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Louisiana’s education chief to address extremist Moms for Liberty group
Louisiana’s superintendent of education will speak to a local chapter of a national group a civil rights watchdog has identified as an extremist organization. Cade Brumley, who oversees the state’s K-12 public schools, will be the featured speaker of the East Baton Rouge chapter of Moms for Liberty at its monthly meeting July 24. The […]
Louisiana Legislature overturns veto of ban on transgender youth health care
In a rare occurrence, the Louisiana Legislature has overridden a veto from Gov. John Bel Edwards, allowing a ban on gender-affirming health care for transgender youth to become law. House Bill 648 by Rep. Gabe Firment, R-Pollock, was overridden in the House on a 75-23 vote and in the Senate on a 28-11 vote. The […]
Louisiana AG Jeff Landry wants info on out-of-state abortions, gender-affirming care
Louisiana’s Jeff Landry joined 17 other state attorneys general in signing a letter Mississippi Attorney General Lynn Finch sent last month to the Biden administration saying those states need access to information about residents who obtain abortions or gender-affirming care in other states. The letter calls on U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Secretary […]
Diversity, equity and inclusion backlash baffles Southern University System president
Across the Southeast, state legislatures have passed bills to curb tenure and diversity, equity and inclusion, which has led to schools in those states having trouble hiring and retaining faculty. Dennis Shields, president of the Southern University System, told the Baton Rouge Press Club Monday he doesn’t understand the backlash to diversity, equity and inclusion […]
Louisiana governor hopefuls want to make the state more business – and worker – friendly
After Louisiana was ranked as the second-to-worst state for business, candidates vying to be its next governor agree something must be done – but don’t always concur on just what the answer is. Five of the top contenders for governor spoke with the Illuminator about their plans to lift Louisiana from the bottom of such […]
St. Tammany Library Board weighs policy changes in the wake of new law
The St. Tammany Parish Library Board is weighing how to best restructure library policy to deal with a crush of materials challenges under a new law that seeks to restrict minors’ access to material it defines as sexually explicit. At a special board meeting Thursday, library officials discussed changes to their challenged materials process. St. […]
Many LSU graduate assistants denied promised wage hike despite state dollars set aside for it
LSU was given $8 million in the state budget on the promise it would raise its minimum pay for all Ph. D.-seeking graduate assistants to $23,000 per academic year — the highest among schools in the Southeastern Conference — but many qualified students aren’t seeing the benefits. In phone and email interviews, seven Ph. D.-seeking […]
Louisiana creates new position for environmental resilience policy chief
Louisiana Gov. John Bel Edwards signed legislation to create a state chief resilience officer, a position that will coordinate policy response to environmental hazards. The position was created by House Bill 526, which Rep. Jerome “Zee” Zeringue, R-Houma, authored. It will be housed in the office of the governor. “This is an urgent need not […]
LSU Maravich Assembly Center project won’t receive ‘problem’ $50 million appropriation
Because of an improper appropriation, LSU’s plans to upgrade the Pete Maravich Assembly Center will get started with significantly less funding than anticipated. But just how the inappropriate expense got in the state budget remains a mystery. In a buzzer-beater addition to the state construction budget, approved June 8 in the final minutes of the […]
Louisiana governor vetoes bills targeting LGBTQ+ youth
As promised, Louisiana Gov. John Bel Edwards, a Democrat, has vetoed three anti-LGBTQ+ bills the state’s Republican-majority legislature approved. In his veto messages, Edwards called out the bills as harmful for youth, discriminatory and extremist. “The effects of this bill may be to simply give legislative blessing for sanctioned bullying of LGBTQ children in schools […]
Louisiana governor signs bill restricting minors’ access to certain library materials
Although he previously called the measure unneeded, Gov. John Bel Edwards has signed a controversial bill into law that seeks to restrict Louisiana minors’ access to material it defines as sexually explicit. “I don’t think the bill is necessary,” Edwards, a Democrat, said earlier this month. “The biggest challenge we have with kids in libraries […]
Pay for Louisiana graduate assistants has not kept pace with inflation
In 1994, Jim Henderson was offered a graduate assistantship that came with a stipend the equivalent of almost $16,000 today. He turned it down. Nearly 30 years later, Henderson is now president of the University of Louisiana System, where graduate assistants are sometimes paid as little as $10,000. As the cost of living has steadily […]