Bienvenue !
The Louisiana Portal

The State of Louisiana is a state located in the southern region of the United States of America. The capital of Louisiana is Baton Rouge, and the largest city is New Orleans based on March 2007 data which suggest New Orleans population increased by 32,000 people since the Census Bureau's count in July 2006 to bring the population to 255,000. The population within the city limits of Baton Rouge itself was 224,000 pre-Katrina and according to the Census Bureau the population increased by only 8,000 in the year following Katrina to bring it to about 232,000. Other data suggest that even with its many post-Katrina problems, the repopulation of New Orleans is occurring in great numbers.

The largest parish by population is Jefferson Parish and largest by area is Terrebonne Parish (Louisiana is the only state that is divided into parishes; most other states are divided into counties instead). The New Orleans metropolitan area is Louisiana's largest.

Louisiana has a unique multicultural and multilingual heritage. Originally part of New France, Louisiana is home to many speakers of Cajun French and Louisiana Creole French. African American and Franco-African, and French / French Canadian form the two largest groups of ancestry in Louisiana's population. (read more . . . )

Selected article

The Delta Queen is an American sternwheel steamboat.

The Queen is 285 feet long (86.9 meters), 58 feet (17.7m) wide, and draws 11.5 feet (3.5m). The boat weighs 1,650 tons (1,676 metric tons), with a capacity of 200 passengers. Its compound steam engine generates 2,000 ihp, powering a stern-mounted paddlewheel.

Prefabricated at the Isherwood Yard on the River Clyde in metropolitan Glasgow, Scotland, the Queen and her sister boat Delta King were shipped in pieces to Stockton, California in 1926. There the California Transportation Company assembled the two vessels for their regular Sacramento River service between San Francisco and Sacramento, and excursions to Stockton, on the San Joaquin River. At the time, they were the most lavishly appointed and expensive sternwheel passenger boats ever commissioned. Driven out of service by a new highway linking Sacramento with San Francisco in 1940, the two vessels were laid up and then purchased by Isbrandtsen Steamship Lines for service out of New Orleans. During World War II, they were requisitioned by the U.S. Navy for duty in San Francisco Bay.

The Delta Queen cruises the Mississippi River and its tributaries on a regular schedule, with cruises ranging from New Orleans to Memphis to St. Louis to St. Paul to Cincinnati to Pittsburgh, and many more. This smaller vessel can also explore up rivers such as the Arkansas, Red, Tennessee-Tombigbee Waterway, Black Warrior, Mobile, and more. (read more . . . )

Selected picture

Selected biography

Patricia Davies Clarkson (born December 29, 1959) is an Academy Award-nominated American actress. Clarkson was born in New Orleans, Louisiana, the daughter of Jackie Clarkson (a prominent local New Orleans politician and councilwoman) and Arthur Clarkson, a school administrator who worked at the Department of Medicine of Louisiana State University.

Clarkson starred in a series of high-profile films in her early career, including The Dead Pool, Rocket Gibraltar and Everybody's All-American. She starred in the short-run television series Davis Rules, and in the miniseries Alex Haley's Queen. Other television appearances have included the role of "Aunt Sarah" in Six Feet Under, for which she won two Emmy Awards.

In 1999, she appeared in The Green Mile, and in 2002 in Far from Heaven. In 2003, she was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for Pieces of April, in which she plays an acerbic mother dying of cancer. Clarkson garnered critical acclaim for her work in The Station Agent (2003). Some film enthusiasts note her talent as a character actor. (read more . . . )

Did you know...

• ...that the mayor of tiny Logansport, Louisiana, worked for 16 years to keep a new bridge over the Sabine River a high priority?
• ...More than one-half of the species of birds in North America are resident in Louisiana or spend a portion of their migration there?
• ...Louisiana has the greatest concentration of crude oil refineries, natural gas processing plants and petrochemical production facilities in the Western Hemisphere?
• ...Louisiana is the only state with a large population of Cajuns, descendants of the Acadians who were driven out of Canada in the 1700s because they wouldn't pledge allegiance to the King of England?
• ...The town of Jean Lafitte was once a hideaway for pirates?
• ...Because of its many bays and sounds, Louisiana has the longest coastline (15,000 miles) of any state and 41 percent of the nation's wetlands?
• ...Louisiana is the nation's largest handler of grain for export to world markets and that more than 40 percent of the U.S. grain exports move through Louisiana ports?
• ...The site of the oldest known Louisiana civilization is Poverty Point in West Carroll Parish, where an Indian village existed 2, 700 years ago?
• ...Louisiana has 2,482 islands, covering nearly 1.3 million acres?
• ...The Lake Pontchartrain Causeway, with a length of 23.87 miles, is the world's longest bridge built entirely over water?
• ...Baton Rouge was the site of the only battle fought outside of the original 13 colonies during the American Revolution?
• ...Louisiana produces more furs (1.3 million pelts a year) than any other state?

State symbols

Louisiana news

• Siegelman being held at federal prison in Oakdale, La.
• Fla. to borrow billions to bolster hurricane fund for this year
• Vitter Returns to Senate; Refuses Questions About Sex Scandal
• Blanco seeking business opportunity in London
• Casino players lose $2.55 billion in 12 months
• Cajundome to appeal demand to repay $1 million
• 4 Natchitoches officers back on job after June chase fatal
• Rosemary Ramirez Barbour's firm not buying Ebbers' country club
• Sen. Vitter denies prostitution accusations, plans return to work
• Foes say VX in waste exceeds shipping standards
• Report: Dead zone in Gulf grows

Archive - More current events...
Current events on Wikinews

Categories

Web resources

• Louisiana State Government
• History and Culture of Louisiana
• Census Statistics on Louisiana
• U.S. Census Bureau
• USDA Louisiana Statistical Facts
• USGS real-time, geographic, and other scientific resources of Louisiana
• Louisiana Geographic Information Center
• Photos of Louisiana - Dept. of Culture, Recreation, and Tourism

Spotlight city

Eunice is located at 30°29′37″N 92°25′1″W / 30.49361°N 92.41694°W / 30.49361; -92.41694 and has an elevation of 49 feet (15 m). According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 12.1 km² (4.7 mi²). None of the area is covered with water.

Located in the heart of Cajun country, Eunice is famous for its Cajun music, and in November 1997 the Cajun Music Hall of Fame and Museum was founded there. The City of Eunice and the National Park Service sponsor "Laissez les bons temps rouler au rendezvous des cajuns", a live Cajun music show every Saturday night at the Liberty Theatre, an old movie theatre that was restored by a "coup de main" by local volunteers after falling into disrepair. Eunice is home to the Prairie Acadian Cultural Center, a unit of Jean Lafitte National Historical Park and Preserve.

Eunice is host to one of the largest courir de Mardi Gras (traditional rural French Louisiana Mardi Gras observance), as well as the World Championship Crawfish Étouffée Cook-off. (read more . . . )

Louisiana Topics

Things you can do

Related portals

Associated Wikimedia