Editor Brian Harrod Provides Comprehensive up-to-date news coverage, with aggregated news from sources all over the world from the Roundup Newswires Network
A company building a crude oil pipeline in Louisiana asked a federal appeals court Friday to lift a judge's order that temporarily halts pipeline construction work in a swamp. Bayou Bridge Pipeline LLC asked the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals for an "emergency stay" that would suspend the judge's ruling while it appeals.
Newly-elected Republican Party of Louisiana Chairman Louis Gurvich speaks to the state GOP's governing body, Saturday, Feb. 24, 2018, in Baton Rouge, La. Newly-elected Republican Party of Louisiana Chairman Louis Gurvich speaks to the state GOP's governing body, Saturday, Feb. 24, 2018, in Baton Rouge, La.
Rep. Larry Bagley, R-Stonewall, asks questions about a Medicaid bill while Rep. Dodie Horton, R-Haughton listens during a hearing of the House Health and Welfare Committee on Thursday, Feb. 22, 2018, in Baton Rouge, La. Rep. Larry Bagley, R-Stonewall, asks questions about a Medicaid bill while Rep. Dodie Horton, R-Haughton listens during a hearing of the House Health and Welfare Committee on Thursday, Feb. 22, 2018, in Baton Rouge, La.
But if recent history is any indication, Hewitt will have a tough time getting traction for her idea. Three governors in as many decades, including Buddy Roemer, Mike Foster and Bobby Jindal, explored the single board concept in earnest but never could make it happen.
Average public school teacher salaries in Louisiana finally reached the regional average in 2007, a breakthrough that was celebrated by politicians, education groups and others. But now teachers are paid $1,705 less than their peers in the region, another casualty of Louisiana's seemingly endless cycle of budget problems.
Paperwork has been distributed and extra chairs have been set up in the Louisiana House chamber ready for Gov. John Bel Edwards' address to legislators at 5 p.m. Monday, Feb. 17, 2018. The 17-day special session aims to address a $1 billion deficit in the state budget for the fiscal year that begins July 1. The 144 members of Louisiana's Legislature will convene Monday in a special session that will mark their fifth attempt in two years to solve the state's recurring budget problems.
From left, Carissa Graves, wife of Congressman Garret Graves; Public Relations Consultant Delia A. Taylor, wife of Livingston Parish Assessor Jeff Taylor; and Cynthia Graves, mother of Congressman Garret Graves, sit together during the Washington, D.C., Mardi Gras parade on Saturday, Jan. 27, 2018. The parade and ball were held in the International Ballroom of the Washington Hilton.
A U.S. Coast Guard release says four people were traveling in the Piper PA-34 twin-engine plane from the Louisiana towns of Slidell to Patterson on Tuesday when the plane began to run low on fuel. Authorities say the pilot shut the engines down to conserve fuel and made an emergency landing in the Atchafalaya River, about 17 miles south of Patterson.
I was eating boiled crawfish last Friday night with my wife and children in Baton Rouge-Crawfish season! Finally!-when I received a text a message. The digital missive was from a longtime Capitol player, someone who knows the House and the Senate and all of the illuminated and darkened corners in between.
Publisher Jeremy Alford was enjoying boiled crawfish with his family last Friday when he received a text message from a longtime Capitol player, who wrote he felt like Louisianans were at a breaking point when it comes to status quo in government and politics. The mood of the electorate would soon make way for change, the messenger said, before asking Alford for his thoughts.
Gov. John Bel Edwards makes a point while speaking at the annual meeting of Jump Start, which allows high school students to get workforce training in addition to regular academic classes, Tuesday Jan. 23, 2018, in Baton Rouge, La. It's not exactly breaking news that Gov. John Bel Edwards' 2105 election didn't usher in a Democratic wave in Louisiana.
Stephen Waguespack, President & CEO of the Louisiana Association of Business and Industry, speaks outside the House Ways and Means Committee after HB628 by sponsor State Rep. Sam Jones,D-Franklin, concerning the commercial activity tax, or 'CAT,' effectively died for the legislative sesssion, after Jones voluntarily deferred it in the committee, Tuesday, April 25, 2017. The bill was the centerpiece of Gov. John Bel Edwards' tax package.
Nearly two years after the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that prison inmates who killed as teenagers are capable of change, the question remains unresolved: Which ones deserve a second chance? Now the ruling - in favor of a 71-year-old Louisiana inmate still awaiting a parole hearing - is being tested again in that state, where prosecutors have moved to keep 1 in 3 offenders imprisoned for crimes committed as juveniles locked up for good. "There is no possible way to square these numbers with the directive of the Supreme Court," said Jill Pasquarella, supervising attorney with the Louisiana Center for Children's Rights, which found that district attorneys are seeking to deny parole eligibility to 84 of 255 juvenile life inmates.
In this February 1964 file photo, Henry Montgomery, flanked by two deputies, awaits the verdict in his trial for the murder of Deputy Sheriff Charles H. Hurt in Baton Rouge, La.
Sen. Al Franken, D-Minn., who said last week he'll step down in the coming weeks due to mounting allegations of sexual misconduct, attends a hearing of the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee, on Capitol Hill in Washington, Tuesday, Dec. 12, 2017. Sen. Al Franken, D-Minn., who said last week he'll step down in the coming weeks due to mounting allegations of sexual misconduct, attends a hearing of the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee, on Capitol Hill in Washington, Tuesday, Dec. 12, 2017.
A decade or two ago, Louisiana's moderate-to-conservative Democrats like John Breaux in the Senate and Billy Tauzin in the House were shrewd, capable and willing to buck their party leadership as centrists in either chamber. They brokered deals with President Ronald Reagan or the Bushes across party lines, quite often winning special laws or tax provisions for Louisiana.
Louisiana residents displaced by the August 2016 flooding and living in mobile homes provided by the federal government can stay in them until May. Louisiana's homeland security office says the Federal Emergency Management Agency agreed to the state's request to extend the temporary housing program - but refused to continue waiving rent for the mobile homes. Jim Waskom, director of the Governor's Office of Homeland Security and Emergency Preparedness, said the rent requirement could create obstacles for some displaced flood victims.
Gov. John Bel Edwards ' administration told the Louisiana House leadership Tuesday it can have another crack at approving $15.4 billion worth of state Medicaid contract extensions next week if it wants. But the governor will continue to circumvent the Legislature and put the contracts in place anyway if the House doesn't act.
Sen. Kennedy cited concerns with the nomination process leading to Duncan's selection and the paperwork submitted to Congress regarding the nomination as prompting his hesitation. Louisiana Sen. John Kennedy said he will support 5th Circuit Court of Appeals nominee Kyle Duncan, amid mounting criticism of Kennedy's hesitation from conservatives in his home state and Washington.
Republican Sen. John Kennedy of Louisiana plans to back President Trump's judicial nominee for the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals, said The Advocate, a Baton Rouge newspaper, on Thursday. Mr. Kennedy had expressed frustration earlier in the week with Kyle Duncan, who the president tapped to fill a vacancy on Louisiana's federal bench.