Timing fails again for helpful LA amendments

Reform-minded Republicans thought attaching beneficial constitutional amendments to a red-hot Republican Senate primary election this year would push these items to victory after some similar measures met with defeat last year. But the left’s heckler’s veto won out.

For the spring of 2025, the Republican-led legislature forwarded four items to voters – the first springtime election for amendments in well over three decades. The only measures on the ballot in many parts of the state, in others sharing only with local races and items, they met with big defeats.

That happened for two reasons. First, augmented with loads of money coming from outside the state in opposition from the political left – which didn’t want to see fiscal reform that would reduce the size of government as well as blanching at criminal justice reform based on tougher measures – the left skillfully found fissures, creating mountains out of molehills, among conservatives to peel some support from them. Second, in recent years conservatives had larger turnouts in higher-stimulus elections, and for most of the state this was about as low-stimulus an election as you could get.

Conservatism sees mixed results in LA elections

Conservatives had as many reasons to register disappointment as satisfaction at the results of May 16 elections.

Sure, they might be pleased at the Republican Senate semi-closed primary election outcomes. That saw incumbent Sen. Bill Cassidy draw just a quarter of the partisan electorate’s vote, an abysmal showing that had him become the first reigning senator knocked out in a party primary in 14 years.

This would boost conservatives’ morale because the result eliminated an unreliable, inconsistent conservative. Intellectually lazy analysis attributes Cassidy’s failure to make the Jun. 27 runoff solely to his vote to convict GOP Pres. Donald Trump on specious impeachment charges just after Trump left office in 2021, causing a backlash among Republican voters.

Illegal meeting shows Bossier Jury dishonesty

Pick your nastiness colloquialism: thumbed its nose, poked them in the eye, gave them the Bronx salute, held up its index, middle, and ring finger and told then to read between the lines, lifted its hind leg, whatever, but the Bossier Parish Police Jury just did that to parish residents.

Prior to its meeting last week, the Jury, for the first time in over two years, met as the parish’s Library Board of Control. This February, it had made “appointments” to it by making as members all 12 jurors, as well as assigned as officers those positions as held on the Jury.

The matters attended at the meeting were prosaic, but the mere fact of having the meeting in this fashion was not. For one thing, the Jury didn’t have the legal authority to appoint a couple of its members to the Board because terms of previous appointees had yet to expire nor had they been removed in a public vote. More seriously, all 12 couldn’t serve because state law limits voting membership to seven at most (with nonvoting status set aside for the Jury president). Because of these inherent illegalities, any action taken (which if citizens missed the Zoom-transmitted meeting only will have the minutes, which probably will not be posted on the Internet, available for a description of those actions) therefore is legally challengeable and likely would be undone if taken to court.

Pass bill reining in unions exploiting taxpayers

Louisiana seems prepared to forgo an opportunity to use better taxpayer dollars and to reduce privileging special interests.

Increasingly, states are reeling in the ability of public unions to squeeze the citizenry and leverage those resources to increase their political power. A number recently have passed legislation to prohibit deducting dues automatically for employees, whether union members, within the bargaining unit, giving paid time off to perform union business, preventing withholding dues – locals can deduct from non-members in many states unless they specifically designate disallow that outside of infrequent windows – and to require more than a small portion of the bargaining unit to specifically approve of recertification of certification is revoked.

But Louisiana remains stuck in the past. SB 312 by Republican state Sen. Kirk Talbot, addressing parish (except public safety personnel) and school district employees, sought to prohibit collected dues from being used for political purposes, to have salary deductions renewed automatically, and to transfer government administrative costs to the union. All of these were amended out.

Scoundrels' last refuge should not derail fix

Those angry from having had their privilege disappear who insist on keeping themselves locked in the past will prove a mere distraction to the big question those who wish to progress to the future will have to answer in Louisiana getting right constitutionally with its congressional districts.

Last week, the Senate Governmental and Affairs Committee started vetting various bills to accomplish this, with resolution anticipated this week. This has become necessary after the U.S. Supreme Court ruled the current map an unconstitutional racial gerrymander because no compelling reason – that is, intended discrimination merely because of race – existed for race to be the primary element in its drawing.

