Louisiana House Speaker Taylor Barras is a piker when it comes to legislative obstruction — at least when compared to assemblies in the upper Midwest.
Saturday, December 15, 2018
Louisiana legislators have been quietly toiling away for more than a year on an exhaustive review of funds in the state budget that are locked up by law.
East Baton Rouge Parish Mayor-President Sharon Weston Broome is basking in the glow of the election results for her $900 million roads improvement sales tax, a boost for a leader who some political analysts say hasn’t had a lot of significant succ…
Saturday, December 15, 2018
WASHINGTON — When the U.S. House of Representatives gavels in for the first time next month, Louisiana's Republican members of Congress will find themselves in a long-unfamiliar position: out of power.
Friday, December 14, 2018
Gov. John Bel Edwards reveals in a new profile that he personally called the White House after hearing about immigrant children being separated from their parents on the U.S.-Mexico border earlier this year.
Thursday, December 13, 2018
Angered by the “NCIS: New Orleans” production crew banging into trees near his Uptown home and yelling at a neighbor’s child, the chairman of one of the Louisiana Legislature’s most powerful committees asked state officials Thursday to come up wit…
Thursday, December 13, 2018
WASHINGTON — Louisiana Republicans are digging in behind President Donald Trump’s demand for money to build a wall along the border with Mexico as part of any deal to avoid a partial government shutdown just before Christmas.
Without discussion, a bipartisan and bicameral panel of Louisiana lawmakers on Thursday acknowledged that the state budget projection won't be upgraded this year.
The Louisiana secretary of state's office diverted more than $90,000 from computer system improvements to pay its share of a sexual misconduct settlement involving the agency's former leader, Tom Schedler.
Wednesday, December 12, 2018
WASHINGTON (AP) — After months of debate and negotiation, Congress voted final approval Wednesday to a massive farm bill that will provide more than $400 billion for agriculture subsidies, conservation programs and food aid.
The company whose multimillion-dollar contract award to replace Louisiana's voting machines was scrapped said Wednesday it won't sue over the cancellation. But the avoidance of litigation won't immediately restart the state's stalled work to updat…
Multiple public defender districts in Louisiana, including East Baton Rouge and Orleans, are at risk of becoming insolvent in a year or two if the state doesn't provide more funding, the head of the state board told legislators on Wednesday.
Wednesday, December 12, 2018
Three employees of the state Office of Motor Vehicles were arrested for using about $98,000 in customer payments for personal expenses, an audit released Wednesday says.
Tuesday, December 11, 2018
Louisiana won’t get new voting machines in time for next year's big elections, according to the Secretary of State’s Office.
Monday, December 10, 2018
ST. FRANCISVILLE — Kenny Havard, sworn in as West Feliciana's second parish president Monday, said he plans to make the parish's roads and bridges his main focus during the next year.
Monday, December 10, 2018
Dadrius Lanus has joined his friend Tramelle Howard as the newest and youngest members of the East Baton Rouge Parish School Board, a board filled with incumbents responsible for the public school system they’ve spent the past few months challenging.
Funding for some pay raises delayed after Louisiana House speaker objects to budget forecast upgrade
More than $43 million in budget priorities – mostly law enforcement expenditures – has been delayed again, after state House leadership again objected to an attempt at upgrading the state's economic forecast on Monday.
A new bridge across the Mississippi River in Baton Rouge is doable but would require support from voters in five area parishes, the founder of the Shaw Group said Monday.
After East Baton Rouge Parish voters approved a tax increase to fund a mental health crisis center beginning in the year 2020, philanthropists and the mayor's office hope to find a way to set up the center faster.
Sunday, December 09, 2018
Gov. John Bel Edwards is walking a thin line. The only Democratic governor in the Deep South is attempting a re-election bid in a state that saw an unprecedented vote tally in favor of Republican Donald Trump for president.
Melville police chief challenger Cleven Clark was arrested Saturday night, accused of hitting a Melville police officer who rode past his daughter’s home with sirens going off in celebration of Chief Anthony Moreau's re-election.
Saturday, December 08, 2018
A pair of tax proposals for road improvements and a mental health facility cruised to easy victories in Saturday's election.
Louisiana Senate President John Alario recalls a time when lawmakers huddled on the House floor to resolve budget debates by deciding the price of oil.
