Still more than three years out from the race to replace term-limited City-Parish President Joey Durel, possible candidates are already lining up. But have local politics become too expensive and contentious for an ‘everyman’ candidate?
By Walter Pierce
July 3, 2012
State Rep. Joel Robideaux has three legislative sessions left before Louisiana’s term limit law draws a curtain on his tenure in the House of Representatives. It’s conceivable he could seek a move to the state Senate, but unlikely. He and first-term incumbent Page Cortez are close friends; the latter moving effortlessly last year from the House and into the term-limited Sen. Mike Michot’s seat without a challenge.
How a Lafayette public relations dynamo lost 140 pounds and seven dress sizes, and why she is more than willing to talk about it
By Heather Miller • Photos by Robin May
A former athlete who towers at 6 feet tall, public relations powerhouse Amy Jones has never been “petite.”
“You just can’t be when you’re this tall,” the 37-year-old former sportscaster and Lafayette native explains.
Motivated by conscience and economics, entrepreneurs in Lafayette are seeing the big picture and embracing the green movement.
By Katie Macdonald
Lafayette was one of the first cities in Louisiana to adopt curb-side recycling, and based on the bins lining our streets on pick-up day, the participation rate is high.
What does it take to live in a 120-square-foot house? A lot of pride and $10 per month in utilities.
By Elizabeth Rose
Rok Haus owner Art Cormier’s house is a lodge fit for one with maneuverability limited to only 120 square feet, but it’s the epitome of space and energy efficiency.
Researchers at UL are exploring a plethora of alternative energy models, but say economics will ultimately decide their fate.
By Wynce Nolley
Many might not consider Lafayette, or Louisiana for that matter, to be an area on the vanguard of green energy with our economy so heavily tied to the petroleum industry.
MAY 24 Blogger Robert Mann posts this entry about the Baton Rouge Chamber's recent report on Louisiana's higher education system. It's critical to economic development, and yet our system is facing a "funding crisis" with no way to resolve it, the report says. The Chamber says control of tuition and fees must be returned to the higher ed governing boards.
MAY 24 Here's a NBC33 story about Tyrann Mathieu. He has signed with the Arizona Cardinals, inking a $3 million, four-year deal. He gets a signing bonus of $265K, but gets another, larger bonus if he doesn't get cut from the team for doing drugs. The deal reportedly includes mandatory tests and meetings for the player.
MAY 24 Jarvis DeBerry posts here about the redonkulus rhetoric that would have us believe NOLA is a safe city with a murder problem. Maybe the city's crime stats don't compare with its murder stats because you can't manipulate a murder, he says: a dead body's a dead body. It just doesn't make sense, he says, and his readers agree: a poll asks if they believe the city is safe, and more than 90 percent say no.
MAY 24 Jindal administration officials announced Thursday that the privatization of public health care is going to cost a lot more than they budgeted for, the Advocate reports here. "I'm so surprised," said no one. Anywhere. The cost they're projecting now is more than $1 billion - a lot more than the $626 million budgeted for it. And, it's more than it cost the state to operate those hospitals. So why are we doing this again?
MAY 24 Blogger CB Forgotston ridicules the recent PR campaign by the state GOP in the wake of a legislative auditor's request to both major parties. The GOP (apparently unaware that the Dems got the same request) started yammering about being targeted because it had "killed" a tax increase. CB finds that laughable, but it's also pretty funny that the GOP was comparing this episode to the IRS scandal (Because the President has so much to do with our state auditor. Right?).
MAY 24 Politico details some recent fund-raising efforts by Sen. David Vitter, which have raised the question of his future political plans. This time, it is a $5,000 per head "bayou weekend" that includes "Cajun cooking" and an all-caps "alligator hunt," the story reports. Funds raised go to a super PAC that can spend money to support Vitter in federal or state races, the story points out.
MAY 24 The pink building on Royal in the quarter was sold at a sheriff's sale Thursday, this Picayune story reports. An injunction that would have halted the sale wasn't enforced because the family failed to post a $150,000 bond, the story reports. So the owner of the mortgages on the building bought it, for nearly $7 million. Now the feuding family will have to negotiate with that company to get a lease on the building that has housed their business for close to 60 years.
MAY 23 This post in Louisiana Voice tells us about a bill by a Winnsboro lege that would require all public high school students to take at least one Course Choice online class in order to graduate. (What?) Blogger Tom Aswell says it's a monument to "waste and corruption," especially in light of the problems he's exposed with the program in recent weeks. Idaho had a similar program, but voters removed it by a 2-1 margin, Aswell says.
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