LSU Manship School Statehouse Bureau

Published: June 12, 2020

By: Alyssa Berry and Matthew Clark, LSU Manship School News Service

BOGALUSA, La. — Fiery red dust filled the air as Henry Austan, a 21-year-old insurance bill collector for an African-American agency, sped down a Washington Parish dirt road during the early spring of 1965.

After he finished his rounds and the sun began to set, he headed east outside Franklinton, the parish seat, en route to Bogalusa. Glancing at the rear-view mirror, Austan realized a group of white men was tailing him.

His car had been shot at before, leaving holes in the driver’s door.

“A couple of times they almost caught me, and I stopped thinking of it as a joke,” Austan said. “These people seriously wanted to kill me.”

Part 1: A half-century ago in Jonesboro, armed black men fought back

Following his usual route, he crossed a wooden bridge, turned down a dirt road and pulled into a pasture behind a line of trees. There, he positioned himself out of sight under the bridge.

After turning off his headlights, he took out a sawed-off double-barrel shotgun, shells loaded with glass and cardboard, and waited for his pursuers to reach him. When their lights approached, Austan opened fire, surprising the driver. The vehicle swerved, missed the bridge and ran into the water, clearing an escape path for Austan.

 

Published: June 15, 2020

By: Maria Marsh, LSU Manship School News Service

Two LSU professors released surveys June 8 showing that Louisiana residents have conflicted feelings about the reopening of the state and the risks of various activities during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Seventy-five percent of respondents reported feeling uncomfortable about attending large sports or entertainment events, and 77 percent were uncomfortable getting on an airplane. Sixty percent were nervous about eating in a restaurant, and 56 percent were reluctant to go to barber shops or hair salons.

However, the majority of the same respondents reported feeling comfortable with different social activities that many people did not stop doing during the pandemic. Sixty-seven percent of respondents reported feeling comfortable going to grocery stores and 58 percent felt comfortable socializing with friends.

The survey also showed that 42 percent of Louisiana residents know someone who has tested positive for the novel coronavirus, and 23 percent knew someone who died from the virus.

The survey also found a racial imbalance.

Forty-nine of Black respondents reported knowing someone who tested positive for the virus, while only 39 percent of white respondents knew someone who tested positive. Forty percent of black respondents knew someone who had died from the virus, while only 17 percent of their white counterparts knew someone who died from it.

Read more at The Louisiana Weekly

Published: June 5, 2020

By: By Catherine Hunt, LSU Manship School News Service

BATON ROUGE — A Senate committee advanced a bill Friday that would suspend franchise taxes for small business corporations in Louisiana.

The bill was passed in a special legislative session that is focused on finishing a $33 billion budget for next fiscal year and considering tax cuts for businesses hurt by the coronavirus pandemic.

The franchise-tax bill, by Sen. Bret Allain, R-Franklin, is one of 15 bills approved for debate that aims to suspend or cut taxes on businesses as they recover from the coronavirus shutdown.

Franchise taxes are imposed on businesses operating in the state. Businesses must pay $1.50 in taxes for each $1,000 of capital and $3 for each $1,000 in excess of $300,000 of capital.

Allain’s bill would suspend the corporation franchise tax on the first $300,000 of taxable capital for small businesses. That change would cost the state $5.4 million in lost revenues in the fiscal year beginning July 1.

The cuts in business taxes were proposed by a task force formed by Senate President Page Cortez and Speaker of the House Clay Schexnayder, both Republicans.

In the regular session that ended Monday, legislators passed a Republican plan that would use $300 million out of $811 million of federal COVID-19 relief money to provide grants to small businesses.

Read more at Houma Today

 

Published: June 8, 2020

By: Bailey Williams, LSU Manship School News Service

On a July night in Jonesboro, Louisiana, in 1964, the rumble of engines encroached on a quiet, black neighborhood then known as “The Quarters.” As residents stepped out onto their porches, they observed a line of cars—maybe 50 in all—with two to four men in each vehicle, their faces covered by white hoods.

