Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, a non-partisan good-government group, released Wednesday its annual list of what it deems the most corrupt members of Congress.
The rankings are based on two opposing criteria: federal expenditures per capita and identification with the tea party movement.
[UPDATE: In court Tuesday, City-Parish President Joey Durel, through attorney Pat Ottinger, agreed not to seat new Lafayette Housing Authority board members until Judge Ed Rubin decides whether three of the commissioners were properly removed by Durel. After the City-Parish Council upheld Durel's dismissal of the commissioners, they filed suit in state district court and are asking for a new hearing before the council. Rubin did not hear any arguments Tuesday; he said he would review video of the Sept. 21 council meeting before making a decision. He is expected to rule this week.]
The New York Times is reporting that the Obama administration will today announce plans to resume deepwater drilling.
The Lafayette Charter Commission on Monday began discussion of what many residents in the city of Lafayette believe is the process’ goal: ensuring the city’s ultimate self-determination and sovereignty.
Pulled down by a 67 percent drop in corporation and franchise taxes and an 8 percent dip in individual income tax cash receipts, state revenues for the fiscal year to date (July-September) have fallen 8 percent, or $140 million.
Charter commissioner Bruce Conque will make a presentation Monday evening to his fellow commissioners in which he’ll detail a consolidation plan that has been in place in Jacksonville, Fla., for more than four decades.
Youngsville's mayor has big plans for the Ambassador South extension — plans that are tied up by a lawsuit challenging his city's annexation along the corridor.
Amid a legal challenge by three board members who were dismissed in August, City-Parish President Joey Durel has named a new board of commissioners for the troubled Lafayette Housing Authority.
The Third Circuit ruling sends the fight between the two south Lafayette Parish cities back to district court with the ultimate prize being the valuable commercial corridor along Ambassador Caffery South.
The Third Circuit Court of Appeal has backed a lower court’s conviction of the former New Orleans broadcaster.
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.
Most Read
in case you missed it