Wisdom and good common sense finally prevailed in the last special session of the Legislature and with the funding of the universities that were facing a $100 million dollar cut, Louisiana's chance to escape from the nation's cellar has dramatical…
Friday, July 20, 2018
There are some things that happen that let you know the storm in your life is subsiding and normalcy is on the way. Here comes the sunshine.
Like so many of our greater Baton Rouge area neighbors, we experienced severe damage to our residence due to unprecedented flooding that occurred in Baton Rouge in August 2016. We are retired, and the cost of rebuilding our home put a substantial …
Friday, July 20, 2018
With apologies to the president of the United States, the current titleholder, if we could combine Chauna Banks and John Schroder into a single public official, we'd get a Republocrat whiner of epic proportions.
Among the controversial shootings involving police and criminal suspects in recent years, the case of Victor White III attracted special attention. While in the custody of Iberia Parish Sheriff’s Office deputies in 2014 after an arrest for alleged…
Qualifying for the fall elections hasn’t ended yet, but one of the season’s key questions has already been settled.
Thursday, July 19, 2018
Advocate cartoonist Walt Handelsman's "Political Summer Camp Guide" imagines summer camps the two political parties might hold. Spoiler alert, one of them had to close.
For more Walt toons and animations click here.
For more Walt toons and animations click here.
Thursday, July 19, 2018
When I was a much younger man, the golden rule that lived in the heart of our nation was “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.” However, it seems as if that rule has changed to: whoever has the gold makes the rules.
As a future health care professional, I watched with bated breath over the past year as Congress moved to strip our citizens of health insurance time after time. Through the power of advocacy from millions across the country, this thankfully did n…
Sal Perricone, the tough-talking former federal prosecutor whose insatiable need to go online and comment on his office’s cases triggered an epic scandal, should have known that “his actions had the potential to wreak havoc,” the state attorney di…
Thursday, July 19, 2018
Louisiana has a long history of letting political candidates appear on the ballot as they wish, as long as their chosen nicknames don’t offend.
It’s not possible to say that reform happened with the stroke of the pen, since more than a year of negotiations among industries and state bodies were involved, but a dramatic level of new financial support for local services and schools has ensu…
Wednesday, July 18, 2018
Pretty much the world's first inkling that the Catholic hierarchy had been shielding pedophile priests came when Lafayette's Gilbert Gauthe pleaded guilty in 1985.
Wednesday, July 18, 2018
Recently, The Advocate’s Charles Lussier reported that East Baton Rouge Parish Superintendent Warren Drake is “sitting on InspireNOLA’s proposal [to open as many as four schools in the Capital City] until the state rules on his latest request, mad…
The decision by four East Baton Rouge Parish Metro Council members to abstain from the vote to appoint an interim council member for the District 8 seat previously held by Buddy Amoroso was intended to bring balance to a body that has been histori…
Some of Louisiana’s Republican members of Congress have been kind of squirrely ever since President Donald Trump openly questioned the evidence gathered by American intelligence agencies about Russian interference in the 2016 election while appear…
Louisiana’s U.S. Sen. John Kennedy got it right, we think, in his assessment of Russian leader Vladimir Putin’s government after the senator visited Russia this month.
Tuesday, July 17, 2018
For more Walt toons and animations click here.
Sometimes when I look at what’s happening in Washington, D.C., I can’t help but shake my head. The dysfunction runs rampant, and nearly every issue becomes a political football. Gone are the days when hard work, communication and collaboration wou…
America has a big drug problem. The U.S. has the highest drug prices in the world and average Americans can’t afford the medicine they need. The industry claims that high prices fund innovation, but it reaps a 23 percent return on investment, comp…
Coming in first is generally something to be proud of. For instance, LSU football winning the BCS National Championship in 2007, or the New Orleans Saints winning Super Bowl XLIV are both memorable examples. But being No. 1 isn’t always something …
Monday morning, as President Donald Trump was embarking on his instantly infamous encounter with Russian president Vladimir Putin, House Majority Whip Steve Scalise went on Twitter to insist that Trump was working “from a position of American stre…
The late Italian novelist Umberto Eco once lamented the way we often sentimentalize wild animals, regarding them as warm and fuzzy creatures when they are, in reality, rather efficient killing machines.
