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During a visit to South Louisiana in 1886, the traveler and writer Charles Dudley Warner rowed early one spring morning, “while the dew was still heavy” down Bayou Petit Anse.
“in the fresh morning, with the salt air, it was a voyage of delight,” he said.
Petite Anse means “little cove.” The bayou runs along the west side of Avery Island, then flows generally south into Vermilion Bay.
Warner described his delightful boat ride in a long article about “The Acadian Land” in Harper’s Magazine in February 1887.
“Mullet were jumping in the glassy stream, perhaps disturbed by the gar-fish, and alligators lazily slid from the reedy banks into the water at our approach,” he wrote.
“All the marsh was gay with flowers, vast patches of the blue fleur de lis intermingled with the exquisite white spider-lily, nodding in clusters on long stalks; an amaryllis (pancratieum), its pure half-disk fringed with delicate while filaments.
"The air was vocal with the notes of birds, the nonpareil and the meadow-lark, and most conspicuous of all the handsome boat-tail grackle, a blackbird, which alighted on the slender dead reeds that swayed with his weight as he poured forth his song. Sometimes the bayou narrowed so that it was impossible to row with the oars, and poling was resorted to, and the current was swift and strong.
"At such passes we saw only the banks with nodding flowers, and the reeds, with the blackbirds singing, against the sky. Again we emerged into placid reaches overhung by gigantic live-oaks and fringed with cypress. It was enchanting.”
Warner’s interest in the Acadian country in South Louisiana may have been partly inspired by a visit he made in 1874 to Nova Scotia and recounted in a travel journal called Baddeck, And That Sort of Thing (Houghton, Mifflin & Co., Boston, 1891).
Excerpts from his accounts of both visits can be found in a little book: "In Acadia, The Acadians in Story and Song," compiled by Margaret (Minnie) Avery Johnston (F. F. Hansell & Bro., New Orleans, 1893.
Margaret was not an Acadian. She was the daughter of Daniel Dudley Avery (1810-1879), the first Avery on Avery island, and Sarah Craig Marsh (1818-1878).
Her interest in the Acadians was stirred by an interest in spinning and weaving, and by the financial panic that began in the United States in 1873, spread to Europe, and brought on a depression that lasted for nearly a decade.
She wrote in the introduction to her book, “I have been led to undertake the compilation of this little volume by a desire to enlist the interest of the public in the Acadian people of Louisiana. Brought up in the neighborhood and personally acquainted with many of them, my family learned to respect … and to admire the many excellent qualities that distinguish them.
“In the period of great depression through which Louisiana has passed … [the Acadians] felt the touch of want in homes where formerly reigned a rude plenty.
"It was then that it occurred to us that if their handwoven fabrics of cotton, grown by themselves, could be brought to the attention of the art-loving public, a remunerative field would be open for their industry.”
She and her sister, Sarah Avery Leeds, worked to find markets for the cloth with such success that in March 1893 the Abbeville Meridional, boasted that Acadian cottonade had gained so much prestige that “in some of the most fashionable of New York and New Orleans’ mansions, you will find all the draperies, portieres, lambrequins and table scarfs made of the products of the looms of the Attakapas Acadians.” 
The reason for the Meridional report was that in the spring of 1893 Louisiana and the rest of the nation were making plans for the upcoming Chicago World’s Fair, and that the Avery sisters were  working to create an exhibit featuring Acadian weavers. They were successful. Margaret reported in her introduction that “their simple handicrafts of spinning and weaving” were showcased at the fair.
Margaret may have been aware of Warner’s Acadian pieces because he apparently visited Avery Island. He doesn’t say so specifically in his essay, but says in his Petite Anse narrative that after visiting a community on Bayou Tigre, “We went home gayly and more swiftly, current and tide with us … with … much pleasure [while viewing] the wide marshes through which we voyaged.
“When we landed and climbed the hill, and from the rose-embowered veranda looked over the strange
You can contact Jim Bradshaw at jimbradshaw4321@gmail.com or P.O. Box 1121, Washington LA 70589.

