The Current

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After public pushback against the ongoing overhaul of University Avenue and the future redevelopment of Bertrand Drive, Mayor-President Monique Boulet has pledged to make changes to both projects and revisit how local government designs city roadways.

“I am directing a reset on how the Lafayette Consolidated Government administration approaches the planning and design of urban roadways,” Boulet said in a press release Tuesday night.

The projects are different in scope and in different stages of development, and Boulet says the hiccups around them are “growing pains.” Still, she vowed to change course as criticism has intensified of late.

The University Corridor design, based on federal requirements, was finalized in 2022, and construction is only months away from being completed. Bertrand Drive, on the other hand, is still in design, with work on the utilities along the side of the roadway set to start later this year.

Read more at thecurrentla.com/2026/facing-backlash-boulet-detours-on-university-bertrand-projects/

Southwest Louisiana residents attending a public hearing called by the Louisiana Department of Environmental Quality inside the Cameron Parish Multipurpose Building on Thursday were frustrated.

The meeting was set to discuss whether LDEQ should issue a permit allowing Venture Global, an Arlington, Va. based global energy company, to discharge wastewater from its proposed Calcasieu Pass 2 liquified natural gas facility into the Calcasieu Ship Channel, which is connected to Lake Calcasieu. CP2 is a planned extension of the company’s existing CP1 LNG export terminal in Cameron.

While residents were asked to share their thoughts, a company representative at the meeting waived Venture Global’s rights to provide a presentation or remarks. There would be no Q&A either, LDEQ hearing officer Dallas Kittikoune told those in attendance.

“It’s kind of hard to comment on something you know absolutely nothing about,” Cameron Parish resident D.J. Cole told officials during the hearing. “I would expect Venture Global would have to give us some kind of insight on that as a neighbor, but we don’t know anything.”

That frustration extended to local officials.

“I came down here hoping to get a presentation or some kind of information on this,” said District 3 Police Juror Sam Bordelon, who noted that he drove nearly an hour from the northern portion of the parish to attend.

“I mean, to have a presentation, at least to inform the community would be much welcomed,” Bordelon added. “I think it would help out a lot with people’s concerns, and they may even know what to speak about.”

Read more at thecurrentla.com/2026/an-lng-terminal-wants-to-discharge-wastewater-into-cameron-waters-residents-demand-transparency/

Gov. Jeff Landry issued an executive order Tuesday asking state lawmakers to pull $168 million from K-12 public schools so the state can avoid cutting public school teacher and support staff pay in the coming school year.

“We should have the highest paid teachers in the South, not the lowest,” Landry said Tuesday during a news conference at the State Capitol.

The governor wants two-thirds of each chamber of the Louisiana Legislature to vote to shift the money from schools to pay stipends for teachers and staff in the 2026-27 academic year. The stipends would be worth $2,000 for teachers and $1,000 for school support workers, the same amount they have received the past three years.

The Louisiana Legislature passed a budget plan that does not include funding for those pay stipends. Landry’s executive order is supposed to guarantee that teachers and school support workers don’t see a reduction in their current compensation, even though the money is not in the state’s current spending plan that goes into effect July 1.

In his executive order, the governor specified that money for the stipends not be taken from funds that support classroom instruction, transportation, school security or food programs.

The $168 million would be drawn from the more than $4 billion in state funding in Louisiana’s school funding formula known as the Minimum Foundation Program. About $1.2 billion of that money is supposed to go to administrative functions, according to the Landry administration, but it’s unclear how much of that remains once transportation, security and food services are put off limits.

Not every educator who has received a state pay stipend for the past three years will receive one based on the governor’s plan. Landry said school administrators who previously got stipends won’t get them next school year.

“If you make $50,000 a year, you need a raise a lot more than somebody who makes $160,000,” Landry said.

Read more at thecurrentla.com/2026/landry-seeks-168-million-in-school-funding-to-cover-teacher-pay/

Lafayette’s school board is set to hold a public hearing Tuesday to try — yet again — to close Comeaux High School, reopening a contentious issue marked by a legal challenge, rescinded vote and prolonged uncertainty.

The latest turn comes just weeks after Superintendent Francis Touchet and board members signaled that the school would remain open this fall, even as Touchet simultaneously moved forward with plans to further shrink Comeaux’s student population.

“I received a call from Mr. Touchet this morning stating that at this point, we are open next year,” a Comeaux High administrator wrote in a May 11 email obtained by The Current.
In a lawsuit, Comeaux parents alleged the board failed to follow state open meetings law and its own policy requiring a public hearing in its March 12 vote to close the school. As the lawsuit moved through the court system, delaying implementation of the plan to close, the board met in April to rescind its decision to shutter the school and repurpose it as a career center — an action the Third Circuit Court of Appeal ruled rendered the lawsuit moot.

In dragging out the corrective action, however, the board is now faced with a legal bill to the tune of $45,000 for the plaintiffs’ attorneys, court costs and expenses. That’s in addition to tens of thousands of dollars it incurred defending the suit.

The board’s shifting decisions, abrupt special meetings and failure to follow the rules has sown confusion for students, families and staff.

