Govt + Politics
GOP U.S. House passes bill opening more public land to development if reserve oil is tapped
U.S. House Republicans passed a bill Friday to force the White House to make more federal land and waters available for oil and gas development if the president orders the withdrawal of more oil from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve. The bill, passed 221-205, mostly along party lines, would strip the president’s power to remove oil […]
Washington Mardi Gras: The swamp becomes crowded
WASHINGTON – The Washington Hilton lobby was wall-to-wall with Louisiana elected officials, lobbyists, and business leaders Thursday afternoon as more Washington Mardi Gras attendees arrived ahead of the first official night event of the week’s festivities. The Hilton’s ground floor bar – renamed the “65th Parish” for the next few days in honor of Louisiana […]
Rural health panel links disparities to poverty, wants to work another year
A state panel that has been studying health disparities in rural Louisiana for the past six months has developed a number of legislative recommendations ahead of its March 1 deadline and will ask lawmakers to let it continue its work for an additional year. The Health Disparities in Rural Areas Task Force, created last year […]
381,000 Louisianians approved for Biden’s student debt forgiveness
Out of more than 600,000 Louisianians identified as qualified for Biden’s student loan forgiveness, 381,000 applied and were approved before a federal court case forced the administration to take the application down. “These borrowers could be benefitting from the Administration’s program right now were it not for lawsuits brought by elected officials and special interests,” a […]
Teachers would get $60K minimum salary under bill in Congress making grants to states
WASHINGTON – A panel of policymakers and educators, including author Dave Eggers and former U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan, gathered at the U.S. Capitol on Wednesday to promote the American Teacher Act. The bill, if passed, would authorize the federal government to create four-year grants for states to enact and enforce minimum school teacher […]
Louisiana deserves modern mindset on child sexual abuse prevention
It’s always nice to see a piece of bad legislation salvaged and turned into a good law, and that might be what happens with a proposal meant to protect child sexual abuse victims in Louisiana. But there’s a chance it could run into the same anachronistic thinking around criminal justice in our state that’s blunted […]
Almost half of Louisiana sheriffs are violating public record laws
Nearly half of Louisiana sheriffs are in violation of a state law regulating the preservation and destruction of public records, according to documents provided by state officials. Of the 64 sheriffs statewide, 23 have never secured state approval for a records retention policy, three allowed their policies to expire, one as far back as 1980, […]
From one swamp to another: Welcome to Washington Mardi Gras
Ahead of a state special session on insurance next week, many of Louisiana’s elected officials, business leaders and state lobbyists decamped to Washington, D.C., for the annual Washington Mardi Gras. The politically-fueled celebration this week features dozens of corporate parties, business group luncheons and candidate fundraisers. While official events don’t get underway until Thursday, hundreds […]
DOC ‘deliberately indifferent’ about releasing incarcerated people on time, Justice Dept. finds
There is reason to believe Louisiana routinely holds incarcerated people beyond their release dates in violation of their rights under the U.S. Constitution, according to a U.S. Department of Justice investigation that covered the first four months of 2022. Findings of the probe, which involved information the Louisiana Department of Public Safety and Corrections provided […]
U.S. House GOP takes aim at fake pills containing deadly fentanyl sold on social media
WASHINGTON — On a June 2020 morning, Amy Neville entered her son’s bedroom to wake him for an orthodontist appointment. Fourteen-year-old Alex didn’t wake up. He died of fentanyl poisoning after taking a counterfeit pill he bought from someone he met on Snapchat, Neville told GOP lawmakers Wednesday during a roundtable discussion of the role […]
Louisiana Democratic chair Katie Bernhardt says she’s ‘committed to uniting behind one candidate’ for governor
WASHINGTON – Louisiana Democratic Party chair Katie Bernhardt didn’t rule out running for governor herself in an interview Wednesday, but also said she was “committed to uniting behind one [Democratic] candidate.” She specifically mentioned she would be willing to get behind Louisiana Transportation Secretary Shawn Wilson, should he jump into the governor’s race. Speaking in […]
Auditor: LSU overpaid Brian Kelly by more than $1 million
LSU head football coach Brian Kelly was overpaid more than $1 million last year, according to an audit of the university’s athletic department by the Louisiana Legislative Auditor’s office. The audit found LSU made double payments to Kelly in May and June and erroneously continued supplemental payments between May and November 2022, totaling $1,001,368. Kelly […]