The House Health and Welfare Committee already rejected a bill that would have expanded Louisiana's Medicaid program as allowed under the federal Affordable Care Act.
It took a Senate panel less than five minutes to approve a bill prohibiting the enforcement of federal laws in Louisiana regarding ownership of semi-automatic weapons.
In the wake of the Supreme Court of Louisiana ruling that the funding method for the state’s school voucher program is unconstitutional, the voucher program’s biggest boosters — Gov. Bobby Jindal and state Superintendent John White — released statements saying, in effect, the ruling will not retard the program’s progress.
House Republicans are at odds over a bipartisan budget proposal that contains $329 million in cuts to tax break programs that largely benefit businesses, a compromise that has GOP lawmakers clashing with their governor, state party and traditional allies.
House lawmakers moved ahead Monday with the outlines of a bipartisan budget compromise while sidelining Gov. Bobby Jindal, who opposes the negotiation framework because it would raise new dollars for state spending.
The House backed a proposal Monday that would allow gun buyers and sellers to circumvent any federal firearms ban if the gun was manufactured in the state, though no manufacturer now exists in Louisiana.
A proposal for Louisiana to tap into the federal health overhaul money available for expanding Medicaid has been steered to the Senate budget committee for review.
The Supreme Court of Louisiana ruled Tuesday that the way Gov. Bobby Jindal’s controversial school voucher program is funded is unconstitutional, backing a district court decision.
Is it a crime for citizens to photograph, video, or take notes of a police officer in the line of duty?
An audit of Louisiana's food stamp program for low-income families says weak oversight has allowed for duplicate benefits, overpayments and more than $1 million paid to ineligible residents, some of whom were in prison at the time.
A Maryland-based company whose nearly $200 million Medicaid contract was canceled amid an ongoing federal investigation has sued Gov. Bobby Jindal's administration for terminating the deal.
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