This quest has upset black Democrats in particular, the most spleen-venting of the bunch being state Sen. Gary Carter. He caterwauled bitterly in his questions as a committee member, for the obvious reason that black Democrats no longer could use race as a fig leaf to draw districts favoring them but also because his uncle, Democrat Rep. Troy Carter, could have an even money chance of losing his seat with a map that had one or no majority-minority districts planned out, as opposed to the current two.

Pass bill that eliminates heckler's veto tactic

A bill heading to the finish line in the Louisiana Legislature that vetoes a heckler’s veto not only will protect law enforcement officers from abuse but also will increase the safety of the abusers.

HB 132 by Republican state Rep. Brian Glorioso would add a third part to the state’s definition of battery, joining using intentional force on another and throwing a poison or noxious liquid on another: directing sound at an injurious volume reasonably knowing that at somebody else. It only has to garner a favorable Senate vote to head to GOP Gov. Jeff Landry’s desk.

Free expression should have maximum latitude, when possible, but the judiciary recognizes limits to this First Amendment right. Colloquially called “time, place, and manner” restrictions, as long as a government restriction is content neutral, narrowly-tailored serving a significant government interest, and permits alternative communication channels, courts don’t perceive this as a constitutional violation.

Fleming bests Letlow in LA GOP Senate debate

The U.S. Senate Republican primary debate was informative, combative if cordial, and displayed how the candidates tried to play to their strengths.

The debate, sponsored by the Moon Griffon Show, featured only Treas. John Fleming and Rep. Julia Letlow. Incumbent Sen. Bill Cassidy, despite numerous invitations, didn’t attend.

The math, as most recently evidenced by the latest independent poll, has these two running neck-and-neck with Cassidy several points back. Polling suggests that if Cassidy were to make the inevitable runoff he would lose decisively to either, so it was in the interests of both candidates to attack each other in the hopes Cassidy could crest over the opponent.

Landry map swap looking more likely to pay off

It’s been over two years, but Republican Gov. Jeff Landry’s reapportionment gamble looks to be paying off, bigger and bigger and wider and wider.

Last week, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in Louisiana v. Callais that the 2024 congressional map drawn in a special session at the very start of Landry’s term unconstitutionally used race to create two majority-minority districts out of the state’s allotted six. The decision placed guardrails on the use of race, reaffirming that it does not have preferential treatment over other traditional principles of reapportionment in the absence of observable intent of racial animus in mapping.

That 2024 map came after a district court voided a 2022 map with only one M/M district without a trial on the merits, saying it violated the law. The Court enjoined any further action pending an Alabama case it resolved in 2023 that largely but not directly tracked the Louisiana case that also addressed the Voting Rights Act which ruled against the existing map, although the resulting judicially-drawn map eschewed doubling M/M districts to two and instead created two opportunity districts (where blacks had a plurality but not majority).

LA can beat clock, use better map for fall

If you are reading this during the first weekend of May, chances are, right this very second, certain elected officials of Louisiana government and their staff and/or contractors are huddled up trying to get an already-delayed set of congressional elections pushed back further while putting together a new congressional map that stays one step ahead of opponents and congruent with the law and U.S. Constitution.

In the wake of last week’s U.S. Supreme Court decision that ratified a lower court panel which declared the state’s latest version of the map unconstitutional, Republican Gov. Jeff Landry issued an executive order declaring a state of emergency, as by statute. Also by statute, GOP Sec. of State Nancy Landry certified the contents of the order and thus early next week the House and Governmental Affairs Committee and the Senate and Governmental Affairs Committee will convene jointly and almost certainly approve of the certification, with the governor’s agreement.

The current map contains two majority-minority districts of six, but the decision likely makes it impossible to draw one with that many. As two Democrats hold those seats and Republicans are highly likely to win any not M/M, the left has gone ballistic over this turn of events and will try anything to stop the GOP pickup of a seat. As things stand, it can’t through any legal maneuverings. Louisiana’s Constitution nor its statutes define “emergency” and it can be argued that under powers to ensure the “integrity” of elections an emergency use may justify implementing these procedures.

