Early childhood education and childcare programs are popular among Louisiana residents even if it means raising taxes to support them, according to a recent report by LSU researchers.
The report states that three-fourths of the 781 residents surveyed support more spending on childcare for infants and toddlers from low-income families, and 69% support more state spending on childcare from all families regardless of income.
More than 50% of the respondents said they would be willing to pay more taxes to expand these programs.
The findings were in the final report on a survey of state residents by the Public Policy Research Lab at LSU’s Manship School of Mass Communication.
On Monday, April 12, Gov. John Bel Edwards said early childhood education is a priority, but did not offer any amount he would allocate toward it. He made the comment in his State of the State Address as a new legislative session began.
Randy Creel administers a COVID-19 vaccine dose at Creel’s Family Pharmacy in Franklinton.
Constant phone calls and entering names onto growing lists, deleting old names and re-arranging others after cancellations and no-shows, juggling a varying number of COVID-19 vaccines from one period to the next – this is what mom-and-pop pharmacies around the state have been doing along with their regular services.
“You might have to make a list of a thousand phone numbers, and a hundred of those have probably already gotten the vaccine,” said Jimmy Taylor, lead pharmacist at Don Chaucer’s Pharmacy in Hammond. “We’ve never done anything like this. You can’t just walk in and get a COVID vaccine like the flu. It’s a learning curve for all of us.
“If we have a heavy day, we have to bring in nurses to give the shots for me so I can keep running the pharmacy,” he said.
Out of the 486 vaccine providers in the state, 102 independent pharmacies represent over a fifth of distribution sites, according to the Louisiana Department of Health. While distribution of the COVID-19 vaccines was a new and challenging task for all distributors, many of the independent pharmacies lacked the infrastructure of the drug-store chains and hospitals to be able to administer large quantities of shots daily.
Randy Creel, the owner of Creel’s Family Pharmacy in Franklinton, described the distribution process as “very hectic.” He said he has spent most of 2021 giving 20 vaccines a day while filling prescriptions and handling other duties.
“We were getting people from all over South Louisiana coming in,” Creel said. “It’s just an extra amount of work by the time you do the paperwork, get the patient’s information, get the insurance and put it in the computer. You do that 20 times a day on top of checking prescriptions [and] talking to doctors and customers.”
Despite these challenges, mom-and-pop pharmacies are a crucial piece of the vaccination puzzle, particularly in rural areas.
Rural Louisianans trail urban residents by 31% in COVID-19 vaccinations, according to a recent analysis by The Daily Advertiser in Lafayette.
With more than 2.5 million Louisianans living outside of urban areas, local pharmacies could help boost those rates by giving people a chance to receive the vaccine from familiar faces they trust.
That could become even more important with news Tuesday that federal regulators are pausing deliveries of Johnson & Johnson’s vaccine to check into a rare blood clotting problem. There have not been any safety problems with the earlier and more widely distributed vaccines made by Pfizer and Moderna.
By: Kathleen Peppo | LSU Manship School News Service
BATON ROUGE–State senators on Thursday took turns blasting LSU for its failures on sexual assaults at a hearing at which not a single LSU official listed on the agenda was in attendance.
The Senate Select Committee on Women and Children had called for the testimony of nine LSU employees and one attorney at Taylor Porter, a Baton Rouge law firm that represents LSU, on how it has handled sexual assault complaints involving football players and others.
But the LSU officials, including Head Football Coach Ed Orgeron and Athletic Director Scott Woodward, opted to send written testimony instead, and only Winston DeCuir, LSU’s vice president for legal affairs and general counsel, showed up to testify in person.
DeCuir said he had advised the others not to attend after a former LSU football employee said she was bringing a $50 million suit against the university. The suit, filed Thursday, alleges that Les Miles, Orgeron’s predecessor as head coach, had sexually harassed her and that her superiors and coworkers retaliated against her after she reported it.
“Based on the announcement of threatened litigation, I have to be cautious in that circumstance,” DeCuir said. “The only prudent step was to caution the university they should not be giving testimony under oath on these issues with a threatened lawsuit coming down the pipe.”
But Sen. Karen Carter Peterson, D-New Orleans, was having none of that.
“Heads need to roll, and we’re not going to just believe people’s written statements,” Peterson said. She said the scandal “warrants dismissal of some of the players.”
Allegations of rape and sexual violence by former LSU football star Derrius Guice and others have surfaced, sparking criticism that LSU has ignored or mishandled reports of sexual misconduct.
Peterson and other lawmakers have been upset that LSU has only suspended two athletic employees temporarily in response to the revelations. Meanwhile, former LSU president F. King Alexander has had to resign from Oregon State University and the University of Kansas has fired Miles as its football coach over other harassment allegations from his days at LSU.
By: Mahogani Counts | LSU Manship School News Service
BATON ROUGE — An LSU survey shows that Louisiana residents disagree on the role that racial discrimination plays in our society, with 84% of Black residents believing more changes are needed to achieve racial equality.
