The Louisiana Department of Health has sent out a second round of letters to 17,000 Medicaid recipients warning the people they will be booted off the health insurance program unless they prove the qualify.
Environmentalists and activists arrested for protesting around the Bayou Bridge Pipeline have filed a federal lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of a state law passed last year that allows law enforcement to charge protesters as felons.
Today in The Rundown: The clock is ticking on the state legislative session; lawmakers push anti-abortion rights measures; minimum wage hike is shot down again; Gold Star Families face hefty tax hike; and everything else you need to know in Louisi…
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A bid to shield potential suppliers of execution drugs to Louisiana prisons behind a wall of secrecy easily cleared the Louisiana House despite objections from some death penalty opponents.
Fans of fantasy sports would be able to bet on the teams that they create under legislation passed by the Louisiana House on Tuesday.
The state Senate on Tuesday approved a bid to let the public vote on whether to change the state’s constitution to make clear Louisiana does not provide a right to abortion or require funding for it.
Louisiana legislators advanced bills in Senate judiciary committees Tuesday that would curb domestic violence, take steps to prevent sexual abuse of youth athletes, and study incentives to reduce the state’s high divorce rate.
Baton Rouge police could consider more than seniority in promotions under bill that passed the House
The Louisiana House signed off on a proposal to tweak how the Baton Rouge Police Department promotes officers, endorsing changes to a system that relies almost exclusively on seniority to decide which cops move up the ranks.
Political bickering between Louisiana's governor and attorney general over potential fallout from a lawsuit seeking to overturn the federal Affordable Care Act spilled into a House committee Tuesday, with angry exchanges about the value of the fed…
After a wild hearing, which included opponents trying to kill the bill by dramatically expanding gambling, a House committee Tuesday advanced legislation that would legalize sports betting in Louisiana.
Short of the two-thirds support needed in the state Senate, a proposal pushed by the governor to let Louisiana vote on a $9-an-hour minimum wage was pulled from consideration Tuesday, but only after a line of Democratic senators delivered impassio…
Amid criticism, Gov. John Bel Edwards said Tuesday he will push to increase spending for early childhood education so that a key waiting list for services can be reduced.
A proposal to legalize the growth of hemp in Louisiana cleared a key hurdle Tuesday, but not before lawmakers added a long list of regulations and conditions to the industry and the sale of popular CBD products that are already widely available.
A Louisiana House-passed bill aimed at expanding Uber and Lyft ride-sharing services statewide won approval Tuesday in a key Senate committee after dying in the same panel in 2017 and 2018.
A year ago, a state Senate committee approved a bill to extend Harrah’s state license, which gives it the right to be the only land-based casino in New Orleans, but only after demanding hundreds of millions of dollars more from the casino company …
WASHINGTON — Kaanan Fulger was shocked when she saw the taxes her four kids would have to pay this year on the survivor benefits they have received since their father, a Marine, died in 2010 at the age of 33.
Legislation that allows a way for law enforcement to take the guns of a person who poses imminent personal injury to himself or others was rejected by a Louisiana House committee on arguments that it violated the 2nd Amendment.
A bid to ban the use of hand-held cell phones while driving failed Tuesday in the Louisiana House.
Lawmakers are hoping to put Louisiana on the map for leading cybersecurity efforts and tightening security loopholes. Members of the House Commerce committee on Monday advanced a host of bills that would curb cyber attacks and provide businesses w…
Louisiana House lawmakers narrowly rejected a proposal to streamline local approval of tax breaks under the state’s controversial, decades-old Industrial Tax Exemption Program on Monday.
After much discussion about the appropriateness of legalizing sports betting, a Louisiana House panel Monday narrowly approved legislation that would tax the activity should lawmakers allow it.
The drug rehab Cenikor, recently hit with allegations it made patients work at private companies with no pay, has become an increasingly accepted alternative to jail in recent years all while public officials and state agencies have supported the …
House lawmakers unanimously agreed Monday to expand Louisiana's Medicaid program to include more children with developmental disabilities whose parents make too much money to qualify under current eligibility rules.
Voting along party lines, the House Appropriations Committee advanced Monday legislation that would slowly rollback of a sales tax increase that was the basis of last year’s compromise to stabilize the state’s finances for the next six years.
The Louisiana House Transportation Committee advanced two bills on Monday that would permit drug testing in severe traffic accidents and waive penalties for uninsured drivers under special circumstances.
