News from the South - Louisiana News Feed
Seafood testers find Shreveport restaurants deceiving customers with foreign shrimp
by Wesley Muller, Louisiana Illuminator
March 26, 2025
Undercover seafood testers sampled a selection of restaurants in the Shreveport area this month and detected what they say is the highest shrimp fraud rate they have recorded to date in Louisiana.
SeaD Consulting, a food testing company that has been making headlines for uncovering seafood fraud at restaurants and festivals across the Gulf Coast, announced in a news release Wednesday that a “troubling” 58% of the restaurants sampled were deceptively serving foreign shrimp falsely presented as if it were domestic in violation of state law.
The company’s use of genetic testing found a total of 17 out of 24 restaurants sampled, or 71%, served foreign farm-raised shrimp. Fourteen of those, or 58%, did so deceptively by mislabeling the country of origin or refusing to indicate it on their menus or restaurant signage.
The sampling, taken March 8-10, is so far the highest inauthenticity rate the SeaD has recorded in Louisiana since it first launched its testing efforts last year at the Louisiana Shrimp & Petroleum Festival in Morgan City.
The company does not identify the restaurants that aren’t following the state’s labeling law, opting instead to raise awareness of its existence.
SeaD executive Erin Williams said six of the restaurants were “blatantly being deceptive” by explicitly mislabeling their dishes as “Gulf shrimp” rather than just falsely suggesting it.
It is illegal under federal and state law to mislabel imported seafood as local and can result in fines or other penalties. In some instances, seafood fraud offenses at the federal level can yield criminal charges or even prison time, such as in the 2024 convictions of two Mississippi restaurant owners, one of whom was sentenced to eight months in prison.
Local seafood was once easy to find in Louisiana, but an influx of cheap foreign catch, particularly shrimp and crawfish, has flooded the market over the past two decades.
Williams said she believes there is less public awareness in the Shreveport area of the foreign seafood problem and the plight of the coastal communities that depend on commercial fishermen.
In the past few years, state and federal authorities began cracking down on restaurants that mislead their customers into thinking the foreign seafood they’re eating is wild-caught from the Gulf of Mexico. Some establishments do this through vague dish descriptions or suggestive dining room decor such as nets or photos of shrimp boats on their walls — practices that the Federal Trade Commission announced could be illegal last year.
For more than a decade, Louisiana law has specifically required restaurants, eateries and other food establishments to state on their menus the country of origin of any shrimp and crawfish being served. The same requirements apply to food vendors at fairs and festivals.
There have been 2,600 violations of Louisiana’s imported shrimp law — and no fines
However, a 2023 review of state enforcement records revealed that many restaurants had not complied with the laws. Louisiana health inspectors issued thousands of citations to restaurants but levied no fines against them.
Some establishments have found creative ways around the laws by using vague menu descriptions, such as “Local shrimp served when available.”
In an effort to strengthen enforcement, state legislators recently enacted heavier fines for violators and updated Louisiana’s menu labeling statute. Still, a January meeting of the legislature’s Seafood Safety Task Force exposed some loopholes and contradictions in the new law, so it will likely undergo additional changes when lawmakers convene for their 2025 session beginning April 14.
SeaD Consulting launched its testing efforts last year using undercover inspectors to purchase shrimp dishes from vendors and restaurants. The inspectors run the shrimp through a rapid field testing kit that examines seafood tissue genetics in a process similar to the way medical professionals detect viral infections.
Dave Williams, a commercial fishery scientist and SeaD Consulting’s founder, developed the test in collaboration with Florida State University microbiologist Prashant Singh. Their process has been published and undergone peer review in a scientific journal.
In December, the Louisiana Shrimp Task Force, an advisory panel for the Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries, asked SeaD Consulting to analyze shrimp from restaurants across the state in an effort to eliminate consumer seafood fraud. Its analysis includes sampling batches of 24 randomly selected restaurants in different cities across the state.
