The Advocate's Top Headlines

with Jennifer Wadsworth | Assistant metro editor

Four deaths turned our attention to a tiny town in Tangipahoa Parish Thursday, where our reporters found a massive rescue underway. Here's what we learned:

• A nursing home chain evacuated patients from seven facilities ahead of Hurricane Ida and placed them in a warehouse on the site of a defunct pesticide plant in Independence.
• More than 800 of them were left there to ride out the storm, which came dangerously close to the site during its northward ascent late Sunday.
• Sources tell us the conditions were squalid: evacuees languished in unchanged diapers, on deflated air mattresses and begged for help. 
• State health officials, who were kicked off the property Wednesday, have launched an investigation with help from law enforcement.
• The man in charge of the nursing home empire is no stranger to regulatory scrutiny or litigation, and he's come under fire for a similar debacle after 1998's Hurricane Georges.

We'll keep an eye on the story as it unfolds today.

Meanwhile, some other news: 

• The capital region is slowly getting its power restored. Here's what the status was by late Thursday. 
• BREC will host day camps to give kids somewhere to go and something to do while schools are closed. Reporter Terry Jones has the details. 
• If you've seen those dark plumes spewing from refineries, their operators say there's no cause for alarm. Here's what's going on with that. 
• A 14-year-old boy who fled with family from Ida drowned while in Florida. Reporter Lea Skene filed this report about the tragedy.
• BRPD made a sixth and likely final arrest in the Memorial Day weekend shooting that left a toddler, a teen and a young man dead. Reporter Elyse Carmosino has the story. 

Before you go, we encourage you to sign up for our mobile alerts by texting “IDA” to (225) 351-0236.

And because so many of us are dealing with spotty internet service, we rolled out an easier-to-load landing page —  www.theadvocate.com/lite — for all hurricane-related updates. Bookmark it, share it, check it often. 

As always, thanks for reading!