As the Ku Klux Klan motorcade, lit up by the assistant chief of police car in front, paraded through the neighborhood, the intruders jeered and cursed. In their wake, sheets of paper fluttered through the air before settling onto the unpaved road. Alarmed parents instructed their children to stay inside and away from windows.

Once the cars moved on, neighbors gathered the litter from the streets. The KKK leaflets threatened retaliation if African-Americans engaged with the Congress of Racial Equality, CORE, a civil rights group that assisted black communities with voter registration and integration of public facilities.

A mill town in Jackson Parish,  Jonesboro  is located at the center of north Louisiana. Its economy a half-century ago was fueled by the timber industry, paper and sawmills, as well as a canning company. In 1964, as Jackson Parish native Jimmie Davis completed his final term as governor, the parish population stood at about 16,000. Over a fourth of the residents lived in Jonesboro. The town was founded during the Civil War, and in the years afterward the Jim Crow mentality was firmly established.

CORE arrived in Jonesboro earlier in this “Freedom Summer” of 1964. The activists busied themselves organizing voter registration drives from within the confines of black churches. They also joined demonstrations to desegregate public accommodations, such as the restaurants and the community swimming pool. CORE’s presence, as well as the enactment of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, moved racial tensions to a new height.

Alarmed by the motor parade and the threat against CORE, black residents ran back to their homes to retrieve their shotguns and pistols. Some stayed behind to defend their property, while another group headed to the Freedom House, CORE’s lodging, and stood guard until daylight. The Klansmen did not return that night.

Klansmen were wrong to think their  motorcade and threats would cower the black community. Instead, hundreds of black residents crammed wall-to-wall onto the second floor of their Masonic Hall building, the KKK leaflets clenched tight into their fists.

The cold hard facts were clear: If cops were supporting the Klan’s attempt to intimidate black neighborhoods, the citizens could only rely on themselves for  protection.

Read more at Mississippi Center for Investigative Reporting

Published: June 1, 2020

By: Hailey Auglair, LSU Manship School News Service

Louisiana State University officials announced Monday that their campuses will reopen with new safety protocols during Phase 2 of the governor’s order to restore activities after the shutdown for the coronavirus.

LSU is looking toward welcoming students back to campus in the fall on schedule. However, the school is exploring the option of holding the remaining classes after Thanksgiving break online to prevent the spread of the coronavirus since many students and faculty members will have traveled for the holiday.

“We are planning for all facilities and buildings to be open and accessible to our students, faculty, and staff, but, as noted, we will continue to strive to protect the health and safety of the LSU community,” Tom Galligan, LSU’s interim president, wrote in an email. “This means that things may look a little different on campus, but that’s okay. Together, we will navigate the challenges that COVID-19 presents to us, and we will adjust our policies and protocols as needed.”

LSU is requiring everyone to wear face masks. The university also plans to randomly test between 10% and 16% of the people on all LSU-system campuses statewide for the coronavirus.

Officials said they plan for everyone on the campuses to practice social distancing when able, and they will increase cleaning protocols.

While LSU is planning to require face masks, Republicans in the state Senate raised questions about a proposed resolution Monday asking the governor to issue an executive order that all citizens wear face masks in public. In the end, the resolution was changed to ask the governor to require people to wear face masks while visiting businesses.

The regular legislative session ended Monday before the Senate could take up another issue important to LSU and other schools in the state–a bill that would let them continue for three years to set the levels of their mandatory undergraduate student fees.

The House had passed the bill, and now the Senate will presumably take it up in a special session that started tonight and could last through the end of June.

Read more at KALB

Published: June 1, 2020

By: Catherine Hunt, LSU Manship School News Service

BATON ROUGE–A bill that aims to lower car insurance premiums in Louisiana by limiting injury damage suits will return for debate during a special session after Republican lawmakers could not reach a compromise Monday with Gov. John Bel Edwards.