“This is a blow to the culture of Louisiana, where authenticity in food is paramount,” Louisiana Shrimp Task Force Rodney Olander said in the press release. “When consumers are misled, it hurts local shrimpers and damages the reputation of our beloved seafood industry. We have the support of Southern Louisiana, but clearly not the entire state.”
In addition to its latest results out of Shreveport, the company’s testing of sampled eateries found a 30% shrimp fraud rate in Baton Rouge in December 2024, a 13% fraud rate in New Orleans in January, and a 33% fraud rate in Lafayette in February.
SeaD said it has furnished the names of all the restaurants found to be fraudulently serving imported shrimp to the Louisiana Department of Health for review and enforcement. The Health Department could not be immediately reached for comment Wednesday.
The seven restaurants in the sample found to be serving authentic Gulf of Mexico shrimp:
Chuck Wagon Crawfish, 1209 E. Bert Kouns Industrial Loop, Shreveport, LA 71105.Copeland’s of New Orleans, 1665 E. Bert Kouns Industrial Loop, Shreveport, LA 71105.The Crabby Crawfish, 8680 Youree Dr., Shreveport, LA 71115.Drago’s Seafood Restaurant, 777 Margaritaville Way, Bossier City, LA 71111.Flying Burger and Seafood, 3127 Airline Dr., Bossier City, LA 71109.The Noble Savage, 417 Texas St. Shreveport, LA 71106.Oyster Bar & Grille, 855 Pierremont Rd., Suite 157, Shreveport, LA 71106.
Louisiana Illuminator is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Louisiana Illuminator maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Greg LaRose for questions: info@lailluminator.com.
The post Seafood testers find Shreveport restaurants deceiving customers with foreign shrimp appeared first on lailluminator.com
News from the South - Louisiana News Feed
Weather Impact Alert: Flood watch continues Saturday night
SUMMARY: A flood watch continues through 7 a.m. tomorrow due to ongoing downpours and the potential for flooding, particularly in areas like Zachary, Louisiana. While not everyone is experiencing heavy rain, some areas may see up to 3 inches of rain, with isolated spots possibly getting 5 inches. Tonight’s rain risk is uncertain, but conditions should improve by tomorrow, with lower rain chances and some sun. A new weather system will bring another round of storms Monday, potentially severe. After that, the week will remain warm and breezy with drier conditions, though another rain system is expected next weekend.

Meteorologist Alexandra Cranford outlines the rain chance through the rest of the weekend. Forecast from 5 p.m. Saturday, March 29, 2025.
News from the South - Louisiana News Feed
Data privacy experts call DOGE actions ‘alarming’
by Paige Gross, Louisiana Illuminator
March 29, 2025
While the role and actions of the Elon Musk-headed Department of Government Efficiency remain somewhat murky, data privacy experts have been tracking the group’s moves and documenting potential violations of federal privacy protections.
Before President Donald Trump took office in January, he characterized DOGE as an advisory body, saying it would “provide advice and guidance from outside of government” in partnership with the the White House and Office of Management and Budget in order to eliminate fraud and waste from government spending.
But on Inauguration day, Trump’s executive order establishing the group said Musk would have “full and prompt access to all unclassified agency records, software systems and IT systems.”
In the nine weeks since its formation, DOGE has been able to access sensitive information from the Treasury Department payment system, information about the headcount and budget of an intelligence agency and Americans’ Social Security numbers, health information and other demographic data. Musk and department staffers are also using artificial intelligence in their analysis of department cuts.
Though the Trump administration has not provided transparency around what the collected data is being used for, several federal agencies have laid off tens of thousands of workers, under the direction of DOGE, in the past two months. Thousands have been cut from the Environmental Protection Agency, Department of Education, Internal Revenue Service and the Department of Treasury this month.
Frank Torres, senior AI and privacy adviser for The Leadership Conference’s Center for Civil Rights and Technology, which researches the intersection of civil rights and technology, said his organization partnered with the Center for Democracy and Technology, which researches and works with legislators on tech topics, to sort out what DOGE was doing. The organizations published a resource sheet documenting DOGE’s actions, the data privacy violations they are concerned about and the lawsuits that several federal agencies have filed over DOGE’s actions.