Much as the Legislature authored a major tax incentive package prior to landing several data centers, a similar approach seems to be in the works to attract aerospace investments.
A new cluster of bills recently filed offer aerospace companies making major investments a wide range of tax incentives and exemptions, as well as shielding them from certain liabilities. 
Companies have made clear that such tax packages do work to bring major investments to the state. For instance, when Hyundai testified before the state’s Clean Hydrogen Task Force, executives told the committee that the incentives offered were a major factor in choosing Louisiana for their massive steel factory. 
“To enable and catalyze this economy, economic development incentives and greater certainty are key factors in accelerating adoption,” Hyundai North America Senior Vice President Jim Park said in June. “If you want to really develop economically and have more companies join the party, those types of incentive packages do work.” 
The aerospace package is sweeping. House Bill 1088 by Rep. Tony Bacala, R-Praireville, would create a state and local sales tax rebate for machinery, equipment, materials, supplies and services used in aerospace activities at certified facilities. A similar tax rebate was authored in 2024 for data centers.
To qualify, a project would have to promise at least 200 new full-time jobs and $1 billion in capital investment, with an initial rebate term of 20 years and a possible 10-year renewal. 
Bacala is also carrying House Bill 1179, which would extend Industrial Tax Exemption Program eligibility to aerospace manufacturing and to infrastructure such as launch pads, propellant systems and testing facilities. Rep. Jack McFarland’s, R-Jonesboro, HB1098 would limit certain liability claims against aerospace operators, while HB1071 would exempt some aerospace facility records from public disclosure.
The 200-job and $1 billion thresholds in HB1088 are high enough to exclude most routine industrial projects, pointing instead to the kind of large, specialized development similar to the influx of data centers into the state. 
The bill’s fiscal note says Louisiana Works lists about 32 establishments under the NAICS code for aerospace product and parts manufacturing, while Louisiana Economic Development identifies 45 aerospace facilities statewide, including major operations tied to NASA, Lockheed Martin and Northrop Grumman.
In the 2024 session, lawmakers passed HB827, later Act 730, creating a generous state and local sales tax rebate for approved data center facilities. The law offered 20 years of rebates, with a possible 10-year renewal, for projects meeting thresholds of at least 50 jobs and $200 million in investment. At the time, the fiscal note said there were 10 data centers in Louisiana and no known projects under construction that would meet the bill’s specifications.
Months later, the state announced Meta’s $20 billion data center in Richland Parish, which has become a major fixture of controversy.
Louisiana Economic Development’s own data-center page now says the state “rewrote laws and negotiated tax incentives at a breakneck pace” to land the project. 
A year later, Hut 8 announced its River Bend AI data center in West Feliciana Parish, and LED said that project has secured the sales tax rebate incentive.
And in February, Amazon announced a $12 billion data center “campus” that “reinforces the state’s position as a national leader in digital infrastructure.”
Louisiana already has a foothold in aerospace through Michoud Assembly Facility in New Orleans, where Louisiana Economic Development says nearly 90% of the rocket powering NASA’s Artemis II mission was manufactured.

BATON ROUGE – Lt. Gov. Billy Nungesser told the Baton Rouge Press Club Monday he hopes the state Legislature gets rid of the new closed primary system after the midterm elections this year.
“This closed primary is costing Louisiana a little over $17 million,” Nungesser said, referring its implementation this year. “And people are confused of who can vote where and what, and that’s going to be every year if we stay with a closed primary for every election.”
Nungesser, a Republican, said Gov. Jeff Landry pushed for Louisiana to get rid of the open primary system, in which voters could vote for candidates in any party, in primary elections for Congress, statewide offices and some other races.
In the closed primaries, registered Republicans can only vote in the Republican primary, Democrats can only vote in the Democratic primary and voters who are not affiliated with one of the parties can vote in either one.
Polls show that 71% of Louisianians and 77% of Republicans would prefer to keep open primaries, according to Nungesser.