The bill by Sen. Kirk Talbot, R-River Ridge, was approved for a second time by both the House and the Senate after changes were made to accommodate concerns about some of the terms.

The House voted 66-31 to approve the new version of the bill, and the Senate approved it 28-10, shortly before the regular legislative session ended at 6 p.m. Monday.

Democrats have said that the bill would make it too difficult for some people injured in car wrecks to receive fair compensation, and Edwards has threatened to veto it. Talbot told the Senate that he had constructive talks with Edwards but could not reach a deal on all of the issues.

If Edwards vetoed the bill, Republicans in both chambers would need to muster two-thirds of the votes to override it. Monday’s vote in the House fell short of that supermajority, suggesting that Edwards still has leverage to push for more changes as the Legislature moves into a special session to work on a state budget and other bills leftover from the regular session.

Just before the regular session ended Monday, the House voted 63-38 to join the Senate in approving a measure to use $300 million of $811 million that the state will receive from federal COVID-19 relief funds to help small businesses instead of channeling all of the money to help local governments, as Edwards would like to do.

That action also sets up another possible veto showdown with the governor.

The changes in the tort laws and efforts to help businesses hurt by the virus shutdown were among the biggest priorities of lawmakers during the regular session. Lawmakers also voted Monday to temporarily suspend the corporate franchise tax for small businesses. That will reduce state revenue by about $6 million.

Talbot and other Republicans say his tort bill targeted Louisiana’s litigious climate and laws that Republicans say make it too easy to sue. Louisiana drivers pay the second highest car insurance rates in the nation, next to Michigan.

Read more at Lafourche Gazette

Published: June 1, 2020

By: Kathleen Peppo, LSU Manship School News Service

The state Senate passed several bills to improve Louisiana’s criminal justice system, including a bill to make probation less costly for both the state and offenders.

Other bills would adjust the juvenile probation procedure and provide released prisoners letters verifying where they had served their time.

The measures had already been approved by the House and now go to the governor for his approval.

House Bill 643, sponsored by Monroe Democratic Rep. Frederick Jones, allows the parole board to reduce the level of supervision at which a parolee is monitored, potentially reducing the cost of probation for the state and reducing the number of fees that have to be paid by the parolee.

Sen. Katrina Jackson, D-Monroe, spoke in support of the legislation, which does not decrease anyone’s parole time. HB643 helps “lighten the level of supervision after so much time and also lighten the cost of supervision after so much time, which helps both the state and the offenders with the cost,” she said.

Under HB643, the parole board can reconsider a nonviolent offender’s terms of probation after three years of parole. For violent offenders, the time frame is seven years. After the offender has completed the required time, the board can reduce the number of meetings that the offender is required to have with his or her probation officer per month.

Jackson said that district attorneys have voiced support for the bill. It passed with 35 yeas and 2 nays.

The Senate also swiftly voted 33-0 in favor of House Bill 453, which ensures a minimum of three days’ notice before a court can make a change to a juvenile’s probation. Sen. Rick Ward, R-Port Allen, said the bill gives prosecutors time to look over any changes.

Read more at The Advocate

 

Published: June 1, 2020

By: Katherine Manuel, LSU Manship School News Service

LAFAYETTE–“I can’t breathe.” “Black lives matter.” “No justice, no peace.” “Hands up, don’t shoot.”

Chants such as these were heard along Johnston St. and University Ave. in Lafayette Sunday as protesters lined the sidewalks and spoke out against the death of George Floyd, who died Monday in Minneapolis after a police officer pressed his knee into Floyd’s neck even though Floyd could not breathe.

The demonstration was one of several in Louisiana over the weekend as civil rights activists here joined in with the protests sweeping across the country. Protesters also took to the streets in New Orleans, Baton Rouge, Shreveport and Monroe.

