Under pressure from the Legislature, the state's top school board Wednesday morning approved a revised funding request that includes $800 pay raises for teachers and $400 more for school support workers.
The Louisiana House late Tuesday took a significant step toward loosening the state’s tough stance on marijuana possession, approving a bill to decriminalize possession of up to a half-ounce of the drug.
Legislation to change the statute of limitations for child sexual abuse from 10 years to 35 years passed with without dissent in the Louisiana House Tuesday.
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A debate over a police reform bill on the Louisiana House floor spurred emotional testimony from several Black lawmakers about police brutality Tuesday night, as the Republican-led House balked at the legislation and tacked on an amendment dubbed …
The Louisiana House has approved a bill to decriminalize the possession of small amounts of marijuana, taking away the possibility of jail time and reducing the maximum penalty to a $100 fine for possession offenses.
A key piece of a complicated tax swap passed another legislative hurdle Tuesday, but the entire effort is stalled for now because of a racially charged dispute between Black and White lawmakers over an unrelated matter.
A bill that would divide the East Baton Rouge Parish parks and recreation system into three separate districts breezed through the state Senate on a 28-6 vote Tuesday.
The state House on Tuesday approved legislation to roll back the use of noncompete agreements for doctors, amid a fierce battle between Ochsner Health System, which is fighting the bill, and doctors groups and other hospital systems pushing for it.
The Louisiana House Appropriations Committee advanced a bill Tuesday that would create the Rural Development Fund to support the socioeconomic well-being of the state’s rural population through better health, education and infrastructure.
Gov. John Bel Edwards will testify Thursday before the U.S. Senate on the adverse impact that a protracted moratorium on mineral leases in the Gulf of Mexico will have on Louisiana's economy.
A bill that would require the driver's license or identification card of sex offenders to carry a special designation was narrowly rejected Tuesday in the House Transportation Committee.
A proposal to amend Louisiana's Constitution to prohibit the use of involuntary servitude as punishment for a crime was rejected Tuesday by a House committee.
After months of work, the Louisiana Legislature has started moving the legislation that would set up the way adults can place wagers on football, basketball, and other sporting events in the near future.
One Louisiana House committee rejected legislation Monday to stop landlords from treating tenants unjustly based on sexual orientation while another panel approved a bill to ban discrimination against gun sellers.
The Black caucus is withholding support for far-reaching tax measures sought by the legislative leadership to protest House Speaker Clay Schexnayder’s inaction on whether to keep state Rep. Ray Garofalo as chairman of the Education Committee.
Shorter hunting seasons and stricter bag limits could soon become the norm in Louisiana if state lawmakers reject a plan to overhaul the Department of Wildlife and Fisheries' outdated licensing structure, officials warned Monday.
Consumers could get wine shipped directly from manufacturers, under a bill that narrowly won passage Monday from the Louisiana House.
The Louisiana Senate will debate whether to require all 5-year-old children in Louisiana to receive a kindergarten education, after the measure cleared a financial review Monday for its multimillion-dollar price tag.
The Louisiana Senate voted Monday to require regular audits of the state's elections by the legislative auditor, a measure pushed by Republicans who said they wanted to ensure people have confidence in election results.
Proponents and opponents of legalizing recreational marijuana are both mounting a furious last-minute lobbying effort ahead of a potentially decisive vote Monday on a bill before Louisiana’s conservative House of Representatives.
After decades of public school students attending school for nine months followed by a summer break, state education leaders are urging Louisiana school districts to try a new calendar.
Louisiana legislators have always known that when their ideas are a bridge too far for their colleagues, they can save face by turning their bill into a “study resolution” — gather facts, see what other states do, regroup to fight another day.
Louisiana is adding utility payment assistance to its state-administered, federally funded program established to help renters and landlords impacted by the coronavirus pandemic, the governor's office announced Friday.
For more than two centuries, Black soldiers have fought and died in battle to preserve the freedoms treasured by so many in the United States — even when, by the mere color of their skin, they were denied those freedoms themselves.
With little debate, Louisiana's House on Thursday greenlit a multibillion-dollar spending plan for next year, advancing a series of budget bills that would begin carving up the latest federal coronavirus aid, give teachers a higher-than-expected p…
The sponsor of a bill that would divide the parks and recreation system for East Baton Rouge Parish said Thursday he is confident his proposal will win Senate approval.
