State Politics

What to know about the LA Legislature: How bills get passed, how to contact lawmakers, more

By JULIA GUILBEAU | Staff writer
16 hrs ago

Louisiana lawmakers will return to the Capitol in Baton Rouge on March 11 to open the 2024 regular legislative season.

Abortion rights to be a key issue in 2024 elections

BY MARK BALLARD | Staff writer
19 hrs ago

WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden scolded Supreme Court justices to their faces Thursday night for their Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization decision that struck down national abortion…

Historical horseracing now illegal in Louisiana, court rules. See why, what's next.

BY TYLER BRIDGES | Staff writer
Updated 15 hrs ago

Three years ago, state lawmakers asked barely any questions before the Louisiana Legislature passed a new form of gambling that was pushed by several powerful lawmakers, including then-Senate …

In jam-packed regular session, Jeff Landry, lawmakers will enact conservative priorities

BY TYLER BRIDGES, JAMES FINN, MEGHAN FRIEDMANN, SAM KARLIN AND PATRICK WALL | Staff writers
Updated 47 mins ago

Gov. Jeff Landry and Republicans who control the Legislature will continue to put their stamp on government in Louisiana by enacting conservative priorities that have long eluded them when law…

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Spending bill passed by Congress late Friday includes millions for Louisiana projects

BY MARK BALLARD | Staff writer
Updated 13 hrs ago

WASHINGTON – The legislation the Senate passed Friday night to avoid a partial government shutdown includes tens of millions for Louisiana projects, from Venice to Bossier City.

What's on the March 23 ballot in the Baton Rouge region

Staff report
Mar 9, 2024

Louisiana's presidential preference and municipal primaries are on March 23, with a runoff election scheduled April 27.

Early voting for March 23 election starts Saturday. Here's what you need to know.

BY TYLER BRIDGES | Staff writer
Updated Mar 9, 2024

Voters will elect a new sheriff in Caddo Parish, a new district attorney in St. Tammany Parish and leaders of the Republican and Democratic parties in Louisiana when early voting begins on Sat…

4 incumbents will be missing when legislative session convenes Monday

BY TYLER BRIDGES | Staff writer
Mar 8, 2024

As was the case in two past special sessions, four incumbents who ran for reelection last year will be missing when legislators convene for their regular session on Monday.

ExxonMobil's big project should help fight blight in north Baton Rouge, city leaders say

BY LARA NICHOLSON | Staff writer
Mar 8, 2024

For the past two years, ExxonMobil has been considering whether to invest $155 million to build new facilities at its north Baton Rouge site. Now, city leaders are in talks with the Texas-base…

These Louisiana politicos backed Nikki Haley's bid for president

BY TYLER BRIDGES | Staff writer
Updated Mar 8, 2024

On Monday, the Nikki Haley for President campaign released its “Louisiana Leadership Team.”

Speaker Mike Johnson has a starkly different vision for nation than President Joe Biden

BY MARK BALLARD | Staff writer
Mar 7, 2024

WASHINGTON – U.S. House Speaker Mike Johnson, the first Louisiana resident to sit on the dais for a State of the Union address, said after Thursday’s speech that he disagreed strongly with Pre…

Jeff Landry’s S&WB task force calls out New Orleans’ broken drainage system

BY BEN MYERS | Staff writer
Updated Mar 8, 2024

Presentations on the New Orleans Sewerage and Board’s billing system, governance, drainage infrastructure and overall operations filled most of the first meeting of Gov. Jeff Landry’s task for…

New Orleans set for federal expertise to guard against weapons of mass destruction attacks

BY MARK BALLARD | Staff writer
Mar 7, 2024

WASHINGTON – New Orleans is set to get federal help to prevent — and prepare for — terrorist attacks using nuclear and other radiation-based weapons.

Nitrogen hypoxia is Louisiana's new, controversial execution method. How does it kill?

By EMILY WOODRUFF | Staff writer
Mar 7, 2024

Gov. Jeff Landry on Tuesday signed into law new methods of execution that can be used in Louisiana for the state’s nearly 60 death row prisoners starting July 1.

Jeff Landry tried to name a Texan to lead New Orleans' convention center board. Hospitality said no.

