Columns

Print newspapers are still the primary way that tens of millions of Americans receive information about their communities and the world. They are also the way that many people find out about job opportunities. While we assume that everyone has an internet connection, the fact is that many areas of the country have limited or no internet service. According to the Federal Communications Commission, nearly 40 percent of Americans living in rural areas lack access to fixed broadband internet.

People in south Louisiana don’t often pay attention to news from a relatively obscure research facility in Maryland, but the announcement that the Patuxent Wildlife Research Center is winding down its whooping crane breeding program has a special connection to us.

A thousand or more people lined the banks of the Atchafalaya River on a hot, sultry day in July 1933 to watch the installation of the first big segment of the first automobile bridge to span the river between Morgan City and Berwick.