Christiaan Mader

1 month ago | thecurrentla.com | Christiaan Mader

Plans for a new Northside library branch advanced this week after the library board made a long-awaited decision on the facility’s design. Before a packed room of library supporters, and with the mayor-president in attendance, the Library Board of Control voted unanimously to choose the largest of three designs, the option recommended by design consultants.

1 month ago | thecurrentla.com | Christiaan Mader

A special election to fill the vacant Lafayette-area state House seat is set for May 3. House District 45 is the last link in a chain reaction of special elections set off last fall when Jean-Paul Coussan won a seat on the Louisiana Public Service Commission and vacated his state Senate seat. District 45 Rep. Brach Myers won a bitter inter-party race in February to take the Senate seat and will be sworn into the upper chamber next week.

Jan 8, 2025 | thecurrentla.com | Elliot Wade |Christiaan Mader

After a seismic year, challenges remain for Lafayette public schools. Major shifts set in motion in 2024 take effect this fall, and the school board kicks off 2025 with big decisions ahead of it and a budget gap still looming. Case in point: The Lafayette Parish School System plans to cut immersion programming for pre-K students for the upcoming school year, per Superintendent Francis Touchet. Coming on the heels of a rocky year, the decision has again stoked anger and mistrust among parents.

Nov 8, 2024 | thecurrentla.com | Christiaan Mader

Lafayette’s expanded search for a new police chief attracted seven new applicants, all from out of state. The pool joins four local candidates from the initial search earlier this year. A fifth withdrew his application. A This time, Mayor-President Monique Boulet contracted the Police Executive Research Forum and increased the chief’s salary from $135,880 to $170,000 to attract more qualified candidates. The job is open after Chief Judith Estorge stepped down in May.

Oct 16, 2024 | thecurrentla.com | Christiaan Mader

Over the last six years, Lafayette has helped us grow our scrappy nonprofit news outlet into a genuine force. Today marks a significant milestone on that journey. The Current is among the first news outlets to receive funding from Press Forward, a nationwide campaign to strengthen communities by reinvigorating local news. What this shows most of all is that The Current is a news organization worth supporting — and a news organization whose impact is growing.