BY MATTHEW ALBRIGHT | Staff writer While students sat at home Monday, Baton Rouge's top school leader was meeting with bus drivers and cafeteria workers, trying to assuage their dissatisfaction. Upset over low pay, a lack of AC on buses and other issues, half of all bus drivers sat out on Friday, causing serious chaos. And school officials said Sunday they were canceling classes Monday because more drivers — and now cafeteria workers, too — planned to protest again. By the end of the day, the superintendent said classes would start like normal on Tuesday, though high schools and middle schools would dismiss early. Keep up with The Advocate for the latest. Louisiana's no stranger to natural disasters, but we're currently experiencing one we don't often see: wildfires. The unrelenting heat, lack of rain, and strong winds have created the perfect conditions of fires to start and spread. Here's a look at how bad the problem is and what's happening. And here are some ways that fire officials say people are making things worse, from flying drones over fires where helicopters are working to flicking cigarettes out of cars. In Louisiana's high school sports world, the issue of which schools count as "select" and which ones don't is controversial. And the LHSAA recently changed its definition for which schools are included in that category. But some schools sued over the change, and now a judge has temporarily blocked it. Here's what happened, and why it could be a big deal for student-athletes. |