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‘Built on Zydeco’ highlights La. artists
Documentary shows intimate look at the lives of three performers BY JOANNA BROWN | Staff writer
of local legends like Keith Frank and the Soileau Zydeco Band, or If life in southwest Louisiana Buckwheat Zydeco Jr. and his was a highlight reel, zydeco would legendary Ils Sont Partis players. When the good times are rolling, be the soundtrack. From backyard boils to gradua- there’s probably a zydeco musition parties, no Louisiana celebra- cian somewhere in the scene keeption is complete without the music ing the energy dialed up — but the
thing about a highlight reel is that it rarely shows the effort it took to get the party going in the first place. In “Built on Zydeco,” a new documentary from Lafayette filmmakers Milton Arceneaux and Dustin Cravins, three zydeco stars pull
of these zydeco artists that are world-renowned, and happen to be friends of mine,” said Cravins. back the curtain on their lives. His father, Don Cravins, founded Terrence Simien, Reggie Dural Jr. the Zydeco Extravaganza music and Keith Frank are larger-than- festival in the 1980s to highlight life on stage, but in this film, they the vibrancy of the region’s Creole are working musicians balancing culture and music. “A year ago, we were promoting family, business and the grind of life on the road. “It’s a glimpse into the lives ä See DOCUMENTARY, page 11A
Louisiana stays out of redistricting melee
THE RIVER’S RECKONING
State awaiting Supreme Court’s decision on its congressional map
BY MARK BALLARD | Staff writer
STAFF PHOTOS BY DAVID GRUNFELD
The Old River Control Structures near Lettsworth keep the Mississippi River from changing course to the Atchafalaya River.
HOLDING BACK
THE RIVER
Keeping the Mississippi from changing course is vital for Louisiana and the nation, but new challenges are emerging Second in a series
BY MIKE SMITH | Staff writer LETTSWORTH — The giant steel doors below Russell Beauvais’ feet are holding back water that can determine the future of south Louisiana — and far beyond. On one side of the elaborate complex in this remote corner of the state lined with sugar cane fields is the Mississippi River. The other side leads to the Atchafalaya River. Allowing the two to merge — as nature would prefer — would be nothing short of epochal. “Without this, the nation and the state of Louisiana wouldn’t exist like it is today,” the 61-year-old Cajun from the nearby town of Morganza says of the Old River Control Structures, where he serves as operations manager. Of all the levees, gates and walls keeping the Mississippi River in place across the length of America’s spine, Old River Control may be the most consequential. Without it, river shipping, industry along the lower Mississippi, the region’s drinking water and communities along its banks — including New Orleans — would be forever changed. But the structure’s operations were
Russell Beauvais, operations manager for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Old River Control Structures, stands on one of the structure sections. designed in another era, and a new set of pressing problems across the lower river have emerged. They range from saltwater intrusion moving upriver from the Gulf to how flood control systems along the Mississippi are operated. Changing conditions related to the riverbed and intensifying rainfall are also stoking some concern about the possibility of the structure being over-
ä For more from this series, go to theadvocate.COM
powered one day, and whether the nation is underestimating that catastrophic risk. Those questions and more are demanding the country investigate how Old River can be adapted to deal with them. Despite the structure’s vital importance, that task is proving to be problematic, beset by competing
ä See RIVER, page 8A
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump has urged Republican legislatures to take the rare step of redrawing congressional election maps halfway through the traditional 10-year cycle, launching a gerrymandering arms race that has spread to state capitols across America. The fight started in Texas, but now Republican-run states of Florida, Indiana, Ohio and maybe Missouri also are gearing up to redraw election maps and send more GOP members to the House. In response, Democrats launched their own mid-cycle redistrict- Trump ing efforts in states like California, New York, Illinois, Maryland, New Jersey and Colorado. But Louisiana will sit out the scrum for the time being while the state litigates its redistricting case before the U.S. Supreme Court. “To the best of my knowledge, there are no plans to call a special session before our brief is due in a few weeks — we would continue to be stuck between the same rock and a hard place,” said Louisiana Attorney General Liz Murrill. “I have said all along, the Supreme Court needs to give clarity to Legisla- Murrill tures. That’s who has the constitutional duty to draw maps, not federal judges.” As chair of the Louisiana House and Governmental Affairs Committee, state Rep. Gerald “Beau” Beaullieu IV, R-New Iberia, would be in charge of any effort to draw new election maps in Louisiana. “We are leaning on the attorney general to lead us in these discussions, since there is an ongoing lawsuit,” he said Thursday. While the Louisiana Constitution and related laws include redistricting instructions for lower-level Beaullieu offices, it remains ambiguous on the rules for drawing the maps to elect members of Congress every two years. But the biggest holdup is the Louisiana v. Callais lawsuit, in which the U.S. Supreme Court is set to hear arguments next year. The case challenges the congressional maps drafted by the Louisiana Legislature’s Republican supermajority in 2024, which created a second majority-Black district. “They would be ethically stupid to try and do something in Louisiana, given that the second Black district was created by court order and is the subject of a Supreme Court case,” said Michael Li, a redistricting expert with the Brennan Center for Justice in New York. “Until the current
ä See REDISTRICTING, page 11A
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