BY DEANNA B. NARVESON | Staff writer Tech tools: Two local district attorneys are looking into using artificial intelligence to assist in completing trials more quickly. Both hope these new tools can help tackle their offices' high caseloads and limited workforce. Read the full story. Budget woes: Bracing for a $250 million budget shortfall with the sunset of a state sales tax next year, Louisiana higher education system leaders are saying the cuts could be devastating for the state's universities. Cuts to state funding could result in slashed programs, layoffs and students across the state receiving less financial aid, system leaders said at a state Board of Regents budget hearing on Tuesday. Read more. Hurricane update: Tropical Storm Helene is forecast to become one of the largest — though not necessarily the strongest — hurricanes to form in the last two decades as it moves through the Gulf of Mexico this week, according to the National Hurricane Center in Miami, with impacts extending "farther than normal" beyond the storm's eyewall. See the latest. | 