A study of the state’s coastal zone boundary by the state Department of Natural Resources’ Office of Coastal Management recommends a portion of Ascension Parish be added to the inland coastal zone.

23rd Judicial District Attorney Ricky Babin has been elected to the board of directors of the Louisiana District Attorneys Association.

The rescue of oiled wildlife impacted by the Deepwater Horizon oil spill through Wednesday, July 14, includes 2,986 total birds collected within the five-state impact area of Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, Florida and Texas, according to the Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries.

 In AAA Southern Traveler magazine’s July-August 2010 Best of the South edition, 1,300 readers from Louisiana, Arkansas and Mississippi submitted ballots and chose New Orleans as the best large city in the South for a a getaway.

The reversed murder conviction and life sentence of decorated Vietnam War veteran Nolan James of Donaldsonville was reinstated June 17 by Louisiana’s First Circuit Court of Appeal.

 The Inshore Fishing Association announced that the ongoing oil leakage from a BP-owned offshore drilling rig has forced the cancellation of the IFA Redfish Tour Presented by Cabela’s and the IFA Kayak Tour Presented by Hobie Fishing at Empire, scheduled for June 19-20.

Louisiana won another incremental battle in the oil war to save its gulf coast Friday.

Authorities recovered the body of a third victim Monday after a boating accident Saturday on Lake Maurepas in which five persons from Gonzales were involved.

On Monday, 115 cooks signed up to participate in the 43rd Annual Jambalaya Festival’s Jambalaya cooking contest at the Gonzales Civic Center.

Cedric Grant returns to his hometown as a key player in the Mitch Landrieu administration.
 

Erica Miller with Tri-State Bird Rescue Services, feeds electrolytes Saturday afternoon to the first bird rescued after the BP Petroleum Oil Spill in the Gulf of Mexico off the coast of Louisiana.

Ascension Parish resident Celeste Goodwin founded the NPBPAF after she and her husband, Billy, dealt with their son's experiences with undiagnosed hypertension.

One of our favorite places on the planet is a long and winding road.

We’re talking, of course, about Louisiana’s “Great River Road.”

To travel this byway along the father of waters even once is a great thrill. Growing up on the road has proven an irresistible lure for many Louisianans in the River Parishes. For them, where the river and the road flow is home.

Now, the River Road has been designated a national Scenic Byway by the U.S. Department of Transportation Federal Highway Administration.

This honor accorded the 717 miles along the river route and through 18 Louisiana parishes does more than make our chests swell with pride.

It means that Louisiana tourism promotion will have additional opportunities on state, local and federal levels, and that dollars for improving the road are also more likely to come down the pike.

The Great River Road now joins Louisiana’s only other byway to be part of America’s Byway system. The Creole Nature Trail in Calcasieu and Cameron parishes in the southwest part of the state, another of our favorite roadways, was designated an All-American Road in 2002.

Without a doubt, the River Road, home as it is to Oak Alley Plantation, Houmas House in Ascension Parish, San Francisco Plantation, Laura Plantation, plus all the small and large surprises and joys one inevitably encounters on while riding the road, deserves its new designation.

Officially, Scenic Byway or All-American Road designation, means the highway must have archaeological, enriching, historical, natural, entertaining and scenic intrinsic qualities.

The Louisiana River Road designation was earned primarily on the basis of historical qualities that include Native American mounds, historical structures and cities within the river corridor.

It doesn’t really matter that stopping off in a rundown little grocery and being able to order a world-class po-boy, or riding down the road during sugar cane harvest season and breathing the sugar fragrant air, are not on the qualification list.

The Great River Road is now officially part of America’s Byway system. Folks traveling the road will still be free to enjoy the little things that have contributed to the mystique of the road that locals have treasured over the many years.
 

Gov. Bobby Jindal cut the ribbon during the official grand opening of the Ascension Parish Executive Committee Headquarters in Gonzales Friday morning.
 

 Gov. Jindal will be the honorary guest at the ribbon cutting ceremony at the official Grand Opening of the Ascension Republican Executive Committee Headquarters

Retired Maj. Gen. O’Neil J. Daigle, Jr., who served as the Louisiana National Guard’s adjutant general from 1972 to 1980, died April 8. 

Budgetary concerns are still the biggest issue in state government despite the debate over possible repeal of the healthcare bill signed into law by President Obama, according to the governor's executive counsel.

Ascension Parish also ranks as one of the100 fastest growing parishes (our counties) in the nation, coming in 75th is the latest U.S. Census estimates.

Sheriff Jeff Wiley and 23rd Judicial District Attorney Ricky Babin reacted strongly to a story in The Citizen about Judge Jane Triche-Milazzo overturning the 1983 murder conviction of Vietnam War veteran Nolan James.

 21st Judicial District Judge Jane Triche-Milazzo has ordered a new trial for a decorated Vietnam War veteran from Donaldsonville who has spent the last 30 years in Angola.