When a fistfight broke out at Acadiana High School, America being fully digitized by now, a student recorded some of the event on a cellphone. When the student’s parent posted it on social media, the police showed up at her door and arrested her.
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Each year, American passenger cars and trucks, through vehicle tailpipe and oil extraction and transport emissions, spew upward of 3 trillion tons of carbon pollution into the air by burning about 121 billion gallons of gasoline. In addition to wo…
If you want to know how much credibility or assurances of the program the Democrats are “pushing” for the border and its security, just listen to the litany of promises they had in “pushing” for Obamacare. Remember how that “Affordable Care Act” w…
Recently, in reading “Today in History,” I read that on Feb. 13, 1633, the great Italian astronomer Galileo Galilei arrived in Rome for his trial for supporting the theory that the earth revolved around the sun, rather than the other way around. H…
Regarding the recent letter from NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell in which he says he "understands the disappointment" of Saints fans:
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As an elementary school teacher, I expected to experience child-like behaviors from my students. As president of the Louisiana Federation of Teachers, I did not expect to experience it at the State Capitol from adults.
When you’ve taken a hit like Louisiana’s oil patch did in the middle of this decade, from over $100 a barrel for oil down to $50 or $55, it means rebuilding economically.
Thursday, Feb. 21 is National Introduce a Girl to Engineering Day, a day focused on inspiring young women to pursue professions in science, technology, engineering and math — or STEM. Our goal today, and every day, should be to spark girls’ intere…
For two days in a row, we have letters (Mr. Bloodworth and Mr. Hale) telling us that Republicans could have built the wall on the Mexican border during Donald Trump’s first two years, while they controlled both the House and Senate. Perhaps this i…
When a passel of business leaders and officials gather Thursday in Baton Rouge for an economic development “summit,” will it be a pep rally for re-election of Gov. John Bel Edwards? That’s what the Louisiana Republican Party rather ineptly argues,…
In the Louisiana Republican Party’s ideal world, last week would have marked a show of strength by the two candidates who are trying to turn Democrat John Bel Edwards into a one-term governor. That’s when reports outlining how much money U.S. Rep.…
When you give a political figure a veto over state budgets, by requiring that committee decisions be made unanimous, there ought to be a very high burden of proof on a holdout.
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Edward Pratt's column, "My Grandmother's rebellion, in a walk downtown," in The Advocate Saturday is a masterpiece of short story writing! One could easily visualize every step of his and his grandmother's journey down Third Street because of the …
Let’s consider the facts of life: Beginning at conception, when your mother’s egg cell was fertilized by your father’s sperm cell, the 23 chromosomes and approx. 50,000 genes from each parent, combined to determine all your physical characteristic…
About infanticide: I believe a nation that murders its unborn and newly born sins against the one and only God of creation and expedites its own extinction.
The picture of the LSU and U.S. Military Academy baseball players honoring our national colors in the Sunday, Feb. 17 edition of The Advocate was outstanding.
When Amazon was showered with offers by the cities and states of the Union for a new job-creating second headquarters, it was clear all along that comparative backwaters — e.g., Louisiana — would never be competitive.
It’s been a rough go of it of late for New Orleans radio icon Scott Paisant, who goes by the name of Scoot. Many of us grew up listening to Scoot when he was a hip DJ on the New Orleans airwaves for many years. Now he hosts an afternoon talk show …
It’s fair to ask why New Orleans Mayor LaToya Cantrell raised an impressive $461,000 in campaign funds in 2018, three years before she’ll face voters again.
Louisiana’s delegation in Congress has worked very hard to push funding for significant new flood control projects through the legislative process and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.
