It is conceivable, had an assassin’s bullet not taken him in 1968, that Martin Luther King Jr. would be living today, elderly but in much-honored retirement.
Ten months into a pandemic that has cost too many lives and forced frustrating restrictions on our daily activities, one grim warning can sound like the next. Even so, the tone that Gov. John Bel Edwards took during his most recent update was ster…
There’s an old saying about judgments, that one should not make the perfect the enemy of the good.
Tolerance and dissent may seem at odds, but in America they are vital components of our national, and local, communities.
It was no fun watching Nick Saban and Alabama steamroll their way to another national championship, especially when their best player was from Louisiana.
After all the drama of the last four years, we need a change. To persist in an impeachment drive in President Donald Trump’s last days in office is another dramatic gesture the nation does not need.
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If you were busy last week, perhaps you didn’t find the time to check Facebook for U.S. Rep. Garret Graves’ 738 word statement explaining his vote against the results of the 2020 election.
It’s 2021, so let's put aside the debate about the growing power of federal bureaucrats and salute a civil servant for a job well done.
Among the many betrayals of our democracy we witnessed this week, perhaps none were more disheartening than seeing our own Steve Scalise join the dark forces trying to overturn an American election.
For us, the Jan. 20 inauguration of a new president of the United States cannot come soon enough.
In tragic circumstances, it is time for Americans to come together.
History may be kinder to Donald Trump as president of the United States than we can today imagine but that’s a long way away. Today, nothing is more unbecoming about the way he has conducted himself in office than his leaving of it.
It is at one time a high and noble charge, but also and quite often a political burden. Will two of our best and brightest in the U.S. Congress act in the spirit of their oaths to preserve, protect and defend the Constitution?
When inventorying the shortcomings of American democracy, the 1876 presidential election would be high on the list.
When Donald Trump and Nancy Pelosi and Bernie Sanders agree on a proposal, it must be either very good or very bad public policy.
On Jan. 20, Joe Biden will be sworn in as the 46th president of the United States.
There are lots of ways to characterize 2020, many of them not suitable for a family newspaper. Here’s one description that is: It was a learning experience.
Should a team with only six wins get to play for the college football national championship?
In storm-torn Southwestern Louisiana, progress can be measured by the cubic yard, as in how many cubic yards of debris have been cleared from the low-lying landscape that rests between Jefferson Davis Parish and the Texas line.
How grand was it to watch the Saints vanquish the Vikings on Friday, eliminating the team that booted them from the NFL playoffs two of the past three seasons?
The death of former state Rep. Vic Stelly of Lake Charles reminds us that it wasn’t so long ago that real tax reform was possible in Louisiana.
As usual, there’s a lot of attention to the details of Gov. John Bel Edwards’ restrictions on particular businesses in the coming weeks.
A term of art at the Federal Emergency Management Agency is “long-term recovery.” In Louisiana, because of our vast experience with hurricanes and floods, we know that the emphasis there is “long.”
New Orleans Mayor LaToya Cantrell fought the city’s powerful hotel industry to gain more control over local tourism taxes paid chiefly by visitors. The mayor contends that tourism agencies are relatively well-funded in comparison to city departmen…
It took long enough, but that's our U.S. Congress. National leaders finally came to terms to provide much-needed COVID-19 virus economic relief. Though we shall see over time how it is implemented, the package includes $600 direct payments to indi…
Editor's note: We've published this editorial, with slight alterations, in other holiday seasons.
Editor’s note: We publish this editorial, with small variations, each Christmas.
Santa’s existence was proved conclusively in 1897 by Francis P. Church, of The New York Sun. His editorial is reprinted here as a public service:
We knew things had been bad with the Archdiocese of New Orleans’ handling of the case of George Brignac some time ago. But new reporting by Ramon Antonio Vargas of The Times-Picayune | The Advocate and David Hammer of WWL-TV shows that the diocese…
With the nation — and the world — seriously hurt economically during the coronavirus pandemic, it’s good news that Louisiana continues to be an attractive place for investments in the petrochemical industry.
We have spoken frequently in these columns about the wastefulness of government giveaway programs.
The coronavirus pandemic has disrupted every corner of American life, but schools, and the adults and children who populate them, have faced challenges that are both unique and serious.
In voting down last Saturday’s three-part property tax extension proposed by Mayor LaToya Cantrell that would have extended but changed funding for city libraries for 20 years, New Orleans voters didn’t swear off support of the cherished neighborh…
When Louisiana’s high school football teams begin training in the hot summer sun, every player and every coach and every parent has the same dream: Capturing a state championship in December in the Superdome.
LSU’s football faithful, suffering from an interminable season set to end this weekend, found a glimmer of solace in a road win against formidable Florida. Good for them. Good for the shoe, too.
In an age of instant electronic communication, the process of choosing the most powerful person in the world is almost quaint. It happened in part in downtown Baton Rouge, at the State Capitol, where eight electors gathered in the ornate Senate ch…
The pandemic is still raging, but now that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration has authorized the use of Pfizer’s coronavirus vaccine and doses are being administered, there is hope that we are nearing the end.
If Louisiana’s college graduates hoped for the “college experience,” they got both: college and an experience, especially these past nine months.
The motto of the United States Congress these days should include the phrase “Unfinished Business,” because there is an awful lot of it on the table at a time when many small businesses and millions of Americans face an uncertain Christmas season.
Imagine what Attorney General Jeff Landry would say if a bunch of blue states asked the U.S. Supreme Court to invalidate the results of a Louisiana election won by a Republican. And imagine how loudly he’d say it.
The White House held a vaccine summit Tuesday — and of 50 states, only four were on the big stage in Washington, D.C.
New Orleans and Louisiana are heading for a seismic shift in how justice is administered as New Orleans District Attorney-elect Jason Williams prepares to take over from Leon A. Cannizzaro Jr., who has been in charge for 12 years.
Congratulations are in order for Sharon Weston Broome on winning a second term as mayor-president. Now Baton Rouge ought to pull together to make recovery from the woes of 2020 a reality.
Nobody knows better than Joe Biden that he’s not president of the United States just yet. So while we hope for a more pro-trade policy from the incoming administration, it’s reasonable that he is going slow on pronouncements.
While we’ve learned many things during this remarkable and often unpleasant year of 2020, one has been established beyond doubt: You can’t form a family virtually.
Sixty years before the 9/11 terrorist attacks in 2001, the people of the United States were jolted by the day that will live in infamy, the Imperial Japanese Navy’s attack on Pearl Harbor.
More than three years have passed since they yanked Robert E. Lee off his pedestal in New Orleans, but hopefully the community is close to uniting around a worthy replacement.
While it is not a high-profile issue, a statewide proposition is on ballots in every parish today. We encourage voters to approve the constitutional amendment to allow up to two out-of-state residents to be appointed to each of the four college ma…
At almost $2.8 million, the first year of the big 225 GIVES campaign was a success, thanks to thousands of donors stepping up to provide gifts for nonprofit organizations serving the Baton Rouge area.
All elections are important, but some are bound to attract more interest than others. Case in point was the Nov. 3 election for president and a bunch of other offices, which drew more than 70% of Louisiana’s voters to the polls — or in the case of…
The Times-Picayune and The New Orleans Advocate make these recommendations in Saturday's election: