Author: manshipxgr

Published: July 12, 2023

By: Jillian Elliott, Layne Miller and Taegen Heck, LSU Manship School News Service

When Alex Cook stumbled on a flyer for a local juke joint, he was confused about how he, a member of the Baton Rouge music scene, was unfamiliar with a spot just minutes away in Zachary.

This first visit sparked dozens of features in Cook’s 2012 book, “Louisiana Saturday Night: Looking for a Good Time in South Louisiana’s Juke Joints, Honkey-Tonks and Dancehalls.”

But what he intended to be a travel guide is now a last look at places on a growing list of family-owned Cajun businesses that have closed.

Read more at Shreveport Times.

Published: June 21, 2023

By: Poet Wolfe LSU Manship School News Service

Spending bills approved by the Legislature include millions of dollars for renovations at Southeastern Louisiana University and the Loranger Branch library and for health services, tourism, and economic development in Tangipahoa Parish.

An infrastructure bill, House Bill 2, directs $21 million to Southeastern, including over $20 million to renovate D. Vickers Hall, approximately $700,000 for a new sports complex and $600,000 toward construction of a campus nursing building.

Also in the bill: around half a million dollars for the Loranger Branch of the Tangipahoa Parish Library. State Rep. Nicholas Muscarello Jr., R-Hammond, said the funds will support locating the library next to the Loranger High School campus for use by students and members of the public.

Read more at The Daily Star.

Published: June 08, 2023

By: Jenna Bridges, LSU Manship School News Service

BATON ROUGE — A bill that would limit minors’ access to library materials that might be considered sexually explicit received final legislative passage Thursday.

While lawmakers are rushing to pass their bills before the session ends at 6 p.m. Thursday, the final version of Republican state Sen. Heather Miley Cloud’s library bill, Senate Bill 7, passed the House 68-26 and the Senate 21-13. The final version was worked out in a conference between House and Senate members.

Now, the bill will be sent to Gov. John Bel Edwards, a Democrat. With less than two-thirds of the House and Senate in support of the bill, it is possible that he could veto it and the Legislature would be unable to override the veto.

Cloud’s bill would require public libraries to adopt a system that would allow parents to decide if their children could check out material that community members might consider sexually explicit, either at the library or online, through restrictions set on the minor’s library card.

If the bill becomes law, libraries would be required to adopt the policy no later than June 1, 2024.

Read more at Louisiana Forestry Association

Published: June 09, 2023

By: Allison Allsop, LSU Manship School News Service

BATON ROUGE—Gov. John Bel Edwards said he expects to veto three anti-LGBTQ+ bills passed in the legislative session that ended Thursday.

The bills—limiting health care for transgender minors, the use of alternate pronouns and classroom mentions of sexuality—were part of a push by conservative politicians around the country.

“Let’s focus on the real problems,” Edwards said in a post-session news conference. “Let’s don’t pick on very small minorities who have been in comprised of the most vulnerable, fragile children in our state, those most likely to engage in suicidal ideation and suicidal attempts. There’s nothing great in that.”

But Edwards, a Democrat, also expressed confusion about why the NAACP had issued a travel advisory for Louisiana, warning people of color and LGBTQ+ individuals that the state may not be safe for them in light of the legislation.

Edwards said that because those bills have not become law yet, he did not understand the need for the NAACP’s action, nor did he support it.

Read more at KATC

Published: June 08, 2023
By: Allison Allsop, LSU Manship School News Service

BATON ROUGE – Under a compromise approved in the chaotic closing minutes of the spring session Thursday, state lawmakers limited a $2,000 pay increase for teachers to a one-year stipend and cut $100 million from what the Senate had sought for the Louisiana Department of Health.

Those moves came even though legislators had more than $2 billion of revenue at their disposal beyond what had originally been expected to supplement both the current budget and one for the fiscal year starting July 1.

In the deal, lawmakers also added back more than $40 million for early childhood education programs and $25 million for extra differential pay for teachers in demand areas like math and science.

The final votes came with angry lawmakers demanding to know what had happened with the teacher pay raises and the health cuts and objecting strenuously that they did not know the details of the bills they were voting on.

Read more at WBRZ

Published: June 08, 2023

By: Jenna Bridges, LSU Manship School News Service

BATON ROUGE, La. (BRPROUD) – A bill that would limit minors’ access to sexually explicit materials in public libraries received final legislative passage Thursday.

While lawmakers are rushing to pass their bills before the session ends at 6 p.m. Thursday, the final version of Republican Sen. Heather Miley Cloud’s library bill, Senate Bill 9, passed the House 68-26 and the Senate 21-13. The final version was worked out in a conference between House and Senate members.

Now, the bill will be sent to Gov. Bel Edwards, a Democratic. With less than two-thirds of the House and Senate in support of the bill, it is possible that he could veto it and that the Legislature would not be able to override the veto.

Cloud’s bill would require public libraries to adopt a system that would allow parents to decide if their children could check out sexually explicit material, either at the library or online, through restrictions set on the minor’s library card.

Read more at BRProud

Published: June 07, 2023

By: Allison Allsop – LSU Manship School News Service

BATON ROUGE, La. — The House voted 85-19 Wednesday to raise the Legislature’s limit on spending to make use of much of the large pile of extra cash flowing into state coffers.

Senate Concurrent Resolution 3 would raise the expenditure limit for this fiscal year and next. This year, which ends June 30, would be increased by $250 million above the current limit. The 2023-2024 fiscal year’s expenditure limit would be raised by $1.4 billion.

The expenditure limit is a constitutionally imposed cap on spending. The limits are determined each year by the governor’s office of administration. Prior to the increase approved Wednesday, this year’s cap was at $15.9 billion and next year’s was $16.5 billion.

There has been debate all session between Republicans in the House and the Senate about whether to raise the spending cap.

This compromise move comes as the state is seeing an influx of cash, but this is not expected to last. Experts say the state is likely to face a shortfall in upcoming years.

Read more at KTBS

Published: June 07, 2023

By: Jenna Bridges, LSU Manship School News Service

BATON ROUGE, La. — A bill to allow permitless concealed carry of firearms was withdrawn by a Republican lawmaker Tuesday, meaning that his efforts to push it are over this year.

House Bill 131, authored by Rep. Danny McCormick, R-Oil City, would have allowed Louisiana residents 21 and older to carry concealed firearms without a permit. Under the bill, they would not have been required to undergo any in-person or online training.

While McCormick’s bill did not make it through, several other bills received final legislative passage as lawmakers rush to finish before the session ends on Thursday.

The House agreed Tuesday to Senate amendments to House bills on limiting gender-affirming care, pronoun use in schools and classroom discussion of gender and sexuality.

Read more at KATC