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WELSH — A group of residents here are looking to revamp a downtown park that serves as both a community celebration area and a way to honor the residents who served in the armed forces.

WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. employers added a surprising 228,000 jobs last month, as the American labor market continues to show resilience as President Donald Trump wages trade wars, purges federal workers and deports immigrants working in the United States illegally. The unemployment rate ticked up to 4.2%. The hiring numbers were up from 117,000 in February and were nearly double the 130,000 that economists had expected.

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Pentagon’s acting inspector general has announced that he will review Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s use of the Signal messaging app to convey plans for a military strike against Houthi militants in Yemen. The review will also look at other defense officials' use of the the publicly available encrypted app, which is not able to handle classified material and is not part of the Defense Department’s secure communications network. Hegseth’s use of the app came to light when a journalist, Jeffrey Goldberg of The Atlantic, was added to a Signal text chain by national security adviser Mike Waltz.

(The Center Square) — In his latest effort to rein in government spending, Gov. Jeff Landry has imposed a hiring freeze across the executive branch, aiming to save the state $20 million annually. The freeze, announced through an executive order, applies to all state agencies but does not affect local governments.

(The Center Square) — When Mary Anne Mushatt, a New Orleans resident living in a house heated by natural gas, went before the Louisiana Public Service Commission to express her grievances with the upgrades to her home provided by Entergy, she was revealing herself as one of many casualties of the current statewide energy efficiency program.

(The Center Square) — The Louisiana House Appropriations Committee reviewed budget requests from several state agencies this week, with many facing significant cuts in federal funding.

(The Center Square) — The U.S. stock market took a tumble Thursday morning in response to President Donald Trump’s sweeping tariff policy unveiled Wednesday afternoon.

(The Center Square) — Louisiana’s 2024 single audit requires the attention of the state government as 35 findings were reported with 16 of those being repeat findings from previous audits.