LATEST INFO
Though much is still unknown about the new omicron variant of COVID-19, vaccinations remain Louisiana's best defense at preventing another deadly surge in cases and hospitalizations, according to the state's top public health official, Dr. Joe Kanter.
As questions swirl over what the newly discovered omicron variant of COVID-19 will mean for the pandemic in Louisiana, Gov. John Bel Edwards is holding a press conference at 11 a.m. to offer the public updates on the state's response.
Louisiana will receive $101 million as the first installment of federal money from the recently enacted Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act.
Resources
The Livingston Parish president projected a promising economic outlook in the year ahead while reflecting on the gains of 2021 in a speech to the local chamber of commerce Wednesday.
The legislature approved 29 projects – spending $22.9 million of federal money – to upgrade ancient water systems for small municipalities and rural parishes around the state, including those in Harahan, Livonia, Independence, and Port Barré.
Usually, when state lawmakers gather in Baton Rouge to consider new regulations on insurers, they shy away from additional restrictions out of fear it will upset the marketplace.
Former Baton Rouge Metro Councilwoman Tara Wicker discussed her experience with abortion Wednesday, Dec. 1, 2021, at a Louisiana Right to Life rally on the steps of the State Capitol in Baton Rouge. The group also held events in New Orleans and Sh…
A federal district court in Monroe on Tuesday said a federal agency had overstepped its authority and temporarily ended the requirement that millions of healthcare workers nationwide get vaccinated before Monday, Dec. 6.
Louisiana women seeking an abortion would have to drive to Illinois or New Mexico for the pregnancy-ending procedure should the U.S. Supreme Court uphold the constitutionality of a Mississippi law and overturn Roe v. Wade.
Insurance companies in Louisiana will be assessed $100 million – and likely more in the future – to pay the claims of two failed property insurers who went belly up in Hurricane Ida’s aftermath.
A new survey shows average teacher pay in Louisiana is 12th of 16 states in the South, which raises doubts on whether Gov. John Bel Edwards will deliver on his pledge to get salaries to the regional average by the time he leaves office in 2024.
Residents of St. Helena Parish have long driven on roads that seem to cave in as quickly as they’re fixed.
State Farm policyholders who fled Hurricane Ida from parishes that didn't issue mandatory evacuation orders shouldn't expect a state-ordered reimbursement for their short-term living expenses anytime soon.
Two recent national surveys show that a year after Donald Trump was defeated at the polls about two-thirds of his supporters and Republicans still believe the election was stolen.
Louisiana First Lady Donna Hutto Edwards announced on Facebook that she had published her first in what will become a series of children’s books called “A Bandit in the Mansion” series.
Longtime criminal defense lawyer and former prosecutor Carson Marcantel says he's the most experienced candidate in the runoff for a Baton Rouge City Court seat. Lawyer Terrel "TK" Kent has been a prosecutor for 6 1/2 years and offers herself as a…
Beginning Saturday, voters in the Livingston Parish town of Springfield will decide if they want to rededicate sales tax revenue to the town's waterworks to help with future maintenance and improvements.
A proposed law to help minimize flood risks created by Livingston Parish's booming growth has hit a road block just as local leaders were poised to vote on the measure.
Early voting for the Dec. 11 election began Saturday and continues through Saturday, Dec. 4, from 8:30 a.m. to 6 p.m. daily, excluding Sunday.
Baton Rouge native Shalanda Young was nominated by President Joe Biden Wednesday to play a leading role in formulating the nation’s budget policies.
After legislators wouldn’t go along with their initial plan to find the money to finish $450 million of renovations for the Superdome, the Edwards administration went to plan B and asked lawmakers to use some of the pandemic recovery money.
An ugly fight over an audit that found the city of Zachary paid two vendors $3.5 million without having contracts in place has died down some, but the city councilman most upset about the matter has made clear he is not giving up on his quest for …
Republican Congressman Clay Higgins, of Lafayette, won’t be attending the Washington Mardi Gras ball put on by Louisiana’s congressional delegation because COVID screening will be required of attendees.
Early voting opens Saturday for the Dec. 11 Louisiana open general election and runs through Saturday, Dec. 4. Polls are closed Sunday.
Peggy Honoré paid her insurance premiums on-time, every month for more than a decade, but in the months after Hurricane Ida tore the roof off her Destrehan home, she’s struggled to get her insurer to call her back, answer her questions or respond …
Low- and moderate-income homeowners in Lake Charles will get some financial help to fix the damage from storms that came ashore more than a year ago, under a program the state and city rolled out Monday.
