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Seafood testing campaign ahead of Super Bowl raises awareness of foreign shrimp • Louisiana Illuminator

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lailluminator.com – Wesley Muller – 2025-02-04 05:00:00

Seafood testing campaign ahead of Super Bowl raises awareness of foreign shrimp

by Wesley Muller, Louisiana Illuminator
February 4, 2025

A new round of genetic seafood testing conducted for a state advisory panel detected foreign shrimp that was falsely presented as domestic in a small percentage of the restaurants sampled in New Orleans, despite a new state law that forbids the practice. 

Sead Consulting, a Houston, Texas, company, made headlines last year when it detected mostly foreign shrimp served at the Louisiana Shrimp and Petroleum Festival in Morgan City. It announced Monday that it tested seafood at 24 randomly selected restaurants ahead of Super Bowl LIX and found three had served foreign, farm-raised shrimp while billing their catch as local. 

All 24 restaurants had explicitly advertised their shrimp as either “Gulf” or “authentic” on their food menus when Sead undercover inspectors collected samples Jan. 14-19, according to company spokeswoman Glenda Beasley. 

Sead launched its testing efforts last year at restaurants and festivals along the Gulf Coast as domestic shrimpers and governments try to crack down on the influx of cheap foreign catch flooding the U.S. seafood market over the past two decades. 

“While New Orleans has the lowest shrimp fraud rate we’ve seen in our multi-state study so far, the deception we did uncover is particularly blatant,” Sead Consulting executive Erin Williams said in the release. “These restaurants aren’t just using suggestive imagery and wording — they are explicitly marketing their shrimp as ‘Gulf’ or ‘authentic’ while serving something else.”

It is illegal to misrepresent imported seafood as local and can result in heavy fines and, in some cases, even felony criminal charges at the federal level. On the regulatory side, the Federal Trade Commission prohibits restaurants from using misleading menu descriptions, slogans, decorations or imagery, such as nets or photos of shrimp boats on their walls, that suggest their seafood is local when they’re actually serving imported farm-raised fare.

There have been 2,600 violations of Louisiana’s imported shrimp law — and no fines

Additionally, a Louisiana law that took effect this year ushered in heavier fines for false seafood labeling and required restaurants to clearly state the country of origin of seafood on their menus. Similar state laws have not been enforced in the past. 

The Louisiana Restaurant Association, which state lawmakers have asked to help make restaurant owners aware of the new law, did not respond to requests for comment Monday made by phone and email. 

Sead does not disclose the names of restaurants found to be misrepresenting their seafood. Instead, the company said it prefers to publicly list the restaurants that are operating truthfully. 

In December, the Louisiana Shrimp Task Force, an advisory panel for the Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries, asked Sead Consulting to analyze shrimp from restaurants across multiple cities in an effort to eliminate all shrimp fraud in the state. 

“Customers deserve to know exactly what they’re eating, and our shrimping communities must be able to trust that restaurants using local shrimp imagery and language are genuinely selling that product,” Louisiana Shrimp Task Force member Andrew Blanchard said in a statement.

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Louisiana Illuminator is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Louisiana Illuminator maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Greg LaRose for questions: info@lailluminator.com.

News from the South - Louisiana News Feed

House members elected to Louisiana Senate seats in Baton Rouge, Lafayette

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lailluminator.com – Greg LaRose – 2025-02-15 20:21:00

by Greg LaRose, Louisiana Illuminator
February 15, 2025

Voters in Baton Rouge and Lafayette chose new members of the Louisiana Senate in a special election Saturday, elevating current members of the state House of Representatives to both open seats.

Rep. Larry Selders of Baton Rouge won outright in the race to fill the vacancy in Senate District 14 created when Cleo Fields won November’s election for the 6th Congressional District.  Selders, a first-term state lawmaker, avoided a runoff against fellow Democrats Quentin Anthony Anderson, a community advocate and nonprofit leader, and school system social worker Carolyn Hill.

Selders is also a social worker and was a member of the Recreation and Park Commission for East Baton Rouge Parish (BREC) before joining the Legislature in 2021.

In Senate District 23, state Rep. Brach Myers of Lafayette won a head-to-head battle with fellow Republican Jesse Regan, a Lafayette Parish councilman and business owner.

Myers, who took his House seat in January 2024, is part of the family that founded the home health company LHC Group, which sold for $5.4 billion to UnitedHealth in February 2024.  He will fill the seat Jean-Paul Coussan left open when he won election to the Louisiana Public Service Commission last year.

The Louisiana Secretary of State will not declare official winners until Monday.

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Louisiana Illuminator is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Louisiana Illuminator maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Greg LaRose for questions: info@lailluminator.com.

The post House members elected to Louisiana Senate seats in Baton Rouge, Lafayette appeared first on lailluminator.com

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NOAA’s vast public weather data powers local forecasts. A private company alone can’t match it.

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lailluminator.com – Christine Wiednmyer, Kari Bowen – 2025-02-15 15:00:00

NOAA’s vast public weather data powers local forecasts. A private company alone can’t match it.

by Christine Wiednmyer and Kari Bowen, Louisiana Illuminator
February 15, 2025

When a hurricane or tornado starts to form, your local weather forecasters can quickly pull up maps tracking its movement and showing where it’s headed. But have you ever wondered where they get all that information?

The forecasts can seem effortless, but behind the scenes, a vast network of satellites, airplanes, radar, computer models and weather analysts are providing access to the latest data – and warnings when necessary. This data comes from analysts at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, known as NOAA, and its National Weather Service.

Atmospheric scientists Christine Wiedinmyer and Kari Bowen, who is a former National Weather Service forecaster, explained NOAA’s central role in most U.S. weather forecasts.