CD5 GOP nod to turn more on hopefuls than issues

Republican candidates for Louisiana’s Fifth Congressional District, perhaps appropriately given the job for which they audition (as least as it stands for now), had to hop around its elongated boundaries last week in about 24 hours to participate a couple of forums, which perhaps turned more on presentations of competence and knowledge than on policy.

Thursday before last, all seven, including the main four – Board of Regents head Misti Cordell, state Rep. Mike Echols, and state Sens. Rick Edmonds and Blake Miguez – appeared at one sponsored by Livingston Parish GOP women’s clubs. Last Friday, all but Edmonds, who is from the southern terminus in Baton Rouge and begged off because of dealing with the shooting tragedy there, participated in another sponsored by Monroe’s public radio station KEDM, the University of Louisiana Monroe, and two local chambers of commerce. Cordell and Echols are from Monroe, while Miguez is domiciled outside the district about 75 miles south of it.

Edmonds might have used the opportunity, as the only independent poll to date of the contest has him behind second-place Echols by ten points, who trails leader Miguez by three, and Cordell is way back in single digits. However, almost half of respondents didn’t name a preference, leaving plenty of chances for candidates to collect voters through performance in somethings like these.

LA needs to prevent alarmism jackpot justice

Proactive legislation addressing the potential costs of climate alarmism could save Louisiana businesses much time, money, and hassle, in creating a fairer business climate for the state.

HB 804 by Republican state Rep. Brett Geymann would prevent suits against companies for greenhouse gas emissions that weren’t in violation of the specific permits issued for the emitter or those not violating the Occupational Safety and Health Act. Those gases are carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide, and fluorinated gases.

Passage of this bill would obviate the possibility that these concerns in state would have to battle nuisance suits brought by climate alarmists. Elsewhere in the country, increasingly Chicken Little local governments have sued firms that produce these gases, alleging these caused individuals’ deaths or maladies or even possibly could, amounting to over two dozen such actions. A smattering of individual plaintiff cases also have begun to circulate.

LA case decision invalidates leftist election tool

This week, a U.S. Supreme Court majority tore the fig leaf off of a major strategic election tool used by Democrats and the political left, in declaring unconstitutional Louisiana’s congressional map in deciding Louisiana v. Callais.

The Court, in a monumental decision widely expected and inevitable to anybody with a passing knowledge of constitutional law, said the current district arrangement was an impermissible racial gerrymander. In 2024, the state had reapportioned specifically to avoid a potential district court redraw based upon a decision (on a notion underscored in the ruling as faulty) that it was discrimination not to have roughly an equal proportion of majority-minority districts as a minority group (generally defined as eligible for this treatment in a 1986 case) existed proportionally in the population.

The decision reaffirmed that when government deliberately intended to discriminate against people of a certain race because of racial animus that Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act would provide protection against that. However, it went further to clarify that this statute could not be perverted to match the dictum of a far-left scholar who famously declared that “[t]he only remedy to past discrimination is present discrimination. The only remedy to present discrimination is future discrimination.”

Transparency bill to challenge LA govts

An overdue update to transparency laws working its way through the Louisiana Legislature would force sunshine onto some places that don’t really want it, with Bossier Parish exemplifying that.

HB 615 by Republican state Rep. Mike Johnson would require any public body that can levy taxes or fees, if in a municipality of at least 10,000 population or is parish-wide if the jurisdiction has at least 25,000 population or if it a state entity (which would account for multi-parish agencies as well), to transmit live (or near-live) by video their meetings and to archive these for at least two years on the Internet, with social media as a permissible outlet, starting this August. It would apply to these bodies’ committees as well under existing law but also adds to this roster state entities that can promulgate rules. This comes on the heels of changes a few years ago that first mandated that taxing bodies transmit or archive.