Kyle Ardoin, the bureaucratic caretaker who initially wasn’t going to run for the office, was elected Saturday night as Louisiana’s Secretary of State.
A half-cent sales tax to pay for road improvements and a 1.5-mill property tax to open a mental health crisis center have both taken commanding leads as officials count Saturday's votes.
Baton Rouge residents hit the polls Saturday to elect Louisiana's secretary of state and decide the fate of a few local tax proposals and local seats.
Ascension Parish voters turned out on a dreary day Saturday to adopt a new 1-mill property tax to finance the parish's animal shelter and animal control services and build a new home for both operations, complete but unofficial results show.
Friday, December 07, 2018
Polls are open between 7 a.m. and 8 p.m. Saturday as Louisiana votes for its Secretary of State and decides a number of local elections.
When Arthur Parker left prison this summer after serving more than 20 years for a burglary conviction, what he wanted most was a job to support himself.
Is it feasible for a private firm to underwrite a new, $1 billion plus bridge across the Mississippi River in Baton Rouge?
Thursday, December 06, 2018
With less than a year left before the next Louisiana governor's election, a number of candidates have announced their candidacy while far more have declared they won't run.
WASHINGTON — Congress punted yet again on overhauling the National Flood Insurance Program, extending the program for two more weeks as part of a broader stop-gap funding deal.
The state is getting $25 million in federal funds to upgrade Interstate 12 in St. Tammany Parish near the site of a four-person fatality earlier this year, officials said Thursday.
Republican U.S. Rep. Ralph Abraham is running for governor against Gov. John Bel Edwards next year, the two-term congressman announced on Wednesday — the latest development in a rapidly congealing election less than a year away.
Wednesday, December 05, 2018
Gov. John Bel Edwards asked in a Tweet Wednesday afternoon for the state’s residents to pray for former Gov. Kathleen Blanco, who is facing an incurable cancer.
While much attention recently has been placed on next year’s gubernatorial campaign, voters will decide Saturday on the state official who will run that election.
Former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie is set to speak at a gaming industry-sponsored event in New Orleans next month that is expected to draw state lawmakers from around the country.
U.S. Sen. John Kennedy said Wednesday that he "agonized" over his decision not to run for Louisiana governor next year, making his choice only hours before announcing it, even after receiving a personal entreaty from President Donald Trump to stay…
Tuesday, December 04, 2018
Louisiana now has one of the nation's most modern Medicaid enrollment systems — an undertaking that leaders say will help address concerns over potentially misspent funds in the health care program that covers more than a third of the state's population.
WASHINGTON — A battle’s brewing in the U.S. Senate over a bipartisan package of criminal justice reforms, and Louisiana’s senators have wound up on opposite sides of the issue.
A jury will be allowed to hear testimony that a former LSU student charged in the fatal 2017 alcohol-related hazing of Phi Delta Theta pledge Max Gruver was adamant about not wanting Gruver in the fraternity, a judge ruled Tuesday.
Rep. Steve Scalise joined the ABC daytime talk show "The View" on Tuesday morning to discuss his new book, "Back in the Game," about his recovery from a near-deadly shooting in June of 2017.
Monday, December 03, 2018
Porn actress Stormy Daniels is set to join a protest on Dec. 9 at the State Capitol over the age requirement for adult entertainers, officials said Monday.
With the most prominent potential contender officially out of the race, Louisiana Republicans appear to be left without a well-known figure to challenge Gov. John Bel Edwards less than a year away from Election Day.
Saturday, December 01, 2018
One year after a gas tax hike died in the Legislature, trade groups and others are kicking off a $500,000 campaign to force another legislative debate on the issue, possibly in 2019.
Rickie Collins wasn’t surprised when his niece, Gwen Collins-Greenup, flew under the radar of the Louisiana politico class yet won a spot at the top of Saturday’s ballot.
Friday, November 30, 2018
While Republicans are angling to find an opponent to challenge the reelection of the only Democratic governor in the Deep South, some of the GOP’s biggest names are aligning with Gov. John Bel Edwards.
With a major election year approaching, Louisiana's work to replace voting machines it bought 13 years ago has remained stalled for months, amid bid-rigging allegations, a voided contract award, and claims of political meddling.
Thursday, November 29, 2018
WASHINGTON — Congress pushed back its deadline to deal with the National Flood Insurance Program by at least a week, passing yet another short-term extension of the program late Thursday.
