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Impact Charter hires new leader
CROPP NG UP A study tests vegetable growth under solar panels, which could help balance clean energy and agriculture BY JOEL THOMPSON Staff writer
Hundreds of solar panels generate clean energy at the University of Louisiana at Lafayette’s Louisiana Solar Energy Laboratory, but it’s what’s in between those panels that one researcher hopes will revolutionize Louisiana agriculture. Vegetable crops have been planted in the shady areas between panels, with the hope that they can produce a strong yield. It’s a relatively new idea called agrivoltaics. Agrivoltaics, or AV, is the science of raising crops — whether livestock or row crops — alongside solar production. In states such as Texas and Arkansas, “solar grazing” has taken off in recent years, partly because liveSTAFF PHOTOS By LESLIE WESTBROOK stock can use solar panels for shade Caitlin deNux, visiting assistant professor in the School of Geosciences, talks while keeping vegetation under conabout the agrivoltaics testbed on Nov. 24 at the University of Louisiana at trol. Just last month, RWE Clean Energy Lafayette’s Louisiana Solar Energy Laboratory in Lafayette. TOP: Broccoli plants completed building a solar farm out- grow between rows of solar panels in the agrivoltaics testbed. side Monroe that will generate enough electricity to power 17,000 homes. A “We’re looking to see if agrivoltaics is viable for flock of about 600 sheep will soon be Louisiana’s climate and whether the specialty crops grazing around the solar panels to keep are as nutritious when grown in the shade.” the vegetation under control. Virtually no research has been done CAITLIN DENUX, professor at the University of Louisiana at Lafayette into AV in Louisiana. Until now. Caitlin deNux, a visiting professor at UL, is leading the university’s recent “We’re looking to see if agrivoltaics deNux said. research into AV. She formerly worked is viable for Louisiana’s climate and But AV isn’t emerging in a vacuum. with the LSU AgCenter at its Crowley whether the specialty crops are as ä See CROPPING UP, page 7A research station. nutritious when grown in the shade,”
Attack on Sydney Hanukkah event kills 15 heart of the nation. The shootAustralian authorities atersthewere father and son, authorities said. say father, son The massacre at one of Austramost popular beaches followed opened fire at beach lia’s a wave of antisemitic attacks that
BY KRISTEN GELINEAU, CHARLOTTE GRAHAM-McLAY and ROD McGUIRK Associated Press
SYDNEY — Two gunmen opened fire during a Hanukkah celebration on Sydney’s Bondi Beach, killing 15 people, including a child, officials said Monday, in what Prime Minister Anthony Albanese called an act of antisemitic terrorism that struck
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have roiled the country over the past year, although the authorities didn’t suggest those and the shooting Sunday were connected. It was the deadliest shooting in almost three decades in a country with strict gun control laws. One gunman, a 50-year-old man, was fatally shot by police. The other shooter, his 24-year-old son,
Baker school tries to move on from controversial past
BY CHARLES LUSSIER Staff writer
Nine months after the ouster of its old management, Impact Charter School in Baker has selected new leadership and is trying to move on from its controversial past. “I am excited and looking forward to continuing the work here at Impact, working with the parents, the students and the staff,” Kim Germany, the school’s new CEO, told The Advocate. The past, however, is not quietly going away. Germany The prior management of the school, led by founder and former CEO Chakesha Scott, continues to pursue multiple court cases that seek to turn back the clock and restore them to power at the K-8 school that opened in 2014. The charter school’s board hired education veteran Germany on Nov. 12. She is replacing Michelle Clayton, a former deputy superintendent of East Baton Rouge Parish schools, who was hired in late February to run Impact until a permanent leader was selected. Clayton is continuing at Impact until the end of December, after which Germany will take over for good.
ä See SCHOOL, page 4A
Few with criminal records netted in La. sweeps
Only 10% so far, government stats show BY JAMES FINN Staff writer
ASSOCIATED PRESS PHOTO By MARK BAKER
Shenna McClean lays flowers Monday at a memorial at Sydney’s Bondi Beach. At least 15 people were killed in an ä See ATTACK, page 4A attack on a Hanukkah celebration on Sunday, authorities say.
Like their predecessors in Chicago and North Carolina, the federal government’s south Louisiana immigration sweeps set out to arrest violent criminals. Since the operation started, officials have touted arrests of “murderers, rapists and pedophiles.” But by the government’s own count, fewer than 10% of people captured in the sweeps launched the first week of December around New Orleans have criminal histories of any kind. On Thursday, eight days into the operation, the Department of Homeland
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ä See SWEEPS, page 5A
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