DENHAM SPRINGS - The antique village and surrounding communities gathered Saturday for its fall festival, and the district is seeing improvements from its impact.

This year, around ten thousand were in attendance, as more than 160 vendors offered everything from handcrafted designs, festival food and a number of performances. 

The storefronts also had a number of special offers and free giveaways. In an effort to support local businesses, a portion of the proceeds goes to improvements in the district. 

Previously, Kim and Al Bye, the festival coordinators, were able to help the antique district adopt brick sidewalks. She says they hope to fund more parking and better lighting next. 

The festival is also fueling changes to storefronts. John Cavalier owns Cavalier bookstore, which has been around for thirteen years. Cavalier just bought one of the historic buildings on Range Avenue, built in 1972. He says the move into a bigger space in the district wouldn’t have been possible without revenue from the festival. 

The grand opening was held today, where they offered free books to the community. The new bookstore will open next month.

BATON ROUGE - The state insurance commissioner says you can expect your homeowner's insurance rate to increase, but by how much will depend on the cost of Hurricane Ian damages in Florida.

"If it turns out to be as estimated right now — between $25 and 40 billion in insured losses — that would be a huge hit to the international reinsurance marketplace," Louisiana Insurance Commissioner Jim Donelon said.

Insurance agent Stephen Lovecchio says inflation of building materials is already causing an increase. He agrees next year's premiums will be higher than this year's.

"There's only a finite amount of money for hurricane risk in the Gulf Coast region of North America, and I think Ian just took it all," he said.

There are only a handful of big reinsurance companies worldwide. They cover natural disasters across the planet, and they only have so money reserved.

The companies we deal with here in Louisiana all buy their insurance from those global companies, and the cost of reinsurance is going up.

"They'll play the claim, but they need to get their money back quick because they're waiting for the next one," Lovecchio said.

Lovecchio says Louisiana needs to incentivize private insurance companies to sell here. In the free market, competition drives down prices.

Also, all the lawsuits in Louisiana and Florida cost insurance companies money and tie up claims for years.

"We now have the highest property rates in the nation, and we're not a rich state. A large percentage of people's incomes go to pay for insurance to live in southeast Louisiana," Lovecchio said.

RESERVE - A woman is on the run after allegedly shooting someone to death in St. John Parish, and authorities believe she may be in the capital area.

The St. John Parish Sheriff's Office said they responded to the shooting on East 21st Street in Reserve on Saturday. Upon arrival, deputies found an unidentified victim had been shot to death.

Investigators believe 21-year-old Ashley Marie Johnson-Washington is responsible for the shooting.

She reportedly fled the scene of the crime in a 2012 Kia Sorrento with La. license plate 423FGL, which was last seen heading east on I-10 from the Laplace area.

Detectives said Saturday afternoon they believe Johnson-Washington may be in the Baton Rouge area.

Anyone who knows the whereabouts of Johnson-Washington is asked to contact the St. John Parish Sheriff's Office at (504) 494-3714.