Nursing Student Kills 2, Turns Gun on Self

25K people urged to evacuate ahead of spillway opening

(NEWSER) - Louisiana—faced with the choice of flooding farmland or risking major floods in New Orleans and Baton Rouge —is preparing to open a relief valve and swamp large areas of farmland in Cajun country. The Morganza spillway is about to be opened for the first time in 38 years and just the second time in its history, releasing a torrent of water expected to gradually submerge an area the size of Connecticut under up to 25 feet of water, the AP reports. More»

One option could devastate New Orleans; the other would destroy farmland

(NEWSER) - In Louisiana, a terrible choice: Frantically sandbag the levees in an attempt to prevent a flood in New Orleans and Baton Rouge that could be greater than Katrina in some areas—or open a relief valve and purposely flood 200 miles of farmland, potentially destroying the livelihoods of many Louisiana farmers and fishermen? If the Army Corps of Engineers chooses to open the Morganza Spillway, it will be only the second time the relief valve has been used since it was completed 57 years ago, the Washington Post reports. More»

(NEWSER) - A Louisiana teenager shot himself in the head today after firing at a middle school teacher who refused to praise Marilyn Manson, Houmatoday.com reports. The 15-year-old Larose-Cut Off Middle School student, identified as Justin Doucet, left a suicide note saying he planned to go on a shooting spree. He remains in hospital in critical but stable condition, the AP reports. More»

(NEWSER) - Louisiana GOP Senator David Vitter will meet a substantial opponent in his 2010 bid for re-election: porn star Stormy Daniels, CNN reports. A grass-roots “Draft Stormy” campaign, unaffiliated with the state’s Democratic Party, has encouraged the buxom blond to run on a platform of the economy, women’s issues, and child safety. The push is shining the light back on Vitter’s 2007 prostitution scandal. More»

'Whiz kid,' 36, pledges ethics, economic reform

(NEWSER) - Louisiana's first non-white chief executive since Reconstruction—and the first elected Indian-American governor in US history—vowed yesterday in his inauguration speech to clean up the corruption-plagued state. The charismatic Piyush "Bobby" Jindal, a Roman-Catholic convert from Hinduism, is a conservative Republican who also becomes, at age 36, the nation's youngest governor in office. More»