By William Taylor Potter
GONZALES — Representatives from the Governor’s Office and the Office of Community Development hinted to victims of the August floods that in April they may at last see federal disaster relief to compensate them for some or all of their losses, emphasizing that the delays stem from Washington not Baton Rouge.
By Sarah Gamard
BATON ROUGE — Statistics show that gambling addiction in Louisiana is affecting more people than ever, up more than 8 percent in the past eight years, but that it is off the radar.
Janet Miller, the executive director for the Louisiana Association on Compulsive Gambling, told the Louisiana Gaming Control Board Thursday that she came before it to raise awareness for March Problem Gambling Awareness Month.
Read the story in The Shreveport Times
By Katie Gagliano
Proposed legislation prefiled for the 2017 Legislature by State Rep. Pat Connick, R-Marrero, aims to close a longstanding loophole in Louisiana’s domestic violence statutes by including same-sex couples.
House Bill 27 would alter the state’s civil and criminal statutes by opening harsher sentencing possibility for abusers in same-sex cohabiting relationships and by providing key public welfare assistance options to same-sex victims.
By Rose Velazquez
BATON ROUGE — Louisiana students as young as kindergarteners who take toy guns to school could face criminal penalties under a bill filed for the Legislature’s spring session by Rep. Dodie Horton, R-Haughton. House Bill 43 would ban the possession of “imitation firearms, projectiles or ammunition” in Louisiana schools, at school-sponsored events or within 1,000 feet of campuses.
By Caitie Burkes
With language reminiscent of the evolution-versus-creationism arguments from Inherit the Wind, the Louisiana Board of Elementary and Secondary Education (BESE) Tuesday accepted updated content standards for science education in Louisiana’s public schools.
This time around, the controversy over climate change was thrown in.
By Sarah Gamard
The Louisiana Board of Elementary and Secondary Education (BESE) School Innovation and Turnaround Committee Tuesday took a step toward tightening prerequisites for a French immersion school in New Orleans.
The school, Lycée Français de la Nouvelle-Orléans, wants to require students have a certain level of proficiency in French before admitting them to its French immersion program where classes are taught in French instead of English.
By Caitie Burkes and Sarah Gamard
Here’s a sobering statistic: 85 percent of Louisiana’s population, in 56 out of 64 parishes, is in recovery of some sort from natural disasters since March. That was part of the data poured out Thursday (Feb. 23) to the state Senate Select Committee on Women and Children.
Representatives from the Department of Children and Family Services, the Department of Health, the Governor’s Office of Homeland Security & Emergency Management, the Governor’s Office of Women’s Policy and the Office of the Attorney General testified. All presenters, many who work directly with mental health, domestic abuse and housing issues for families affected by these disasters, stressed the need for money to provide emotional support in Louisiana’s affected communities.
Read the story in NOLA.com/The Times-Picayune
By Carrie Grace Henderson and Katie Gagliano
Less than day after the Louisiana Legislature closed the $304 million mid-year budget deficit, the Joint Legislative Committee on the Budget Thursday heard Gov. John Bel Edwards’ plan to address the $440 million shortfall for the next fiscal year, 2017-18.
By Katie Gagliano
BATON ROUGE – Two pieces of House legislation have raised concerns in the agricultural community and creating doubt about the security of agricultural funding dollars.
Read the story in The Shreveport Times
By Sarah Gamard
Budget reductions large and small hit a number of state agencies during the Louisiana Legislature’s nine-day special session that ended Wednesday (Feb. 22). Lawmakers erased the $304 million midyear deficit, in a $27 billion annual operating budget, by having some offices “contribute” millions of dollars to the cause.
Most of the cuts were accompanied by the grinding of clenched teeth. Then there was the $293 cut to the Department of Transportation and Development’s Bicycle and Pedestrian Safety Fund.
Read the story at NOLA.com/The Times-Picayune
LSU Manship School Statehouse Bureau 