Ground Broken for New Pump Station in Donaldsonville

It was recently announced that officials in Louisiana have broken ground for a $96 million pump station in Donaldsonville that will help to revive the local barrier islands and marshes that protect a large region of south Louisiana from Hurricanes and sea level rise. According to this article from The Advocate, the construction of the long-delayed pumping station, which is considered to be the key to many Bayou Lafourche and coastal restoration projects, had officially broken ground in Donaldsonville on Friday, October 21st.

The project actually caps a larger $220 million effort to reconnect the Mississippi River to the 106-mile-long Bayou Lafourche, which flows from Donaldsonville and empties into the Gulf of Mexico at Port Fourchon.

Louisiana Governor John Bel Edwards, members of the congress, and other elected officials were in attendance at the groundbreaking ceremony. All parties came together in order to honor the start of construction of the $96 million pump station, which will protect the drinking water supply for four parishes (Ascension, Assumption, Lafourche, and Terrebonne) and combat saltwater intrusion in Lafourche and Terrebonne estuaries. These estuaries experience some of the highest land loss rates in the world.

Gov. John Bel Edwards spoke about the long-delayed pump station by saying, “this is tremendous for the entire state. The lack of freshwater flowing into the bayou has endangered wetlands and drinking water supplies for 300,000 people. And it robbed this region of one of its most scenic waterways for too long.”

For more than a century, Bayou Lafourche had been sealed off from the Mississippi River, its main source of freshwater, and this action has led to a series of environmental problems, such as the loss of wetlands south of Houma and New Orleans.

Officials in south Louisiana have announced that the new station will be constructed atop the river levee in downtown Donaldsonville, alongside a nearly-70-year-old pump. The station is set to provide the area with increased water capacity. The pump will triple the flow of the river into Bayou Lafourche and revive marshes and barrier islands that help protect South Louisiana from hurricanes, while also ensuring that a region of South Louisiana has a safe drinking water supply.

Edwards highlighted the necessity of this project by saying, “the importance of this project to the Bayou Region and to our state can’t be overstated. The pump station will protect nearly 10 percent of Louisiana’s drinking water supplywhile nourishing over 85,000 acres of marsh in some of the country’s most land-starved areas. We’re investing more than ever before into protection and restoration projects across our coast, and it’s clear these efforts will continue to benefit Louisiana for decades to come.”

Since Hurricane Gustav in 2008 churned up a massive amount of muck and debris that blocked and contaminated the mouth of the bayou, state officials have been hard at work to restore Bayou Lafourche and build up the pump station. When Hurricane Gustav hit, there were weeks-long boil-water advisories in effect for approximately 300,000 residents. U.S. Rep. Garret Graves, R-Baton Rouge spoke at the ceremony about the conditions following the 2008 hurricane saying, “after Gustav, that water was stagnant and disgusting. You could smell the bayou for miles.”

According to The Advocate, the Bayou Lafourche Fresh Water District has spent the past 11 years preparing the bayou for the pump station’s increased flows by widening and deepening several miles of it, raising a railroad crossing in Donaldsonville, installing water control gates, and removing a small dam in Thibodaux, Louisiana.

The bayou projects have already attracted more residents to the neighborhood. Recently, there have been a number of recreational projects in the area that include public docks, boat launches, and bayou-side trails. The new pump station is projected to start operating in 2025, and it should be up and running by the end of 2025.

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Tulane University Highlights International Education with a Week of Celebration

This year’s International Education Week is set to highlight and celebrate the educational impact of Tulane University’s students, faculty, and outreach, according to this press release from the school.

Outside of being a prestigious Louisiana institution, Tulane University is a global university. With students representing over 80 countries and scholars and international students numbering over 1,500, Tulane University has grown increasingly globalized. The school also boasts 140 study abroad programs in 40 countries, approximately 10,000 international alumni, and research taking place across 70 nations all around the world, from Central America to Asia.

