Author: manshipxgr

Kaylee Poche and Joby Richard

Several bills aimed at increasing student safety passed the Senate Education Committee Thursday and now head to the full Senate.

One would require any K-12 student who makes threats against a classmate to undergo mental health evaluation before returning to school. Another would prevent public or charter schools from hiring anyone convicted of a felony. One more would require anti-hazing discussions at college orientation and require suspensions or expulsions for hazing violations.

A bill by Rep. Tony Bacala, R-Prairieville, would require individuals who threaten violence at elementary and secondary schools to complete a mental health evaluation before returning to campus.

Bacala said he authored the bill in response to the school shooting in Parkland, Florida, in February. He said the current threat identification system is reactive rather than proactive.

Read the full article in KALB.

Paul Braun and Devon Sanders

 After rejecting the bill twice this session, the House voted 60-40 to reinstate voting rights to formerly incarcerated felons after five years even if they are still on parole.

The bill came after a long fight by prisoner rights advocates. Louisiana is one of 21 states where felons lose the right to vote during incarceration and for the duration of their probation and parole, according to a study from the National Conference of State Legislatures.

Sixteen states and the District of Columbia have more lax policies about restoring felons’ voting rights. The 13 other states generally have more restrictive laws than Louisiana.

Read the full story in The Daily Advertiser.

Devon Sanders and Kaylee Poche

Read the full story in The Daily Iberian.

Drew White

Legislation that would let children be treated by private counselors during school hours advanced without objection at a Senate Health and Welfare Committee meeting Wednesday.

House Bill 766 would prevent public schools from prohibiting outside behavioral health experts from treating students if the parents asked to use them instead of just relying on school counselors.

Behavioral health services are provided when an evaluation by a psychologist determines that a child has a psychiatric disorder and the behavior interferes with the child’s ability to learn in a classroom.

Read the full story in The Advocate.

Paul Braun

A House committee advanced a bill Tuesday that would delay the implementation of the “Raise the Age” law requiring 17-year-olds to be prosecuted as juveniles instead of adults.

Plans for the change had passed the Legislature with overwhelming bipartisan support in 2016 and were set to take effect July 1.

But concerns have arisen about the financial impact since it costs more to house people in juvenile facilities, which are focused on rehabilitation, than in adult jails.

The new bill, sponsored by Ronnie Johns, R- Lake Charles, would push back the start date for the change to March 1, 2019 for nonviolent 17-year-old offenders and March 1, 2020 for 17-year-old violent offenders. It passed unanimously in the Senate last week.

Read the rest of the story in The Minden-Press Herald.

Kaylee Poche and Devon Sanders

Top officials in Governor John Bel Edwards’ administration have scheduled a press conference for Wednesday to discuss 20,000 eviction notices that the Louisiana Department of Health plans to send on Thursday to nursing home residents across the state.

Health Commissioner Rebekah Gee and Commissioner of Administration Jay Dardenne will handle the press conference.

Over 37,000 individuals would no longer be eligible for Medicaid under the budget passed recently by the Louisiana House, and 20,000 of those would be forced out of nursing homes, according to Robert Johannessen, the Health Department’s communications director.

Read the rest of the story in KALB.

 

 

 

Drew White

The termination of pregnancy by illegal interference and feticide may soon become “crimes of violence” under Louisiana state law.

A House panel approved a bill 8-4 on Tuesday to prohibit the use of physical force or threats of violence against “the person or property” of a pregnant woman with the intent to compel her to undergo an abortion against her will.

“A former abortion clinic security guard testified before our legislature that the greatest threat to women at abortion clinics were the men that accompanied them,” said Alex Seghers of the Louisiana Right to Life Federation, an affiliate of the National Right to Life Committee.

Read the rest of the story in Gambit Weekly.

Kaylee Poche and Devon Sanders

A bill that would allow school employees to pray with students during school hours is one step closer to becoming law, advancing out of the House Education Committee on Tuesday by a 10-4 vote.

The so-called “permission-slip-to-pray” bill would only apply if all students present during the prayer obtained permission slips from their parents allowing a certain teacher or coach to pray with them. The Senate passed the bill unanimously last month.

Read the rest of the story in KPLC.

Sen. Mike Walsworth, R-West Monroe, proposed the bill that would allow Louisiana students to wear bulletproof backpacks. (Photo: Ashley Wolf)

Brianna Jones-Williams and Martha Ramirez

Considering bulletproof backpacks for your children?

The state Legislature is close to approving them as optional school gear, and they are easy to find online from companies with names like Bullet Blocker and Guard Dog Security. The backpacks typically cost from $100 to $400 and come in a variety of colorful styles and prints.

But can they really stop a speeding bullet?

The suppliers say tests show that their backpacks, which contain panels of the densely woven Kevlar fiber used in bulletproof vests, can withstand shots from handguns and shotguns. But ballistics experts say the backpacks are no match for bullets from assault rifles, like AR-15’s, that have been used in recent school shootings and that strike the most terror in parents’ hearts.

Read the story in The Shreveport Times.

By Mary Chiapetta

WASHINGTON — By now you’ve probably all heard the popular buzzwords “fake news,” but would you recognize fake news if you saw it?

Eighty percent of Americans in a nationally representative sample express confidence in their ability to recognize fake news, according to recent research from the Public Policy Research Lab at LSU’s Manship School of Mass Communication. Yet, many remain vulnerable.

Read the story in The News Star.