In three years, the would-be drive to repeal the Louisiana Science Education Act has attracted exactly four votes in the Legislature. Not just four votes when the latest hearing was held on May 1 but four votes total after three hearings in 2013, 2012 and 2011. That means a legislative bill that has to clear … Continue reading →

Republican-dominated legislatures in eight of the nine states where GOP governors agreed to take the federal monies to expand Medicaid are balking, according to Politico, the national political website. The latest was Florida, whose Legislature ground to a stalemated end Friday as the Republican-dominated House and Senate refused to go along with GOP Gov. Rick Scott, … Continue reading →

In the windshield wiper world of political commentary, the twilight of Gov. Bobby Jindal’s administration was widely accepted just a couple weeks ago. True, when backed by big business and clergy, many Louisiana legislators found enough courage to oppose Jindal’s designs on eliminating state income taxes and replacing the lost revenues with increased sales taxes. That … Continue reading →

It is rare when rank-and-file citizens, in this case public school counselors and librarians, force a government body to do an about face. However, that is just what happened last week when Louisiana’s top school board suddenly dropped plans to change the rules that govern both groups. The turnaround followed hours of polite, but impassioned, … Continue reading →

Houston’s bars close at 2 a.m. Back in the 1990s, when I worked in Houston during the week and drove home to Baton Rouge on weekends, I noticed that come closing time, all the people still at the bar were from Louisiana doing pretty much what I was doing, living between two states. Continue reading →

From the safety of his backyard, my little rat terrier barks himself hoarse at passing joggers, presumably doctors, lawyers and other professionals. But once, when police were chasing a fugitive through the neighborhood, an officer entered the backyard with gun drawn. Scout rolled over and asked the stranger with a gun for a tummy scratch. … Continue reading →

S oon after the administration gave a peek of its plan to revamp Louisiana’s tax system by abolishing income taxes and replacing those revenues with increased sales taxes, Gov. Bobby Jindal’s massive and highly paid staff of press agents was full of advice on how best to report the proposal. For instance, Jindal’s communications director, Kyle … Continue reading →

Legislators trying to sort out the state’s proposed $24.7 billion spending plan for next year couldn’t help last week but turn their attention towards the governor’s plan to revamp Louisiana’s tax system. Next door in another Louisiana House hearing room, Gov. Bobby Jindal rolled out his proposal that basically eliminates income taxes and raises sales taxes. Continue reading →

Significant parts of both Gov. Bobby Jindal’s signature initiatives from last year – overhauls of public schools and future state employee pensions — are hung up in court. Given that experience, it comes as little surprise that much attention has been focused on the various legal standards that litter the landscape as Jindal pushes … Continue reading →

East Baton Rouge Parish Sheriff Sid Gautreaux recalled last week how when he asked most teenagers where they see themselves in five years, the answers usually are about pursuing dreams: excelling in college, playing third base professionally, establishing a career or something like that. But the 17- to 25-year-olds who commit most of the … Continue reading →

Gov. Bobby Jindal took about six questions Thursday afternoon in the first direct availability he allowed State Capitol reporters in about four months. The next day he held a news conference to roll out juvenile justice legislative proposals. All this access came last week after national commentators noticed two polls that claim Jindal’s popularity with Louisiana … Continue reading →

Waiting for the Krewe of Carnivale en Rio to roll in Lafayette one recent Saturday night, I fell into conversation, as Louisiana people do to pass the time, with a fellow parade-goer. This stranger and I talked about how Mardi Gras in smaller towns is more of a family celebration than in New Orleans; … Continue reading →

A quick review of Lexis, the mighty database of English-speaking news articles from around the world, showed nearly 500 hits for Bobby Jindal in the four days following his Jan. 24 speech to Republican pooh-bahs on how to reinvigorate the GOP. That’s only a fraction of what people like the President Barack Obama or … Continue reading →

State Rep. Regina Barrow recently hiked a mile and a half on the shoulder of a busy Airline Highway to call attention to the trek some poor and uninsured must make to get health care now that LSU is privatizing its clinics and hospitals. While Barrow says the quality of medical service is excellent … Continue reading →

Gov. Bobby Jindal is right about his theory that eliminating corporate and personal income taxes could spur business growth. His lack of details led to a growth industry among so-called “think tanks” and “good government” groups, local and national, who have interpretations of Jindal’s tea leaves. Locally, there’s the Council for a … Continue reading →

