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Improving educational skills and helping adults achieve their high school equivalency diploma is the mission of the Literacy Council of Southwest Louisiana, as well as raising community awareness about services available to prepare individuals that need a boost.

— Education on human trafficking prevention highlighted the Louisiana Legislative Youth Advisory Council meeting on Tuesday.

NEW ORLEANS (AP) — A storage tank spilled tens of thousands of gallons of crude oil in a southern Louisiana parish, threatening drinking water and wildlife as officials work to clean it up.

— A federal appeals court has ruled that the Biden administration can’t implement its Title IX rules in an additional four states, bringing the total number of statewide injunctions to 26.

Altruism, the unselfish concern for others, is hard-wired into most of us. We feel an instinctive pull to help others in distress, especially those who are most vulnerable. Even those who don’t have this altruism built into them can learn to be altruistic, and it demonstrably benefits them to do so. Many of us choose to be altruistic by giving to charity or donating our time. Effective altruism is the attempt to bring our rational, analytic minds to bear on our compassionate impulses. Not all giving is equal, and while people are certainly free to give when and where they choose, if we are trying to reduce suffering, we should look at where our giving will have the most benefit. The National Philanthropic Trust reports that Americans gave over $373 billion in 2015. The World Health Organization reports that over 9 million children under the age of five die each year, and that approximately 70% of these deaths could be prevented with simple interventions. Clean water, adequate nutrition, access to medical care and simple preventive measures such as mosquito netting could prevent many of these deaths.

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LAKE ARTHUR — The board of alderman held a special council meeting Wednesday to approve closing out the town’s fiscal year budget to avoid operating on a reduced budget for the week preceding their normal monthly meeting.