Gov. Edwards: U.S. Commerce Secretary approves request for federal disaster declaration following flood-fighting efforts Fri, 09/27/2019 - 12:00am BATON ROUGE, La. — The U.S. Department of Commerce has approved Gov. John Bel Edwards’ request and declared a federal ...PLEASE LOG IN FOR PREMIUM CONTENT. Our website requires visitors to log in to view the best local news. Not yet a subscriber? Subscribe today! Read more about Gov. Edwards: U.S. Commerce Secretary approves request for federal disaster declaration following flood-fighting efforts