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The expansion of charter schools in East Baton Rouge Parish, briefly paused by the pandemic, got a fresh shot of adrenaline this past week as state education leaders approved three new charter school applications over the objections of two local s…
For years, White legislators have neutered minority participation in Louisiana politics and that needs to be corrected, at least so say the NAACP Legal Defense Fund and 15 other human rights organizations that have submitted dozens of proposals re…
Former Gov. Edwin Edwards, who died at 93 in July, left all of his assets to his eight-year-old son Eli, according to a handwritten document with his signature that was filed in Ascension Parish on Wednesday.
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Another insurer has gone belly-up in Hurricane Ida's aftermath.
Louisiana officials said Thursday there’s reason to believe the state is nearing a peak in new COVID-19 cases fueled by the omicron variant but cautioned that even after the latest surge turns a corner, the risk of infection will remain exceptiona…
Civil rights groups urge Louisiana lawmakers to boost minority representation in state House, Senate
With Louisiana’s White population on the decline, and its Black population growing, the state Legislature must include additional majority-minority state House and Senate districts in the upcoming redistricting session, a coalition of civil rights…
State Rep. Vincent Pierre, a third-term Lafayette Democrat, was elected chairman of the Louisiana Legislative Black Caucus during a retreat with colleagues Wednesday afternoon.
A company that sought but failed to win voter approval to build a casino in Slidell is expected to win a bit more time Thursday to decide on what to do with its license for the casino it operated but shut down in Bossier City.
Following decades of tepid attempts to diversify their ranks, the group of pilots that shepherd cargo up and down the Mississippi River announced a new initiative Wednesday aimed at recruiting more people of color into the lucrative maritime profession.
The federal government released another tranche of infrastructure money – $2 billion for Louisiana – that Republican Congressmen Steve Scalise, of Jefferson, and Garret Graves, of Baton Rouge, jumped in front of despite voting against the $1.3 tri…
State Treasurer John Schroder, who is making the rounds this week ostensibly to update folks on doings at the government office that holds Louisiana's bank accounts, is also telling supporters he plans to run for governor in 2023.
Louisiana highway fatalities shot up 20% in 2021 over 2020, state officials said Wednesday.
Christopher Dassau's unexpected death on Sunday has prompted a special election to be called Nov. 8 to fill the remainder of the 19th Judicial District judge's term.
Standing on a bluff above a Baton Rouge creek littered with beer cans and soda bottles, Gov. John Bel Edwards on Tuesday announced the creation of a new, statewide task force aimed at identifying solutions to Louisiana’s litter problem.
Less than half of Louisiana public school students in kindergarten, first, second and third grades are reading on grade level, according to new figures released Tuesday by the state Department of Education.
Federal agencies have reached an understanding, which will kick off a $4.7 billion campaign to clean-up orphaned oil and gas wells that were abandoned years ago by the energy industry, former New Orleans Mayor Mitch Landrieu, who now is the presid…
Facing what experts say is an unwinnable race, Gary Chambers Jr. took an attention-getting approach Tuesday in the first ad of his campaign to unseat U.S. Sen. John N. Kennedy.
A new redistricting dispute is brewing amid a push by civil rights groups to add another minority seat to the state Board of Elementary and Secondary Education.
State Rep. Sam Jenkins says his House district within the city of Shreveport is compact enough that he would have noticed stores closing and houses going vacant.
President Joe Biden likened senators opposing federal voting rights legislation to Confederates and segregationists.
One Democratic candidate for the U.S. Senate is a White moderate who grew up on a farm in central Louisiana, graduated from the United States Naval Academy and served as a fighter pilot.
More than 200 Republican activists and elected officials gathered indoors at the Hilton Baton Rouge Capitol Center Saturday for a state GOP meeting where Louis Gurvich, the embattled chairman of the party, won re-election, solidifying his grip on …
A Baton Rouge judge has ruled that the Louisiana State Police was largely within its rights in keeping hidden most of the personnel file of a state trooper involved in the 2019 beating death of Ronald Greene, a Black motorist from Monroe.
CHARLESTON, W.Va. — For the first time in half a year, families on Friday are going without a monthly deposit from the child tax credit — a program that was intended to be part of President Joe Biden's legacy but has emerged instead as a flash poi…
After receiving a deluge of complaints in Hurricane Ida's aftermath, Louisiana's Department of Insurance launched a voluntary mediation program in October aimed at resolving disputes of up to $50,000 between residential policyholders and their insurers.
Louisiana is providing up to $25,000 each to homeowners impacted by COVID-19 who are behind on their mortgage payments and at risk of foreclosure.
