A Columbia logger is accused of timber theft of more than a quarter of a million dollars, according to the Louisiana Department of Agriculture and Forestry (LDAF). James H. Rowland, 73, was arrested Feb. 17 by the LDAF Forestry Enforcement Division following an investigation that alleged Rowland withheld proceeds from timber harvested from a 1,300-acre tract in Caldwell Parish from December 2021 to January 2023. According to an LDAF press release, Rowland "failed to report an

Gov. John Bel Edwards proposed a budget Friday that includes a $2,000 pay raise for K-12 teachers that could climb to $3,000 if more money becomes available. He also called for a $1,000 pay raise for support workers at schools. Those basic raises would cost the state about $200 million each year. Teachers could receive the additional $1,000 raise, bringing the total increase to $3,000, if the state’s Revenue Estimating Conference increases its revenue projections again in May

Drax, the world’s leading producer and user of sustainable biomass, has announced a new partnership with the Federation of Southern Cooperatives that will help African American farmers, landowners and cooperatives in the U.S. South with greater access to the biomass market, further encouraging sustainable forestry management. The Federation of Southern Cooperatives/Land Assistance Fund is a 55-year-old regional cooperative and rural economic development organization that serv

The Forest Landowners Association (FLA) announced Jan. 31, that U.S. Reps. Buddy Carter, R-Ga., and Terri Sewel, D-Ala., introduced H.R. 655, the Disaster Reforestation Act (DRA), bipartisan legislation designed to allow private forest landowners to recover from the loss of timber destroyed by natural disasters. The bill, that FLA is championing, would provide economic certainty that is currently lacking by fixing the tax code and allowing forest landowners the ability to re

BATON ROUGE — The House on Wednesday approved bills to spend up to $45 million to encourage insurance companies to return to the state and to prevent firms that went bankrupt or were declared insolvent from using the money. The House Appropriations Committee approved the two bills Tuesday before sending them to the House, where representatives questioned state Insurance Commissioner Jim Donelon about the details of the program. The funds would be used to reduce the financial