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If you’re looking for something to put you and your family in the Christmas spirit, take a drive through Crowley’s Historic District to view the beautifully decorated historic homes and businesses.
Start along Historic Downtown Crowley and make your way into the residential district to the east.
The area — roughly from Hutchinson Avenue south to East First Street and North Eastern Avenue west to Parkerson Avenue — is a self-guided walking/driving tour of meticulously decorated houses and businesses in Crowley’s Historic District. Noel Trail maps are available at city hall, the library and Vanilla Bean. There’s also a link to a digital map on Crowley Main Street’s Facebook page and the Historic District Noel Trail Facebook Event.
Beginning along Historic North Parkerson Avenue, Noel Trail homes include:
219 E. Second St.
305 E. Third St.
505 E. Fourth St.
814 N. Avenue K
315 E. Third St.
517 N. Avenue G
824 E. Fifth St.
831 E. Fifth St.
503 E. Fifth St.
503 E. Hutchinson
723 E. Second St.
219 N. Avenue K
210 N. Avenue K
524 E. Fourth St.
312 E. Second St.
424 E. Second St.
517 E. Third St.
626 E. Third St.
523 E. Fifth St.
425 N. Eastern Ave.
816 N. Avenue J
423 E. Fifth St
420 N. Avenue I
212 E. Sixth St
304 E. Third St
320 N. Avenue J

The Crowley Lions Club, in cooperation with the Louisiana Lions Eye Foundation, conducted free CubSight screening Monday morning at St. Michael Elementary School.
Joining local Lions Club members at the school were LLEF Executive Director Chris Carlone and wife, Kathy.
LLEF CubSight is a vision screening program designed to identify existing or potential vision disorders in children.
Although CubSight will screen children up to the age of 18, the program is primarily designed to screen children between the ages of 1 and 6 and to inform the parent or guardian of their child’s results.
Through early detection and early treatment, many vision problems can be corrected or even reversed with the help of an eye doctor. In some cases, blindness may be prevented.
The CubSight Vision Screening Program is conducted by volunteer Lions and offered 100% free to schools, daycare centers, churches and all residents of Louisiana.
Children are individually screened by having them focus on a vision screening device from 3 feet away. This device takes a photo of the child’s eyes and is able to detect many different abnormalities.
The Lions conducted similar screening recently at Northside Christian School.

A Louisiana “safe harbor” provision protecting businesses that make first-time mistakes when classifying employees as independent contractors has run afoul of the U.S. Department of Labor.
The Fresh Start Program, known as Act 297, allows employers to reclassify workers and avoid related withholding tax, unemployment tax, interest or penalties for prior periods upon first offenses.
The legislation, passed earlier this year, was aimed at shielding employers who come forward voluntarily as well as those regulators catch, providing reclassification occurs within 60 days.
The U.S. Labor Department has objected, however, saying recently that waiving employer liability for unemployment insurance back taxes is “not permissible under federal unemployment compensation law.”
The Louisiana Workforce Commission (LWC) issued an emergency declaration in response, stating that Louisiana would be risking federal funding if the safe-harbor provision was implemented Jan. 1 as scheduled.
LWC also adopted an administrative rule suspending the relief provision, which the Louisiana Department of Revenue has subsequently endorsed, saying “the Fresh Start Program will be delayed while the Emergency Rule remains in effect.”
“It is imperative that the LWC proceed expediently and take immediate action with this Rule because of the adverse impact COVID-19 has had on the U.C. trust fund balance and businesses in the state,” the emergency declaration reads.
“Failure to adopt this Rule on an emergency basis may imperil LWC’s ability to receive federal funding for failure to meet conformity requirements.”
Fresh Start was signed into law with broad bipartisan support. The issue united many lawmakers, as well as the Louisiana Association of Business and Industry and AFL-CIO, the state’s largest business group and labor union, respectively.
Businesses that misclassify their employees as independent contractors can get out of paying the taxes that support unemployment benefits, forcing businesses that follow the law to shoulder more of the tax burden.
The issue has garnered additional attention as the state’s unemployment insurance trust fund was depleted during the COVID-19 pandemic-related economic downturn.
Companies that avoid paying some of their taxes also gain a competitive advantage over those that do, some lawmakers have said.

