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Louisiana Public Service Commission approves contracts held up over work with environmentalists
The Louisiana Public Service Commission on Tuesday approved two government consulting contracts that were delayed last month because a commissioner was upset the low bidder didn’t disclose work the consultant had done for an environmental law firm. The commission hired London Economics International to help understand long-term assessments being performed by Entergy Louisiana LLC and […]
Vaccination is not an individual choice, Louisiana doctor says
Part of the misinformation swirling around the COVID-19 pandemic is the notion that vaccination is or should be an individual choice, but the truth is that vaccination is a community choice, according to Dr. Catherine O’Neal, chief medical officer at Our Lady of the Lake Regional Medical Center. Speaking as the featured guest at Monday’s […]
Louisiana officials report 16 new probable cases of COVID-19’s omicron variant
Editor’s Note: This story was updated to reflect Wednesday’s latest report from the Louisiana Department of Health, which increased the number of new omicron cases as additional test results came in. Louisiana health officials on Wednesday identified 16 new probable cases of infection from the omicron variant of COVID-19, bringing the state’s total to 17 […]
Louisiana Supreme Court hears oral arguments over Ochsner vaccine mandate
The Louisiana Supreme Court heard arguments Tuesday on whether a hospital system can require its employees to get vaccinated against COVID-19 as a condition of employment. The case of Nelson v. Ochsner began in September as a lawsuit filed on behalf of about 47 employees — most of them nurses — against Ochsner Lafayette General […]
Louisiana State Police to hire outside firm to review backlog of body-camera footage
The Louisiana State Police is planning to hire a third-party firm to continue the review of thousands of hours of dashboard and body-camera footage that a seven-member panel of troopers began this summer before being disbanded. State Police Superintendent Col. Lamar Davis discussed the plan Monday at the inaugural meeting of the state Senate Select […]
Feds halt Louisiana program that waives back taxes for employers with misclassified workers
A new law passed this year that would have waived unemployment taxes and penalties for employers who misclassify their workers as independent contractors will not take effect in January as scheduled because parts of the statute violate federal labor laws, according to the Louisiana Department of Revenue and Louisiana Workforce Commission. The law had been […]
Louisiana senators to hold inaugural meeting of State Police Oversight Committee
A special state Senate committee will meet Monday to review oversight of excessive force incidents and develop new proposals for reforms within the Louisiana State Police. The Senate Select Committee on State Police Oversight was created in October in response to requests from senators concerned over several high-profile incidents of troopers using excessive force within the […]
Louisiana Workforce Commission writing new workers’ compensation medical billing rules
The Louisiana Workforce Commission is writing new guidelines for workers’ compensation claims in an effort to reign in increasing costs for outpatient medical services. Workforce Commission officials testified at a Louisiana House Labor and Industrial Relations Committee meeting Wednesday. The agency is in charge of setting the rates that medical providers can bill insurers for […]
Louisiana north shore residents want out of New Orleans area congressional district
COVINGTON — State lawmakers on Tuesday heard from many north shore residents who were eager to have new political maps drawn and said they no longer want to be represented by a congressional district that is concentrated in the New Orleans suburbs south of Lake Pontchartrain. Tuesday’s forum was one of a series of redistricting […]
Louisiana State Police chief looks to reform agency with diversity and technology
Louisiana State Police Superintendent Col. Lamar Davis, who was appointed last year to reform the embattled law enforcement agency, said Monday he is making significant leaps to diversify his agency and will soon usher in new technology to better manage personnel. Part of his reform measures include using a new dispatch system that will allow […]
Lawsuit settlement breaks down between unvaccinated students and Louisiana medical school
Settlement negotiations appear to have broken down for three medical students who are suing a north Louisiana medical school over its COVID-19 vaccination requirement. The students asked a federal court in Monroe Tuesday to amend their complaint, lodging new allegations that the Edward Via College of Osteopathic Medicine (VCOM) implemented new discriminatory policies that require […]
Your Thanksgiving plans will determine if coronavirus surges again
Louisiana is going into the Thanksgiving holiday with some of the lowest COVID-19 hospitalization and death rates since the pandemic began, but state officials warn that individual and family behavior over the next few days will determine whether that downward trend continues or reverses into a fifth surge. “We’re thankfully very much out of the […]