“It doesn’t have to be this way,” Torres said. “I mean, there are processes and procedures and protections in place that are put in place for a reason, and it doesn’t appear that DOGE is following any of that, which is alarming.”
The organizations outlined potential violations of federal privacy protections, like the Privacy Act of 1974, which prohibits the disclosure of information without written consent, and substantive due process under the Fifth Amendment, which protects privacy from government interference.
White House Principal Deputy Press Secretary Harrison Fields would not say if DOGE planned to provide more insight into its plans for the data it is accessing.
“Waste, fraud and abuse have been deeply entrenched in our broken system for far too long,” Fields told States Newsroom in an emailed statement. “It takes direct access to the system to identify and fix it. DOGE will continue to shine a light on the fraud they uncover as the American people deserve to know what their government has been spending their hard earned tax dollars on.”
The lack of transparency concerns U.S. Reps. Gerald E. Connolly, (D-Virginia) and Jamie Raskin, (D-Maryland), who filed a Freedom of Information Act request this month requesting DOGE provide clear answers about its operations.
The request asks for details on who is in charge at DOGE, the scope of its authority to close federal agencies and lay off federal employees, the extent of its access to sensitive government sensitive databases and for Musk to outline how collected data may benefit his own companies and his foreign customers. They also questioned the feeding of sensitive information into AI systems, which DOGE touted last month.
“DOGE employees, including teenage and twenty-something computer programmers from Mr. Musk’s own companies, have been unleashed on the government’s most sensitive databases — from those containing national security and classified information to those containing the personal financial information of all Americans to those containing the trade secrets and sensitive commercial data of Mr. Musk’s competitors,” the representatives wrote in the request.
Most Americans have indeed submitted data to the federal government which can now be accessed by DOGE, said Elizabeth Laird, the director of equity in civic technology for the Center for Democracy and Technology — whether it be via a tax filing, student loan or Social Security. Laird said the two organizations see huge security concerns with how DOGE is collecting data and what it may be doing with the information. In the first few weeks of its existence, a coder discovered that anyone could access the database that posted updates to the DOGE.gov website.
“We’re talking about Social Security numbers, we’re talking about income, we’re talking about, you know, major life events, like whether you had a baby or got married,” Laird said. “We’re talking about if you’ve ever filed bankruptcy — like very sensitive stuff, and we’re talking about it for tens of millions of people.”
With that level of sensitive information, the business need should justify the level of risk, Laird said.
DOGE’s use of AI to comb through and categorize Americans’ data is concerning to Laird and Torres, as AI algorithms can produce inaccurate responses, pose security risks themselves and can have biases that lead to discrimination against marginalized groups.
While Torres, Laird and their teams plan to continue tracking DOGE’s actions and their potential privacy violations, they published the first resource sheet to start bringing awareness to the information that is already at risk. The data collection they’ve seen so far in an effort to cut federal spending is concerning, but both said they fear Americans’ data could end up being used in ways we don’t yet know about.
“The government has a wealth of data on all of us, and I would say data that’s probably very valuable on the open market,” Torres said. “It’s almost like a dossier on us from birth to death.”
Musk fired back at critics in an interview with Fox News published Thursday.
“They’ll say what we’re doing is somehow unconstitutional or illegal or whatever,” he said. “We’re like, ‘Well, which line of the cost savings do you disagree with?’ And they can’t point to any.”
Last updated 2:43 p.m., Mar. 28, 2025
Louisiana Illuminator is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Louisiana Illuminator maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Greg LaRose for questions: info@lailluminator.com.
The post Data privacy experts call DOGE actions ‘alarming’ appeared first on lailluminator.com
News from the South - Louisiana News Feed
Loud, boisterous rival protests of religious freedom among Catholics and satanists turn violent
by Tim Carpenter, Louisiana Illuminator
March 29, 2025
TOPEKA, Kan. — The bullhorn-powered war of words between satanists and Catholics boiled over into brawling and a handful of arrests Friday during an extraordinary event at the Kansas Capitol that pushed boundaries of free speech and the separation of church and state.