As Johnson noted on the House floor, current law, even if expanded a few years ago, comes up short. It requires only live (or near-live) video or audio transmission or archiving by taxing bodies (not by single executives who don’t have meetings, such as sheriffs, assessors, and coroners), and carries no requirement that archiving (which is optional if transmitted live) be for a specific length of time nor that it may be made readily available to the public, such as through the Internet. Therefore, in the vast majority of instances citizens must deploy public records requests to obtain archived transmissions, if they exist. The bill would leave in place the video/audio transmission and/or archive regime for all those local entities that didn’t meet the population requirements.

Excise exception to stop bad camera law attempts

All in all, for those in Louisiana concerned that traffic enforcement devices – mainly red light and speed cameras – serve as little more than an excuse for a money grab by local governments have to consider this session of the Legislature in a positive light there being no harm, no foul, but as well a stepping stone for the future.

That conclusion is disheartening when considering recent progress on the issue. In recent years, the Legislature has acted wisely in circumscribing use of such devices. Most recently, it created much more stringent criteria on which vehicle owners could be charged with an infraction such as speeding, like limiting their use to school zones just at the beginning and end of a school day, and with penalty limitations. Still, they leave too much room for actions more consistent with maximizing revenue-raising than safety which additional strictures could address. Worse, Democrat state Rep. Dustin Miller managed to except Opelousas from these.

The lead author behind these changes, Republican state Sen. Stewart Cathey, ever since has tried to foment even more positive outcomes. In addition to the valuable changes last year, he also had a bill that would have exposed the hypocrisy of local governments relative to revenues and safety by requiring all revenues after expenses remitted to the state for use in youth programs. Not surprisingly, it was shunted to a committee that could sit on it.

Hammons sets sights on taking down good old boy

Regardless of the outcome, Bossier City Republican Councilor Brian Hammons’ entry into the city marshal’s race should shine a needed light onto a largely-superfluous office and presents a chance that taxpayers could save some bucks.

Almost 50 cities in Louisiana, some with populations in just four figures, have a city court and thus a city marshal attached to it. A carryover from the 19^th century, at their basics marshals serve a court’s orders and provide for its security. But as the positions are set in statute with lots of variations, and that these offices can contract with local governments to perform additional tasks, revenues, expenses, employees, and functions can vary wildly.

Statute defines Bossier City’s marshal (technically, the constable of Ward 2) in a single place. He is allowed to appoint a deputy marshal and he is to earn at least $5,000 a year from the city and $2,200 a year from the parish. Everything else has been made up over the decades.

Keep public notice to make bills great again

A pair of linked bills potentially would pare Louisiana’s election calendar a bit and encourage more voters to vet local government bills that involvement taxation, but with a reduction of transparency that needs correction.

Two decades ago, Louisiana suffered more election dates than excess judges today in Orleans Parish. Over the years, breaching silly complaints about the necessity of having so many eligible election dates, gradually statutory changes reduced the number of eligible days so that the 46 separate election dates from 2000-04 dropped to just 26 from 2020-24.

That number may fall further with Republican state Rep. Bryan Fontenot’s bills HB 393, a constitutional amendment, that would open the door to having his HB 400 reduce the number of elections on which local taxing and referendum items may appear. Essentially, for these it would make eligible annually only a single election, in the fall in even-numbered years and gubernatorial election years, and in the remaining year in the spring except for Orleans Parish in the fall, which also would exclude general election runoffs. In other words, the eligible dates are those that promise the highest potential turnout because of other local, state, or national elections sharing the ballot.

Caddo-Bossier Port deal exemplifies CCS obstinacy

The Octopus of the Red River flexes its arms again, and that’s one reason why anti-carbon capture and sequestration efforts, as well as attempts to rein in the Port of Caddo-Bossier that have been blunted, in Louisiana seem destined to fail.

Over the years, fueled by a property tax, the Port has built up a considerable kitty, as well as increased powers the envy of governments whose elected officials actually face elections. Most prominently, the Port’s Board of Commissioners, all appointees of various local governments, can make economic development deals involving tax abatements anywhere within the two parishes that override the desires of the elected (and in some cases appointed) officials of the local governments involved.

