contact. Parents should keep eye contact with baby when engaging in feedings and other care. This helps the baby remember who their parents are and reassures them that their parents can be trusted.
—Read baby’s messages. A child who wants to engage will make little noises, such as cooing or laughing sounds. He or she also may look relaxed and interested, while some may seek out their parents. React to these messages promptly.
—Respond to cries. Parents can do their best to always respond to cries for attention as it helps the baby to feel safe. This is key during the first three months of the baby’s life. As the baby ages and has already developed a bond, parents can encourage more self-soothing.
Bonding is important for babies and parents. Developing a connection early on can provide a safe and nurturing environment that can set the course for the child to feel loved and supported throughout his or her lifetime.

The value of reading to kids is now visible

Fri, 05/22/2020 - 9:05am

Recent studies from the Reading & Literacy Discovery Center of Cincinnati’s Children’s Hospital were the first provide neurobiological evidence of the potential benefits of reading to children age five and younger and the potential detriments of screen time on the development of such youngsters’ brains.
Images released with the study indicated substantial growth in organized white matter in the language and literacy areas of the brains of children who were read to during the highly formative first five years of their lives. That’s important, as the study noted that white matter is comprised of fibers that form connections between brain cells and the nervous system.
Increasing and organizing that white matter, which reading to youngsters facilitates, increases the brain’s functionality and ability to learn. While the study noted the value of reading to children age five and younger, it also showed how children who spent an average of two hours a day playing on screens were adversely affected by that behavior.
In images of such children’s brains, white matter was considerably underdeveloped and disorganized, which can contribute to slow processing and learning difficulties.

Man’s effort to contact his newfound family is ignored

Fri, 05/22/2020 - 9:04am

By Jeanne Phillips, ©United Features Syndicate

DEAR ABBY: I recently found out who my biological father is/was. Apparently, my mother and this man had an affair more than 50 years ago. There’s only speculation as to why.
What bothers me is, I have always lived no more than 15 miles from this man and his family. I tried reaching out to the one half-sibling I am most knowledgeable about. They have made no attempt to contact me about this elephant in the room. I don’t know if it’s shame or embarrassment on their part.
I am a respectable man with a great family. Why someone would not want to reach out and at least get to know a brother they supposedly never knew existed is beyond me. We’ve wasted way too many years kept in the dark about this well-kept secret. My thought is that you can never have too big a family — even if we are only half-siblings. Should I continue attempting to reach them, or just sweep all of this under the rug and pretend it never happened?
EXPANDING THE FAMILY IN OHIO

DEAR EXPANDING: Not everyone is as open-hearted or inclusive as you. After half a century, your birth father’s family may prefer not to open this chapter of their father’s life, and they should not be forced to. Because you have already reached out to them without getting a response, I don’t think you should push the issue. You wrote that you are a respectable man with a great family. Count your blessings, because not everyone is so fortunate.

DEAR ABBY: I am a 42-year-old man who lives at home with my parents after getting out of an abusive relationship. A full night’s sleep is important to me and waking up early from avoidable noises is upsetting because I am unable to go back to sleep. My mother’s cellphone is what’s waking me up.
I have asked her numerous times to turn off the ringer at night. She has no reason to be a go-to for emergencies, yet she acts as if she is. The last time I asked, she actually told me the phone calls she missed (because she forgot to turn her ringer back on) are more important than my sleep.
She says she’s glad I’m back living at home because I am making life a little easier for them. They are getting old, and I have come to the conclusion I will be here taking care of my parents in the coming years.
I have told Mom numerous times to have her hearing checked, too, to no avail. I think that may be why her cellphone ringer blares so loudly. On numerous occasions I have been sitting upstairs and heard Dad ask her a question in the living room, and Mom, who is sitting right next to him, says, “What?” She’s in denial about her hearing.
I would rather not move out, but I am about ready to do it for peace and quiet. Do you have any words of wisdom for me?
INJURED EARS IN ILLINOIS

DEAR INJURED EARS: Yes, I do. Ask your mother to put her phone on vibrate at bedtime or use its do-not-disturb feature between certain hours. If she refuses, then purchasing a white noise machine might be a solution.
Suggest to your father that he inform their doctor about your mother’s hearing problems. Perhaps if the doctor tells her it’s time to have her hearing checked by an audiologist, she won’t tune out the message.
***
For an excellent guide to becoming a better conversationalist and a more sociable person, order “How to Be Popular.” Send your name and mailing address, plus check or money order for $8 to: Dear Abby, Popularity Booklet, P.O. Box 447, Mount Morris, IL 61054-0447.

Sealevel gets contract for Bayou Chene barge

Thu, 05/21/2020 - 5:24pm

Staff Report

One of the key components of the Bayou Chene flood control project will cost more than expected. But it may be completed a little sooner than expected, too.
The St. Mary Levee District voted at a special meeting Thursday to accept the bid submitted by Thibodaux’s Sealevel Construction Inc. for the project's Phase Three, the construction of a barge that will be swung into place to block back-flooding.
The district’s board had delayed a decision at last week’s regular meeting after only one bid, from Sealevel, was submitted for Phase Three.
Sealevel’s bid was for $22.7 million, exceeding the engineer’s estimate of $20.1 million.
The idea behind the extra week was to talk with Sealevel about ways to reduce the cost, including a shorter construction schedule that might avoid extra expenses related to working through a high-water season.
Sealevel agreed to try to cut 70 days from the 500-plus day construction schedule, district Director Tim Matte said.
Sealevel also holds the contract for Phase Two, the other major piece of the Bayou Chene project.
Phase Two is a 400-foot flood wall across Bayou Chene.
The Phase Three barge will rest parallel to the bank until high water requires the closure of the structure. When the time comes to prevent back-flooding, the barge, one end of which is connected to a pivot, will be swung into place in the flood wall.
Phases One and Four involve construction of a levee along the Tabor Canal.
The long-sought Bayou Chene permanent structure is designed to prevent the need for the solution used up to now: the temporary sinking of a barge in Bayou Chene.
That method has been employed three times in recent years at a cost of millions each time.
Nearly a year ago, funding came through the Coastal Protection and Restoration Authority for the permanent solution St. Mary officials had been looking for — the flood control project now under construction.
The estimated cost is $80 million.

349 St. Mary people file unemployment claims

Thu, 05/21/2020 - 1:10pm

The number of new unemployment claims from St. Mary Parish continued to fall last week. Still, another 349 people filed their initial claims in the week that ended Saturday, the Louisiana Workforce Commission said.
That was down from 451 for the week ending May 9, and was less than a third of the peak of 1,016 who filed the week ending April 2, when the first measures designed to combat the spread of COVID-19 took effect.
In all 5,873 initial claims have been filed from St. Mary since the week ending March 28.
In St. Martin, 313 people filed claims last week, down from 444 the week ending May 9. A total of 5,911 people have filed in St. Martin since the week ending March 28.
In Assumption, 110 people filed claims last week, down from 115 the week before. A total of 2,503 people have filed in the last two months.
Statewide, the number of initial claims also continued to drop. A total of 28,843 filed last week, down from 40,267 the previous week.
The Louisiana total since the week ending March 28 reached 632,535.
Accommodation and food services continues to take the biggest impact among the state’s economic sectors. That category accounted for 4,690 claims.
The state says 132,434 accommodations and food services workers have filed claims since late March.
Another 546 people filed claims from the mining sector, which includes many energy industry jobs.
And 1,500 people sought benefits from the manufacturing sector.
Health care and social assistance employees filed 3,302 claims; retail trade accounted for 3,202 claims; and construction workers filed 2,999 claims.