This year, Tulane’s Office of Academic Affairs and Provost as well as the Office of International Affairs, which is also known as Tulane Global, will join forces to host this year’s TU International Education Week.

This annual week that celebrates and advocates for Internationally-focused educational opportunities is made possible thanks to Tulane Global’s key partners: the Office of International Students and Scholars, the NTC Center for Global Education, and over 15 schools and units across Tulane’s campus.

Tulane University’s International Education Week is set to take place from November 14 through the 17th, with a variety of programming at both the uptown and downtown campuses. There are internationally-acclaimed keynote speakers, a welcome reception with musical performances, and satellite events on campus. International culinary offerings will be available at The Commons as well.

The theme for this year’s International Education Week is set to be “(Re) Imagining Borderlands & Shared Cultures in Between.” Throughout the week, Tulane aims to celebrate the University’s global community and to spotlight their international research, collaborations, and variety of learning that Tulane faculty, students, and staff are consistently engaged in around the world.

Laila Hlass, associate provost for international affairs and clinical professor of law at Tulane Law School, commented on this year’s event by saying, “International Education Week is an opportunity to celebrate Tulane’s international community and reflect upon our global footprint. This year’s theme is meant to spark deeper thinking about global inequity and racism while we cultivate spaces for global awareness across borders fostering an inclusive international community and encouraging impactful and responsive global learning and research.”

One of the highlights of the week will be an inaugural lecture by the noted Peruvian-American journalist and author Daniel Alarcón. Then, a closing keynote lecture by Pulitzer Prize-winning Mojave American poet Natalie Diaz.

Juan Carlos Alarcón is a Columbian professor of journalism and a 2021 MacArthur Fellow. His work explores the connections between people throughout Latin America through their social, cultural, and linguistic ties.  Alarcón is the author of Lost City Radio, At Night We Walk in Circles, and The King is Always Above The People. He is a contributing writer for “The New Yorker” and a co-founder of the “Radio Ambulante” and “El Hilo” podcasts.  He will speak at 5:30 p.m., on November 14th, in Freeman Auditorium at Woldenberg Art Center.

Alarcón’s multimedia lecture is sponsored by the Center for Inter-American Policy & Research, the Freeman School of Business, the Fulbright Association, the School of Liberal Arts, the Stone Center for Latin American Studies, the Office of Academic Affairs and Provost, and Tulane Global.

Natalie Diaz, who is also a 2018 MacArthur Fellow, is a professor in the English Department at Arizona State University and a co-founder of the Center for the Imagination of the Borderlands. Born and raised in the  Fort Mojave Indian Village on the banks of the Colorado River. Diaz is an enrolled member of the Gila River Indian Tribe. Diaz won the Pulitzer Prize in Poetry in 2021 for her poetry collection “Postcolonial Love Poem.” Diaz’s keynote lecture will take place on Wednesday, Nov. 16 at 5:30 p.m. at Freeman Auditorium. 

The following sponsors sponsored Diaz’s talk: Altman Program for International Studies and Business, Middle American Research Institute, Newcomb Institute, Office of Academic Affairs and Provost, Office of Equity Diversity and Inclusion, and Tulane Global.

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Louisiana Ranks First in the Nation for 4th Grade Reading Growth

Recently, the latest edition of the National Assessment of Education Progress (NAEP) revealed that Louisiana is the nation’s leading state in improving fourth-grade reading, according to this news release from the Louisiana Department of Education.

The Nation’s Report Card, which is also known as the National Assessment of Education Progress (NAEP), is an exam that has been assessing 4th and 8th graders in reading and mathematics since 1990. Though the NAEP had been suspended since 2019 due to the global pandemic, it is still seen as the gold standard of student assessments, and it is recognized as the largest continuing and nationally representative assessment of what the students of the United States of America “know and can do in various subject areas.”

