By Jack Richards
BATON ROUGE — Multi-state and larger corporations could pay millions more in corporate income tax under proposals the governor, legislators and the Department of Revenue are considering as Gov. John Bel Edwards prepares to call the Legislature into the second fiscal session of the year.
Read the story in The Shreveport Times
By Jack Richards
BATON ROUGE — An idea to take political expediency out of streamlining state bureaucracy took root Friday, ironically when both chambers of the Louisiana Legislature were on holiday.
Lake Charles Mayor Randy Roach presented a bill by Sen. Ronnie Johns, R-Lake Charles, at the weekly meeting of the Task Force on Structural Changes in the Budget and Tax Policy that would create a uniquely powerful commission independent of the Legislature.
By Justin DiCharia
BATON ROUGE — Currently, and since 1984, Louisiana spends about 20 cents a month on each one of its senior citizens, about $1,000 less than what the state spends on a prisoner in the same time period.
A handful of parish directors for the Councils on Aging testified before a Senate Finance Committee Friday on the effects that a $3.5 million cut to its supplemental funding will have on senior centers in different parts of the state.
By Justin DiCharia
BATON ROUGE – An attempt stop to underage drinking at parties on private property failed to draw majority of 53 votes in the 105-member House Thursday after opposition claimed the law would invade the privacy of Louisiana residents.
By Samuel Carter Karlin
BATON ROUGE — Calling the House version of the budget “unworkable, unconstitutional and ill-advised,” the Division of Administration Thursday asked the Senate Finance Committee to start over on the state’s omnibus appropriations bill.
By Samuel Carter Karlin
BATON ROUGE — A report detailing the recent changes made to the Taylor Opportunity Program for Students — the state’s tuition-paying scholarship — warns that students could be paying thousands for tuition beyond what the scholarship covers in a few years.
The Cowen Institute of Tulane University, released its report, “The Future of TOPS,” Tuesday, offering potential pitfalls to TOPS reforms that have passed or look likely to pass this session.
By Samuel Carter Karlin
BATON ROUGE — The mother of a slain Southern University student led a rally at the Capitol Thursday pleading for justice for her daughter, LaShuntae Benton, and Annette January, who were killed in the shooting last month near LSU.
The two 19-year-old students were killed at The Cottages, an apartment complex, on April 10. BRPD spokesman Sgt. Don Coppola said the investigation is ongoing but declined to say whether investigators had suspects in the killing.
By Justin DiCharia
BATON ROUGE — Fines for texting while driving will skyrocket from $175 to a maximum of $500 fine on a first offense and from $500 to $1,000 for subsequent offenses under a bill overwhelming approved by the House Wednesday night.
By Samuel Carter Karlin
BATON ROUGE — The Louisiana Senate voted 8-25 to reject a bill that would have protected LGBT people from discrimination in the workplace after passionate testimony in support of the bill. None of those opposed spoke or asked questions.
Sen. Troy Carter, D-New Orleans, brought SB436 as a matter of “fairness,” insisting LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender individuals) should receive the same protections as those in the class of “race, religion and creed.”
By Jack Richards
BATON ROUGE — The People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) has sent a letter to LSU President F. King Alexander urging him to end the practice of a live tiger mascot.
PETA, headquartered in Washington, D.C., became interested when Mike the Tiger’s apparent terminal cancer diagnosis became known over the weekend.
LSU Manship School Statehouse Bureau 