Among recently released correspondence detailing how LSU cut hundreds of millions from the budgets of its charity hospitals, the big reveal is that Gov. Bobby Jindal’s staff routinely communicated through personal email accounts, which are harder to track for the public disclosure. That was the big story. Also interesting is that the emails suggest … Continue reading →

Within the borders of the Sportman’s Paradise, Gov. Bobby Jindal’s only public appearances have been tightly controlled economic development announcements. Instead, the governor has taken to issuing written pronouncements. For instance, in an end-of-year essay last week published by small newspapers around the state, such as the Gonzales Weekly Citizen, Jindal wrote that … Continue reading →

For those who think the Louisiana Legislature resembles a separate branch of government, think some more. Three ex-governors, two Democrats and a Republican, all but put that notion to rest earlier this month when they were part of a rare joint appearance. And what they said reinforces the long-held view that, in Louisiana, 144 House … Continue reading →

As the “union boss” of Louisiana, Louis Reine says he has watched for years as organized labor is demonized. So, the president of the Louisiana AFL-CIO said he wasn’t as surprised as others have been by the assault on the working man since the Nov. 6 re-election of President Barack Obama. The U.S. House of Representatives, … Continue reading →

Gov. Bobby Jindal again waded into the national scene Thursday, this time to wax on the “fiscal cliff” facing the federal government. Nationally, Jindal was blasted by some for his lack of depth. Locally, many wondered why Jindal has focused on the speck of sawdust in the national eye, while Louisiana has a plank of lumber … Continue reading →

The “Antique Road Show” on the Public Broadcasting Service travels around the United States pricing cherished family heirlooms for two basic types of people. There’s the person for whom an object evokes the memories that help define how they became who they are. Then there’s the person who sees only the … Continue reading →

Our governor attracted a lot of national attention last week, joining the chorus of Republican frustration over the results of the Nov. 6 election. He told Politico that the GOP needed to articulate policies that relate to the common man and not to be seen as cozying up with big business. He told the … Continue reading →

The U.S. Congress in June 1926 passed a resolution asking President Calvin Coolidge to proclaim Nov. 11 as the day to remember those who served in the U.S. Armed Forces. Louisiana in 2008 created a medal to honor the state’s veterans — 297,658 by last count. This being Louisiana, the Veterans’ Honor Medal almost … Continue reading →

Dr. Fred Cerise says the layoffs and cuts in service at LSU hospitals are unnecessary and could have been easily avoided if the state’s leaders were more concerned about Louisiana’s welfare than national politics. “If the state wanted to do it and, if the state was interested in preserving access through the public hospital … Continue reading →

In much the same way the public school education overhaul dominated the 2012 session of the Louisiana Legislature, top Jindal administration officials say the thrust of the 2013 session will be to revamp the state’s tax system. Tim Barfield, who officially rejoined the administration in the Department of Revenue on Oct. 1, says he is focusing primarily … Continue reading →

My 12-year-old plays baseball in a league that requires runners to stay on the base until the pitch. Consequently, most games devolve into red-faced shouting over whether a “pitch” begins with arm movement or the actual release of the ball. Perhaps giving proof to the old adage that adults are just children with more … Continue reading →

As of Thursday last week, 35 of the 98 law enforcement officers killed nationally in the line of duty this year were shot to death, according to the preliminary statistics gathered by the National Law Enforcement Museum in Washington, D.C. Over the past decade, 570 of the 1,559 law enforcement deaths were caused by firearms, which … Continue reading →

Some conservatives are saying — with apologies to Creedence Clearwater Revival — there’s a bad moon on the rise in Louisiana. Conversation on conservative blogs and talk radio was pumped last week by a poll that charted a 13 percentage point drop in Gov. Bobby Jindal’s approval rating in the past year. The poll was … Continue reading →

Louisiana Superintendent of Education John White recently went through a rough patch for hiring a public relations strategist to a four-month contract at $12,000 per month. He was roundly blasted as extravagant in editorials, on blogs and talk radio. Ken Romero, a host at KPEL 96.5 FM in Lafayette, demanded an explanation for … Continue reading →

Differences do exist between the Chicago teachers, whose seven-day strike ended last week, and those in Louisiana. So it’s hard to make comparisons, particularly between a large city and a small state. Teachers, both here and up there, share anger at teacher evaluation programs, which impose standardized tests to define student progress and were a key … Continue reading →