The Report Card, which was recently released by the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES), revealed thatLouisiana fourth-graders showed improvement in reading growth, ranking Number One in the nation for 2022 improvement in 4th grade reading scale scores and proficiency rates. In all four NAEP grades and subjects, the improvements shown by Louisiana students outpaced national trends. According to the NCES, the fourth graders in Louisiana have outperformed the national average by a significant margin; they accomplished this despite some major challenges, such as the recent global pandemic and two back-to-back hurricane seasons.

Dr. Cade Brumley, Louisiana’s State Superintendent of Education, spoke on the state’s achievement by saying, “I want to thank our teachers for their efforts through the pandemic and multiple hurricanes. This is not a ‘jump for joy’ moment because we still want to get better; however, they show our strategy for academic recovery and acceleration is working. We shouldn’t chase shiny things and get distracted in Louisiana. Let’s focus on fundamentals like reading and math, supporting educators, and empowering parents.”

The impressive reading scores can be attributed to the fact that in the last few years, Louisiana has put into place a number of policy decisions in an effort to combat the state’s long-standing literacy crisis. For example, in 2011 55% of 4th graders passed basic and above on the NAEP. Eight years later those numbers remained exactly the same, yet this year’s results show that 57% of Louisiana 4th graders are passing basic or above in reading.

The Deputy Superintendent of Teaching and Learning, Dr. Jenna Chaisson, attributed the progress in reading by saying, “the progress our 4th graders made in reading is a testament to Louisiana’s educators for embracing our fundamental shift in how we teach students to read. We’ve set ambitious goals for our children and these results are a step in the right direction.”

When looking at the results of the National Report Card for the country as a whole and when singling out Louisiana,the results demonstrate a significant impact of the pandemic on students over the past couple of years. The disruptions to education were further exacerbated in Louisiana by Hurricanes Laura and Ida.

When compared to the 2019 data, Louisiana’s 4th grade reading improved by 2 points while the national average declined by 3 points. In 8th grade reading, Louisiana saw around the same level of scores as it did in 2019 with a 2-point decline compared to a 3-point decline nationally. In 4th grade math, Louisiana saw a 2-point decline compared to a 5-point decline nationally. In 8th grade math, Louisiana saw a 6-point decline compared to an 8-point decline nationally. NAEP results are used by teachers, principals, parents, policymakers, and researchers in order to assess progress and develop solutions to improve education in the United States.

The National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) is responsible for administering the NAEP program. They are a part of the U.S. Department of Education’s Institute of Education Sciences (IES). The National Assessment Governing Board (NAGB) sets policy for the NAEP program.

For more education-related information, click here.Louisiana Ranks First in the Nation for 4th Grade Reading Growth

Thanksgiving Travel Ideas

The Thanksgiving holiday is quickly approaching and if you haven’t already confirmed your travel plans or your destination, now’s the time. Luckily, if you’re scrambling to figure out what to do with your November holiday, it’s certainly not too late. The good news is that there are plenty of destinations to travel to over the Thanksgiving holiday without spending a lot of money. In this travel blog article from Travel + Leisure, you’ll find a great list of destinations that won’t break the bank as well as some advice on how to book last-minute deals so you don’t get stuck with high prices.

Many people have a tough time finding time to plan their Thanksgiving vacation in advance. One of the most stressful parts of this process is booking plane tickets, rental cars, or train tickets considering how expensive they can be near the holiday season. According to a survey from HomeToGo, 2022 prices of holiday flights are expected to reach the highest rates in the past five years. How do travelers adapt accordingly? Simply substitute your high-end vacation destinations like Cape Cod or Maui for versatile and magical destinations like Carolina Beach, which was recently named for having one of the best beaches in the state of North Carolina, or you can even substitute Isla Mujeres,which is located just off of the coast of Cancun.

Killington, Vermont

Killington is one of the best places to book an affordable last-minute Thanksgiving vacation; this is due to the fact that the town is located in the heart of the Green Mountains and is home to Killington Resort, the largest ski resort in New England.