Social media over the weekend brought the news of watch parties across south Louisiana for the final game of this year’s World Cup, professional soccer’s biggest trophy.
Monday, July 16, 2018
Before we turn to the approaching drama of the Senate confirmation hearings on Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh, let us consider a valuable lesson from the brief but incandescent controversy surrounding the nominee who wasn’t, Amy Coney Barre…
In a recent guest column, Orleans Parish Assistant District Attorney Christopher Bowman criticized the state’s recently passed criminal justice reforms. I firmly disagree with Bowman, and I have full confidence these reforms will positively impact…
The decisions of the South Tangipahoa Port Commission at its July 10 meeting reflect the serious questions that are being raised about the proposed Village at Port Manchac Project.
I went shopping over the weekend, checked my receipts and saw that I was charged 4.45 percent of the price of my purchases in sales tax. Had I purchased the same items a month ago, I would have been charged 5 percent.
It’s way too early to handicap this fall’s special election for secretary of state, but by the time qualifying closes this week, one candidate will be able to claim a major victory just by making it to the starting line.
Sunday, July 15, 2018
Among the books that summer readers might choose to throw in their beach bags, we’re not sure that “Energy,” Richard Rhodes’ new history of the global energy industry, will make the cut.
Louisiana Spotlight: Neilson Rizzuto's early release should fuel more criminal justice reform debate
NEW ORLEANS (AP) — Look at pictures of the carnage on the parade route that February night in New Orleans and it might be difficult to believe that a crime of violence had not been committed.
Beat the Heat!
The Bayou Bridge Pipeline is on track to finish construction by fall, welcoming news for families looking to maintain stable fuel prices, relative to neighboring states and the U.S. average.
Thank you for the outstanding recent article by Joel A. Erickson regarding Saints linebacker Demario Davis. With all the negativity, misunderstanding and bad examples in our society, it was inspiring, uplifting and challenging to read such a well-…
Saturday, July 14, 2018
To call it a mixed bag is an understatement, if you want to find out where Louisiana stacks up with other states in business.
For more Walt toons and animations click here.
The election fever that’s spreading across the country this year hasn’t hit Louisiana yet, and odds are that it won’t.
Jeff Sadow: Would Louisiana students really fare better at out-of-state schools if we defunded TOPS?
Making policy based on the exception rather than the rule isn’t wise. Yet that’s what happened in recent budget debates over funding Taylor Opportunity Program for Students tuition awards.
When we all went to the polls more than two and a half years ago, most of us didn't expect those we elected to raise our taxes so high and this quickly. I don't remember any candidate promising billions in new taxes. But thanks to Gov. John Bel Ed…
Friday, July 13, 2018
Counting the things that the recently adjourned Louisiana Legislature failed to do can be a long list, but even where the financial crisis over the last 2½ years forced changes, lawmakers were reluctant to take on the political powers-that-be.
For years, abortion rights have been under attack in state legislatures. With President Donald Trump's nomination of Judge Brett Kavanaugh — who actively worked to deny a 17-year-old immigrant's request for an abortion and sided with bosses who wa…
A new report conducted for the Louisiana Chemical Association by noted economist Dr. Loren Scott studied the economic footprint of the chemical industry across Louisiana and found that the chemical industry continues to be one of the leading emplo…
In the June 23 lead editorial in The Advocate, the statement was made that the United States Supreme Court overturned "a 1992 ruling [Quill Corp. v. North Dakota, 504 U.S. 298] that limited internet tax collections to companies with brick-and-mort…
A co-worker stopped me on July 9 and asked “Do you remember where you were 36 years ago today?”
If House Majority Whip Steve Scalise hadn’t already announced that he won’t challenge John Bel Edwards for governor next year, his fundraising activities would have told the same story. His latest numbers, released Friday morning, have national am…
Thursday, July 12, 2018
Louisiana is now in second place in the nation’s incarceration sweepstakes, just behind Oklahoma by last count, and that has already translated into some savings for the state’s taxpayers: $12.2 million.
For more Walt toons and animations click here.