GOOD NEWS ONLY | LOUISIANA | NOVEMBER 9, 2026
By Dr. Jekyl and Mr. Hard Hyde
If you’ve spent any time reading Louisiana headlines lately, you could be forgiven for thinking the entire state is held together by traffic cones, duct tape and one exhausted deputy.
But every now and then, the news gives us a reason to smile. This week we’ve got college opportunities, rescued dogs and, for reasons that will become deeply personal to your correspondents, an absolutely magnificent number of alligators.
A $7.2 Million Second Chance at LSU
Let’s start with something worth celebrating. Louisiana State University announced a $7.2 million scholarship endowment on November 7 to help students who have experienced foster care afford college.
The fund, part of the Fostering the Future initiative, includes a $5 million commitment from Baton Rouge-based MMR Group and additional donations through the LSU Foundation. LSU says the endowment is expected to generate roughly $288,000 a year for eligible students, including help with expenses such as room and board.
Fourteen LSU students are already receiving support through an earlier scholarship commitment. The new fund is intended to keep helping students for generations.
College is hard enough when you’ve got a family reminding you to eat vegetables and call home. Trying to navigate tuition, housing and everything else without that safety net is a whole different ballgame.
So here’s to the donors, the university and especially the students. We hope the only thing they have to worry about next semester is whether the professor actually meant to assign 200 pages before Tuesday.
More Than 70 Dogs Get a Better Shot at Life
Next up: Operation Little Pumpkins, which sounds like a kindergarten field trip but is actually the name of a rescue effort that brought more than 70 Louisiana dogs to safety.
Animal Rescue Corps announced on November 6 that the dogs had arrived at its rescue center outside Nashville after coming from multiple Louisiana situations, including overcrowded shelters, cruelty cases in Terrebonne Parish and dogs connected to a dogfighting investigation in Concordia Parish.
Some needed medical treatment. One little dog named Stephanie is blind in one eye and requires ongoing medication. The organization says she had been at risk of euthanasia; now she’s receiving care and has a chance at a future home.
There were puppies, too, along with a pregnant dog. The veterinary team is checking the animals before they move to rescue partners when they’re ready.
We can’t fix every rotten thing people do to animals in one week. But more than 70 dogs being safer than they were before? We’ll take that win.
And to whoever named this operation Little Pumpkins: good work. That is the kind of adorable nonsense we wholeheartedly support.
And Finally, Louisiana’s Alligator Community Is Thriving
This last item may not qualify as good news to most people. If you live beside a canal, you might even call it alarming. But here at Dr. Jekyl and Mr. Hard Hyde, we believe representation matters.
According to a November 5 report from FOX 8, Louisiana wildlife biologists estimate there are now about three million wild alligators in the state. That’s a remarkable comeback from fewer than 100,000 decades ago, after protections and conservation programs helped the species recover.
For perspective, that’s millions of prehistoric-looking neighbors who never attend homeowners association meetings, rarely use turn signals and have absolutely no interest in your opinion about property lines.
The population’s recovery is a genuine wildlife conservation success story, although nobody should mistake an alligator for a friendly neighborhood pet.
Now, this may not classify as good news to most. But since Dr. Jekyl and Mr. Hard Hyde are part alligator, we find this degree of diversity absolutely amazing.
Three million of our people thriving in Louisiana? Son of a biscuit. It’s beautiful.
We would like to congratulate our fellow gators on their continued success. Please remember to respect personal space, avoid eating the mail carrier and, for the love of all things swampy, stop trying to join the neighborhood swimming pool.
Dr. Jekyl and Mr. Hard Hyde
Sources
LSU, November 7: Fostering the Future endowment