| By Drew Broach | Deputy metro editor
DOWNSIZING: Louisiana’s population shrank by more than 27,000 in the year that ended July 1, the fifth biggest decline among U.S. states, as deaths rose, births dwindled during the coronavirus pandemic and tens of thousands more residents left the state than moved in, according to new Census Bureau estimates. The only states that lost more people in the same time frame were New York, California, Illinois and Massachusetts, all of which are far more populous than Louisiana.
TAYLOR-MADE: The dispute over liability for the longest-running oil leak in United States history is coming to an end, and with it comes the end of Taylor Energy Co. The New Orleans-based company has agreed to pay $475 million to settle litigation with the federal government over the 17-year leak of crude oil from its hurricane-destroyed production platform 20 miles off the mouth of the Mississippi River. The drawn-out compliance process illustrates not only the difficulty of stopping underwater oil leaks but also the determination of an independent oil company with deep pockets and the shifting priorities of a federal government that changed parties three times in 17 years.
AVADA KEDAVRA: Jemond Cador was a "Potter-head," possessed of an encyclopedic knowledge of the Harry Potter universe. He also was a Louisiana National Guardsman who, at age 21, was shot and killed Dec. 6 in his Terrytown home. Now authorities have booked four suspects with first-degree murder.
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