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Judge blocks vote on merger in BR Edwards seeking to combine EMS, Fire Department
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The Amira AI tutoring program listens to students read and helps them sound out words that stump them. The state board of education passed a resolution Wednesday calling on the Louisiana Department of Education to lead an ‘ongoing AI research agenda’ so that students can compete in a ‘rapidly evolving AI landscape.’
Louisiana policymakers endorse AI in schools Tech leaders cheer move, but some educators are concerned
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ä See MERGER, page 4A
Power plan for Meta data center gets green light
BY PATRICK WALL | Staff writer Louisiana’s education policymakers want schools to embrace the use of artificial intelligence, drawing cheers from some tech-industry titans but raising alarms among education experts who say the hype around AI is not yet backed by strong evidence. The state board of education passed a resolution Wednesday calling on the Louisiana Department of Education to lead an “ongoing AI research agenda” so that students can compete in a “rapidly evolving AI landscape.” It cites the technology’s growing importance to the global economy as well as President Donald Trump’s executive order in April saying teachers and students should learn to use it. Louisiana schools already are experimenting with AI programs, including one that helps students learn to read, and the state Educa-
A judge has temporarily blocked a major step in Mayor-President Sid Edwards’ efforts to merge East Baton Rouge EMS with the Baton Rouge Fire Department. On Wednesday, Louisiana District Judge Ronald Johnson granted a temporary restraining order blocking a Baton Rouge Fire and Police Municipal Civil Service Board vote scheduled for Monday. That vote is over reclassifying the position of fire chief to oversee EMS, a big step in Edwards’ plan to Edwards merge the agencies. “We respect the legal process and we look forward to a resolution that best serves the residents of East Baton Rouge Parish,” Edwards said in a statement Wednesday afternoon. The case was filed Tuesday by Robert Aguiluz, an attorney for the East Baton Rouge EMS Paramedic Association and a former Baton Rouge paramedic. In the original petition, Aguiluz writes that the city-parish’s plan of government separately defines Fire Department and EMS services, as well as their separate jurisdictions, as EMS serves the entire parish, while BRFD mostly serves the city of Baton Rouge.
Regulators approve construction of three electricity plants in La. BY JOSIE ABUGOV | Staff writer
While some students in a fourth grade English language arts class use an AI tutoring program, others work independently or meet with their teacher. tion Department issued guidance for schools last year on how to adopt the technology safely. The resolution pushes the department to ramp up those efforts. Several tech leaders wrote letters in support of the resolution, including Matt Mullenweg, co-founder of the online publishing tool WordPress, and Sal Khan, CEO of Khan Academy, a nonprofit that produces widely used educational videos and an AI-powered tutoring program.
Khan wrote that the resolution would help position Louisiana “as a national leader in both education and workforce development.” Ronnie Morris, the state Board of Elementary and Secondary Education president who introduced the AI plan, said schools must move quickly to keep up as the technology transforms many industries and everyday life.
State regulators on Wednesday approved a controversial plan to power tech giant Meta’s largest artificial intelligence data center yet, to be built in rural northeast Louisiana, clearing the way for construction of three gas-fired electricity plants. The Public Service Commission voted 4-1 in favor of the plan proposed by Entergy at a meeting in the city of Plaquemine following hours of public debate. The power plan is key for Meta’s $10 billion facility to move forward. The project will be built on former agricultural land the size of around 70 football fields. Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg has spoken of further expanding it to a size that would rival the footprint of
ä See AI, page 4A
ä See META, page 4A
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