“A lot of people believe it was done to beat Bill Cassidy, and that kind of looks that way that it was implemented for that reason,” Nungesser said.
Some political analysts have said that supporters of President Trump wanted to make it easier to unseat U.S. Sen. Bill Cassidy, a Republican who voted to convict the president after one of his impeachments, by keeping Democratic voters from crossing over to support Cassidy in an open primary.
Some state legislators have called for junking the closed primary system as soon as possible.
Nungesser also said Monday that Landry had cut $10 million from the lieutenant governor’s budget–all for maintaining state parks–when the governor released his latest state budget proposal in mid-February.
“I’ve been trying to get a meeting with the governor to discuss it,” Nungesser said. Referring to the fiscal year that starts July 1, he added: “The head of the House told me he’s going to work to get some of that money, at least get me through year-end, which is July.”
Nungesser, who is the state’s top tourism official, also on Monday reiterated that President Trump’s political attacks on Canada have hurt tourism in Louisiana.
Canada is Louisiana’s top tourism market, but after Trump’s comments about annexing Canada and his decisions to hit imported goods from Canada with tariffs, the state’s international tourism has taken a hit, Nungesser said.
“Our number one market is Canada,” he said. “It killed the events in Lafayette this year. We had 26 groups cancel.”
Nungesser said Canadian airlines told him they had to stop advertising flights to America because of the hate they received from Canadians. Nungesser warned that the president’s slights were reducing a key source of revenue for the state’s hospitality sector.
Despite this dent in tourism, projections for 2028 show that Louisiana’s international tourists will increase, especially with the International Passenger Week occurring in New Orleans next year. That is the largest international tourism show in the world.
Nungesser also criticized state Rep. Mike Echols, R-Monroe, a fellow Republican, alleging that the lawmaker’s push to name the Mississippi River bridge after President Trump was a calculated move aimed at boosting his campaign for Louisiana’s 5th Congressional District seat.
“We shouldn’t enact laws and do things because somebody’s running for office,” Nungesser said, adding that Louisiana law prohibits naming buildings and other infrastructure after living people. “We ought to do things because it’s the right thing to do.”
Nungesser’s outspoken criticism has reportedly drawn backlash within his own party.
The Louisiana Republican Party had initially drafted a resolution to rebuke Nungesser for whether Trump’s immigration enforcement surge had hurt tourism in New Orleans.
Those comments were removed from the resolution after Rep. Mike Bayham, R-Chalmette, convinced other members that Nungesser, a former party chair who has been lieutenant governor since 2026, had supported many Republican causes.
The lieutenant governor has also been working on a set of initiatives to improve our state’s tourist appeal.
Among them is a renewed push, called Keep Louisiana Beautiful, to combat littering across the state. He asked that everyone participate in the movement by removing at least 250 pieces of litter by July 1.
Nungesser mentioned his partnership with the Sonic fast-food chain, which raises money through sales of a new drink for the Keep Louisiana Beautiful initiative.
“We’re looking for partners all over the state that will help keep Louisiana beautiful,” Nungesser said. “I look forward to the day when we don’t have to spend $100 million cleaning up the state. We can spend that money on better things.”
The state is escalating enforcement by issuing tickets for littering after sending out 870 warning letters to litterers last year.
The initiative also includes partnerships with the Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries and the Department of Transportation and Development to install cameras designed to catch offenders in the act.
Nungesser said his department is expanding access in state parks for individuals with disabilities. He added they started doing this by introducing rentable track chairs to 11 of Louisiana’s state parks, which allow visitors with mobility challenges to navigate natural terrain better.
He also stated that all newly built cabins in Louisiana state parks will be fully accessible, reflecting a broader commitment to inclusivity in outdoor recreation.
In addition, Nungesser revealed efforts to attract private investment into the state park system.
By encouraging private partners to help finance cabins and recreational facilities in the parks, he hopes to expand use of the parks while reducing the financial burden on the state and its taxpayers.
“I believe with an amount of years, we won’t need any tax dollars to run our parks,” Nungesser said. “They all can generate billions of dollars that we can use for culture, recreation and tourism.”
