BY DOUG GRAHAM | Staff writer A lack of rain over the entire Mississippi River basin, which includes part or all of 31 U.S. states and two Canadian provinces, has caused the river to drop to near-record lows in multiple states. The current stage at Baton Rouge is 6.8 feet, but it is forecast to reach 4 feet — lower than last year's stage but still above the record low of 3.4 feet set in 2012. By the end of the month, some decades-old records along the river could be broken. A federal judge has ordered all teens removed from a lockup at the Louisiana State Penitentiary at Angola by Friday, Sept. 15. Chief U.S. District Judge Shelly Dick excoriated the Louisiana Office of Juvenile Justice, detailing how officials from that agency had failed to live up to a pledge that the Angola facility would be safe, temporary and rehabilitative. "Virtually every promise that was made was broken," she said. This summer's extreme heat and drought has killed off a majority of the trees at Christmas Town Christmas Tree Farm in Kentwood, and the owners say the facility won't open for the upcoming holiday season. But despite the past two years of drought and last winter's freeze, most Christmas tree farmers in the state plan to open for the 2023 season as usual, according to LSU AgCenter agent Valerie West. | 