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I am a former mayor who signed the U.S. Mayors’ Climate Protection Agreement in 2006 to reduce CO2. With the recent national publicity regarding climate change, I want to comment on New Orleans Airport’s new North Terminal and the extra CO2 as a r…
The Advocate recently printed a letter that “explained” why the Republicans couldn’t fund President Donald Trump’s wall back when the GOP controlled the White House and both houses of Congress. The writer’s conclusion was (surprise, surprise) — it…
By basically admitting that it’s just not feasible to rewind the clock and restart the debate over whether Entergy New Orleans should be able to build a new power plant, the New Orleans City Council has made it official. The crowd-pleasing part of…
Each Carnival season is different, but for those who traffic in the topical, there are a few evergreen subjects. They include the state of New Orleans’ streets, and drainage system, and police department, as well as the state of the nation — speci…
Deadlock is such a feature of state and national governance these days that we might be forgiven for thinking that we invented it.
Carnival Time!
I often wonder why so many Southerners fell for the shtick (lies, gimmicks) of a New York City con man. Then I read the recent letter to The Advocate from Jesse Pitre. I want to believe people just ignore the historical facts when writing these le…
Michael Gerson's comical recent column singing the praises of New Orleans' former egocentric, power-hungry mayor was almost as funny as it was misguided. Gerson claims to have come to hear a self-promoting speech Mitch Landrieu delivered while sti…
I feel it is time for a nurse to respond to Vanessa Shields-Haas, a member of Radical Nurses Collective, in her recent letter on abortion access in Louisiana. Shields-Haas takes issue with the Louisiana legislation requiring physicians performing …
A new push for better early childhood education is long overdue.
Former New Orleans mayor and potential presidential candidate Mitch Landrieu found himself in friendly surroundings recently as a guest on the hard-left-leaning “Pod Save America” podcast. The Pod Save America podcast makes CNN and MSNBC seem like…
Louisiana’s ailing municipalities can cure themselves if they choose more wisely.
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House Minority Whip Steve Scalise, of Jefferson Parish, applauded President Donald Trump for signing the new funding bill that averts a second government shutdown in as many months.
Robert Penn Warren will always be known in Louisiana for his time at LSU between 1933 and 1942, where he saw the rise and fall of Huey Long and fictionalized the Kingfish in his Pulitzer Prize-winning novel, “All the King’s Men.”
My husband and I are in our late 70s and have Medicare coverage. It has been proposed that Medicare should be for everyone. We have paid the Medicare taxes since 1965 when it was initiated, and because we still have earned income, we continue to p…
Regarding a recent article, "Judge says N.O. jail faces 'dire' crisis; Housing needed for inmates with mental health issues," the criminal justice system is obligated to house people only because of an accusation, their background and the risk to …
I continually read polemic letters in this newspaper against abortion rights. Occasionally, we see letters from those in favor of a liberality of such rights. I’m in the middle.
About four times a year until I was about 7 years old, my grandmother would announce that we were “going to ‘town.” The mere thought of “going to ‘town” would send my heart racing, not because of what we were going to do, but how the trip would end.
Last December, when The Wall Street Journal asked former New Orleans Mayor Mitch Landrieu and other well-known figures to discuss their favorite books of the year, Landrieu mentioned “Our Towns.” It’s written by the husband-and-wife team of James …
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I read and hear those championing "Medicare for all" as the solution for "what ails the country." I hear insurance companies offering Medicare coverage with no premium. Then I look at my Social Security monthly statement. There I see two types of …
Like most, I share in the sufferings of spam calls and experience the same frustrations expressed by John Singleton in his Feb. 12 letter, but the writer’s perception of poor service or congressional apathy toward the issue is disconnected from re…
One lesson I’ve learned from planting trees and promoting lumber products for a living is that the lumber industry in our state grew and improved because it invested in best practices that contributed to our state’s growth and well-being, rather t…
It's difficult to think of two more different visionaries in the Republican Party than Haley Barbour and Kristen Soltis Anderson.
When Hillary Clinton was secretary of state, her approval ratings hovered in the mid-60s, higher than either President Barack Obama’s or Vice President Joe Biden’s. By well into the slog of the 2016 presidential run, her polls numbers had dropped …
Editor’s note: This editorial, with slight variations, has been published on previous Valentine’s Days in The Advocate.
I’m writing to clarify the recent article about the Sewerage and Water Board of New Orleans by Jeff Adelson: “New Orleans S&WB flush with cash? FEMA reimbursements, other funds found at end of shaky year.”