Thanksgiving is clearly the optimal time to visit Killington, as the town is decked out in holiday lights and decorationsfor the annual Vermont Holiday Festival. This festival features nearly 100 beautifully decorated Christmas trees for families to enjoy as well as a slew of festive events. The town also has the annual Killington Turkey Trot 5K, which takes place on the morning of Thanksgiving. If you’re looking for some fun activities to do during your stay, Killington has plenty to offer; in addition to skiing and snowboarding, there’s ice skating, dog sled tours, snowmobiling, and more. And when you need a break from all the outdoor adventure, you can check out some of Killington’s top-rated restaurants and shops.

Carolina Beach, North Carolina

If you’re wanting a warmer area of the country than the ski paradise of Killington, then you ought to consider Carolina Beach, North Carolina for your Thanksgiving vacation destination this year. With its lovely weather and sandy shores, Carolina Beach is a great place to relax and enjoy the holiday. Plus, there are plenty of affordable hotels and vacation rentals available. For a budget-friendly option, check out the Ocean Dunes Resort & Villas. This resort offers oceanfront suites and villas at an affordable price. Another great option is the Hampton Inn & Suites Carolina Beach Oceanfront. This hotel provides guests with complimentary breakfast and a stellar view.

While staying in town, there’s no shortage of things to do in Carolina Beach. Stroll along the waterfront, enjoy a delicious seafood dinner, or explore the town’s many shops and boutiques. Be sure to visit the Carolina Beach Boardwalk, where you can ride the Ferris wheel, play some arcade games, and enjoy some tasty treats.

Greenville, South Carolina

Greenville is a great place to book an affordable last-minute Thanksgiving vacation. The city has a number of hotels and resorts that offer special rates for Thanksgiving weekend, making it a great option for those looking to save money on their holiday travel. Additionally, Greenville is home to a number of attractions and activities that are perfect for families or couples looking to enjoy some time together during the holidays. Thanks to its central location, Greenville is also a great jumping-off point for exploring the rest of South Carolina or taking a day trip to North Carolina.

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Red Beans and Rice with Sausage Recipe

Red beans and rice is a classic New Orleans dish, and it’s one of the tastiest and easiest dishes to make that’s also packed with flavor. Thanks to this genuine, flavorful New Orleans–Style Red Beans and Rice recipe from Serious Eats, you can rest assured that you’ll be enjoying a hearty bowl of red beans and sausage in no time.

Ingredients:

Directions:

  1. In order to begin cooking this recipe by placing your red beans in a large bowl and covering it with about 6 cups of cold water. Add 2 tablespoons of kosher salt and stir until the salt is dissolved. Set this aside for around 8 to 16 hours at room temperature. Afterward, drain the pot and rinse.
  2. Next, place your vegetable oil into a large Dutch oven and heat it over medium-high heat until it shimmers. Add your andouille or smoked sausage and cook, stirring, until the discs are lightly browned. This will take about 5 minutes. Then, add in your finely chopped onion, bell pepper, and celery. Season with salt and cook, stirring, until the vegetables have softened and are just starting to brown around the edges. This will take approximately 8 minutes.
  3. Add in your minced garlic and cook until the Dutch oven is quite fragrant. Stir in your cayenne pepper, sage, and a generous dozen grinds of fresh black peppercorn before adding your rinsed beans along with enough water to cover the Dutch Oven by about 2 inches (roughly 6 to 8 cups). If using, place your ham hock, tasso, or pickled pork into the pot. Additionally, add in your thyme leaves and three bay leaves. Bring the mixture to a boil and then reduce the heat to low and simmer for 1 1/2 to 2 1/2 hours before cooking is complete. Note: older beans take much longer to cook thoroughly than more recent ones.
  4. After the initial cooking, remove the lid of your Dutch oven, and add a cup of water to the pot. After about 20 minutes, the liquid should be reduced and start to turn creamy. It will not be as smooth or creamy if you’re cooking in a crock pot.
  5. Once satisfied with the texture and consistency, you’ll discard your bay leaves and thyme stems. Season to taste with your preferred amount of dashes of hot sauce, cider vinegar (if using), and salt and pepper. For the best texture, let your red beans and rice cool overnight in the refrigerator before reheating tomorrow. When reheating, add more water occasionally to make it looser when served. Serve red beans over white rice.
  6. Enjoy!

