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UL Lafayette alum and former Louisiana Gov. Kathleen Babineaux Blanco will be guest speaker at the University of Louisiana at Lafayette’s Fall 2017 Commencement ceremony on Friday.
Blanco was governor from 2004 to 2008.
The year after she took office, Blanco led the state when Hurricanes Katrina and Rita struck the state.
During her term, she directed the largest investment increase in higher education in state history. Blanco expanded the state’s pre-K program and fully funded Louisiana’s colleges and universities for the first time in 25 years.

Abbeville officials learned on Nov. 30 that one of the most heavily trafficked bridges in the city had to be closed.
An inspection by the Department of Transportation and Development (DOTD) of the bridge on South John Hardy led to the state closing it that afternoon.
“We’re still trying to get over the initial shock of DOTD closing a bridge that is so heavily used,” Abbeville Mayor Mark Piazza said this week, “without any prior notification to the city.”

As many municipalities around Louisiana continually trend toward further tightening of finances, a city’s proposed operating budget that does not cut services, does no raise taxes and provides employees with raises would have to be considered pretty favorable.
That is exactly what officials in the City of Abbeville have been able to put together.