BATON ROUGE — East Baton Rouge Parish Mayor-President Sid Edwards will hold a news conference on Wednesday to launch a new program that will fix or replace eligible residents' air conditioning units for free, a news release said.

The new "Operation Stay Cool" initiative aims to protect vulnerable residents from extreme summer heat. The funding will come from the federal Low-Income Home Energy Assistance Program. Details on how to apply will be released later; criteria include income and other factors.

The press conference will be at 9:30 a.m. on Wednesday in City Hall.