But that power spreads even further. Recently, a Louisiana House of Representatives panel defeated an attempt to deny the use of eminent domain for CCS purposes. Given that the practice carries at best microscopic environmental or economic benefits and is driven solely by federal government subsidization through tax credits that becomes economically viable at vastly expanded scale only as part of an artificially-constructed market for carbon reduction credits, yet is full of question marks for safety and environmental degradation at vastly expanded scale, taking away the ability to force CCS on property owners made sense.

Trump endorsements not conveying big advantages

So far, Republicans in northeast and north central Louisiana and the entire state aren’t quite on the same page with GOP Pres. Donald Trump’s endorsements for the Senate and Fifth Congressional District races.

In February, Republican Rep. Julia Letlow announced her challenge to incumbent GOP Sen. Bill Cassidy, who last year had drawn Republicans Treas. John Fleming and state Sen. Blake Miguez as challengers, on the back of Trump’s declaration of support for her if she ran. Almost immediately thereafter, Miguez abandoned that quest and announced for the Fifth with Trump’s endorsement.

The nods by Trump were supposed to seal the deals for Letlow and Miguez. Both were well-funded and his imprimatur would assure more dough rolling in to enrich campaigning efforts as well as loosen the purse strings of sympathetic groups to spend independently for them and would serve as a signal to distinguish these candidates from others in the field for voters. Together, observers believed these would separate them from their competitors.

New LA Medicaid weight-loss drug benefit unwise

Louisiana legislators may not have learned their lesson as they try to put taxpayers on the hook for a new Medicaid benefit that may end up causing any or all of wasted money, much higher expenses, and potentially avoidable harm to recipients.

Last year, a line item tucked into the state’s general appropriation bill would have made funding available to give semaglutide, a receptor agonist for human glucagon-like peptide-1 which is the basis for several drugs such as Wegovy, Ozempic, Monjauro, and Rybelus, to state employees that suffered from obesity. Republican Gov. Jeff Landry vetoed that.

And wisely so, for the monthly injections would have imposed a tremendous cost that must continue for effectiveness to kick in and stay in. Lifestyle changes, of which Landry has signaled at least indirect support for through his healthy eating initiatives, would just as effective if not even more so for weight loss and shedding of problems related to obesity. It would cost the state little to engage in campaigns urging personal responsibility to eat right and less, and to exercise more.

Transparency should dampen Monroe govt conflict

More transparency will mean fewer fireworks over an obscure adjunct to Monroe’s government that sits on over $20 million.

About three decades ago the Interstate 20 Economic Development District was created as a vehicle to provide for infrastructure needs along the eastern reaches of I-20 in Monroe. It has partial tax increment financing for sales, meaning it receives 40 percent, mostly from Pecanland Mall, of state sales tax collected, which then is used to pay off debt issued and its interest to provide funding for approved projects.

The I-20 EDD, like the Tower-Armand EDD, is somewhat unlike Monroe’s other economic development districts. While the other four are written into state statute, these were grandfathered into law from cooperative endeavor agreements with the state. The others also have a wider range of TIF source options for revenues. This also means their governance is established through bylaws over which the City Council has authority.

Vote for first four amendments, junk last one

Mostly keepers, the May 16 slate of Louisiana constitutional amendments does include one clunker. Let’s see what voters will be asked to vet.

#1 – would allow the Legislature to bypass the State Civil Service Commission in classifying jobs as civil service with protection. Presently, except as delineated in the Constitution, the Commission determines which jobs are unclassified, or those without at-will firing protection (although most, such as college faculty members, have protections equivalent to those in the classified service). Because the Commission is composed of insulated appointees and a classified employee-elected representative, historically its members become inured to backing state employees to the detriment of efficient administration. Elected legislators are the appropriate power center to determine policy of whether a job is necessary and policy-oriented enough to grant greater flexibility to executive branch officials. YES.

