Latest news with #Ida
Washington Post
8 hours ago
- Entertainment
- Washington Post
`This House' makes world premiere, exploring Black history through a family's legacy in Harlem
ST. LOUIS — Near the end of 'This House,' a heart-wrenching opera given its world premiere last weekend, the matriarch Ida poignantly intones messages to her family on stage and to the audience. 'History's the only thing to survive,' soprano Adrienne Danrich sings before adding: 'You may have left us, but we will never leave you.'
Yahoo
4 days ago
- General
- Yahoo
Former Grand Isle councilman convicted of child sex abuse
JEFFERSON PARISH, La. (WGNO) — A former Grand Isle councilman, ex-police officer and former member of the Grand Isle Port commission has been found guilty of child sex abuse. According to the Jefferson Parish Sheriff's Office, 81-year-old Elgene Gary Sr. abused two juveniles for several years. The allegations first came forward in 2021 when one of the victims felt safe to come forward to law enforcement following her displacement from Grand Isle due to Hurricane Ida. Woman killed in Metairie house fire The then-16-year-old victim told investigators that Gary molested her between the ages of 7 and 15. During the investigation, a 40-year-old woman also came forward in January of 2022, saying that she had been molested by Gary on one occasion between the ages of 7 and 10. On Thursday, May 29, a jury found Gary guilty as charged on three counts of sexual battery. His sentencing is scheduled for June 16. Sexual battery of a juvenile under 13 carries a minimum sentence of 25 years in prison without Grand Isle councilman convicted of child sex abuse Several states call for tighter restrictions on SNAP benefits Woman killed in Metairie house fire President Trump gives Elon Musk an Oval Office send-off Spirit Halloween's annual kick-off event killed by 'supply chain issues' Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Yahoo
7 days ago
- General
- Yahoo
Houma area homeless share stories as community looks for solutions
Gathered outside a low-rent housing shelter on the east side of Houma, 15 to 20 people get a free hot meal at 5 p.m. 'I'm homeless because my wife died next to me, and I lost my dad's house,' Daniel Howe, 33, said. Howe was getting his meal at the Bunk House, 8424 E Main St., and said he's been homeless for five years. He recently moved under a bridge in Houma and said he spends most of the day walking around because there's nothing to do other than walk and sleep. He was couch-surfing, but all the friends he was staying with moved away from Houma. According to Howe, there's nothing to help him because government programs require him to prove his identity, and he's having trouble with that. 'I've been trying to get it for the last year and a half but can't get it because they keep trying to tell me to prove I'm me,' he said. 'I've sent them my birth certificate… and it didn't work.' Two meetings this year, one a community meeting and another a gathering of businesses, addressed Houma's homelessness. According to Homeless Services Coordinator Cassandra Adams of Start Corp., as of May 20, there were 48 homeless people in Houma. Many of them are in transitional housing, the Bunk House or other programs. Thirteen are living on the streets. She said many other homeless people left after Hurricane Ida, helped by government housing programs. 'The majority of those people are older," she said. "We see a lot of elderly people that don't want to enter a nursing home or a group home. But they need the assistance.' According to Adams, they cannot help someone who doesn't want to take part in their program. This could be due to any number of reasons, but the hardest to overcome is drug abuse. 'I would say it's probably 50/50, most of them have mental health situations,' she said. Asked about the other 50%, she said, 'The other 50, I feel like it is probably co-occurring mental health and drug abuse.' More: Houma's Freedom, Blackberry festivals More: President Trump expresses strong opinions about House Speaker Mike Johnson of Shreveport Each day her four outreach workers have case files on many of the homeless people, both those on the streets and in shelters. They meet with each person at least once a week, but some require extra visits. Workers often will give them rides to places like the Homeless Day Center, 420 Magnolia St., where the people can do their laundry, charge phones and watch some television. Frank Sims, 62, said that's about all he does in a day, either watch television over there, walk the streets, or sleep. Sims is a resident of the Bunk House who identified himself as homeless. He pays $100 a week to stay there, which he pays with his Social Security. Sims was living with his brother in Houma when Hurricane Ida hit, and it took everything. Since then, he's been living at the Bunk House. 'I'm too old," he said. "I tried to go back to work when I was 55, and the woman said, 'No, we don't want nobody like you.'' According to Sims, a 20-year-old got the job instead of him. When the 20-year-old quit he said he felt vindicated. 'He quit them that same week, and that was a good feeling, you know,' Sims said. Before he retired, Sims was a shipfitter with Quality Shipyards. He now has a fixed income, and because of inflation, he can't find a place that's within his budget, nor can he repair his car to expand his search. He said Start Corporation currently cannot help him either, because he can't switch from Medicare to Medicaid. He's in the process of switching it over, but it's a lot of phone calls. So for now, he's stuck. 