Budget shortfall: The University of Louisiana at Monroe plans to furlough staff in an effort to avoid a $5 million to $6 million budget shortfall that must be addressed by the end of June. The earliest the University of Louisiana System Board of Supervisors can approve the plan is April 24, so the furloughs would not start before May, acting ULM  President Nick Bruno says. Read more from Louisiana Illuminator.  Permit blocked: President Donald Trump’s first-term push to open the Gulf and other federal waters to fish farming has come to a halt in the early days of his second term. A federal judge in Washington state ruled against a nationwide aquaculture permit the Trump administration sought in 2020. The wide-ranging permit would have allowed the first offshore farms in the Gulf and the likely expansion of the aquaculture industry into federally managed waters on the East and West coasts. Read more from Verite. Coastal restoration: Closing arguments for a historic trial that could compel oil and gas companies to pay billions for Louisiana’s coastal wetlands restoration were delivered on Thursday in lower Plaquemines Parish. The lawsuit, pitting the parish against companies including Chevron USA Inc., is the first of 42 similar cases filed since 2013 to reach trial, accusing the industry of violating state permitting laws and exacerbating wetlands loss. Read more from The Center Square.    ...read more read less