By Drew White
State legislators made more progress Wednesday toward strengthening a state law that bans sex with animals.
The House Administration of Criminal Justice Committee passed the bill 14-0 after much debate, sending it to the House floor. The bill, written by Sen. J.P. Morrell, D-New Orleans, was approved by the Senate earlier this month.
Read the story in FOX 8 News/fox8live.com.
By Tryfon Boukouvidis
The House Appropriations Committee on Monday approved a bill that would call a limited constitutional convention in 2020.
The proposal, which was sent without objection to the House floor, would limit the convention call to local government, financing and education matters.
Read the story in The Daily Advertiser.
By Drew White
A measure that could free up several hundred million dollars in state spending that is set by law and cannot be adjusted in the annual budget progress narrowly cleared its first hurdle Monday.
In a 6-4 vote, the Senate Finance committee approved a slightly watered-down version of a bill that would reclassify the funds in the Treasury. It now heads to the full Senate for consideration.
Read the story in KALB-TV/kalb.com.
By Devon Sanders, Ryan Noonan, & Paul Braun
Tensions were high Thursday as the Louisiana House voted 55-47 to pass a state budget that called for cutting TOPS funding by 20 percent and stripping most of the funding for partner hospitals and other health services for the poor.
This proposal came after state officials estimated that federal tax changes would bring in an extra $346 million in state revenue next year, lowering the projected budget deficit to $648 million.
Read the story in KALB-TV/kalb.com.
By Paul Braun
The Department of Corrections has agreed to ease restrictions on prisoner interviews to settle a lawsuit filed by a student journalist and the American Civil Liberties Union of Louisiana.
Christopher Lowery, a former project coordinator for the Wrongful Conviction Project at LSU’s Manship School of Mass Communication, filed the suit last year after department officials denied his request to interview Angola inmate Darold Hines.
Read the story in KALB-TV/kalb.com.
By Kaylee Poche
The Senate Education Committee on Thursday voted 4-2 to reject a bill that would have prevented schools from punishing students with lunch debt even though the bill had easily passed the House earlier this month.
The committee also voted 5-1 in favor of a bill allowing school employees to participate in student-initiated prayer during the work day if all of the students had obtained signed permission slips from their parents.
Read the story in The Town Talk.
By Luke Jeanfreau, LSU Daily Reveille
As anyone who watches the news can see, the White House press secretary is often in a tough spot.
“I’d liken the job to being a human piñata,” Mike McCurry, who was a press secretary for former President Bill Clinton, said Tuesday night at LSU’s Manship School of Mass Communication. “The press corps just kind of whacks at you to see if anything will spill out.”
Read the story in The News-Star.
By Tryfon Boukouvidis
Louisiana senators agreed Wednesday to cooperate on a comprehensive compromise bill that would fortify Louisiana’s policies against sexual harassment in state agencies.
The Senate and Governmental Affairs Committee sent the bill to the Senate floor to be considered next week after senators negotiate changes in the language.
Read the story in Gambit/bestofneworleans.com.
By Natalie Anderson
Legislators expressed concern Tuesday with a potentially unfair application process the Louisiana Board of Pharmacy is conducting to determine which locations throughout the state are granted permits to distribute medical marijuana.
Read the story in The Advocate.
By Natalie Anderson
A statewide measure to prohibit smoking in bars, casinos and sports arenas is still on the back burner as one Acadian lawmaker is working to ensure businesses aren’t harmed.
Rep. Dustin Miller, D-Opelousas, postponed House Bill 881 — an effort to protect nonsmokers from secondhand smoke — last week in the House Health & Welfare committee after concerns with the bill’s implications for business owner.
Read the story in The Advocate.
LSU Manship School Statehouse Bureau 