PINEVILLE, Louisiana, March 19 -- Cleco, a regulated electricity utility company, issued the following news release: Last Friday, Cleco announced the activation of its Pandemic Response Plan and the practice of "social distancing." The company's social distancing efforts include the closure of all Cleco offices, including its corporate headquarters building in Pineville, to the public with non-critical administrative employees working remotely from home. Employees critical to operations will c  more

NEW ORLEANS, Louisiana, March 21 -- Entergy issued the following news release: * * * - Emergency assistance to be distributed to United Way, other nonprofit partners providing services to impacted households * * * In an effort to help working families experiencing financial hardships as a result of the coronavirus pandemic, the Entergy Charitable Foundation has established the COVID-19 Emergency Relief Fund. "The health and safety of our customers, employees and communities is Entergy's top  more

BATON ROUGE, Louisiana, March 17 -- Gov. John Bel Edwards, D-Louisiana, issued the following news: Gov. John Bel Edwards took additional significant measures to reduce the spread of COVID-19 in Louisiana, further limiting the size of gatherings to fewer than 50 people, closing casinos, bars and movie theaters and limiting restaurants to delivery, take out and drive-through orders only. These changes are effective statewide at midnight. Operations may be able to resume on April 13, however, the   more

BATON ROUGE, Louisiana, March 17 -- Gov. John Bel Edwards, D-Louisiana, issued the following news: Gov. John Bel Edwards significantly expanded his recent proclamation aimed at reducing the spread of COVID-19 across Louisiana. The state has reported its third death related to the coronavirus and the number of positive cases continues to rise statewide. The updated proclamation calls for a limit to gatherings of no more than 50 as recommended by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, a  more

BATON ROUGE, Louisiana, March 21 -- Gov. John Bel Edwards, D-Louisiana, issued the following news: This Monday, March 23, Gov. John Bel Edwards will be joined by health experts and members of his administration for a live statewide discussion on Louisiana's response to COVID-19. It will air from 7-8 PM on television and radio stations across the state and on multiple digital platforms. The program will be produced and broadcast from the studio of Louisiana Public Broadcasting in Baton Rouge. "  more

BATON ROUGE, Louisiana, March 21 -- Gov. John Bel Edwards, D-Louisiana, issued the following news on March 20: Gov. John Bel Edwards reminded Louisianans of aggressive mitigation measures put into place to reduce the spread of COVID-19 in the state, where there currently are 537 confirmed cases and 14 deaths from the illness. "Today Louisiana confirmed four deaths related to COVID-19 and 145 new cases of the illness, which is rapidly spreading in our state and is now in 27 parishes. As I have   more

BATON ROUGE, Louisiana, March 18 -- Gov. John Bel Edwards, D-Louisiana, issued the following news: Gov. John Bel Edwards requested the Small Business Administration (SBA) provide Economic Injury Disaster Loans for Orleans and Jefferson parishes as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. While this request is specific to the two parishes with the highest number of cases in Louisiana at this time, Gov. Edwards will request SBA assistance for all 64 parishes in the state. Louisiana must first show doc  more

BATON ROUGE, Louisiana, March 19 -- Gov. John Bel Edwards, D-Louisiana, issued the following news: Gov. John Bel Edwards sent a letter to President Donald Trump and Vice President Mike Pence requesting temporary changes to several federal programs in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. "As this crisis advances, we are continuing to evaluate and assess the impacts of the disaster, and to foresee coming impacts. It is clear that we will need to provide assistance for businesses and their employe  more

BATON ROUGE, Louisiana, March 20 -- Gov. John Bel Edwards, D-Louisiana, issued the following news: Gov. Edwards on Thursday signed an update to his Public Health Emergency declaration related to the COVID-19 outbreak, which waives some education requirements in the law and also suspends some laboratory requirements to speed the process of coronavirus testing, among other things. Click here (https://gov.louisiana.gov/assets/Proclamations/2020/JBE-32-20-Additional-Measures-For-Covid-19.pdf) to r  more

BATON ROUGE, Louisiana, March 20 -- Gov. John Bel Edwards, D-Louisiana, issued the following news: Gov. John Bel Edwards announced that small businesses in all 64 Louisiana parishes will have access to federal Small Business Administration disaster aid in the wake of the COVID-19 crisis. SBA Administrator Jovita Carranza confirmed that Louisiana's more than 440,000 small business are eligible to apply for low-interest federal disaster loans, which will be made available to eligible firms suffer  more

