RSS Feed

Early voting ends Saturday in St. Mary for five special purpose district bond and tax propositions.
Registered voters can cast ballots at either Registrar of Voters Office at the Parish Courthouse in Franklin or at 301 Third St., Suite 6, Morgan City. Bring a photo ID to the polls.
Early voting hours are 8:30 a.m.-6 p.m. The regular election date is April 27.
On the ballot:
—In Gravity Sub-Drainage District No. 1 of Gravity Drainage District No. 2, a renewal of a 12.63-mill property tax for 10 years.
—In Ward 4 Fire Protection District No. 2, a 4-mill property tax renewal for 10 years.
—In Water and Sewer Commission District No. 4, a $1.7 million bond for 15 years.
—In Wax Lake East Drainage District, Proposition 1 seeks renewal of a 3.28-mill property tax for 10 years.
—In Wax Lake East Drainage District, Proposition No. 2 seeks a $2.5 million bond for 20 years.

Whether you’re an avid birder, nature photographer, or just plain love viewing wildlife, there’s nothing like chasing the neotropic songbird migration that typicallly peaks during the second, third and fourth weeks of April.
After what seemed to be a slow start this month, the birds have begun to arrive this past week in good numbers, with the peak yet to come.
New Iberia resident and avid nature photographer Frank Garacci says the migration is on.
Garacci, who spends several days a week chasing birds, said, “I don’t believe its peaked yet. I think we have another 3 to 4 weeks to enjoy their travels north. Grand Isle seems to be heating up as far as the number of different species coming through. St. Mary has had their share of birds coming through, too.”
Paul Schaub, local birder and President of the Terrebonne Bird Club, reported seeing plenty of warblers so far that summer in St. Mary and the surrounding parishes.
Schaub said, “We’re seeing prothonotary warblers, northern parulas, yellow throated warblers, and hooded warblers in good numbers. We just got back from Grand Isle yesterday where we saw good numbers of orioles, tanagers, vireos, and thrushes. Within the next three weeks we will see even more.”
From Sabine to Venice, the Louisiana northern Gulf Coast is teeming with neotropic songbirds during much of April. In Dr. George H. Lowery Jr.’s book, “Louisiana Birds”, he points out in a chapter, “Louisiana as a place to see birds,” there are 411 species that have been recorded within the boundaries of the state, which is more than half of all the birds known to occur regularly in North America, north of Mexico.”
Lowery also touches on the economic value of birds by pointing out the tremendous numbers of noxious insects they feed on and how they are instrumental in controlling rats and mice. Additionally, he notes they destroy great quantities of weed seeds and help keep the countryside clean of carrion.
However, the economic value goes even further with several small towns holding birding festivals during the months of April and May. In Jefferson Parish, Grand Isle will hold its birding festival this weekend, April 19-20. In two weeks, St. Bernard will hold its bird festival.
Schaub recommends watching the weather to maximize your bird outing.
Schaub said, “The best time to go is after a front comes through with some good rain. Get to the coast. You may get a nice fall out of birds after the storm has passed.”
Buntings, both indigo and painted, along with blue grosbeaks are birds that spend summers in Louisiana. Arriving in abundance in early April they hang around until mid to late October before migrating south to Central America and South America.
The cheery songs of buntings and their beautiful colors make them a favorite among birders and people who have feeders in their backyards.
Garacci said, “I’ve spotted buntings in a couple of locations in St. Mary Parish in good numbers. They were feeding on grass seeds.”
One early migrant, the northern parula, spends its summers in our coastal region. The small, colorful bird is one of our smaller warblers and is known to make its nest in Spanish moss. This bird can be found in good numbers anywhere you see moss draping oak and cypress trees.
Garacci said, “Personally, I’ve seen more northern parulas in the area than we’ve had in the past.”
One of the things about spring is, most all species of birds, whether songbirds or wading birds, are in full mating plumage with remarkable colors.
One of our local wading birds, the roseate spoonbill, is a vibrant pink mixed with shades of whites and reds. Their colorful appearance and odd-looking spoon-shaped bills make them a favorite among birders.
Whether you’re a seasoned birder or novice, there’s nothing quite like the spring migration.
Schaub said, “Blues, reds, and yellows are the colors for the season. It’s a great time of year for bird watching.”
John Flores is the Morgan City Review’s outdoor writer. He can be contacted at gowiththeflo@cox.net.

