On air: Gov. John Bel Edwards is launching a monthly call-in radio show called “Ask the Governor.” The Associated Press reports the show will broadcast around the state. It will kick off next Tuesday at 2 p.m., and will air the third week of each month. The call-in number is 877-217-5757. The radio program won’t be the first for a Louisiana governor. Republican former Gov. Mike Foster at one point had a weekly call-in show. The Louisiana Radio Network will broadcast Edwards’ show on stations in Baton Rouge, Lafayette, Shreveport, Monroe, Thibodaux, Alexandria, Slidell, New Iberia, Golden Meadow, Ruston and Amite. “Ask the Governor” also will air online at www.gov.louisiana.gov and at www.la.radionetwork.com.
Cage-free eggs: Jacksonville, Florida-based Southeastern Grocers, the parent company of Winn-Dixie, announced this morning that it is transitioning to a policy that will require the supermarket chain to sell 100% cage-free eggs by 2025. According to a news release, Southeastern Grocers is converting all private-label eggs to cage-free starting in 2017 and will expand the policy to the remainder of the eggs sold by 2025, based on availability. Winn-Dixie as well as Harveys and BI-LO—other supermarkets under the Southeastern Grocers umbrella— sold 10 million private brand eggs in 2015, the supermarket chain says. The company says cage-free eggs currently represent less than 5% of the eggs sold, but customers are increasingly demanding them. “In the past two years alone, we’ve seen an average increase of nearly 30% in the sales of our cage-free eggs. It’s clear this is both a product and cause that’s important to our customers,” says Michael Bove, group vice president at Southeastern Grocers. Southeastern Grocers is the fifth largest supermarket chain in the United States and the second largest in the southeast based on store count.
Open waters: The Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries will open a portion of the state’s outside waters to shrimping at 6 a.m. on Friday, April 22. The Associated Press reports the area lies seaward of Terrebonne Parish and extends a distance of three nautical miles seaward from the Inside/Outside Shrimp Line, beginning at the northwest shore of Caillou Boca and extending westward to the eastern shore of the Atchafalaya River Ship Channel at Eugene Island as delineated by the channel red buoy line. Trawl samples indicate white shrimp in the area have reached marketable sizes, and the closure is no longer necessary. Significant numbers of smaller white shrimp remain in State Outside Waters west of the Atchafalaya River Ship Channel to the western shore of Freshwater Bayou Canal. Those waters will remain closed until further notice.
