 BY DOUG GRAHAM | Staff writer Nutria appear to be moving inland to gnaw away the state’s swamplands. The invasive, orange-toothed rodents already are blamed for eating through several hundred acres of Louisiana marsh each year. The rodents gnaw away the roots of plants, leaving little to hold the soil in place. They have converted between 12 and 43 square miles of land to open water over the past 20 years, according to control program estimates. While the nutria bounty program, which offers $6 per nutria tail, is helping, the state’s annual body count has been shrinking.
LSU quarterback Jayden Daniels has turned himself into a Heisman Trophy contender as No. 14 LSU gets set to play at No. 8 Alabama, where another prolific game Saturday night could give the Tigers control of the SEC West and cement the QB as a front-runner for the award. Read about the work Daniels put in to elevate his game.
Grand Isle, where Louisiana’s estuary coast meets the Gulf, has emerged as a hotbed for a type of oyster that is changing what is found at more local restaurants and changing the prospects for new oyster growers. The oysters, which taste markedly different from each other but were grown practically a stone’s skip apart in local waters, are often listed on menus and blackboards by their geographic names or their brand names, denoting a specific farm. | 
