Natural Gas and U.S. Energy Security

Wednesday, February 23, 2011

The president says the fuel has a role in our energy future, but try finding that message in his administration’s policies. By Cherry Fisher May

In the wake of Egypt’s 18-day revolution, we watch and wait as popular protests continue to erupt across that oil-rich region of the world. The potential for destabilization of the U.S. energy supply leaves our country vulnerable and represents a threat to our national security and economic viability. The need for domestic energy independence has never been more palpable or pressing, and we in Louisiana understand that natural gas should play a major role in getting us there.

The Boundary Battle Begins

Wednesday, January 26, 2011

Every district for elective office at the state, regional and local levels are about to be redrawn. What happens in the next three months will chart our future for a decade.

The day of reckoning is nigh. For the past three years Shreveport-based demographer Elliott Stonecipher has predicted the impact that 2010 census data will have on Louisiana’s political landscape. Among his prognostications: the aging and shrinking of our population as the young and the restless continue to leave Louisiana for better jobs and education opportunities outside the state. The population shift southward from I-20 to the employment-rich 10/12 Corridor.  The final tally of the post-Katrina exodus from New Orleans. The specter of losing a seat in Congress and the gerrymandering it will spawn so that Louisiana maintains two minority majority districts among the seven that remain. Profound restructuring of the legislature as the state grows even less purple and more red. 

Seeking Higher Ground

Will the World Delta Dialogues be enough to save America’s — and Louisiana’s — wetlands? By Cherry Fisher May

Even a reluctant student of history is usually at least curious about the many civilizations and societies that have disappeared since the dawn of recorded time. The Anasazi. The Maya. The Roman Empire. The Soviet Union. What caused them to fail?

An Election Where Everybody Wins

Wednesday, September 29, 2010

Will the new school board take our system to the top?

The success of Lafayette’s public schools is important to us all, and hopefully voter turnout will be strong for this Saturday’s school board election. The outcome will affect traditional bottom-line issues like stewardship of the system’s $380 million budget, workforce development, job growth and business recruitment, as well as broader community concerns that also impact business, like crime statistics and the rate of poverty in our parish.

Celebrating the Accomplishments of Women in Business

Wednesday, August 25, 2010
Written by Cherry Fisher May

The success of women in the workforce changed the history of our country.

As we were going to press with this publication of ABiz — the annual issue in which we pay tribute to Acadiana’s women business and professional leaders — our nation was celebrating the 90th anniversary of the ratification of the 19th amendment, which gave women in the U.S. the right to vote. Since our state initially rejected the amendment in 1920 and didn’t get around to passing it until 1970, it’s a celebration that Louisianians technically won’t be able to observe until 2060. We weren’t the last, though; North Carolina was close behind Louisiana, finally adopting it the following year, and Mississippi was once again the caboose, making it part of its constitution in 1984. Women there get to wait another 14 years.