The hearing is scheduled for 3 p.m. Tuesday at the system office, 202 Rue Iberville.

thecurrentla.com/2026/school-board-revives-comeaux-closure-effort/

More financial trouble is brewing in Grand Coteau. The town is nearly six months late on filing its audit report with the state, the deadline for which passed on Dec. 31 2025. As a result, the Louisiana Legislative Auditor’s office has placed the town on its audit non-compliance list, putting any state or federal funds the town receives in jeopardy.

“[The list] is the biggest stick we have,” says Judith Dettwiller, the LLA’s director of local government services. After two years of non-compliance, the state could appoint a fiscal administrator to oversee the town’s finances, Dettwiller notes.
Grand Coteau’s town attorney and Mayor Patrick Richard could not be reached by The Current for comment.

When a town is placed on the non-compliance list, it can no longer legally receive new state grant funding or federal funds that pass through the state, which is the majority of federal grants.

In the last published audit, covering July 1, 2023, through June 30, 2024, the town had $813,967 in intergovernmental revenue, a majority of which came from state or federal funds.

Read more at thecurrentla.com/2026/grand-coteaus-town-audit-is-nowhere-to-be-found/

Sitting on the sunny patio of Caffe Cottage on St. Mary Boulevard, ready to dig into quesadillas, beignet fries, wings and red velvet cake, the Foodiez of the Flatz are already talking about their next meal. A new hibachi rice burrito recipe they want to try out? A wine and wings dinner party?

There had always been cookouts, festivals and school fundraisers in the lives of Crista Prejean, her husband Joseph “Joe” Prejean, his sister Kearon Prejean and best friend Brianna Francis. But since they started their food review channel Foodiez of Tha Flatz, food has taken center stage.

“We’re already eating, so let’s review the food,” Kearon Prejean says of their idea to start a food review channel on social media that has grown to over 17,000 followers on TikTok and over 6,000 on Instagram. “I feel like that would be a way for y’all to hang out with us,” adds Crista.

Read more at thecurrentla.com/2026/the-foodiez-of-tha-flatz-go-to-lunch/

When Paula Prejean looked at her February utility bill, she was in shock. The water bill was roughly six times higher than during the same period last year, with no clear explanation why.

“I was looking at $500 just to keep the lights on,” she said.
Both her water and wastewater usage appeared to have gone through the roof.

Prejean reached out to Lafayette Utilities System multiple times, suspecting there might be something wrong with the meter.

After LUS pulled the meter for testing and installed a temporary one, her bills went back to normal. But the utility maintains there was no issue with the meter, which tallied use of 30,000 gallons of water in February alone. Prejean’s typical bills meter about 4,000 gallons of water used per month.
Prejean says she still owes LUS $800, on top of what she has already paid to restore her service.

Several other residents on Moss Street reported similar billing problems to KATC in late April, asking LUS to address their high water bills. Those residents told both The Current and KATC that they saw their bills skyrocket after LUS switched their service from a temporary supply through a nearby fire hydrant to repaired lines monitored by a new meter. The news story came after landlord Guy Ranzino and his business partner posted about the issue on Facebook. Prejean is one of Ranzino’s tenants.

LUS stood firm then that there isn’t anything wrong with its meters.

“Prior to installation, the meters go through rigorous testing to ensure quality,” LUS Director Jeff Stewart tells The Current in an email. “[Over measurement] is an extremely rare occurrence.”

Instead, Stewart posits that high water usage, leaks, running toilets or other changes in utility usage are behind the extremely high charges, not improperly programmed meters.

Read more at thecurrentla.com/2026/a-northside-resident-says-lus-overcharged-her-now-she-fears-losing-her-home/

Gov. Jeff Landry wants to use $150 million normally dedicated to K-12 school operations to replace a $2,000 stipend public school teachers were expected to lose this coming year, according to four Louisiana lawmakers familiar with the plan.

The governor has proposed taking money normally distributed to public school districts through a funding formula called the Minimum Foundation Program and using it for teacher compensation.

The legislators who spoke about the governor’s proposition did not want to be named because they did not have permission to talk about it publicly. They included two senators and two state representatives, three of them Republicans and one Democrat.

The plan will require Landry to issue an executive order after the Louisiana Legislature’s session has finished June 1. Two-thirds of state lawmakers in each chamber also have to approve moving the money, with a vote taking place by mail-in ballot.

Read more at thecurrentla.com/2026/landry-may-look-to-school-funds-to-cover-teacher-pay/

Unfortunately, a large corporation now wants to take away the land that I — and many others — hold so dearly. I do not know where I would be today without it. While other kids may spend their time getting into trouble, I am in the marsh with the people I care about. Pecan Island is not just where I hunt — it is part of who I am. Louisiana is known as the “Sportsman’s Paradise,” but you cannot have a “Sportsman’s Paradise” without sportsmen. It is not called the “Rocket Ship Paradise” for a reason. Generations of sportsmen have lived on and hunted this land for hundreds of years. Many residents of Pecan Island rely on these marshes for their livelihoods, and without them, their way of life would suffer greatly.

With all of this in mind, I wrote to the president of Vermilion Corporation, P. R. Burke, last month, asking the company to do everything in its power to make a difference.

Like Jethro in Across Five Aprils by Irene Hunt — who wrote a letter to President Abraham Lincoln during a time of uncertainty — I hope the company and others responsible for protecting our land help preserve Louisiana in its natural state.
Gardez la Louisiane belle.

Read the full letter at thecurrentla.com/2026/letter-the-marshes-raised-me-now-they-need-us/