By Baptist Message staff BATON ROUGE, La. (LBM) – Louisiana will remain in Phase 3 of reopening the state’s economy until at least Nov. 6. Gov. John Bel Edwards, during a news conference Oct. 8, said a mask mandate and other restrictions remain in place when the state initially entered Phase 3 on Sept. 11. Businesses and churches will be allowed to continue to operate at 75 percent capacity, indoor social gatherings like weddings and birthday parties can accommodate guests at 50 percent capacity, up to 250 people, and sporting event venues can have up 25 percent capacity. Edwards asked Louisianans to continue wearing masks and observing proper social distancing measures. “All of the data shows improvement in Louisiana’s COVID situation because of the strong mitigation measures we have in place and because of the hard work of the people of Louisiana,” Edwards said. “These measures, which are supported by science, are allowing us to keep our case count and hospitalizations down, even as most of Louisiana’s businesses have expanded their operations and more people are moving about.”   … [Read more...]

By Baptist Message staff ALEXANDRIA, La, (LBM) —  Louisiana received a "gut punch," Friday, as the second hurricane in six weeks made landfall in the state. The eye of Hurricane Delta crashed ashore at 5 p.m., Oct. 9. as a Category 2 storm with maximum sustained winds of 100 mph in Creole, nearly 13 miles east of Cameron, where Laura made landfall as a Category 4 hurricane (150 mph winds) on Aug. 27. According to the National Weather Service, Delta had weakened to barely a tropical storm (35 mph sustained winds) as it exited into Mississippi at 7 a.m., Saturday, having followed a nearly identical path as Laura. More than 565,000 businesses and homes in the state were without power as of 10:15 a.m., Oct. 10. Delta also dumped heavy rain on parts of the state, which resulted in numerous road closures. AccuWeather reported late Friday that approximately 17.02 inches of rain fell in Iowa, just east of Lake Charles. Meanwhile, Bell City, about 7 miles south of Iowa, received 16.31 inches of rain and Lake Charles, 15.68 inches. While reported damage was still unknown, Baptist Message learned Tall Timbers Baptist Conference Center in Woodworth received water damage in the Indian Creek Lodge, as well as the activities … [Read more...]