Notes:

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How to Spend Your Time in St. Louis, Missouri

If you’re looking for a great midwestern vacation destination, St. Louis is the perfect place to visit, especially when you’re supplied with this travel guide from Explore St. Louis.  Known as “The Gateway to the West,” St. Louis, Missouri is the most populous city in the state, and it reliably attracts those who want to explore America’s frontier past, look onward to its future, and bask in the present moment.

If you are looking for a new destination to explore, St. Louis might be the perfect place for you. This historic city is home to plenty of opportunities for fun activities and sightseeing, as well as local restaurants and attractions. Read on to find out more about what this amazing city has to offer!

Citygarden

Citygarden is a stunning public park located in the heart of St. Louis, Missouri. This oasis features 24 acres of manicured gardens, fountains, sculptures, and walking paths. Citygarden is the perfect place to take a break from sightseeing and enjoy some fresh air, as the park is open daily from sunrise to sunset.

Missouri History Museum

The Missouri History Museum is a great place to learn about the utterly rich history of the state of Missouri. The museum has interactive exhibits that tell the stories of Missouri’s people, places, and events. The museum also has aresearch center where you can find resources for your own family history research.

Missouri Botanical Garden

The Missouri Botanical Garden is one of the oldest and largest botanical gardens in the United States. Founded in 1859, the Garden now covers 79 acres (32 hectares) and is home to more than 6,000 different kinds of plants from all over the world. Highlights include the Japanese Garden, the Climatron geodesic dome greenhouse, and the Victorian-style Linnean House. The Garden also has an excellent education program, with classes and workshops for all ages.

Grand Center

Grand Center is one of the most vibrant areas in St. Louis, with a variety of things to do for all ages. The area is home to the Saint Louis Symphony Orchestra, The Fabulous Fox Theatre, and The Grandel Theatre, as well as many other smaller venues. There are also a number of museums in the area, including the Saint Louis Art Museum and the Contemporary Art Museum. In addition to all of the cultural attractions, Grand Center is also home to a number of restaurants, making it a great place to spend an evening.

Grant’s Farm

Grant’s Farm is a free attraction in St. Louis, Missouri that features over 900 animals from around the world. The farm is open daily, and visitors can take part in a variety of activities, including animal feedings, wagon rides, and camel rides. In addition to the animals, Grant’s Farm also features a number of historical buildings and exhibits. Whether you’re interested in animals, history, or you just want to spend a day outdoors, Grant’s Farm is a great place to visit.

Saint Louis Science Center

The Saint Louis Science Center is a great place to visit if you’re interested in science and technology. The center has many interactive exhibits, as well as a planetarium and an IMAX theater. You can also see live demonstrations of scientific principles in action. The St. Louis Science Center is a great place to learn about the world around us, while also being uniquely enjoyable.

Laumeler Sculpture Park

The Laumeler Sculpture Park is a great place to visit if you are looking for a place to see some amazing sculptures. The park is home to over 100 sculptures, which were created by artists from all over the world. The sculptures are made out of different materials, including stone, metal, and glass. The sculpture park is open to the public year-round, and there is no admission fee. Visitors can explore the park at their own pace, and there are plenty of benches and picnic tables scattered throughout the park for visitors to take a break. There is also a small pond in the park that adds to the tranquil atmosphere. Whether you are an art lover or just looking for a place to relax and enjoy the outdoors, the Laumeler Sculpture Park is definitely worth a visit.

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