Terrebonne General Health System’s LaToya Turner, MSN, RNC-OB, clinical educator, was appointed to The Office of Women’s Health and Community Health Advisory Board. 
This board was established under a bill passed by the Louisiana Legislature and signed by Gov. John Bel Edwards on June 18, 2022. The office is dedicated to improving women’s health outcomes in Louisiana through policy, education, evidence-based practices, programs and services. 
Issues of focus include needs throughout a woman’s life, chronic or acute conditions, access to healthcare, how poverty affects women’s health, leading causes of morbidity and mortality, and health disparities. 
Turner graduated from Southern University A&M College with her undergraduate degree in nursing and currently holds a Master of Science in Nursing from Norwich University.  She joined Terrebonne General Health System in January 2006, working in Labor and Delivery, where she served as the clinical coordinator before moving into her role as clinical educator, working primarily with Women’s Health Center staff. 
She is nationally certified as an obstetrics nurse and has taught obstetrics and gynecology at Fletcher Technical Community College. 
“We are immensely proud of LaToya’s achievement and confident that her expertise will drive impactful initiatives, shaping policies and programs that uplift women across our state,” said Phyllis Peoples, president and CEO.

BATON ROUGE—The House Education Committee unanimously moved forward with a bill that would allow higher education management boards to raise tuition for high-cost majors and establish mandatory fees for all programs.

The bill, by Rep. Jason Hughes, D-New Orleans, would limit any increases to no more than 10 % of the previous year’s level.

“We are the only state in the nation that requires a two-thirds vote of our legislature for tuition approval,” he said. “We are one of only two states, along with Florida, whose legislature has some control over tuition.”

He said that information came from the Southern Regional Education Board. Higher-cost programs include architecture, engineering and nursing.

Hughes said the bill would provide the same authority to higher-education boards in Louisiana as similar boards have in Texas, Alabama and Arkansas, where the boards can set tuition rates.

“This bill would give our institutions some flexibility to figure out how to best address academic program needs, whether it’s providing specialized labs and equipment or investing in faculty retention,” he said. “The systems and campuses need to have the ability to operate and grow current and future high value programs.”

This authority would apply only to academic programs, faculty, equipment and student success. It would not increase administrative salaries or impact TOPS scholarships.
Louisiana Community & Technical College System President Monty Sullivan testified in support of the bill.

“This is a tool that we believe we’re gonna need down the line if Louisiana finds itself in a place where we have to take steps as a result of lowered revenue in the state,” he said.

Sullivan and University of Louisiana at Lafayette President Joe Savoie stated that they did not have current plans to increase tuition and fees but felt like this safety net was necessary in case the state’s budget decreased.

Additionally, Sullivan, Savoie, and Hughes emphasized that tuition and fees would only increase for the high-cost programs.

“Engineering is a more expensive program than English,” Savoie said. “However, students are charged the same.

"You have added equipment needs, you have higher salaries for your faculty and staff, you have laboratory responsibilities that you have to cover.

"And so those programs really take revenue from the other programs, the less expensive programs. So if the financial situation gets tighter and if we have to make some adjustments, we think doing it on the cost areas is probably the most judicious way to do it.”

Rep. Charles A. Owens, R-Rosepine, voiced support for the bill.

“When things get bad, we take money from hospitals and education,” he said. He hoped that the legislation would allow post-secondary educational institutions to maintain a certain budget over multiple years.

The state could lose several hundred million dollars in revenue when .45 cents of the state sales tax expires next year, and that could force budget cuts. Funding for higher education and many health programs are not guaranteed under the state constitution or by law, so these areas have typically borne the brunt of state budget cuts.

Although in support of the bill, Rep. Kendricks “Ken” Brass, D-Vacherie, wondered how the tuition waiver process would change under this policy.

Hughes said that programs like TOPS, Pell Grants and other programs that can cover tuition would not change.

Brass was concerned that students and families would potentially have to make up the difference between the increased tuition and their tuition waiver.

Rep. Phillip Tarver, R-Lake Charles, was concerned about what the potential year-to-year 10% increases in tuition would look like in multiple years. Hughes explained that it would depend on the Legislature’s allocation of finances and the number of students attending the institutions.

However, Hughes maintained that the policy was meant as a safety net should finances tighten up for higher education.