After about two hours of speeches, prayers and sign waving among hundreds of people mostly segregated by barricades staffed by law enforcement officers, Satanic Grotto president Michael Stewart, with supporters and reporters in tow, entering the Statehouse to conduct what he had described as a black mass. He was warned at the door to the visitors’ center that any formal protest inside the building that violated a permit limiting his religious expression to the lawn or steps of the Capitol would result in his arrest for trespassing.

In the rotunda, Stewart began delivering the rebellious alternative mass and was interrupted by three people intent on stopping what could be interpreted as a mockery of their faith. An unidentified man and woman, with young kids at their side, physically intervened to interrupt Stewart. He spun away from them. Counter-protester Marcus Schroeder joined the fray and twice reached to rip papers from Stewart’s hand. Stewart responded by punching Schroeder in the face twice. More than half a dozen Capitol Police wrestled Stewart to the floor to make the arrest.
“I’m not resisting. I’m not resisting. I’m not resisting,” Stewart repeatedly yelled.
Schroeder, who wore a shirt declaring “death is not welcome here,” wasn’t arrested by Capitol Police. In an interview, he defended his intervention to thwart Stewart.
“He was trying to give a satanic chant. I tried to take his paper out of his hand and he punched me twice in the face,” Schroeder said.
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After the area cleared, two other satanists tried to pick up where Stewart left off and were taken into custody. One other person was cuffed and led away by law enforcement outside the Capitol. An individual had grabbed Stewart by the legs in a bid to stop Stewart from stomping on crackers intended to represent those used in a Catholic mass. In that brief exchange, Stewart also punched the guy before law enforcement ended the fracas.
“He was was trying to tackle me to get to the cracker underneath,” Stewart said. “I was able to kind of fend him off. I do think he may have picked up the crumbled cracker and ate it. Did I get physical with him? Yes.”
The opposition
The colorful display of affection and affliction for organized religion culminated attempts by Gov. Laura Kelly, Attorney General Kris Kobach, leaders of the Kansas Legislature and Archbishop Joseph Naumann of Kansas City, Kansas, to restrain or derail the demonstration planned by Satanic Grotto.
Kelly had the group’s permit amended so no protest could transpire inside the Capitol. Legislative leaders modified policy regarding use of the Capitol to target Satanic Grotto. Senate President Ty Masterson, R-Wichita, said the First Amendment didn’t protect offensive speech or violations of law.
Francis Slobodnik, a Topeka representative of the American Society for the Defense of Tradition, Family and Property, told hundreds of Catholics gathered on the south side of the Capitol that public officials shouldn’t have allowed satanists to assemble on public property. He said the process showed a misguided understanding of freedom of speech and religion and a lack of appreciation for how a black mass represented worship of Satan.
“Today’s horrific event, the first of its kind in the history of Kansas, is a sacrilege,” said Slobodnik, who urged people to engage in a peaceful rally. “Of course, there have been terrible crimes and injustices that have happened in our state over the years. However, nothing in our past compares with what is happening today where God is being directly challenged on the state Capitol grounds. The state Capitol represents all of us.”
He praised people at the rally who were standing in opposition to Satanic Grotto, and referred to them as the Navy Seals of the Catholic faith. He said these activists were willing to confront God’s enemies head-on as if on a field of battle. He said the great sin perpetrated by Stewart and other worshipers of Satan meant that others had to step into the void.
“Satanists do not realize that Satan hates all of God’s creation, including them,” Slobodnik said. “Their reward for worshiping and serving him will be eternal fire.”
And, an exorcist
Former U.S. Rep. Tim Huelskamp, who served in the Kansas Senate before elected to Congress, said he consulted with a priest with experience in exorcism when considering whether to participate in a television interview with Stewart.