Only 39% of whites agree. Twenty-six percent of whites think the country has made the necessary changes to achieve equal rights, and 30% of whites think that it has gone too far in making changes for the rights of Black people.
This study was conducted by researchers in the Public Policy Research Lab at the LSU’s Manship School of Mass Communication. The researchers polled 781 adults throughout Louisiana to understand their views on race and class.
Respondents also differed on the extent of racial discrimination in several socioeconomic areas. Blacks and whites in Louisiana staunchly disagree on the degree to which racial discrimination plays a part in the job market, the service industry, applications for loans or mortgages, voting and healthcare.
Eighty-six percent of Black people in the state say police treat Blacks less fairly, while only 42% of white respondents agreed. LSU Manship News Service
A majority of all Louisiana’s residents — 55% — believe that Black people are treated less fairly than white people in interactions with the police. But when the responses are broken down by race, 86% of Black people say police treat Blacks less fairly, while only 42% of white respondents agreed.
This finding comes as the trial of former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin looms over the American public. Chauvin is on trial for second-degree murder after a Black Minneapolis resident, George Floyd, died in his custody. Investigators say that Chauvin knelt on Floyd’s neck for more than 9 minutes after officers placed him on the ground.
BATON ROUGE — Gov. John Bel Edwards announced Thursday that state residents will be able to schedule COVID-19 vaccinations by calling a hotline at 855-453-0774.
The hotline also will connect residents with medical professionals so they can ask questions about the vaccines.
It will operate from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. Monday through Saturday and noon to 8 p.m. on Sundays.
“This is a smart solution, it is timely, and it comes at no additional cost,” Edwards said when he announced last week that the Louisiana Health Department would create the hotline.
Edwards lifted capacity limits on bars, restaurants and casinos last week. But unlike the governors in Texas and Mississippi, he kept a mask mandate in place for people who cannot socially distance. The aim is to guard against the rise in cases that many other states are experiencing.
Edwards said helping residents to get vaccinated remains the best solution. He said the hotline will address two barriers: Lack of access to the Internet and “tech-savviness,” or the time it takes to navigate the scheduling platforms, as well as a lack of access to medical professionals to ask specific questions.
Difficulty in accessing vaccines due to a lack of computer access has been a problem for many poor people and some people living in rural areas.
More than 2.15 million total doses of vaccines have been administered in Louisiana. The Health Department said Thursday that more than 1.3 million people have received at least one dose and 898,262 people have been fully vaccinated. More than 10,000 people have died from COVID-19 in the state.
One thing that legislators can do this session is to press LSU officials about the assault issue when they come up to the Capitol seeking money for the school.
Published: April 6, 2021
By: Kathleen Peppo, LSU Manship School News Service
BATON ROUGE, La. — The second-ranking Republican in the House said lawmakers may consider requiring university officials to be terminated if they fail to report allegations of sexual assault.
Tanner Magee, the speaker pro tempore, also said the Legislature will push LSU hard to improve its handling of the complaints as it seeks more funding from the state and from COVID-19 relief bills.
“There are a whole lot of things that are going to make it difficult for LSU to get what they want this year if they don’t take some better steps internally to address the problem,” Magee said in an interview.
“I’m deeply concerned, and I think part of the problem is that there seems to be a hesitancy within LSU’s administration to fully address it in a way that most legislators are comfortable with,” Magee said.
Magee, who is from Houma, made his comments in advance of a Senate hearing on Thursday on LSU’s mishandling of sexual assault and rape allegations against former football players and the university’s failure to adequately fund an office that investigates such complaints across the campus.
An outside law firm hired by LSU documented the failures, and its report prompted other universities to replace LSU’s former president, F. King Alexander, and former head football coach Les Miles. But LSU’s only disciplinary action was to temporarily suspend two athletic officials who had known about the allegations.
Many of the women in the Legislature have expressed concern about LSU’s handling of the problem, and other lawmakers have criticized the university as well.
Magee has three degrees from LSU and refers to his time there as one of the most “impactful” periods of his life.
“Clearly, I’m concerned for the students who attend there,” he said. “Their safety and health should top priorities.”
By: Samantha Beekman | LSU Manship School News Service
BATON ROUGE, La. (LSU Manship School News Wire) – In 2018, it was only one-sixth of a penny that divided legislators over how much of an expiring penny of sales tax to extend before they compromised on 0.45%.
Now, Louisiana residents on both sides of the aisle think they are paying too much in sales taxes, as indicated by new data from the LSU Public Policy Research Lab.
(Source: LSU Manship School News Wire)
According to a survey that the lab released Tuesday, 61% of Republicans and 53% of Democrats think that the state sales tax is too high – a bipartisan majority of Louisiana residents.
Since July 2018, the state sales tax rate has been 4.45%, a decrease from 5% the state had levied for the two years before that. That 0.45% portion was extended until 2025, and parishes add their own sales taxes to purchases.
Combining state and local sales tax rates, Louisiana has the second-highest average sales tax rate in the nation at an average of 9.55%, according to data from the Tax Foundation.