'Money rules the world," he said. "If you ain't got it, you f-----. So you gotta take a little bit at a time, and that's what I'm doing.' Many of the others who were getting a meal at the Bunk House had similar stories, but didn't want to give their names. Two said they weren't homeless at all but were, like Sims, retired and on a fixed income. The one hot meal a day helped with their bills. They were in their 80s, walked to the Bunk House together, got their meals, then sat in the shade under a tree socializing — one with a Colt 45 beer. Their tree was cut down May 23. Another man was in a recovery house. He chose to come to Houma to try to find a new start and is working on getting a Transportation Worker Identification Credential card, which is required to try to work offshore. He said the new location took him away from the influences he had back at home, and he's been in Houma for nearly a year. He didn't want to be named because he said it would hinder his fresh start. Parish President Jason Bergeron said he attended the meetings of the concerned community members and the businesses. According to Bergeron, he is gathering mental health officials, volunteers, nonprofits, law enforcement, nuisance abatement and others, like Terrebonne Parish Coroner Dr. Patrick Walker, to look at what programs are available and try to address the gaps in those programs. 'When I look at what government's role in this is, it's to put people in a room,' Bergeron said. 'Because I feel like if we feel it's important, everyone else will feel like it's important.' Bergeron said he thought whatever solutions were found for substance abuse and mental health problems also would help homeless people. And if the solution found took government action Bergeron said he would draft them and bring them before the Parish Council. According to Bergeron, the unofficial group has met twice and includes representatives from Terrebonne General, Start Corp., Walker, the Brother's Keepers, the Oxford House and more. The members weren't the same in both meetings, but he intends to gather all of them together in the next month. This article originally appeared on The Courier: Houma officials, community leaders seek to address homelessness
Axios
7 days ago
- Politics
- Axios
Why New Orleans is the only U.S. city to regulate its investor-owned power company
After more than 100,000 Entergy customers lost power across southeast Louisiana over Memorial Day weekend in a regional regulator's bid to ease grid strain, officials are asking why no one had advance notice of the potential for outages. Why it matters: New Orleans will have a unique seat at the table alongside state regulators as they press for answers, creating an opportunity to elevate its residents' interests. Fun fact: New Orleans is the only city in the country that regulates its own investor-owned power utility in this way. For the most part, other cities in Louisiana leave it up to the state to regulate the utility. (Washington, D.C., also regulates its own power, but it exists outside state regulation and has a separate commission for the purpose.) Flashback: By the time Louisiana created its own statewide utility regulatory body (the Public Service Commission) with the 1921 state constitution, New Orleans was already serving as its own regulator, according to Public Service Commissioner Davante Lewis, based on power granted to it by the city charter. That constitution, Lewis tells Axios New Orleans, "included a carve-out that municipal systems would not be subject to regulatory authority without a vote of the people." That's why, for example, the LPSC doesn't regulate power in Lafayette, which has its own citizen-owned public power utility. Over the years, Lewis says, New Orleans has fought to keep its own regulating authority, even though it doesn't have a publicly owned utility. "It's been the nature of New Orleans to separate itself from portions of state law and state statute," he says. State of play: It's not clear exactly why the city wanted to keep its own regulatory authority when the LPSC was first created, but the Alliance for Affordable Energy's Yvonne Cappel-Vickery says New Orleans' needs are different from the rest of the state. "New Orleans is a transmission island," she says, which many didn't realize until Hurricane Ida, when downed transmission lines took out power for the whole city. "All power that comes in has to travel over water via transmission wires to get to us," Cappel-Vickery says, "so those needs are pretty unique compared to the whole state's needs, and New Orleans has always had a different political makeup than the larger state." Yes, but: For a short time in the 1980s, New Orleans did give regulatory control to the LPSC, but took it back over the cost of building the Grand Gulf nuclear power facility, according to the Alliance for Affordable Energy. Between the lines: New Orleans has also considered taking over its power production at various points in the past century or so. The city technically has the right to buy out its production from Entergy, Gambit reported in 2022, but few cities in modern history have successfully made the expensive and complicated transition from private to public power ownership.
