Wallace Roberts & Todd, a Philadelphia, Pa.-based planning firm, is chosen by an LCG advisory committee to produce a comprehensive master plan for Lafayette Consolidated Government.
Additional site-specific sales and occupancy taxes to fund a four-star hotel and convention center for Lafayette have local Tea Party members in an uproar.
The four firms selected as finalists to produce a comprehensive master plan for Lafayette Consolidated Government are making their pitches until. 4 p.m. Thursday at the Acadiana Center for the Arts.
Purcell was recommended to lead the state’s colleges and universities through what a regents press release is calling a “a transformational period in the history of postsecondary education.”
Attorney Donald Fuselier, the only LHA board member retained by City-Parish President Joey Durel in the wake of a blistering audit of the agency, has resigned.
District 8 City-Parish Councilman Keith Patin has been taking a beating from the Tea Party of Lafayette for having an open mind on the creation of two proposed economic development, or TIF, districts at Kaliste Saloom Road and Camellia Boulevard. Now Patin wants to hear what his constituents have to say.
Members of the governmental affairs committees of both chambers of the Legislature, along with representatives from Lafayette’s legislative delegation, will outline the redistricting process at a public forum scheduled for 6 p.m. Tuesday at the Acadiana Center for the Arts.
“Something that has frustrated me year after year ... has been the fact that as we do our budget process ... the two parts of the budget that are left unprotected disproportionately ... are higher education and health care, and that’s not right,” Jindal said.
An Alabama native with a doctorate in higher education administration, Dr. Jim Purcell served for a time in the mid to late ’90s as the director of planning and assessment at Our Lady of Lake College in Baton Rouge.
Lafayette Parish school system trying to cope with millions of dollars in additional retirement contributions and the end of $16 million in federal stimulus money
Any effort to reinstate three dismissed LHA board members could prompt a complete HUD takeover of the embattled agency.
MAY 22 This post was written the day after the second line shooting in NOLA, by Brentin Mock. Mock is a friend of Deb "Big Red" Cotton, a blogger who was shot in the back and was seriously injured. It is a raw, emotional piece of writing, something the writer obviously felt he needed to get off his chest. But it raises questions that can't be easily dismissed, and might give some insight into where the source of these events truly is.
MAY 22 In this Baton Rouge Business Report post, Rolfe McCollister considers the privatization of bus service in Baton Rouge. After decades of under-funding, it is a mess, and although a tax (partially) passed last year, improvement hasn't happened yet. McCollister apparently feels it is time to let private business get in on the transit business.
MAY 22 This post on Bayou Buzz by Jeff Crouere urges the defeat of a bill that would grant modest pay increases over the next several years to the state's judges and clerks of court. The state is in no position to fund pay hikes, Crouere argues, with the pay increases costing a total of $9 million over several years. It sends the wrong message to the (proverbial) hard-working people of Louisiana, he says.
MAY 22 The Advocate reports here that State Treasurer John Kennedy is complaining about a meeting of the corporation that oversees the state's tobacco settlement. The Governor wanted it restructured, and he has some support, but not a lot. The corporation agreed with his plan, but Kennedy didn't, and it appears that the meeting was noticed in a manner completely different than that of all previous meetings. Kennedy's given to hyperbole, but in this case the fish don't smell too fresh.
MAY 22 In this Advocate story, Carencro Police Chief Carlos Stout says the recent federal indictment of a strip club owner is all wrong. The indictment alleges that drugs and prostitution went on with impunity because club staff made arrangements with "local" police. Stout says it never happened, and while his cops do work security in the parking lot, they're not allowed inside.
MAY 22 This amusing post in DIG Baton Rouge recounts an ad that ran on Craig's List recently; the advertiser was seeking tenants for a Beauregard Town house. He knew his market, and wrote an ad that the most ironical hipster couldn't resist. Apparently, he really did know his market, because the ad worked like a charm.
MAY 22 In this post in The Lens, Mark Moseley comments on the rhetoric Gov. Jindal employed in trying to save his tax "reform" package. One interesting point concerns Jindal's use of his brother, Nikesh, in a little story. Nikesh left Louisiana because of his inability to get a decent job, the story goes, but the story won't hold water: Nikesh lives in DC, which has an income tax level comparable to Louisiana, Moseley says. If income taxes caused the dismal situation, it should exist in DC too. Right?
MAY 22 This post by columnist John Maginnis traces the trajectory of the bill that would fund construction at community and technical colleges -- and bypass the Board of Regents and traditional higher ed funding mechanisms. Sure, it will bust the legislature's self-imposed debt limit, but some leges feel that there's more need (because there is more growth) in the community and technical college area than in the university area, he says.
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