BY TYLER BRIDGES and ANTHONY MCAULEY | Staff writers
Updated Mar 7, 2024

Gov. Jeff Landry sought to name a business owner and major donor from Texas to a plum position as chair of the Ernest N. Morial Convention Center’s oversight boards, but the New Orleans hospit…

Jeff Landry pitches pay hikes for 11 cabinet secretaries

BY MEGHAN FRIEDMANN | Staff writer
Mar 7, 2024

Gov. Jeff Landry wants to give pay raises to 11 of his cabinet members, some of whom could see tens of thousands of dollars added to their annual paychecks if Landry’s proposal gets approved.

All but one in Louisiana's GOP delegation have now endorsed Donald Trump for president

BY MARK BALLARD | Staff writer
Mar 6, 2024

WASHINGTON – Now that Nikki Haley has suspended her presidential campaign, it is perhaps unsurprising that six of the seven Republicans in Louisiana's congressional delegation have now endorse…

East Baton Rouge Parish battery recycling site approved for Superfund cleanup

BY MARK SCHLEIFSTEIN | Staff writer
Updated Mar 6, 2024

The long-closed Exide Technologies lead-battery recycling facility in East Baton Rouge Parish was added to the Superfund National Priorities List by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency on…

Louisiana lawmakers take aim at Blue Cross with bills that would make another deal harder

By STEPHANIE RIEGEL | Staff writer
Mar 5, 2024

Three weeks after broad opposition scuttled the $2.5 billion deal to sell Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Louisiana to Elevance Health, two state lawmakers are proposing new rules that would mak…

Decades-long quest to carve a new river near Baton Rouge gets funding back on track

BY MARK BALLARD | Staff writer
Updated Mar 5, 2024

WASHINGTON – Money to complete a long-delayed flood mitigation project in the Baton Rouge area and get closer to completing one in the New Orleans area is included in a thousand-page appropria…

Jeff Landry signs bills to expand Louisiana death penalty, eliminate parole

By JAMES FINN | Staff writer
Updated Mar 5, 2024

Gov. Jeff Landry signed into law Tuesday a bill allowing executions by nitrogen gas and electrocution, opening the door for Louisiana to revive capital punishment 14 years after it last used i…

Huge, stalled Mississippi River diversion won't affect Plaquemines flood insurance: FEMA

BY MARK SCHLEIFSTEIN | Staff writer
Updated Mar 5, 2024

The Federal Emergency Management Agency has concluded that construction of the $3 billion Mid-Barataria Sediment Diversion will not impact flood insurance rate maps for Plaquemines Parish, a r…

Supreme Court restores Trump to ballot, rejecting state attempts to ban him over Capitol attack

BY MARK SHERMAN | THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Mar 4, 2024

WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court on Monday restored Donald Trump to 2024 presidential primary ballots, rejecting state attempts to hold the Republican former president accountable for the Capitol riot.

As Louisiana execution methods expand, will electric chair Gruesome Gertie return to action?

BY JOHN SIMERMAN | Staff writer
Updated Mar 7, 2024

Louisiana's notorious electric chair sits in a prison museum as Gov. Landry weighs bill to add electrocution, gas to execution methods.

No records, limited power: How Louisiana’s new watchdog for kids has investigations blocked

BY ANDREA GALLO | Staff writer
Mar 3, 2024

A 16-year-old girl in northeast Louisiana worried she was running out of time to find a family of her own.

Mike Johnson dodges shutdown - for a week. But hard choices for the House speaker lie ahead.

BY MARK BALLARD | Staff writer
Mar 3, 2024

WASHINGTON – Using a plan that some colleagues and media commentators praised, House Speaker Mike Johnson avoided both a federal government shutdown and a move to remove him from office – at l…

How much will Jeff Landry’s crime laws cost Louisiana? It could take years to know.

By JAMES FINN | Staff writer
Updated Mar 3, 2024

Republicans who pushed Gov. Jeff Landry’s public safety agenda through the Louisiana Legislature in recent days argued there is no price too great to stop crime, brushing aside concerns that t…

Permitless concealed carry could be banned in some parts of New Orleans under this bill

BY JOHN SIMERMAN | Staff writer
Mar 1, 2024

A proposed caveat to the permitless concealed carry bill that cleared the Legislature this week would carve out the French Quarter, the Downtown Development District and the area near the Erne…