Crowds gathered at Girard Hall at the University of Louisiana at Lafayette where members of the host organizations spoke. Then they stood on the sidewalks before marching to the Lafayette Police Station at the end of University Ave.

Mark Mallory, a UL student, helped organize the protest and spoke to the crowd in front of the hall. Mallory said he was there in solidarity with anyone fighting for justice around the world.

“We must be ready to lose the world as we know it and survive together into the new one,” he said.

The Lafayette protest was organized through a Facebook group hosted by local organizations like the NAACP.

NAACP Lafayette President Marja Broussard also addressed the crowd. She offered her condolences to the families of those killed by police violence and said she stands with those in Minneapolis.

“The brutal and horrible murders of George Floyd, Breanna Taylor and Ahmad Arbery have shaken the United States of America,” Broussard said. “Words cannot accurately describe what that feels like.”

Read more at avoyellestoday.com

Published: May 27, 2020

By: Kathleen Peppo, LSU Manship School News Service

The Senate voted 28-6 Wednesday to approve a bill to make medical marijuana more widely available across the state.

The bill would lift regulations that require doctors to register with the state to recommend it and that limits its use in treating diseases.

Under the bill, any state-licensed physician could recommend medical marijuana for the treatment of debilitating health conditions. The Senate approved several amendments to the bill, which had already passed the House, so it will now go back to the House for final consideration.

Before the vote, Sen. Fred Mills, R-New Iberia, gave a personal anecdote about the legal use of marijuana making a positive impact on real Louisianans.

He said that a few months ago, he ran into a daughter of former Gov. Kathleen Blanco in a small grocery store in Lafayette. “She was crying and she told me that day was the first day that they could legally access medical marijuana,” he said. “They thought that they were going to have to say goodbye to mom, but with her ability to use med marijuana, she was walking, playing cards, eating.” Blanco later died from cancer.

Meanwhile, the Senate Health and Welfare Committee voted 5-1 Wednesday to advance two other bills specifying other diseases suitable for medical marijuana treatments.

Read more at KALB

 

Published: May 27, 2020

By: Maria Marsh, LSU Manship School News Service

BATON ROUGE—A House committee last week pushed forward a package of bills that closely reflected the revised budget plan that Gov. John Bel Edwards presented in response to a loss of more $1 billion in revenue from the Coronavirus shutdown.

The House Appropriations Committee advanced without objection a spending plan that would allocate nearly $1.2 billion of federal aid dollars from a COVID-19 relief act to prevent harsh budget cuts that many Louisianans feared would be a byproduct of the pandemic.

The plan would not only balance this year’s budget but also alleviate much of the nearly $900 million in budget cuts that legislators had feared would be needed in the next fiscal year, which starts July 1.

But the plan still includes a $22 million cut to higher education, a $40 million cut to the Louisiana Department of Health and smaller cuts to other services. Higher education and healthcare tend to receive the most cuts because the state constitution and laws mandate many other expenditures. TOPS scholarships, however, would remain fully funded.

Edwards had proposed a budget prior to the outbreak that would have boosted funding for higher education by $35 million and added $25 million for early childhood education. He also had proposed $1,000 pay raises for K-12 teachers for the second year in a row.

But he had to drop all those plans for spending increases after the virus hit and the economic shutdown slashed projected tax collections.

Edwards and House budget leaders were often at odds in recent years on how to raise and spend money. But Jay Dardenne, Edwards’ commissioner of administration, said he and Rep. Jerome “Zee” Zeringue, R-Houma and the new appropriations chairman, were almost entirely on the same page in their budget plans.

“We agree on a lot more than we disagree,” Dardenne said.

Republicans also were impressed at how Dardenne had figured out how to maximize the revenue that the state could draw from the federal COVID-19 relief act. The money can be used only for virus-related expenditures, and Dardenne said the state will receive $1.8 billion in federal aid.

Read more at The Ouachita Citizen