The American Tort Reform Association has ranked Louisiana the sixth-worst civil court jurisdiction in the country, making the state a top “judicial hellhole” for another year.
The Washington-based legal watchdog released its annual report this week, highlighting the most egregious local courts and state civil justice systems. Louisiana made its 12th annual appearance on the list.
“Every Louisianan pays a $451 ‘tort tax’ each year due to the costs of excessive lawsuits,” Lana Sonnier Venable, executive director of Louisiana Lawsuit Abuse Watch, said in an email statement. “The current total impact of these costs results in $3.87 billion in lost economic activity, 22,550 job losses and $1.12 billion in lost wages for hardworking Louisianans.”
Abusive civil justice climates allow trial lawyers to clog courts with unnecessary lawsuits, the group said, adding that higher insurance rates, fewer jobs and diminished private sector innovation often ensues.
The report cites multiple areas where Louisiana’s litigation environment significantly favored lawyers this year, beginning with Gov. John Bel Edwards’ veto of Senate Bill 43.
Edwards, a former trail lawyer, vetoed the bipartisan legislation that would have limited misleading lawsuit advertising practices and solicitations for legal services.
The bill would have required ads to inform viewers that they were paid advertisements and for ad sponsors to disclose themselves. The bill would have also prohibited ads from appearing as public service announcements and eliminated the use, buying or selling of private health information to solicit individuals for legal services.
“Louisiana accounts for a disproportionate amount of legal services TV ads and spending on those ads (4% of all spending and 5.6% of ads in one quarter) considering that the state makes up less than 1.5% of the nation’s population,” the report said.
In his veto message of SB 43, Edwards said the legislation “is likely unconstitutional in that regulation of attorney advertising is handled by the Louisiana Supreme Court and not the legislature.”
Bill sponsor Sen. Barrow Peacock, R- Bossier City, wrote a follow-up letter to the Louisiana Supreme Court in July, requesting guidance. The court said it could not intervene because the dispute was between the legislative and executive branches.
Edwards vetoed a similar bill last year.
The report cited dozens of lawsuits targeting Louisiana’s energy industry. More than 40 civil lawsuits aimed at about 200 energy companies have been filed since 2013, including multimillion-dollar complaints against some of the world’s largest oil-and-gas corporations, such as Shell, BP and Exxon Mobile.
The lawsuits are spearheaded by private attorneys acting on behalf of some coastal parishes.
“The lawsuits claim damages relating to the producers’ conduct carried out at the direction of the federal government during World War II,” the report said.
The coastal plaintiffs allege the energy producers failed to follow “prudent practices” and damaged the environment. The oil-and-gas companies assert they were acting properly under federal laws that predated applicable state environmental laws.
Mining company Freeport McMoRan was the first defendant to end the protracted litigation, paying out $100 million to end its case earlier this year.
The report also touched on judicial corruption and recommended additional reforms to the Louisiana Supreme Court procedures.
“Scandals continue to bring attention to this issue, contributing to both the public and legislature losing patience with the judicial branch’s repeated promises to do better,” the report read.
Examples included Louisiana Supreme Court Justice Jefferson Hughes III and Fourth Judicial District Court Judge Sharon Marchman.
Hughes was censured after admitting in June to visiting the home of a Hammond political consultant and offering to pay the consultant if he shifted support away from one Supreme Court candidate to another.
Marchman is under investigation for alleged misconduct that occurred in 2018, long after the Louisiana Judicial Campaign Oversight Committee concluded Marchman violated the state judicial code of conduct.
Judicial complaints filed against judges are not made public unless the Louisiana Judiciary Commission takes action.
“Instances of alleged misconduct, like this one, are being more widely reported and continue to draw the ire of the public,” Sonnier Venable said.