Over the past few months — since Gov. Bobby Jindal’s appointees became the majority on the LSU Board of Supervisors — a dozen or so LSU leaders have left. They include high-profile executives and top administrators, well-known only in the academic community. It started in April with the firing of LSU System … Continue reading →

A trip to the bathroom led to an impromptu media interview for the governor’s emergency director as Hurricane Isaac lashed Louisiana. Kevin Davis, director of the Governor’s Office of Homeland Security and Emergency Preparedness, ventured out of a secure area at the Baton Rouge compound to answer nature’s call. GOHSEP — as it’s … Continue reading →

The soundtrack of storms for many Baton Rouge residents is not the generator-like drone of Gov. Bobby Jindal reading statistics a couple of times a day; it’s the drone of actual generators throughout the night. Many Capital area residents again were lucky enough to avoid the life-and-death drama that continues being played out … Continue reading →

Like earthquakes, the initial signals seem somewhat innocuous: a release of steam, the entire animal kingdom becoming restless and agitated. But Libertarian Party of Louisiana leaders say make no mistake: qualifying candidates in five of the six congressional Nov. 6 elections is — what seismologists would call — a precursor to becoming Louisiana’s second … Continue reading →

Remember all those commercials during the Olympics by the British oil giant BP? Robert Barham does. The secretary of the Department of Wildlife and Fisheries recalled, for the Louisiana Outdoor Writers Association at their annual conference in Chalmette last week, that all those cheery TV spots left the impression that everything was beautiful, … Continue reading →

It was just a 19-line bill that won approval in the Louisiana Legislature two years ago. Yet rarely has a law that sparked so little attention helped spawn such sweeping changes in public schools, and likely will do so for the foreseeable future. The measure, Act 718, required the state to assign … Continue reading →

The national media reported that Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal spent at least part of last week in Colorado rallying with other GOP governors for the Republicans’ presumptive presidential nominee Mitt Romney. Jindal’s staffers last week, following their usual practice, refused to answer repeated requests from reporters about the governor’s whereabouts until after he arrived … Continue reading →

Southern University President Ronald Mason Jr. last week described a series of tough “business decisions” — from slavery through Jim Crow and the War on Drugs — that he says undermine efforts to create a nation where merit is the most important determiner of success. He argued that state government’s fiscal starving of the … Continue reading →

One of the prevailing themes coursing through a five-hour informational legislative committee hearing on budget cuts to LSU hospitals was “Where’s Waldo?”. The children’s puzzle book — called “Ou est Charlie” in French — invites readers to locate a specific fellow dressed in a candy-striped sweater amongst thousands of other people on the page … Continue reading →

Recently, cable television showed America how sheriff’s deputies investigated an altar of candles, blood and chicken feet in an eerie building off what looks like Little Caillou Road in south Terrebonne Parish. True, Vernon Bourgeois, the Terrebonne Parish sheriff who stars in the reality show, “Cajun Justice,” is no longer sheriff of the place … Continue reading →

Gov. Bobby Jindal was busy last week campaigning — some say auditioning — for GOP presidential candidate Mitt Romney. Back in Louisiana, many voiced concern about how Jindal’s national rhetoric would translate to the pocketbooks of his actual constituents. On June 29, the U.S. Congress stripped $572 million in federal Medicaid funding … Continue reading →

At last, Louisiana’s elected officials are embracing a political strategy. But it’s one that has been flogged by fiscal conservatives since the 1970s, and has since been widely discredited by economists of all stripes. It was Alan Greenspan, the conservative economist and former chairman of the Federal Reserve, who dubbed the theory … Continue reading →

The rest of Baton Rouge should learn what followers of college baseball already know, that the nation is reading about the hospitality, dignity and grace of Louisiana’s people. When Stony Brook University’s baseball team beat LSU last week, the purple and gold fans gave the winners a standing ovation, leaving the Yankee players and sports writers in … Continue reading →

A magnanimous Gov. Bobby Jindal said an hour or so after the close of the 2012 Louisiana Legislative session, “I respect those that came to the microphone, even those that disagreed with us, even those that voted differently from the way we would have wanted.” One journalist asked Jindal during this rare direct conversation … Continue reading →

John V. Lombardi, the recently exiled LSU System president, last week published a parable about an unnamed land ruled by autocrats who ruthlessly eliminate all opponents. Lombardi, whose ouster a few LSU board members say was orchestrated by Gov. Bobby Jindal, never identified in his essay the land rich in natural resources with “a … Continue reading →