In Lake Charles, Joe Biden stumps for hurricane relief, new I-10 bridge: 'It shouldn’t be this hard'
President Joe Biden pledged help with hurricane recovery and argued in favor of replacing Lake Charles’s dilapidated and nearly 70-year-old Interstate 10 bridge as he visited the city on Thursday to promote his massive plan to rebuild the nation’s…
LAKE CHARLES -- President Joe Biden visits this hurricane-wracked city on Thursday, and the location of his speech along its waterfront leaves little doubt about at least one issue he plans to address.
A bill by a Senate leader that would divide the parks and recreation system for East Baton Rouge Parish and create new ones in Zachary and Central was approved Wednesday night by a state Senate committee.
The Louisiana Senate approved Wednesday evening legislation nearly identical to a bill restricting transgender youth from participating in public school athletics that a House committee rejected on Tuesday.
Five more women have come forward to speak out about unresolved sexual harassment complaints at the LSU medical school in Shreveport, offering accounts that are strikingly similar to allegations made last month by four women in federal complaints …
A bill that would allow citizens 21 and older to carry a concealed handgun without a permit breezed through the Louisiana House on Wednesday.
Since the COVID-19 vaccine roll-out began, Louisiana has left one out of every five doses made available by the federal government on the table – and starting next week, any doses not drawn down will be steered towards states with higher demand.
LAKE CHARLES — Standing near the empty lot where his house once stood, Ron Thomas said his message for President Joe Biden when he arrives for a visit on Thursday is a simple one: Send help.
Having gotten what they wanted last fall — expanded early voting and mail balloting in the last presidential election — voting rights advocates in Louisiana are trying to dismiss the lawsuit they filed seeking safe voting opportunities during the …
A state senator has dropped a bid to change Louisiana’s unique jungle primary system for congressional races in favor of closed party primaries, shelving an issue that has created sharp public divisions between some of the state’s leading Republicans.
A woman who chooses to undergo a two-pill regime to trigger a chemically-induced abortion would have to be notified of options to reverse her decision under a legislative proposal that advanced Wednesday through Louisiana's House Committee on Heal…
Legislation to provide relief dollars to the logging industry in Louisiana is headed to the House floor.
Louisiana state agencies and public colleges would be unable to require coronavirus vaccines for entry into their facilities, if House lawmakers agree to a bill that won overwhelming support Tuesday from the Senate.
The effort to detail how Louisiana residents will wager on sporting events in the future begins in earnest Wednesday when the House votes on the taxes and fees attached with sports betting.
The Louisiana House on Tuesday night rejected a bill that would ban paddling and other forms of corporal punishment in public schools.
Legislation that would have kept transgender youth from participating in women’s K-12 sports was rejected Tuesday by the Louisiana House Education Committee.
A legislative proposal to decriminalize prostitution in Louisiana was shelved Tuesday after hours of public testimony from sex workers and amid concerns the measure could exacerbate human trafficking.
School buses put into operation after Jan. 1, 2023 would be required to have seat belts under a bill that won approval Tuesday in the House Education Committee.
The Louisiana Senate unanimously voted to make it illegal for employers to discriminate against someone because of their hairstyle, a measure striking at tactics that have targeted Black people who wear their hair naturally.
Construction on a number of new taxpayer-funded school athletics facilities in Denham Springs will begin later this year.
The state would stop sending checks to private businesses if legislation forwarded Monday by a Senate makes it through the process.
A legislative proposal that would make it easier for victims of domestic violence to apply for a temporary restraining order has come under fire from Louisiana's powerful gun lobby — though its proponents aren't exactly sure why.
The Louisiana speaker’s House-passed bill to centralize the collection of sales taxes attracted a lot of questions and some trepidation – as it has all through the process – but after a wording change, the Senate Revenue and Fiscal Affairs committ…
A legislative panel on Monday advanced a hotly contested proposal backed by the oil and petrochemical industries to rework the oversight of river pilots who guide ships up and down the Mississippi River, a bill that represents the latest power str…
Lawmakers in the state House want New Orleans and four neighboring parishes to come up with a plan to help the state pay off a hefty debt to the federal government for upgrades made to the region's flood protection system after Hurricane Katrina.