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By ordering a pandemic emergency election plan, federal judge does what Kyle Ardoin should have
Louisiana Secretary of State Kyle Ardoin should have fought for Louisiana voters who demanded a way to cast their ballots in November and December without risking exposure to the novel coronavirus. Louisiana has been hit particularly hard by that virus and continues to lead the country in the number of confirmed COVID-19 cases per capita. […]
Louisiana has 3rd worst census response rate with 2 weeks to go
With two weeks to go until the U.S. Census Bureau ends its 2020 count, 85.4 percent of Louisiana households have been counted, leaving the state tied with Mississippi for the third worst response rate in the United States. That ranking includes the 50 states, the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico. Across the United States, […]
With COVID-19 rate still high, Louisiana enters eat-drink-and-be-merry phase
COVID-19 has been infecting fewer people in Louisiana than it did during a first peak in April or a second peak in July, and Gov. John Bel Edwards announced Thursday that the state was entering Phase 3 of its coronavirus reopening plan. Many Louisianians are probably celebrating the loosening of restrictions, but we’ll likely look […]
Emergency election plan courtroom fight begins with plaintiffs winning a battle
Louisiana voters who say they will be disenfranchised by the state’s absence of a pandemic-related emergency election plan will begin making their case to U.S. District Judge Shelly Dick this morning. But Dick, the chief judge of the federal court in Baton Rouge, issued a ruling yesterday that suggests she’s skeptical of the state’s argument […]
Hurricane Laura displacement doesn’t have to mean missing the 2020 Census
Hurricane Laura, which made an August 27 landfall in Cameron Parish, tore a path of destruction through a state with one of the nation’s lowest self-response rates to the census and landed when the U.S. Census Bureau had little more than a month left to complete its count. That means that field representatives who’ve been […]
COVID-19 hits Black America hard, but HBCU chiefs find vaccine trial is hard to sell
COVID-19 is known to have infected one of every 36 Black New Orleanians during the pandemic. There’s no way of knowing how many New Orleanians of any race have been infected, but those 6,601 confirmed cases that have been counted among Black people are 2.5 times more than the 2,594 cases that have been counted […]
After Hurricane Laura, residents in parishes not approved for FEMA aid feel ‘completely on their own’
Hurricane Laura hit the Louisiana coast as a Category 4 hurricane shortly after midnight Aug. 27, and, remarkably, after ripping a vertical seam of destruction through the state, was still a hurricane when it exited the state for Arkansas that afternoon. The storm has been blamed for 15 deaths and more than a half million […]
Hurricane Laura survivors in 7 more parishes can apply for FEMA aid
Gov. John Bel Edwards announced in a Tuesday night press release that seven more Louisiana parishes have been added to the list of places where residents can apply for help from the Federal Emergency Management Agency. Nine parishes had already been deemed eligible, which means residents in a total of 16 parishes can now apply. […]
White House orders suspension of evictions to halt spread of COVID-19
WASHINGTON — The Trump administration announced on Tuesday it would temporarily halt residential evictions to curb the spread of COVID-19 infections. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin disclosed during a congressional hearing that the executive order would be issued. It runs through Dec. 31. The order estimates that 30 to 40 million renters are at risk of […]
2020 Census still scheduled to wrap up September 30
The count for the 2020 U.S. Census ends Sept. 30, and as of Aug. 30, more than 40 percent of Louisiana residents had failed to self-respond to the U.S. Census Bureau by Internet, phone or mail. According to the Census Bureau’s website, only 58.3 percent of Louisianians had chosen to send their demographic information to […]
DEBERRY: America promised to learn lessons from Hurricane Katrina, but the events of 2020 say it didn’t
Not long after four bouncers from Razoo Bar & Grill pinned 26-year-old Levon Jones to the ground until he was dead, trumpeter Hannibal Lokumbe told an MLK Day crowd at St. Louis Cathedral that because he breathes into a horn for a living, he couldn’t imagine a more horrible death than the Black college student […]
Water outages force hospital evacuations in Southwest Louisiana
More than six dozen public water systems in Louisiana were knocked out of service when Hurricane Laura tore through the state Thursday, and the inability of those jurisdictions to provide clean water forced 10 hospitals to evacuate some or all of their patients, according to the Louisiana Department of Health. The health department said Thursday […]