BATON ROUGE, Louisiana, March 16 -- Gov. John Bel Edwards, D-Louisiana, issued the following news on March 14: The State of Louisiana reports first death related to COVID-19. The Orleans Parish resident was a 58-year-old individual with underlying health conditions. The patient was being treated at Touro Infirmary Hospital and Medical Center. "It is with heavy hearts that we announce the first Louisiana death related to COVID-19 today," said Gov. Edwards. "I have spoken with Mayor LaToya Cantr  more

BATON ROUGE, Louisiana, March 16 -- Gov. John Bel Edwards, D-Louisiana, issued the following news: The State of Louisiana reports a second death related to COVID-19. The Orleans Parish resident was a 53-year-old individual with underlying medical conditions. The patient was being treated at Touro Infirmary in New Orleans. "Sadly, we have lost our second Louisianan to COVID-19," said Gov. Edwards. "We ask the state to join us in sending prayers to the family members and friends who are going th  more

BATON ROUGE, Louisiana, March 19 -- Louisiana Attorney General Jeff Landry issued the following news release on March 18: At a press conference just now, Louisiana Attorney General Jeff Landry joined Governor John Bel Edwards and LSU Football Coach Ed Orgeron to encourage teamwork in fighting the spread of COVID-19 in our State. General Landry's prepared remarks are as follows: Good Afternoon. Thank you for being here. My name is Jeff Landry, and I am the Attorney General of Louisiana. Let m  more

BATON ROUGE, Louisiana, March 19 -- The Louisiana State University Paul M. Hebert Law Center issued the following news on March 17: * * * - classes to resume on Monday, March 23 * * * LSU Law faculty and staff members began working remotely due to concerns about the COVID-19 virus, and classes will resume for students online beginning Monday, March 23. The LSU Law Library and IT office are both closed, however, staff members continue to provide basic services and assistance to students, fac  more

BATON ROUGE, Louisiana, March 19 -- The Louisiana State University Ag Center issued the following news release on March 18: As the nation's economy has ground to an abrupt halt, crawfish producers are dealing with fallout. Restaurants have shuttered, with many offering only delivery or drive-through business, so they aren't buying much crawfish. Crawfish producer Gerard Frey, of Acadia Parish, said this is unprecedented. "It's crippling right now," Frey said. "We've never faced anything like  more

RUSTON, Louisiana, March 21 [TNSgrants] -- Louisiana Tech University issued the following news: Louisiana Tech's Institute on Blindness has received grant approval for Structured Discovery Cane Travel (SDCT) and Structured Discovery rehabilitation training, a development that brings more depth and opportunity to the Institute's education programs that are specialized for teaching individuals who are blind or visually impaired. Louisiana Tech University is the only university in Louisiana to o  more

SHREVEPORT, Louisiana, March 17 -- Southwestern Electric Power issued the following news release: Southwestern Electric Power Co. (SWEPCO), an American Electric Power (NYSE: AEP) company, has reached a settlement agreement with all parties, including the Louisiana Public Service Commission (LPSC) Staff, the Alliance for Affordable Energy and Walmart, Inc., regarding SWEPCO's proposal to add 810 megawatts (MW) of wind energy. The settlement agreement is subject to final approval by the LPSC fol  more

NEW ORLEANS, Louisiana, March 19 -- Tulane University issued the following news release: Tulane University School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine has launched Tulane Outbreak Daily, a curated daily wrap-up of the timeliest and most relevant news and data focused on emerging infectious diseases like COVID-19. The newsletter is curated and produced by Claudinne Miller, an intelligence analyst who has for years produced reports to top-level U.S. government leadership and international publ  more

NEW ORLEANS, Louisiana, March 17 -- Tulane University issued the following news release: The massive Thwaites Glacier, on the continent of Antarctica, is more than 7,000 miles from Blessey Hall, the Tulane University building where geologist Brent Goehring teaches such classes as Isotopes in the Environment, Geologic Dating Methods and Physical Geology. But the Thwaites Glacier -- a Florida-sized mass of ice that is melting at nearly twice the rate it did in the mid-1990s -- is where Goehring   more

NEW ORLEANS, Louisiana, March 19 [TNSmedicalresearch] -- Tulane University issued the following news release: The coronavirus behind the global COVID-19 pandemic likely evolved from nature and not a lab, according to a new genetic study in Nature Medicine co-authored by a Tulane University virologist. A team of scientists from Tulane, Scripps Research Institute, Columbia University, University of Edinburgh and University of Sydney analyzed the genome sequence of the novel SARS-CoV-2 coronaviru  more