We’ve had plenty of politicians, even presidents, who’ve served under clouds. But a court-appointed Zulu King? That’s too much.
Friday, November 16, 2018
Thursday, November 15, 2018
Maybe it is making the best of a bad situation, but a bipartisan bill is aimed at once again dealing with the U.S. government's schizophrenia about the Strategic Petroleum Reserve.
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Thursday, November 15, 2018
Louisiana’s looming gubernatorial race came into sharper focus this week when Attorney Jeff Landry said he would not be a candidate in 2019, but instead run for reelection to his current job. Yet the bigger news came not from Baton Rouge but Washi…
For nearly 140 years, AT&T has been building the network on which the Baton Rouge area thrives, and the renaissance of downtown Baton Rouge has required private investment by the wireless industry.
The United States Senate Committee on Small Business and Entrepreneurship, led by Louisiana Republican John N. Kennedy, will convene Friday in New Orleans for a hearing on freight railroad regulation. Lawmakers and Louisiana businesses participati…
Thursday, November 15, 2018
Sometimes, in medicine, the best way to help people achieve good health and stay well has absolutely nothing to do with a diagnosis or medicine. It may have everything to do with what the doctors can’t see in their patient or on a chart.
When it comes to the disparaging of Louisiana’s out-of-date and inefficient tax code, which has been criticized by analysts of both the left and the right, coming in at 14th worst doesn’t sound so bad.
Wednesday, November 14, 2018
I agree that Louisiana has made great progress in changing the Jim Crow-era laws regarding jurors. However, I feel as if The Advocate did not cover the true importance of the change.
Wednesday, November 14, 2018
If you support the positive direction of our country, you should easily see the midterm elections as a wake-up call. If not, I am afraid all hope may be lost for this country to remain as the founding fathers envisioned. I hope this election will …
Nobody appears to relish the idea of going head to head with Louisiana Gov. John Bel Edwards more than Attorney General Jeff Landry, who has battled with the administration over health care, the death penalty, LGBTQ rights and more.
Here we go again, with Broward County.
Wednesday, November 14, 2018
It looks like newly re-elected U.S. Rep. Steve Scalise is going to keep at least one election season promise. After watching his party lose its House majority in a slow-motion but ultimately decisive defeat, he reiterated his pledge to stay in Was…
Everybody wants a shiny A on the report card, but the goal of then-Gov. Bobby Jindal when he pushed letter grades for public schools was to make clear to the public whether a school was doing well or not.
To all of the wonderful people who have shown love and support to us after the death of our son, Wayde Sims:
Tuesday, November 13, 2018
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When Gov. John Bel Edwards restored control to the local level over industrial tax exemptions, observers across the political spectrum generally approved.
The Advocate continues to be unbalanced in articles it has published relative to illegal immigration. In the past few days, it has published two or more articles relative to illegal immigration, never making it clear it is a crime. Relative to the…
The Dialysis Patients Demonstration Act attempts to remove patients' choice. All patients should have a choice in their dialysis provider. There is no reason for patients to be involuntarily enrolled into an organization and then be required to op…
For me, this year’s Louisiana Book Festival was a welcome return to the world of books. I learned about writing, met with writers and escorted writers to their programs. Most fun of all was helping connect people with the authors they’d come to se…
It's been six months since New Orleans Mayor Mitch Landrieu left office. One could argue he left the city he ran for eight years a mess. This week, that case got even stronger.
The writers for HBO’s satirical show “Last Week Tonight with John Oliver” might want to get a weekend place in Louisiana. They’ve certainly figured out that there’s plenty of good material here.
Maybe it's not surprising, but the news is that the number of international students coming to U.S. colleges and universities is down during the Trump administration.
When Louisiana in 2016 joined the majority of states expanding Medicaid insurance coverage for the working poor, it turned out to be a good move for the state's people and for its general fund, as almost all of the costs are picked up under the mu…
Monday, November 12, 2018
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In 2009, after my career in politics, and other endeavors, I had the distinct honor to be appointed as the director of the Louisiana School for the Visually Impaired. My first job after graduating from LSU in 1975 was teaching blind children at LSVI.