State and federal officials said Friday Louisiana will be getting its first installment of about $1 billion for bridge repairs, part of the $1 trillion infrastructure measure approved by Congress last year.
Louisiana businesspeople and politicos weighed in on the U.S. Supreme Court’s decisions about the Biden administration’s requirement that employers vaccinate nearly 100 million workers and require regular COVID-19 tests to those who refuse.
A day after Louisiana notched a new pandemic record for COVID-19 infections, Gov. John Bel Edwards decided Thursday not to issue a statewide mask mandate, even as he warned that more children than ever are hospitalized with the virus and that the …
With COVID-19 hospitalizations in Louisiana on the rise, Gov. John Bel Edwards will offer an update at 10:30 a.m. Thursday on the state's pandemic response.
Former state Sen. Elbert Guillory, who has sought a variety of public offices, plans to run for lieutenant governor.
Baton Rouge lawyer and former federal prosecutor Brad Myers has announced his candidacy for the 19th Judicial District Court seat vacated by retired Judge William Morvant.
As New Orleans joined Wednesday several major cities nationwide by reestablishing mask mandates in reaction to a dramatic surge of COVID cases, the rest of the state has been slower to return to policies that mitigate the fast spreading and often …
While Louisiana's day care providers report losses of $287 million because of the coronavirus pandemic, there are signs of improvement in enrollment and other areas, according to a survey released Wednesday.
From rural villages to inner cities, high-speed internet is unreachable for thousands of Louisiana residents, but with millions of dollars in grants available, a new state-run initiative aimed at closing the digital divide is garnering significant…
Thanks to an influx of federal coronavirus aid, Louisiana is forecasted to take in nearly $1.6 billion in additional revenues over the next six months, after a state panel agreed Tuesday to a revenue outlook buoyed by better-than-expected collecti…
How to address Louisiana's worsening teacher shortage, teacher pay raises, and steps to recover learning loss sparked by the pandemic will be key topics during the 2022 legislative session, officials said Monday.
Senate hopeful Luke Mixon labeled his opponent, U.S. Sen. John N. Kennedy, a “threat to democracy” for sowing doubt about the outcome of the 2020 election and said Louisiana deserves a representative that will fight to secure needed federal fundin…
Angie Bueche moved to St. Helena Parish a decade-and-a-half ago to get away from the crowds, traffic and noise that had become common around her old home in the bustling Livingston Parish suburb of Watson.
Moments after the Louisiana Department of Health last week tweeted about a new program promoting COVID-19 vaccinations for teenagers, the Twitter comment section filled with derogatory statements.
Louisiana Solicitor General Elizabeth Murrill was one of two lawyers arguing Friday on the phone, rather than in person, at the U.S. Supreme Court in a challenge to the Biden administration's requirement that millions of workers either get vaccina…
On the day before the first anniversary of the January 6th insurrection, U.S. Sen. Bill Cassidy warned politicians to watch what they say because their rhetoric has consequences.
After two years on the Metro Council, Racca seeks position on 19th JDC bench.
Louisiana’s two U.S. senators, who had trashed talked their Republican colleague Sen. Roger Marshall, of Kansas, over TaxAct Texas Bowl, on Wednesday had to come up with some Louisiana delicacies after LSU lost the game to the Kansas State Univers…
State Rep. Ted James, a newly-named federal administrator for the Small Business Administration, said Wednesday he plans to resign his House seat on Jan. 28 and endorsed another Baton Rouge attorney to succeed him.
A significant portion of Mayor-President Sharon Weston Broome’s “State of the City” address Wednesday focused on crime — how it has gotten worse East Baton Rouge Parish and the money she’s allocating toward initiatives to curb it.
Kansas U.S. Sen. Roger Marshall made the rounds on Capitol Hill Tuesday placing bets with his Louisiana colleagues in the upper chamber on which team will win the TaxAct Texas Bowl tonight.
Health insurance companies practice of charging extra for people needing “out-of-network” emergency treatment was ended on New Year’s Day by legislation Republican U.S. Sen. Bill Cassidy helped sponsor with a Democratic colleague whose seat has be…
After months of waiting and delays, residents of East Baton Rouge Parish this week will get their first look at the first draft of required maps of new districts for their elected representatives on the parish School Board.
Louisiana's medical marijuana program will offer raw, smokable cannabis to its patients, and the state will tweak its calculations for state income taxes as more than two dozen new laws take effect Saturday with the start of the new year.
Louisiana will expand its Medicaid program in January to provide coverage to more children with developmental disabilities whose parents made too much money to qualify for the taxpayer-financed insurance under prior eligibility rules.