Nungesser also commended U.S. Sen. Cassidy for stepping in to prevent proposed federal funding cuts for Volunteer Louisiana, a program he described as vital to community engagement and service.
Nungesser, 67, said he plans to run again for lieutenant governor despite the backlash he has received from within his own party.

It’s been 50 years since a major event happened in Louisiana political history.  Jim Leslie was gunned down in the parking lot of the Prince Murat Hotel in Baton Rouge.
I was just beginning my second term as a state senator, representing six parishes in northeast Louisiana.
Labor-management issues were not a big thing in my part of the state.
I did not know a card-carrying union man from my district, and there was little industry of any size. But a proposed Right to Work law had become the major focus and controversy during the spring of the ’76 session of the Legislature.
Louisiana’s existing law required that when there was a union contract in place, all employees had to contribute part of their dues to that contract whether they belonged to the union or not.
This was standard fare in most states throughout the country where there was a significant union presence.
But the newly formed Louisiana Association of Business and Industry, headed by then President Ed Steimel, wanted to have “open shops” where the worker had a choice about whether or not to contribute union dues from his or her salary.
There was no middle ground on the issue. No compromise. Edwin Edwards was governor, and had strong support of union interests throughout the state.
But he, as well as most of the other elected officials around the Capitol, were on the hot seat from advocates on both sides of this controversy.
It wasn’t that big of an issue for me, although I certainly received a lot of pressure. Like I pointed out earlier, there was virtually no union presence in my district, and even the smallest businesses were for a Right to Work law.
This issue dominated the whole legislative session, and tensions filled with both sides actively lobbying legislators every day at the State Capitol.
To help promote its Right-to-Work effort, LABI hired political consultant Jim Leslie to produce a series of TV spots. Leslie produced four TV spots that ran on every station in the state continually for two weeks.
The timing was set right before the final vote in the Senate. The sate House of Representatives had passed the Right-to-Work bill several weeks earlier, and the Leslie TV campaign was designed to build major, grass-roots support when the final vote came to the Senate.
The debate lasted all day in the State Senate, and you could cut the tension with a knife as I sat in my seat.
By a slight margin, Louisiana’s new Right to Work law passed the Senate in late afternoon on Wednesday, July 8, 1976.
Jim Leslie was killed a few hours later.
The Right to Work supporters had a victory celebration that evening, and then Leslie and several friends headed back to the Prince Murat Hotel on Nicholson Drive. No one knows exactly what happened.
Gunshots were fired, and Leslie slumped over dead in the parking lot.
Rumors ran wild, and some alleged that Mafia thugs tied to organized labor might in some way have something to do with the murder.
This proved to be untrue, and it was a terrible time for those trying to find some rhyme or reason out of all the debate and the ultimate price paid by Leslie.
As it turned out, the story became even more bizarre. Leslie had handled the campaign of Shreveport Public Safety Commissioner George D’Artois.
Back then, the office, which was basically the chief of police of Shreveport was elected.
D’Artois wouldn’t pay Leslie the fee he owed him for campaign-related public relations work although Leslie continually complained.
Finally, D’Artois sent a check on an account from the city of Shreveport. Leslie sent it back saying that a city check for campaign work was improper.
A local state thug with ties to D’Artois named Rusty Griffith was ultimately tagged as the trigger man.
Griffith himself was assassinated in my home of Concordia Parish some months later. Some say it was to shut him up from trying to blackmail D’Artois.
D’Artois was charged with Leslie’s murder, but before he could be tried, he died of a heart attack.
So many questions were left unanswered and no one knows for sure exactly what happened.
The whole Leslie affair and his efforts in right to work is part of the fascinating political history of Louisiana over the past century.
Peace and Justice
Jim Brown
Jim Brown’s syndicated column appears each week in numerous newspapers throughout the nation and on websites worldwide. You can read all his past columns and see continuing updates at http://www.jimbrownla.com.  Readers can also review books by Jim Brown and many others he has published by going to http://www.thelisburnpress.com.