By Joby Richard
Senators raised questions at a hearing on Thursday about whether damage award caps in medical malpractice cases are too low and whether patients are being fully compensated for extra medical care.
Read the story in the Bossier Press-Tribune.
By Joby Richard
The state is seeking federal funds to more accurately model flood risks in its watersheds and compile the data into an online portal.
Read the story in The Daily World.
By Ashley Wolf
Gov. John Bel Edwards said Wednesday that Secretary of State Tom Schedler should resign immediately in the wake of a lawsuit accusing him of sexual harassment.
Read the story in the Bossier Press-Tribune.
By Matt Houston, Sarah Gamard & Katie Gagliano
The House failed to advance any revenue-raising measures to the Senate Wednesday night, and some lawmakers fear the the special session might end Thursday and delay resolution of the state’s budget crisis until June.
The key bill, authored by Rep. Stephen Dwight, R-Lake Charles, would have extended a quarter of the one-cent added in 2016 to state sales tax until 2021. It failed, 67-38.
Read the story in the Bossier Press-Tribune.
By Devon Sanders
A lawyer for the state Board of Ethics asked a panel of judges last week to order the firing of Doris Roché-Hicks, CEO of Friends of King Schools, for violating nepotism laws.
If not, the lawyer said her son-in-law and sister should lose their jobs.
The state Board of Ethics has charged Roché-Hicks and her relatives with violating laws against nepotism by employing her son-in-law Darrin Cook and her sister Iris Ponson, and by signing checks to her daughter Monique Cook for consulting services.
Read the story in The Lens.
By Devon Sanders
Think you can do better than the Legislature in dealing with the $1 billion fiscal cliff? A new puzzle allows anyone to try to solve Louisiana’s budget crisis.
Leonard Apcar, a professor at the Manship School of Mass Communication at LSU, unveiled his 2018 State Budget Puzzle on Thursday. It allows readers to go through legislative proposals and decide what to cut and keep.
Read the story in The Daily Advertiser.
By Paul Braun
Members of the Joint Agriculture Committee voiced their desire to seek federal funds to improve rural infrastructure, especially broadband services, when the regular session starts next month.
Read the story in BIZ/bizmagsb.com.
By Tryfon Boukouvidis and Drew White
A proposal supported by the Legislative Black Caucus to adjust individual income tax brackets to raise $443 million in revenue is at the center of the latest dispute that has stalled talks on how to deal with a projected $1 billion budget shortfall.
Read the story in The Daily Advertiser.
By Matt Houston and Katie Gagliano
House leadership bickered Monday over who is to blame for a new stall in budget negotiations instead of voting on several key bills that could raise revenue and solve the state’s looming budget crisis.
Read the story in The Minden Press-Herald.
By Matt Houston and Drew White
As the second week of the 17-day special legislative session begins, House committees on Sunday broke a stalemate, at least temporarily, and approved bills that could help the state avoid major budget cuts when $1 billion of temporary taxes expire this summer.
Several Republicans on the House Ways and Means Committee voted with Democrats to move some of the bills to the floor, where they are likely to face another contentious debate.
Read the story in Eunice Today.
LSU Manship School Statehouse Bureau 