The Louisiana High School Athletic Association needs to end its discriminatory and unconstitutional practice of requiring student-athletes to provide Social Security numbers in order to register to play high school sports. Recently, the LHSAA rele…
Enjoy the Thanksgiving break, Louisiana voters. Maybe try to talk about something other than politics over dinner, if your family dynamics allow for that. Then watch the Saints (hopefully) make a second meal of the Atlanta Falcons on national television.
There’s no longer any suspense over what role U.S. Rep. Steve Scalise will play in the next Congress. With control now firmly in Democratic hands, the current majority whip will not be eligible to move up to majority leader or even House speaker, …
Sunday, November 11, 2018
Elections and Pilgrims and Turkeys, Oh, my!
A recent letter to The Advocate chastised the Democrats for fighting the Republican move to require Medicaid recipients in Louisiana to work for their benefits. The writer also claimed that the War on Poverty was (is?) an abject failure.
Thank you, Advocate, and Clarence Page. What a wonderful way to start the day after the elections — a very positive, “good-feel” opinion piece about a man who deeply cared for others.
I have some thoughts about the current immigrant caravan crisis.
Saturday, November 10, 2018
At LSU’s Baton Rouge campus today, the university will hold a 3 p.m. ceremony to rededicate Memorial Oak Grove, an area of 31 oak trees dedicated in 1926 to honor 30 LSU students who died in World War I. The fighting in the war ended 100 years ago…
Jazz musicians often use recognizable melodies as their base from which they improvise their way to new interpretations.
It might be a bit of an exaggeration to say that Louisiana just “ended 138 years of Jim Crow,” but state Sen. JP Morrell, D-New Orleans was entitled to feel elated when the election returns came in Tuesday night.
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Take one glance at the time sheets of a Louisiana state senator at his day job, and you would have to conclude he has some serious health problems. State Sen. Wesley Bishop, D-New Orleans, is employed full-time at Southern University of New Orlean…
The thing about Louisiana politics is, once you think you’ve seen it all, well, you ain’t seen nothing yet.
I am responding to Richard Cohen's opinion, "An American Nero threatens the Republic." Cohen asserted that President Donald Trump had "anti-immigrant sentiment" because he was deeply concerned that thousands of unvetted people were on their way to…
If brains, not brawn, are the primary engine of the 21st century, then Louisiana can take heart that some 250 authors will be on hand at Saturday’s Louisiana Book Festival in downtown Baton Rouge. Many, if not most, of the featured authors either …
Friday, November 09, 2018
When Tuesday’s election gave the Democrats a majority in the House, it also shifted around some positions in the Republican leadership, but some of those changes were expected.
What’s up with Halloween — or should I say, trick or treat?
Earlier this month, 6-year-old Jahiem Holliday died as the victim of a shooting. The alleged shooter was a 13-year-old. I have been unable to simply process the facts of this case and proceed with life as usual. But I believe this horrific tragedy…
Veterans Day is not a day for sadness for our fallen comrades, though we remember them with love and respect. Their day is in May. We, the living, celebrate our day in November. In November after celebrating the warmth of the summer and the gradua…
Here in Louisiana, we’re watching a lively debate about the LSU admissions process. President F. King Alexander says he is taking advantage of a more holistic approach to admissions that is less reliant on test scores. Critics say he is lowering s…
Thursday, November 08, 2018
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Depending on your political persuasion, you probably are either in victory or defeat mode following the much-hyped midterm elections. But if you’re a long-term investor (and I hope you are, because Social Security will not be your retirement salva…
The first question after every big election is who’s up and who’s down — or to borrow a term from my Gambit colleague Clancy DuBos, “Da Winnas and Da Loozas.” An equally compelling level of analysis is less about who than about what.