While there is much legislative self-congratulation after Louisiana’s biggest pork-barrel highway bill in years, the public deserves better.
It has been observed that Louisiana is not a red state or a blue state — it is a non-voting state. From local to state and federal elections, we have a crisis of faith in voter access, voting systems, and voter confidence that voting even matters.…
Editor’s note: This editorial, with slight revisions, has appeared on previous Father’s Days in The Advocate:
From a political point of view — not that we’d ascribe that sort of thing to federal judges — the pair of cases before the U.S. Supreme Court is perfect.
The dramatic footage of the landings on D-Day 75 years ago and solemn commemorations here and abroad have been a healthy lesson for young Americans — indeed, all lovers of freedom — about the sacrifices made on Omaha Beach and other landing ground…
Georgie Anne Geyer, whose syndicated column on foreign affairs was a regular feature of The Advocate’s opinion pages, died recently at 84, concluding a career that began in 1960 and offered her a front-row seat on some of the most momentous change…
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Old debates are in new bottles in Congress over the National Flood Insurance Program, a vital element in protecting Louisiana homeowners and business owners from catastrophic flooding.
“Poor Mexico!” goes an old saying. “So far from God, so close to the United States.”
The legendary New Orleans performer Dr. John gained national fame for being in the “right place, but it must have been the wrong time,” although his many fans knew better.
There’s no crying in baseball, as fans of the game are frequently reminded, so we’ll try not to shed a tear over LSU’s failure to win a spot in this year’s College World Series in Omaha.
When National Public Radio media critic David Folkenflik visited Baton Rouge last month to address local NPR listeners, he devoted much of his speech to the value of local newspapers.
After four years, what does the Louisiana Legislature have to say for itself?
The Legislature has done something right, and it will be a real benefit to Louisiana teachers.
In the first week of hurricane season, Louisiana got a powerful reminder on Thursday that storms don’t need a name to do serious damage.
When the United States put its young men ashore on D-Day 75 years ago, they were not alone.
In 2001, two innovative charter schools in Houston and New York City had achieved fame for breaking with the mediocre track records of traditional schools in poor neighborhoods. The KIPP schools were new then, and the discipline and high academic …
Faced with a House-passed bill that threatened to send Louisiana spiraling back into annual budget crises like those endured under former Gov. Bobby Jindal, a Senate committee has killed the measure.
At a time of deep political and social division in America and across the world, lots of pundits are pondering how to bring people back together.
Louisiana is supposed to allow executions as a punishment for the most heinous crimes, but the state hasn’t put anyone to death since 2010.
New Orleans, one of the state’s most Democratic cities, is the laboratory for a dramatic experiment in public education at the same time as the key change agent — publicly funded charter schools — are seeing some erosion of their long-standing sup…
The great American poet Walt Whitman was born two centuries ago today — a bicentennial anniversary inspiring celebrations among literary fans who love a reason to party.
With time drawing short in the 2019 session, there is more bluster than usual in the halls of the State Capitol. One threat that is heard too often, and quite prematurely, is that of a teacher strike if lawmakers fumble the ball on the proposed ra…
Last week, as Americans across the country prepared for a long Memorial Day weekend, lawmakers in the alternate universe of the Louisiana Legislature seemed to be honoring another holiday.
When author David McCullough visited Baton Rouge in 1995 to speak to supporters of the State Library of Louisiana, he mentioned America’s long tradition of supporting education, even when times were tough. During the Great Depression, McCullough t…
Editor's note: This editorial, with variations, has been published on previous Memorial Days in The Advocate:
The trade war with Canada and Mexico was on, and then it was off. The trade war with the European Union was on, and now maybe it is off.
Finding that former Orleans Parish Juvenile Court Judge Yolanda King lied about living in New Orleans on election paperwork, the Louisiana Supreme Court on Monday formally suspended her from the practice of law.
The Legislature is moving in the right direction, though not far enough, on tax rates for a new form of gaming that does not employ many, if any, Louisiana residents.
When East Baton Rouge Mayor-President Sharon Weston Broome urged the Legislature to allow all voters in East Baton Rouge to vote on the proposed St. George breakaway city, instead of those only in the proposed new city’s boundaries, we were concer…
A bill in the Louisiana Legislature to hide the names of companies that provide drugs for lethal injections on the state’s death row has had smooth sailing so far.
The state of Louisiana granted a license to the owners of Harrah’s in New Orleans to operate the city’s only land-based casino, an agreement that doesn’t expire until 2024. That leaves plenty of time to craft a new deal that best advances the publ…
At the beginning of the last century, John D. Rockefeller created Standard Oil, which transformed America’s, and the world’s, economy. Louisiana played a big part in that transformation today as well as then.
Common sense suggests that it’s probably not a great idea to strike a business deal with someone who’s suing you.
The situation in a nutshell: “Teachers are frustrated over low and stagnant pay. But labor costs for districts are going up rapidly due to pension and health-benefit costs. Because these benefit cost increases do not correspond to rising benefits …
Inside the State Capitol on Wednesday, observers and participants in the legislative circus might have been wondering if anything positive was being accomplished for Louisiana.
The good news is that a tax-cut bill that would return the state budget to the chaos of the Bobby Jindal years is not likely to pass.
Two years ago, Louisiana lawmakers joined with Gov. John Bel Edwards to approve sweeping reforms of the criminal justice system aimed at eliminating the state’s dubious distinction as America’s incarceration capital.
We welcome today’s visit to Louisiana by President Donald Trump, whose planned stop at a liquefied natural gas facility in Cameron Parish is meant to underscore his administration’s support for the nation’s energy infrastructure.
As lieutenant governor, Billy Nungesser is Louisiana’s roving ambassador, a job that obligates him to represent the state well.
Spring has come to south Louisiana, which means residents are spending more time outdoors enjoying the milder weather.
This Mother’s Day, people around the world have been reminded of one of the globe’s most iconic homages to a matriarch — Notre Dame Cathedral, damaged by fire last month in Paris.
We were moved last week, in the days leading up to Mother’s Day, by the images of moms waiting anxiously for their children after a school shooting in Colorado.
Constitution-itis is one of the worst political maladies in Louisiana. It has led to hundreds of amendments proposed, and many adopted, to put into fundamental law issues or concerns that shouldn’t be in the Louisiana Constitution. Most political …
The Louisiana Legislature walks on a marble floor paid for by oil money, but now is finding that it's politically slippery, involving an ultimatum from energy executives: Give us our tax breaks or else.
People of good will can differ about whether capital punishment is the best way to impose justice on those who commit the most heinous crimes.
Amid the raucous debate over the Affordable Care Act, also known as Obamacare, one provision of the health care law has been widely popular — the ban on excluding from insurance policies people with pre-existing medical conditions.
For Louisiana’s families, the every-six-months burden of car insurance renewal is a regular exercise in sticker shock. For many of the state’s residents, it’s a big drag on the household budget.
Teachers woke up to find in their Sunday newspaper some good news: Teacher Appreciation Week began with a majority of voters in Jefferson Parish approving a new 7.9-mill property tax for raises for teachers and school employees in the largest scho…
Teddy Roosevelt was president. The Model-T was about to transform streets across America.
Two years ago, with support from a broad coalition of Louisiana civic, religious and government leaders, Gov. John Bel Edwards joined with lawmakers to approve sweeping reforms of the state’s criminal justice system — measures aimed at reducing L…
With a picnic on the grounds, open to the public, one of Louisiana’s true landmarks celebrates on Sunday the 25th anniversary of its restoration: the Old State Capitol on the Mississippi River.