Former Louisiana Gov. Kathleen Babineaux Blanco, who became the state’s first female elected governor only to see her political career derailed by the devastation of Hurricane Katrina, has died. After struggling for years with cancer, Blanco died Sunday in hospice care in Lafayette. Please pray for God’s peace to carry us through the coming days and months of sorrow as we mourn her absence from our lives,” Blanco’s family said in a statement released by Gov. John Bel Edwards’ office.