Luddites lose finally on N.O. gas peaker

The New Orleans City Council turned back the Luddites and ensured reliable electric power in the Crescent City.

After nearly a year of going round and round with drama, the Council passed on revisiting a vote to authorize Entergy New Orleans to build a 128 MW gas generator. The city has relied solely on outside power by transmission line for almost three years, and last year the Council approved of this unit and Entergy charging customers for it, but upon discovering the utility had employed unusual lobbying tactics to help win approval, some special interests agitated to redo the process.

The $210 million “peaker” unit Entergy intended for two purposes. First, on days where demand exceeded what outside transmission could bring in, this unit has a quick start capacity that can ameliorate almost instantly capacity issues. Second, in the event of a natural disaster with downed lines and other problems, the unit’s quick starting in short order could supply emergency power for an extended period of time.

Alter LA higher education policy before taxing

A recent plea for more Louisiana higher education funding reminds of the story of different individuals describing an elephant.

In that tale, individuals unable to see stood around an elephant. Asked to describe the beast just from touch various parts of it, obviously they came up with wildly different conjectures.

So it was when Commissioner of Higher Education Kim Hunter Reed addressed the media earlier this week. She noted that Louisiana families here pay 21.1 percent of their income when enrolled in the two-year schools compared to 17 percent in other southern states and 18.2 percent nationally, according to data compiled by the Southern Regional Education Board. She later added that the state should increase need-based aid to make sure more people have access, observing that it spends $161 on average for need-based aid compared to an average of $343 in the region and $376 nationally, and $1,601 for merit-based assistance compared to an average of $416 in the region and $168 in the U. S.

Another black eye for LSU under Alexander

The old college expression, “if you can’t go Greek, go Deke” has taken on a much more sinister connotation at Louisiana State University with horrific revelations potentially untimely for the academic career of the system’s leader.

The early part of 2019 has seen the Delta Kappa Epsilon chapter at the state’s flagship university in Baton Rouge first voluntarily disband, then have several of its members arrested for crimes related to treatment of pledges. What some on campus saw as a real-life “Animal House” instead seems likely, if the charges stick, to more accurately carry the label “Felony House.”

Accusations sensational and sickening accuse members of physical and mental of abuse of pledges, allegedly going on for years, until a few recent DKE pledges blew the whistle, emboldened by LSU’s well-publicized reforms concerning pledge treatment after the death by hazing of one at another fraternity. What law enforcement investigators have claimed happened makes the chapter look little more than a conveyor belt for sadism.

Milkovich tome to distract from record

You might think running a law practice and serving as a state senator would leave little time to write a book – unless it helps you navigate a difficult reelection task.

Last year, Democrat state Sen. John Milkovich self-published Robert Mueller-- Errand Boy for the New World Order. At the time, in Louisiana only the Talk Louisiana radio program took notice (disclosure: I’m sometimes a guest on this program), which led to a subsequent dyspeptic review by a far left website in state.

Since then, Milkovich has been busy with it. I haven’t read it, but from what I can glean from various interviews that he has given with a number of conspiratorial-minded outlets, it’s just that – a contrived look at the former Federal Bureau of Investigation director’s and now special prosecutor whose investigation is going nowhere, looking set to burn through tens of millions of dollars without coming close to delivering metaphorically to the far left a Z-list celebrity aspiration.

The Advocate column, Feb. 17, 2019

Louisiana's populist political culture real cause of small town financial issues 
https://www.theadvocate.com/baton_rouge/opinion/jeff_sadow/article_f9143d9e-2fce-11e9-8b4e-b738695f7432.html

Links:
https://www.theadvocate.com/baton_rouge/news/politics/legislature/article_9f45bd50-240d-11e9-bc9c-07f0f6ea2f6b.html
https://www.theadvocate.com/baton_rouge/news/politics/legislature/article_a2e2307e-271a-11e8-b092-bf81763df3c2.html
https://www.theadvocate.com/baton_rouge/news/politics/legislature/article_a413aaec-6034-11e8-b482-0f34594f1a7c.html
https://www.theadvocate.com/baton_rouge/opinion/mark_ballard/article_579c4a30-2bcb-11e9-a3a2-d76b1ff39b83.html
https://www.nlc.org/number-of-municipal-governments-population-distribution
http://app.lla.state.la.us/PublicReports.nsf/0/E79C2E44A4A9D635862580EB0057B474/$FILE/00012F5D.pdf
https://voterportal.sos.la.gov/CandidateInquiry
https://www.lla.la.gov/reports-data/audit/advanced-search/index.shtml
http://www.lpsc.louisiana.gov/_docs/_utilities/Water Bills and Fees Comparison - All.xls