Yahoo
27-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Louisiana Veteran Replaced Hurricane-Damaged Roof with Help of Funds from $1M FHLB Dallas Program
Program Assists Disabled Military Veterans and Gold Star Families with Housing Needs HOUMA, La., May 27, 2025--(BUSINESS WIRE)--It's been almost four years since Hurricane Ida swept through Houma, Louisiana, wreaking havoc on the home of June and Lloyd Wallis and many others in its path. Lloyd Wallis recently received a Housing Assistance for Veterans (HAVEN) grant from the Federal Home Loan Bank of Dallas (FHLB Dallas) provided through FHLB Dallas member Synergy Bank to replace the couple's roof. HAVEN provides grants for home modifications, housing construction and homebuyer down payment assistance to help veterans, reservists and service members who have a service-related disability. It can also be used by Gold Star Families. The grants are provided through FHLB Dallas member financial institutions participating in the program. The Wallis' learned of the program through Rebuilding Together Bayou. "FHLB Dallas has been helping us extensively since Hurricane Ida through several of their grant programs; their assistance has been incredible," said Lee Shaffer, director of Rebuilding Together Bayou. "Veterans of the Korea and Vietnam conflicts are now reaching advanced ages, where they could use help, and HAVEN is having a dramatic and positive impact on their lives." FHLB Dallas allocated $1 million for HAVEN grants in 2025, up from $300,000 in 2024. This year, it also increased the maximum grant from $20,000 to $25,000 and opened the program, originally created for Gulf War vets, to all veterans. "Synergy Bank is proud to be able to assist veterans in our community through this impactful program," Synergy Bank President and CEO Jerry Ledet Jr. "Every repaired roof and every home restored is a reminder that when we come together, we can bring hope and healing to our community. We're grateful to be part of something that makes such a real difference in people's lives. We are stronger together." Mr. Wallis, 75, spent two years in the jungles of Vietnam with the Marine Corps. He was awarded a $23,845 grant. His home suffered major roof damage from Ida in August 2021. "We patched it up the best we could, but we didn't have the funds to replace it," said Mr. Wallis, who has lived in the home for more than 45 years. He and his wife raised their six children there and have hosted scores of grandchildren in a home that serves as the epicenter of a large extended family. When they aren't enjoying their grandchildren, the semi-retired couple operate a snowball stand and volunteer in their church. Mrs. Wallis said the couple "felt excited and blessed" to receive the grant. "We couldn't have afforded this new roof without it," she said. "Synergy Bank and Rebuilding Together are working additional HAVEN grant applications for local vets whose homes suffered hurricane damage," Mr. Shaffer said. Greg Hettrick, senior vice president and director of Community Investment at FHLB Dallas, said FHLB Dallas hopes to increase the fund's impact with this year's increased funding and wider eligibility. "With our expansion of HAVEN access, we are reaching Vietnam and Korea veterans for the first time, and we hope to make a positive impact in providing them access to safe and affordable housing," Mr. Hettrick said. "We value Synergy Bank's support for HAVEN and its outreach to veterans in need in the communities they serve." Learn more about the HAVEN program. About Synergy Bank Synergy is a locally owned community bank with 10 locations throughout the Bayou and Capital Regions of Louisiana. As of March 31, 2025, the company's total assets equaled $1.224 billion. Further information may be obtained from its website at About the Federal Home Loan Bank of Dallas The Federal Home Loan Bank of Dallas is one of 11 district banks in the FHLBank System created by Congress in 1932. FHLB Dallas, with total assets of $109.9 billion as of March 31, 2025, is a member-owned cooperative that supports housing and community development by providing competitively priced loans and other credit products to approximately 800 members and associated institutions in Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, New Mexico and Texas. For more information, visit View source version on Contacts Corporate CommunicationsFederal Home Loan Bank of (214) 441-8445 Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
