Protester Asks GOP Senator To ‘Apologize’ To Her Children …

Anti-Brett Kavanaugh protesters flooded Capitol Hill for weeks before his eventual confirmation to the Supreme Court, walking hallways in protest, holding loud demonstrations and confronting senators in their office buildings. Alethea Torrellas Shapiro had been attempting to harass senators on the Hill for days and regularly used her school-aged children to do so.

Trump signs bills to help patients stop overpaying for drugs

President Donald Trump holds up the 'Patient Right to Know Drug Prices Act' after signing it and the 'Know the Lowest Price Act of 2018,' during a ceremony in the Roosevelt Room of the White House in Washington, Wednesday, Oct. 10, 2018. These bills, which were sponsored by Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, in red, and Sen. Debbie Stabenow, D-Mich., right, help protect Medicare patients and those with private insurance from overpaying for prescription drugs by outlawing pharmacy "gag clauses."

Energy board rushes giant Alaska project

This Sept. 29, 2016 file photo, shows a section of the Dakota Access Pipeline under construction near the town of St. Anthony in Morton County, N.D. The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission plans to issue an environmental impact statement for the proposed 825-mile pipeline a month early, in November 2019.

Congress passes disaster fix to help Louisiana flood victims

Legislation headed to President Donald Trump's desk could help thousands of Louisiana flood victims by fixing the he so-called duplication of benefits trap Federal policies have kept thousands of victims of the 2016 Louisiana floods from being able to access a federally-financed homeowner grant program because they already received Small Business Administration loans. The U.S. Senate gave final passage today to a package of federal disaster policy changes, included in a bill authorizing spending for federal aviation programs.

Republicans lack votes – and appetite – to end ‘Obamacare’

Arizona's new senator says he'd vote to repeal the nation's health care law. That's one additional Republican ready to obliterate the statute because his predecessor, the late Sen. John McCain, helped derail the party's drive with his fabled thumbs-down vote last year.

GOP lacks votes _ and appetite _ to end ‘Obamacare’ Source: AP

Arizona's new senator says he'd vote to repeal the nation's health care law. That's one additional Republican ready to obliterate the statute because his predecessor, the late Sen. John McCain, helped derail the party's drive with his fabled thumbs-down vote last year.

Here is the latest Louisiana news from The Associated Press at 3:40 a.m. CDT

A Lake Charles attorney has been nominated for a federal judgeship. Sens. Bill Cassidy and John Kennedy said Monday that James D. Cain Jr. was nominated by President Donald Trump to serve as a U.S. district judge for the Western District of Louisiana in Lake Charles.

Trump Considers Tapping Nation’s Oil Reserve To Combat Rising Gas Prices

President Donald Trump could soon tap the Strategic Petroleum Reserve in an effort to lower oil prices just ahead of the U.S. midterm elections in November. The Trump administration is considering releasing up to 30 million barrels of oil into the market, cutting the stockpile nearly in half , according to Bloomberg.

U.S. Senate votes to extend federal flood insurance program; critics urge private alternative

On the day it was scheduled to expire, the U.S. Senate voted Tuesday to extend the National Flood Insurance Program for four months through Nov. 30. The bipartisan vote for the extension was 86 to 12. Louisiana Congressman Steve Scalise authored the bill that also passed in the U.S. House of Representatives, 366 to 52. It now heads to President Donald Trump for his signature or veto.

Ivanka coy about her Democratic partners in policy talks

"You have to, especially in an environment like this, you have to work to earn trust a and I've worked very hard to do that," the first daughter and adviser to the president said Wednesday at the Bipartisan Policy Center. "And I don't want to call out names because a lot of people who engaged with me in the most substantive way have done so because they know that I'm not going to violate their confidence and share their perspectives publicly."

On flood insurance, here’s why John Kennedy thinks reform is languishing

The National Flood Insurance Program , a vital but cracking foundation for homeowners and businesses alike in south Louisiana, expires in one month. Lawmakers have been trying for years to stabilize it for the long term, but they might simply pass yet another short-term extension by mid-summer, again putting off the painful repairs.

Trump announces ‘most sweeping act in history’ to drop drug prices;…

President Donald Trump's long-awaited plan to bring down drug prices, unveiled Friday, will attempt to boost private competition and increase price transparency but drops some of Trump's earlier pledges to strong-arm the pharmaceutical industry at the negotiating table. Trump called his plan the "most sweeping action in history to lower the price of prescription drugs for the American people" in remarks in the White House's Rose Garden.

Community column for April 10

John James Audubon Chapter members attended the Louisiana Daughters of the American Revolution State Conference March 15-17 at the Renaissance Hotel in Baton Rouge. Shown are, from left, seated, Chapter Regent Georgia LaCour, President General Ann Dillon, State Regent Zora Olsson, State Third Vice Regent Margaret Tyler, State Treasurer Charlotte White; standing, Nola Labat, Yvonne Lewis Day, Amy Fontenot, Denise Malesic, Betty Jo Snellgrove, Stella Tanoos, Bridget May, Carole Gloger, Norma Gerace, Essie Mongeau, Shirley Newsham, Gloria Wilbert, Paula Wilbert, Sue Ann Shore, Sue Badeaux, Denise Lindsly and Glenda Carlile.

Congress pours money into fight against Louisiana’s wetland pest

The fight against an insect invasion that's killing coastal wetlands is receiving long sought-after help from the federal government. Congress plans to contribute $500,000 to help control or eradicate the tiny Asian insect, known as a scale, that's been destroying roseau cane, a sturdy, erosion-resistant reed that holds much of the lower Mississippi River Delta together.

Agency-by-agency highlights of Trump’s 2019 budget

The Trump administration wants NASA out of the International Space Station by 2025 and to have private businesses running the place instead. Under Trump's 2019 proposed budget, U.S. government funding for the space station would end by 2025.

Franken, soon-to-be-gone, but back at Senate job

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.

Franken back at Senate job despite soon-to-be-gone status – Tue, 12 Dec 2017 PST

Al Franken is the Senate's dead man walking, still doing his day job despite his soon-to-be-gone status. The two-term Minnesota lawmaker told a somber Senate last Thursday he would resign amid multiple allegations of sexual misconduct and in the face of vanishing support from fellow Democrats.

Historic building tax credit program survived U.S. Senate but faces peril in conference committee

A broad coalition that includes preservationists, developers and investors is nervously watching as a handful of members from the U.S. House and Senate negotiate a final version of the Republican tax reform bill. At issue: the fate of the , credited with spurring historic preservation and redevelopment in aging commercial corridors by enabling developers to recoup 20% of the cost of renovating a historic building.