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Biden wins – experts on what it means for race relations, US foreign policy and the Supreme Court
Brian J Purnell, Bowdoin College; Morgan Marietta, University of Massachusetts Lowell, and Neta C. Crawford, Boston University The American public has had its say and for the first time in a generation denied a sitting president a second term. President Donald Trump’s tenure lasted just four years, but in that time he dragged policy on […]
Count every vote: Patience is a Democratic virtue
By Micah W. Kubic November 3, 2020 In an unprecedented year, it’s only natural that we have an unprecedented election. It’s the first in most of our lifetimes to occur during a global pandemic, and one in which an unprecedented number of ballots, in Florida and nationwide, will be cast after being mailed to voters. […]
Access to abortion should not depend on where you live
By Petrice Sams-Abiodun On Tuesday, November 3, we will have the final opportunity to vote on Constitutional Amendment 1, which seeks to add anti-abortion language to the Louisiana State Constitution. This amendment is dangerous, and confusing. If Roe v. Wade is overturned, Amendment 1 would make court challenges to abortion restrictions extremely difficult in Louisiana. […]
Anti ‘Defund the Police’ bill puts demagoguery over commitment to local governance
By Chris Kaiser Louisiana legislators have recently fast-tracked a bill – House Bill 38 – that would punish cities and parishes that reduce their police budgets by more than 10 percent. Nevermind that no municipality or parish in Louisiana has made any move to defund the police and that Louisianians face urgent challenges like the COVID-19 pandemic […]
Where’s Louisiana Tech’s loyalty to professors whose opinions provoke death threats?
By Andrew C. McKevitt Louisiana Tech’s motto is “Ever Loyal Be.” This month I learned those words come with an asterisk. When a politically motivated outrage mob deliberately twisted and misrepresented my words in an effort to get me fired and chill free speech on college campuses, Louisiana Tech’s leaders caved. In the process they […]
Advocates want to bulldoze highways that bulldozed Black neighborhoods
By Caitlin Dewey Stateline As protesters in cities from Richmond, Virginia, to San Francisco toppled statues last month, urban planner Amy Stelly allowed herself to hope that New Orleans might soon fell its own worst “racist monument.” For much of her life, Stelly, who is Black, has lived in the shadow of the Claiborne expressway, […]
Without the $600 added to unemployment checks, I don’t know how my family will survive
By Travis Smith Congress will soon be debating legislation that will determine if families like mine will be able to stay above water. My wife and I are both unemployed and blessed to have been receiving the Pandemic Unemployed Compensation from the CARES Act introduced in March. It has been a tremendous help while we […]
Pollution left us in St. James Parish vulnerable to COVID-19; now industry wants to build bigger
By Stephanie Cooper I grew up in St. James Parish, on a country road off Highway 18 on the west bank of the Mississippi River, before a dozen polluting petrochemical plants were built here, before my community became known as Cancer Alley and before our long exposure to industrial air pollution helped lead to some […]
COVID-19 infections in the prison system concern us all
By Andrea Armstrong At a July 8 press conference, Dr. Alex Billioux, assistant secretary of health for the Office of Public Health, attempted to explain why the Louisiana Department of Health (LDH) does not provide independent data on COVID-19 in Louisiana prisons and jails. First, Billioux said prisons and jails are not public health risks […]
We can’t reform police departments if civil service boards tolerate abuse
Fr. Richard R. Andrus Jr., SVD The fact that Officer Robert Moruzzi continues to serve on the Baton Rouge Municipal Fire and Police Civil Service Board is a moral disgrace. In Louisiana, civil service boards hear appeals from police officers who have been disciplined for professional violations, including for using excessive force. I started paying […]
Money wasted on abortion fights could help struggling Louisianians
By Pearl Ricks, Reproductive Justice Action Collective On Monday, the U.S. Supreme Court voted 5-4 to strike down Louisiana’s admitting privileges law. The majority ruled that Louisiana’s law was essentially identical to a Texas law the court struck down in 2016. The court also ruled that Louisiana providers can go to court to defend the […]