Garrett Hazelwood

Most of New Orleans' French Quarter will be closed to vehicle traffic on Friday and Saturday afternoon and evening.

A recent study from the Louisiana Policy Institute for Children found nearly one-third of people who work with children under 5 years old are considering quitting their jobs.

At least a dozen prominent forecasters are predicting more than 20 named storms will form over the Atlantic Ocean this year.

The legislature completed a two-week special session Thursday that will likely reshape the landscape of criminal punishment in Louisiana for years to come.

Years after a federal court declared the practice unconstitutional, judges continue to take money from criminal defendants. Some spend it on resort stays and luxury cars.

The subterranean fire smoldered and smoked for much of the fall, contributing to several dangerous "super fog" events around New Orleans and intermittently affecting the region's air quality for several weeks.

City officials are urging drivers to use extreme caution when driving in the vicinity of the fire, particularly in the morning and evening hours, when fog is most likely. The National Weather Service has issued a dense fog advisory through 10 a.m. Wednesday, warning that visibility on roadways could fall below 100 feet without warning.

Air quality in areas along the river was ranked “moderate” for level of concern Friday morning, according to the Louisiana Department of Environmental Quality. Since then, the smoke has somewhat dissipated.

The saltwater wedge slowly creeping up the Mississippi River is no longer threatening drinking water for Louisiana’s biggest metro area – but officials in Orleans and Jefferson parishes are moving forward with mitigation plans, in case forecasts shift yet again.

Rainy weather is set to return to the Gulf Coast after an unusually dry hurricane season that’s contributed to crop failures, saltwater intrusion and record-breaking wildfires.