English Bulldog Puppies for Sale in Baton Rouge, LA

Updated: Nov. 6, 2024 at 4:46 PM PST

ST. GEORGE, La. (WAFB) - St. George is getting a shopping center in the next few years that will be almost twice the size of the Mall of Louisiana.

It’s spearheaded by Joshua Davis, the owner of Louisiana Firearms, and his business partner. Around five years ago, conversations with customers sparked an idea.

“A lot of St. George residents are customers of mine currently, and they would always say, ‘Hey, you know, we need a shopping center, a big shopping center down in St. George. We hate going through all the traffic to get to Baton Rouge to have nice restaurants and have nice shopping. We would love to have, you know, that in our own city,’” Davis said.

That idea turned into a plan for a 33-acre development in St. George at the corner of Highland and Airline called “The Highline.” It’ll combine with another development next-door already in the beginning phases and one across the street, making it around 160 total acres. Davis calls it a Perkins Rowe 2.0.

“We have a restaurant district, we have a shopping district, and we have a government and an office district in the development. We’re currently trying to get different local government agencies to move in, to rent, to build, whatever we could do to help them really get the city up and running,” Davis said.

Once completed, Davis says The Highline will be the biggest development in East Baton Rouge Parish. So far, he says the St. George community likes the idea.

“Everyone wants a development in St. George so they don’t have to drive to Baton Rouge, more restaurants near where they live. One of the biggest advantages we have, we are not a development that borders or is really close to any residential developments. A lot of these big developments that come in, they get a lot of pushback from because they’re right next to a neighborhood. We’re very fortunate. We’re lucky we don’t have that issue, so really that hasn’t been a factor. We haven’t seen any pushback from that aspect, so I would say that was my biggest concern going into it, but we really haven’t had anyone complain about it just because it’s not close to any neighborhoods,” Davis said.

Davis says the concerns he has heard are all related to the potential traffic increase in the area, but he says his team designed the development with that in mind.

“It should actually enhance the traffic in the area because of the Antioch extension that will be going through the development, so really, it should help with congestion rather than hurt it,” Davis said.

The development is broken down into phases. Davis says phase one is about to start within the next few months and will be complete by Summer 2026. It’ll include a two-acre town square, the Louisiana Firearms complex as the anchor business, and a connection to Airline Highway.

Developers have spaces for lease in the center. If you are interested or want to learn more, click here: https://www.experiencethehighline.com/

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Texas A&M's thrilling 38-23 win over LSU may not mean as much now due to the Tigers' 6-4 record. Still, the recruiting aftermath was certainly positive for the Aggies, who hosted over 50 prospects while gaining four commitments in the 2026 recruiting cycle the following Sunday.

Texas A&M's No. 1-ranked 2026 recruiting class is impressive, with just eight commitments, led by 5-star defensive lineman Jordan Carter. Meanwhile, 4-star wide receiver Aaron Gregory looks like the next star pass catcher based on his high school tape alone.

However, 2026 5-star interior offensive lineman Lamar Brown, one of the best overall athletes in the class, with the versatility to play on both sides of the line at the next level, also attended the LSU game and reportedly plans to return to College Station for Texas A&M's season finale vs. Texas on Nov. 30.

According to Rivals recruiting insider Sam Spiegelman, Brown will take an official visit to LSU this weekend, as the Tigers are reeling after losing elite 2025 5-star quarterback Bryce Underwood to Michigan on Thursday afternoon.

Brown is by far the most athletic and physical offensive line prospect in the 2026 cycle, possessing versatility as a defensive lineman similar to 2025 4-star and Texas A&M commit Kiotti Armstrong, who also thrives as a defensive end.

According to 247Sports Composite, Brown is currently positioned as the 6th-ranked prospect in the 2026 class, the No. 1-ranked IOL, and the No. 1-ranked prospect in Louisiana.

Elite 2026 OL Lamar Brown will be back at LSU this weekend, he tells me for @RivalsBrown is also scheduled to return to Texas A&M on November 30 for the regular-season finale vs Texas: https://t.co/PyA8RNAoKO pic.twitter.com/WUXXPzHCMB

— Sam Spiegelman (@samspiegs) November 21, 2024

Contact/Follow us @AggiesWire on Twitter, and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Texas A&M news, notes, and opinions. Follow Cameron on Twitter: @CameronOhnysty.

This article originally appeared on Aggies Wire: 2026 5-star IOL out of Baton Rouge (LA) will attend Texas A&M vs. Texas

The state Legislature has settled on the final details of Gov. Jeff Landry’s tax package, but adjourned Thursday night without taking any action because staff members were still drafting the final language of the various bills.

The Legislature called it a day just after 6 p.m. after lawmakers waited for hours in the expectation that the bills would be finalized in time to vote.

First the Senate and then the House is expected to approve the package Friday. That would end the special session, which could go as late as Monday at 6 p.m.

Senate President Cameron Henry, R-Metairie, confirmed after adjournment Thursday that the final plan calls for ending the graduated individual income tax system in favor of a flat 3% rate and tripling the standard deduction for individual filers.

Similarly, the three-tiered corporate income tax system would move to a flat 5.5% rate. This is lower than the current top rate of 7.5% but higher than the other two corporate income tax rates.

To pay for the tax cuts, legislators would raise the state sales tax rate to 5% for five years. It would then drop to 4.75%. Louisiana already has the country’s highest combined local and state sales tax rate at 9.56%. Going to 5% would push it to 10.06%.

Lawmakers also would repeal the corporate franchise tax, which is a tax on corporate assets.

The plan overall would reduce state taxes and give the biggest dollar savings to the wealthy and large corporations, with Landry saying this will spark an investment boom that will raise family income and reverse Louisiana’s population loss of recent years.

One of the last-minute changes that caused a delay Thursday was the decision by legislative leaders to combine the individual income tax cut (House Bill 1) with the sales tax increase (House Bill 10).

“It’s really hard to make sure everything blends together,” Henry said.

The two bills are being combined, Henry said, to make it easier to get the two-thirds vote needed to pass tax measures, since legislators who want the tax cut will have to vote to pay for it, too.

Louisiana’s sales tax rate is scheduled to drop to 4% next year. The 1 percentage point increase from that would contain no exemptions, making it “a clean penny” in legislative parlance. With no giveaways, it would raise more money.

Henry said the Legislative Fiscal Office hadn’t finished its analysis to determine exactly how much the individual income tax cut and sales tax hike bill would raise.

“There’s an enormous amount of staff work to make sure everything is accurate,” Henry said.

To raise more money, the final version of the tax package would reverse the recent decision to direct revenue from the vehicle sales tax to infrastructure projects. Instead, for the next two years, $280 million of that money would go into the state general fund that finances the ongoing activities of government. Another $40 million would continue to help finance a new Interstate 10 bridge in Calcasieu Parish.

The petrochemical industry sought to keep a tax break on goods stored in Foreign Trade Zones. But Henry said lawmakers decided not to continue allowing that.

“They’re upset about it,” he said.

Louisiana is the only state that offers this tax break.

Landry had touted a projection from his original plan from The Tax Foundation — a Washington, D.C., nonprofit favored by conservatives — that it would move Louisiana from 40th to eighth in its State Business Tax Climate Index.

After legislators revised the bill, the group says Louisiana would rank among the top 20, Henry said. That would be an improvement, but not as much as Landry had hoped for.

Email Tyler Bridges at tbridges@theadvocate.com.