Let the word go forth: The Public Relations Association of Louisiana–Baton Rouge has released the names of those who will be honored at its annual awards banquet and installation of officers on Jan. 24. Mike Danna (Louisiana Farm Bureau Mutual public relations director and host of This Week in Louisiana Agriculture) is the PRAL Communicator of the Year; Jesse Hoggard (Louisiana Technology Park director of Communications) is the Practitioner of the Year; John Deveney (Deveney Communication founder) will receive the First Circle Award; and Les Landon (Louisiana Federation of Teachers director of public relations) is the PRAL Member of the Year. The banquet will take place at 6 p.m. Tuesday, Jan. 24, at Juban’s, 3739 Perkins Road. Tickets to the banquet are $40, and registration is available here until 5 p.m. Friday, Jan. 20.
Radio waves: Amy Jeffries has assumed the role of news director at 89.3 FM WRKF as of Jan. 3, the National Public Radio affiliate announced today. Jeffries brings with her 10 years of experience in media, having most recently launched two community news sites as a local editor for Patch. She started her career in public radio in Hartford, Conn. Jeffries was in Baton Rouge following Hurricane Katrina in 2005, when NPR brought her in to help WRKF cover the aftermath. Her reporting has since taken her to China, Zimbabwe and South Africa. Jeffries says she’s a southerner at heart and is happy to be back in Louisiana. She holds a Master of Journalism degree from the University of California, Berkeley.
Paper tourniquet: A new blueprint for saving coastal Louisiana from sea-level rise, hurricanes and erosion will be unveiled Thursday. The document will lay out strategies and challenges facing Louisiana as it struggles to deal with a host of problems pertaining to its coast. The new plan is a five-year update to a blueprint first published in 2007. The document needs to be approved by the Louisiana Legislature. The state will hold three public meetings on the new plan, which will include a list of projects state officials believe will help stem coastal land loss. Louisiana has lost 1,900 square miles of coast since the 1930s and faces losing much more land loss unless measures are taken to stop it.