Republican state lawmakers are lining up against a proposal from Louisiana's health department that would require students to get vaccinated against COVID-19 — or submit a written dissent — to attend schools, daycares and universities.
After getting dropped by its first consultant, the East Baton Rouge Parish School Board has settled on someone new to redraw the boundaries of its election districts — but not before a rancorous vote and mudslinging by the two consultants still in…
With Gov. John Bel Edwards in the governor's mansion, Democrats in Louisiana will have a seat at the table when lawmakers return to Baton Rouge in February to begin the once-in-a-decade process of redrawing the state's political maps.
The 81st District is one of the more venerable seats in the Louisiana House of Representatives. And it’s a good example of what’s about to happen when legislators sit down in February for the political task of redrawing the lines of districts from…
Louisiana lawmakers on Friday lambasted the state's temporary housing program enacted after Hurricane Ida, saying it continues to move too slowly to help people living in damaged homes and tents since late August.
In a turn to the political right, House Speaker Clay Schexnayder named five Republicans Thursday night to chair key committees, including two who are replacing Democrats.
Louisiana will require students to get vaccinated against COVID-19, or submit an exemption, to attend schools, daycares and universities, under a pending health department rule that adds the disease to the state-mandated immunization schedule.
Eight casinos are accepting bets on sporting events and seven more applications are pending, Ronnie Johns, chair of the Louisiana Gaming Control Board, said Thursday.
Louisiana officials Thursday blocked banking giant JP Morgan Chase from participating in a bond refinancing deal, in Republicans' escalating effort to keep some large investment firms sidelined from state work because they limit business with fire…
U. S. Sen. John Kennedy, R-Madisonville, on Thursday grilled President Joseph Biden's nominee for Comptroller of the Currency for what Kennedy called her past membership in a communist organization.
Louisiana Agriculture Commissioner Mike Strain came under fire Thursday from state lawmakers who complained his regulatory agency was moving too slowly in expanding the medical marijuana products available to patients.
Applicants to become licensed massage therapists are irate because turmoil on the Louisiana Board of Massage Therapy has stopped the licensing process, the new chairwoman of the panel said Thursday.
The state’s utility regulators didn’t vote Wednesday on an effort to quit a regional transmission authority.
Louisiana edged forward Wednesday with its latest effort to update the state's voting system, with the convening of a new commission that will help choose the technology after receiving broader input than officials did during prevous unsuccessful …
Entergy Louisiana owes up to $4.4 billion for getting the lights back on after a string of storms and needs a $1 billion loan to meet those costs in the short-term, says the head of the utility that provides electricity to about half the state’s c…
Louisiana ranks 35th in the U.S. in overall cost effectiveness and highway conditions but finished in the bottom tier of most key indicators, according to a national report issued Wednesday.
The staff of the Louisiana Board of Massage Therapy and the chairwoman of the board have resigned in the wake of a state audit that accused the panel of downplaying possible cases of human trafficking and other complaints, officials said Wednesday.
A seat on the East Baton Rouge Parish Metro Council will soon become vacant, setting up a springtime election to fill the position and a debate over who the council will appoint to the role during the interim.
Though many policyholders already are aware, Insurance Commissioner Jim Donelon told a task force Monday that auto insurance rates have gone up since a new law went into effect that limits access to the courts and was sold with the promise of lowe…
East Baton Rouge Parish Metro Councilwoman Erika Green defeated fellow attorney Natalie Tellis Robertson on Saturday night for the right to fill an unexpired term on East Baton Rouge Parish Family Court.
Not many voters participated, but the relative handful who did decided Saturday to launch a historic change in the way Louisiana levies and collects income taxes.
Voters in Baton Rouge and Baker approved a 10-year property tax renewal that funds a majority of the cities’ bus system, ending months of anxiety from local leaders who warned of disastrous consequences if the measure failed.
The passage of the $1.2 trillion Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, IIJA, was a generational change in how government approaches neglected roads, bridges, drinking water systems and other fundamental structures upon which the nation’s economy…
President Joe Biden on Friday officially nominated two U.S. Attorneys in Louisiana for a term of four years.
Voters statewide will consider four revenue-related constitutional amendments Saturday, while those in Baton Rouge will pick a pair of judges and weigh in on a tax benefiting the region’s bus system.