When people see a weather report on TV, what went on at NOAA to make that forecast possible?

A lot of the weather information Americans rely on starts with real-time data collected by NOAA satellites, airplanes, weather balloons, radar and maritime buoys, as well as weather stations around the world.

All of that information goes into the agency’s computers, which process the data to begin defining what’s going on in different parts of the atmosphere.

NOAA forecasters use computer models that simulate physics and the behavior of the atmosphere, along with their own experience and local knowledge, to start to paint a picture of the weather – what’s coming in a few minutes or hours or days. They also use that data to project seasonal conditions out over weeks or months.

NOAA’s data comes from many sources to provide a more complete picture of developing climate and weather conditions. Communities and economies rely on that constantly updated information. (NOAA)

When severe weather is on the way, the agency issues the official alerts you’ll see in the news and on your phone.

All of this analysis happens before the information reaches private weather apps and TV stations.

No matter who you are, you can freely access that data and the analyses. In fact, a large number of private companies use NOAA data to create fancy maps and other weather products that they sell.

It would be extremely difficult to do all of that without NOAA.

The agency operates a fleet of 18 satellites that are packed with instruments dedicated to observing weather phenomena essential to predicting the weather, from how hot the land surface is to the water content of the atmosphere. Some are geostationary satellites which sit high above different parts of the U.S. measuring weather conditions 24/7. Others orbit the planet. Many of these are operated as part of partnerships with NASA or the Air Force.

Some private companies are starting to invest in satellites, but it would take an enormous amount of money to replicate the range of instrumentation and coverage that NOAA has in place. Satellites only last so long and take time to build, so NOAA is continually planning for the future, and using its technical expertise to develop new instruments and computer algorithms to interpret the data.

NOAA’s low earth orbiting satellites circle the planet from pole to pole and across the equator 14 times a day to provide a full picture of the year twice a day. The agency also has geostationary satellites that provide continuous coverage over the U.S. (NOAA)

Maritime buoys are another measuring system that would be difficult to replicate. Over 1,300 buoys across oceans around the world measure water temperature, wind and wave height – all of which are essential for coastal warnings, as well as long-term forecasts.

Weather observation has been around a long time. President Ulysses S. Grant created the first national weather service in the War Department in 1870. It became a civilian service in 1880 under the Department of Agriculture and is now in the Commerce Department. The information its scientists and technologists produce is essential for safety and also benefits people and industries in a lot of ways.

Could a private company create forecasts on its own without NOAA data?

It would be difficult for one company to provide comprehensive weather data in a reliable way that is also accessible to the entire public.

Some companies might be able to launch their own satellite, but one satellite only gives you part of the picture. NOAA’s weather observation network has been around for a long time and collects data from points all over the U.S. and the oceans. Without that robust data, computer models and the broad network of forecasters and developers, forecasting also becomes less reliable.

Analyzing that data is also complex. You’re not going to be able to take satellite data, run a model on a standard laptop and suddenly have a forecast.

And there’s a question of whether a private company would want to take on the legal risk of being responsible for the nation’s forecasts and severe weather warnings.

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NOAA is taxpayer-funded, so it is a public good – its services provide safety and security for everyone, not just those who can pay for it.

If weather data was only available at a price, one town might be able to afford the weather information necessary to protect its residents, while a smaller town or a rural area across the state might not. If you’re in a tornado-prone area or coastal zone, that information can be the difference between life or death.

Is climate data and research into the changing climate important for forecasts?

The Earth’s systems – its land, water and the atmosphere – are changing, and we have to be able to assess how those changes will impact weather tomorrow, in two weeks and far into the future.

Rising global temperatures affect weather patterns. Dryness can fuel wildfires. Forecasts have to take the changing climate into account to be accurate, no matter who is creating the forecast.

Drought is an example. The dryness of the Earth controls how much water gets exchanged with the atmosphere to form clouds and rainfall. To have an accurate weather prediction, we need to know how dry things are at the surface and how that has changed over time. That requires long-term climate information.

NOAA doesn’t do all of this by itself – who else is involved?

NOAA partners with private sector, academia, nonprofits and many others around the world to ensure that everyone has the best information to produce the most robust weather forecasts. Private weather companies and media also play important roles in getting those forecasts and alerts out more widely to the public.

A lot of businesses rely on accuracy from NOAA’s weather data and forecasts: aviation, energy companies, insurance, even modern tractors’ precision farming equipment. The agency’s long-range forecasts are essential for managing state reservoirs to ensure enough water is saved and to avoid flooding.

The government agency can be held accountable in a way private businesses are not because it answers to Congress. So, the data is trustworthy, accessible and developed with the goal to protect public safety and property for everyone. Could the same be said if only for-profit companies were producing that data?

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This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.

Louisiana Illuminator is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Louisiana Illuminator maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Greg LaRose for questions: info@lailluminator.com.

The post NOAA’s vast public weather data powers local forecasts. A private company alone can’t match it. appeared first on lailluminator.com

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Strong storms moving through Saturday night, cooler Sunday

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www.youtube.com – WDSU News – 2025-02-15 10:09:37

SUMMARY: Today is designated as a weather alert day due to expected storms overnight, including the possibility of isolated tornadoes and damaging winds. Meteorologists will be monitoring the situation closely, with storms likely peaking between midnight and 3 A.M. Following these storms, a cold front will bring cooler temperatures for Sunday, expected to dip into the 60s. While heavy rain and severe weather is anticipated tonight, flooding is not a significant concern. Additional showers and thunderstorms could occur from Tuesday night into Wednesday. Overall, expect warm and windy conditions today, transitioning to clearer, cooler weather by Sunday afternoon.

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Strong storms moving through Saturday night, cooler Sunday

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