Despite widespread grievances with sales taxes, 52% of Louisiana residents say they pay about the right amount in overall state taxes. Half of the survey respondents think that upper-income people pay less than their fair share of state taxes, and a majority – 56% – say the same about large businesses.
Published: Sarah Procopio | LSU Manship School News Service
April 5, 2021
BATON ROUGE — Party registration data from the secretary of state’s office reveals that roughly 7,800 Louisiana voters have left the Republican Party since the attack on the Capitol on Jan. 6.
Dips in registrants for the party have been seen around the country. A report fromThe New York Times found more than 100,000 Republicans left the party in a number of states in the weeks after the U.S. Capitol riots, and Louisiana’s voter registration numbers mirror that trend.
Tanner Magee, the second-ranking Republican in the Louisiana House as its speaker pro tempore, cited the challenges national politics creates for public officials at home.
“I’m not sure there’s anything that I can do on a state level other than try to be the best legislator I can and do the best for the state of Louisiana, and hopefully, if you have some people out there that are more state-focused in their thoughts, that might mean something to them,” said Magee.
Tanner Magee, the No. 2 Republican in the Louisiana House, said party registration totals can be affected by national politics. Courtesy of Tanner Magee
The Republican Party lost 5,503 registrants in January, 1,709 in February and 598 in March. The three months of losses came after more than 12 months of steady increases in Republican registrations
Democrats lost over 8,000 voter registrations in Louisiana between January and April. But unlike the Republican Party, Democrats saw losses in most months in 2020 and 2021.
The recent drop in Republican registrations also stood out because the party has had an increase of roughly 37% increase in registrants in Louisiana over the last 10 years while Democratic registrations have dropped by about 12%.
The size of the decrease of 7,810 Republican Party registrations so far this year has not been seen in the months after other recent presidential election cycles. From January through March in 2017, the Republican Party in Louisiana gained 2,206 registrants. In 2013, there was a 1,171 decrease of Republican registrants during the same months.
By: Samantha Beekman | LSU Manship School News Service
BATON ROUGE — In the four months since the first vaccination against COVID-19 in Louisiana, over 2 million doses of the vaccines have been administered across the state, the Louisiana Department of Health reported Monday.
Over one in four Louisianans have received at least one dose of the vaccine, and about 17.9% are considered fully vaccinated.
Praise for the vaccine accompanies vaccine selfies and pictures of vaccination cards on social media, and many are encouraging others to get the vaccine as well.
“Everyone should go out and get this done!” Thomas G. Voss, Ph.D., posted on Twitter in the week leading up to this milestone. “The life you save could be your own.”
Friday, LSU football fan Zach Rau posted: “If you’re on the fence about vaccination, consider what joys await you in the fall at the tailgate.”
Why is the state behind on vaccinations?
Despite these gains, Louisiana ranks 45th in the nation in the percentage of its population that has received at least one dose of the vaccine, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention released Sunday. New data from the LSU Public Policy Research Lab could help explain why the state is behind.
According to a survey that the lab released Thursday, a third of Louisiana adults said that they would refuse a vaccine against COVID-19. This figure includes 43% of Republicans who do not intend to receive the vaccine even when they are eligible. They are joined by only 13% of Democrats who do not want the vaccine.
A third of Louisiana Adults said they would refuse a vaccine against Covid-19, according to new data from the LSU Public Policy Research Lab. Photo Provided by LSU Manship News Service
This reticence comes even as health care experts herald the vaccine as the key to ending the pandemic and reopen the economy. In a press conference Tuesday, Gov. Edwards said one of the best strategies to “win the race” is vaccination in conjunction with masking and social distancing.
While state and national officials have been concerned with racial inequity in vaccine administration among people in minority communities, survey data suggests that mistrust of the vaccine does not fully explain the slow start in equitable vaccination.
Mike Noel, chairman of the Louisiana Gaming Control Board, says fantasy sports betting sites could be operational by late spring. (Photo courtesy of the Louisiana Gaming Control Board)
BATON ROUGE–More than two years after voters in most parishes approved fantasy sports contests, businesses can finally begin applying for licenses to begin operating the games within the state.
The Louisiana Gaming Control Board has published its final regulations for the prize contests, and the State Police’s gaming commission opened the application process Friday.
The approval process will take 60 to 90 days for each company, according to Maj. Chuck McNeal of the Louisiana State Police Gaming Enforcement Division. The applications must be submitted by mail, and as of Monday afternoon the department has yet to receive any applications.
Part of the process for the businesses will be to create virtual barriers around the 17 parishes that did not vote in favor of allowing fantasy gambling.
“They’re going to be, for lack of a better word, geofencing along parish lines, whether it be the parishes who opted out are blocked out, or the parishes that opted in are blocked in,” said McNeal.
Many states, like New Jersey, use this technological barrier to prohibit entrance into contests from across state lines, but the applicants will have to prove their software works along state and parish lines in Louisiana.
“They’re going to have to demonstrate that to us, and then they’re going to have to go to one of the state-approved regulatory gaming labs and prove to them also that it is not allowed to be played in the parishes that opted out,” said McNeal.
LSU Manship School Statehouse Bureau 