Louisiana's senators agreed Monday to a plan that could give the state's judges annual pay hikes of 2.5% for the next five years.
A proposal to exempt manufacturers from paying sales taxes on utilities like steam and electric power--a move that would eventually cost the state about $60 million--won the backing of the Louisiana House Monday.
In an election year move panned by economists, a state Senate panel Monday approved a sales tax holiday in July for the purchase of guns, school supplies and hurricane preparations at retail stores.
A long-running dispute between Baton Rouge City Hall and the state Municipal Police Employees’ Retirement System over the amount of retirement benefits owed to the city’s police officers could finally be nearing an end.
The effort to raise millions of dollars to help pay for New Orleans’ drainage and road needs moved one step closer to becoming law on Monday.
The sponsor of a long-shot bid to increase Louisiana's gas tax shelved his own proposal Monday.
The companies that manage care for Louisiana’s Medicaid recipients say they have fixed an issue that state auditors found resulted in the payment of $10 million in claims that didn’t adhere to a new state law requiring certain tracking numbers.
Today in The Rundown: Harrah's is pushing back on its tax bill; Gov. Edwards and Congressman Scalise attended a party honoring LSU's new athletic director; the new American Idol is from Louisiana; and everything else you need to know in Louisiana …
Despite repeated comments on the value of early childhood education, advocates are bracing for what they view as a paltry allocation likely coming from the Legislature to trim a key waiting list for services.
A contractor working for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is expected to start clearing land next month for the long-planned 18.5-mile West Shore levee project headed through St. Charles and St. John the Baptist parishes and part of St. James.
What was called the "most important bill" of the session — one promoters said would lower Louisiana’s high auto insurance rates — fell apart after members of a Senate committee showed that the legislation was what opponents contended all along: an…
While asking state lawmakers to grant an early extension of their monopoly license to operate a land casino in New Orleans, the owners of Harrah’s are challenging in court the Louisiana Department of Revenue’s contention that the casino owes tens …
President Donald Trump encouraged U.S. House Minority Whip Steve Scalise to run for governor this week during a flight aboard Air Force One en route to Louisiana, according to a news report from Axios.
Louisiana's delegation split along party lines when the Democrat-controlled U.S. House voted Friday in favor of a sweeping ban on discrimination based on sexual orientation or gender identity.
Louisiana's Ethics Board opened the door Friday for legislators to immediately take jobs at the state Capitol once their terms end, despite ethics provisions that mandate that other public servants wait two years before working for the agencies wh…
Today in The Rundown: Senate approves Wendy Vitter's lifetime appointment to the federal bench; local minimum wage effort shot down; Cassidy joins bipartisan group to address surprise medical bills; and everything else you need to know in Louisian…
House lawmakers are again trying to give Louisiana's legislative auditor access to income tax returns to check Medicaid eligibility.
Gov. John Bel Edwards is opposing legislation being pushed by Treasurer John Schroder that would create a fund for unclaimed property aimed at helping localities pay for infrastructure projects.
The Louisiana House already has approved legislation that would legalize the cultivation and processing of hemp for industrial purposes.
In a move to address mental illness among firefighters and police officers, a House committee advanced a bill Thursday that would add post-traumatic stress disorder, or PTSD, to the list of injuries eligible for public employee benefits.
A proposal pushed by Louisiana’s oil and gas industry to let refineries and other industrial plants to keep secret some environmental violations — and be immune from penalties for them — failed to clear the state House Thursday after a lengthy debate.
Gov. John Bel Edwards said Thursday he would be inclined to sign legislation to finance a major road project in West Baton Rouge Parish if it wins final approval.
A state Senate committee gave the green light to create Team Gleason Foundation license plates to help former New Orleans Saints player Steve Gleason raise money to fight the neuromuscular disease ALS.
WASHINGTON — U.S. Sen. Bill Cassidy is leading a bipartisan effort to introduce legislation meant to prevent people from receiving “surprise medical bills” when they inadvertently receive treatment out of their insurance networks — a frustrating h…
WASHINGTON — Wendy Vitter, the Louisiana native who set aside an ambitious legal career to stand by her husband through a scandal and an unsuccessful run for governor, is now a federal judge for life.
An effort to raise taxes on short-term rentals to pay for New Orleans’ drainage needs moved one step closer to becoming law on Thursday.