“Father had a simple question: ‘Why would you do this? What do you hope to gain?’ I stumbled around in my answer,” Huelskamp said. “I wanted to share the truth about Christ. The truth about the Eucharist. His summary response was quite stunning to me. He said, ‘There is no good that could come from being in the same room with a satanist.’”
Huelskamp said it was suggested his participation in the interview with Stewart might advance the interests of Satan. The former Republican congressman woke ill the next day, and cancelled the interview. In the end, Huelskamp said he decided it was important to run to the fire created by Satan rather than shrink from it. He said it was the same as making his views known about the evil of abortion or defending the sanctity of marriage between a man and woman.
“I am quite stubborn and hardheaded,” he said. “We cannot be silent. We are required, if we call ourselves Christians, if we call ourselves Catholic, we are publicly required to defend the faith and to stand up for the truth.”
In an interview amid calm before the storm of his arrest, Stewart said he was convinced Catholics assembled around him didn’t understand why Satanic Grotto was at the Capitol to talk about religious oppression.
“What we only want is the rights that every American has,” Stewart said. “I’ve heard people say we’re setting a precedent. Well, if the precedent is freedom of religion for everyone in public spaces, yes, that’s what we’re trying to establish. We are dragging this issue out in the light and we’ll let the people look at it. The issue is that we’re not all being treated the same here.”
Other voices in crowd
Eudora resident John More, a Christian who carried a call-to-heaven New England pine tree flag, said he was motivated to attend because he viewed the satanists’ criticism of Catholics as an assault on religion in general. He joined with Julie Britschge of Burlingame for a “Jericho Walk,” or prayer walk, by circling the statehouse grounds seven times. Britschge said the walk was patterned after the biblical story of the Israelites’ march aimed at bringing about spiritual change.
“We’re hoping that whatever evil there is today, that He will take care of it,” More said. “I was just planning to add a measure of divine protection.”
Daniel Casteel and Shawn Velasquez, both with the Cure Church, made their views heard with the aid of megaphones. They prowled the security-line perimeter sharing perspectives on religion before taking part in back-and-forth exchanges across the barrier with supporters of Satanic Grotto.
“Jesus loves you,” Casteel bellowed. “Any time you’re ready, you can step this way. We will make sure you get saved. Come give your life to Jesus, please. Break the stronghold.”
In an interview, Velasquez and Casteel said their intent was to convince one or two satanic worshipers to find solace in God.
“They’re just misguided and uninformed,” Velasquez said. “They’re worshiping a false god.”
On the other side of that line, Mike Trapp of Leavenworth quietly held a sign that emphasized his belief the United States was best served by adhering to the constitutional principle of a formal separation between church and state.
“We wouldn’t be standing here today if there weren’t Christians flaunting their religion in the Capitol,” said Trapp, who considered the rise of Christian nationalism to be “the biggest threat to democracy.”
Wichita residents Kyle Francis and Sam McCrory, who were armed with a gun, flag and a collection of religious symbols, said they were present to stand up for Christ.
“Any time that people who oppose Christ show their head, you know, they should be opposed publicly,” McCrory said.
He said separation of church and state was originally the product of a homogenous Christian population. Satanists and others who diluted that national unity often used constitutional freedoms as a weapon against well-meaning people, he said.
“These sorts of things need to be brutally tamped down,” McCrory said. “Let’s set an example. I think that the United States should be an explicitly Christian nation. If you want to be something other than Christian, I think that’s fine, to an extent. I think they (non-Christians) should have to pay an extra tax.”
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This report was first published by the Kansas Reflector, part of the States Newsroom nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Kansas Reflector maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Sherman Smith for questions: info@kansasreflector.com.
Louisiana Illuminator is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Louisiana Illuminator maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Greg LaRose for questions: info@lailluminator.com.
This report was first published by the Kansas Reflector, part of the States Newsroom nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Kansas Reflector maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Sherman Smith for questions: info@kansasreflector.com.
The post Loud, boisterous rival protests of religious freedom among Catholics and satanists turn violent appeared first on lailluminator.com
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