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Progress slow to come on La. home insurance Legislature stays the course on current bills BY SAM KARLIN | Staff writer
THE RIVER’S RECKONING
The Mighty Mississippi created Louisiana, but the state and nation are struggling to contend with its challenging new era BY MIKE SMITH | Staff writer First in a series ABOARD THE HURLEY — Mayo Broussard is back at a familiar bend in the Mississippi River, looking over its deep, muddy currents, helping solve a problem. The world is depending on it. The 78-year-old, with a bushy white beard and a pack of Marlboros in his pocket, is maneuvering across the deck of an Army Corps of Engineers dredge ship downriver from Baton Rouge. Barges and tugboats are lined up nearby like STAFF PHOTO By CHRIS GRANGER an armada of commerce. Loui- ABOVE: Mayo Broussard, with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, siana’s State Capitol building shimmers in the far-off dis- takes a break on the Mississippi River near Baton Rouge. ‘The river’s constantly trying to change itself. We’re trying to control it,’ he said. tance. Broussard has been up and TOP: The Mississippi River looking upriver with New Orleans toward down this stretch of the Missis- the right, with Lake Pontchartrain in the background. sippi, watching it and measur- STAFF PHOTO By DAVID GRUNFELD ing it, clearing out the muck buried deep below its surface so the giant vessels stacked “Bottom line — and whatever that vital mission is colliding with freight from across the it takes, we do it,” Broussard with new realities on the river globe can pass safely. For him, said. that hold profound consequencthe calculation is simple: The But along the Mississippi es for everyone living beside it. goods must flow. from Baton Rouge to the Gulf, And as the new era emerges,
Louisiana and the nation are struggling to contend with it. Broussard recalls his early years in the industry, doing the dirty work of managing the mud being dug up from the depths. There were goods to be shipped and money to be made, and the river, despite all its twists and turns, provided a direct path to prosperity. That’s even more true now, and underneath the ship, the Hurley, is one of a dozen curves in the river between Baton Rouge and New Orleans that stack up with mini-mountains of mud, threatening navigation. It can take more than a month to finish the job here, even for the Hurley, the largest dredge of its type in North America. A giant dustpan-like machine drops down from the ship, vacuuming sediment and spitting it back out from a long pipe to be swept downriver with the currents. When it’s deep enough for vessels the size of three football fields to pass, the work is done. For now.
ä See RIVER, page 10A
ä For an interactive version of this story with a video and map, go to theadvocate.com.
A year after Republican leaders ushered in a series of pro-industry changes in a bid to alleviate the home insurance crisis in Louisiana, officials are confronting a hard truth: there are few immediate signs of relief. Insurance rates are not likely to come down dramatically, at least in the near term. And while the ongoing legislative session has put the focus on auto insurance rates, many homeowners in south Louisiana still face the threat of losing their homes over high property insurance bills. With homeowners’ insurance rates ticking upward for most homeowners since the changes the Legislature adopted last year, lawmakers appear poised to stay the course on a proindustry strategy. They’ve rejected bills this session that would require insurers to reveal more information Landry about their finances and to mandate certain levels of discounts for homeowners with fortified roofs. A broad tax break for homeowners paying high pre- Temple miums appears unlikely. The lack of progress has frustrated Gov. Jeff Landry, who is at odds with fellow Republican Insurance Commissioner Tim Temple, the architect of the insurerfriendly plan. But industry groups and Temple say they are starting to see signs of improvement. A handful of companies have won approval to start writing home insurance policies in the past year. And a handful of companies have filed rate decreases, though an analysis of state data from The Times-Picayune | The Advocate shows that rate increases are outpacing the declines.
ä See INSURANCE, page 8A
Singer carries Brusly’s hopes on ‘Idol’ stage John Foster has lifted community after tragedy BY JAN RISHER | Staff writer The first public place “American Idol” finalist John Foster ever performed was at Morley Marina in socalled “Back Brusly.” For the uninitiated, in Brusly, everything west of La. 1 is considered Back Brusly. “When you cross the highway, you go to Front Brusly,” explained Morley Marina manager, Jeremy Prejean. Prejean has known Foster since he was a toddler. They were neighbors
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for years. He remembers Foster’s first performance at Morley’s well — and is quick to credit the young singer’s rise to his uncle, Gaylen Martin. Prejean is not alone. Rick Bourgoyne and Blake Sarradet, both longtime employees at Foster’s family’s business, Benoit’s Country Meat Block in Addis, also credit Martin for helping get Foster’s career off the ground. So does his grandmother, Verbie Benoit. (Foster’s legal last name is Benoit. He grew up using the double name “John Foster.”) Even so, Martin isn’t quick to take much of the credit, but he does acknowledge that he recognized early on that Foster, from Addis, had something special.
“I just started teaching him some guitar chords and working with him a little bit. He was a really fast learner,” Martin said. “Anytime I would teach him something and tell him to go home and practice it, the next day or so, he’d have it figured out.” Martin has taken time off from his job as an outside sales person for a welding fabrication company to go with Foster to the “American Idol” audition in Nashville, Tennessee, then to Hawaii. On Friday night, he was packing his bags, getting ready to leave early Saturday morning for his second trip to Hollywood. Martin, 55, married Foster’s aunt — his father’s sister — and became part
STAFF PHOTO By MICHAEL JOHNSON
‘American Idol’ finalist John Foster performs ‘Don’t Rock the Jukebox’ at Bayou Plaquemine Waterfront Park in Plaquemine on ä See FOSTER, page 9A Wednesday.
Business ......................1E Deaths .........................4B Opinion ........................6B Classified ..................... 2F Living............................1D Nation-World................2A Commentary ................7B Metro ...........................1B Sports ..........................1C
100TH yEAR, NO. 322