#2 – would create a new school district in the new city of St. George in East Baton Rouge Parish. This is nothing new, emulating what three other cities in the parish have done, of which two now outperform substantially the Parish School System. Further, the way the finances work, on a per-student basis the EBRPSS actually will be better off with the carveout. There’s no reason not to grant autonomy (it will require a majority both among state and parish voters). YES.

Polls edge closer to predicting Fleming-Letlow

It’s true, a month out from party primary elections, it’s uncertain which of three serious Republican candidates will advance to an inevitable runoff. And there’s a polling-based reason for that for which a little historical data and common sense can address partially to give a better idea who’s likely to be part of that duo.

In the last several days, the campaign for Treas. John Fleming released one, and two others have come from other organizations, although there are no details as to who paid for these. Rep. Julia Letlow was named the leader in those, while the Fleming campaign had him on top with incumbent Sen. Bill Cassidy running second. The other polls had him running third.

This continues a pattern where campaigns release polls favorable to their candidate, which may be why Cassidy’s camp hasn’t released any recently. None of the most recent trio had him at better than 26 percent, which is abysmal for a sitting senator who by himself already has spent probably at least $10 million on his reelection (as of the end of the year; the most recent numbers through the first quarter of 2026 will be available later this week) and has had surrogate political action committees as well churning out cash on his behalf.

LA oil & gas battered more by policy than price

Elections and the policy that comes thereafter matter, as demonstrated by the antics of Democrats in Baton Rouge and Washington that until recently suffocated Louisiana’s fossil fuel industry and thereby contributed to a problem that may cost state approaching $1 billion.

Recently, a report from New Orleans’ The Data Center highlighted how the state’s oil and gas industry has done not much more than tread water going back to the swoon in oil prices in 2014. It’s skeptical that the industry will grow disproportionately compared to other sectors in the future and argues to move towards greater diversification of the state’s economy, based upon the industry’s recent underperformance.

But it was all by design, partly out of the animus of Democrats when in power had against fossil fuels, and partly because of their desire to grow government and redistribute wealth at the expense of economic growth. When prices began their protracted fall, Democrat Barack Obama was president, whose administration backed by toadies in Congress acted hostilely towards the fossil fuel industry, as opposed to their favored renewable energy.

Over-the-top ads show panic over Fleming strength

As reality finally begins to intrude upon the political and chattering classes, the inevitability of realizing Republican state Treas. John Fleming is a serious candidate to win the senatorial seat up for grabs this fall finally has prompted what in retrospect may turn out to be a too-little-too-late series of go-for-broke attacks on his candidacy, validating his growing strength.

To date, the campaigns of his GOP nomination opponents incumbent Sen. Bill Cassidy and Rep. Julia Letlow, but more instructively political action committees pledged to support either, almost exclusively had trained their fire on each other. This is done in good cop/bad cop fashion, where the campaigns extoll the virtues of their candidates and the PACs lambaste the opponents. Candidates and their allies follow this strategy because the PACs keep the candidate they prefer from looking demeaning through attacking that tries to detach voters from the opponent while the campaign presents a pristine candidate and positive reasons to vote for the candidate.

However, they now have put Fleming in the crosshairs, although in a spectacularly clumsy and manufactured way with a couple of negative television advertisements recently aired. One claimed Fleming supported carbon capture and sequestration, despite Fleming being the candidate most assertively and visibly arguing against the use of tax dollars to subsidize the activity, by its saying he voted for budget bills that allow the subsidization. It attempts guilt by association by trying to tie Fleming to leftists who also oppose CCS (but for reasons with which Fleming disagrees), a connection that becomes even more ludicrous when considering that meant, according to voting on last year’s budget reconciliation bill, just about every Republican in the House of Representatives and Senate also were in league with leftist bogeymen – including both Cassidy and Letlow.

Error like Cassidy's may sink Letlow campaign

What has brought Republican Sen. Bill Cassidy close to extinction in his quest for reelection now threatens the chances of GOP Rep. Julia Letlow for promotion to that office.

Last week, news escaped concerning Letlow’s endorsement of diversity, equity, and inclusion practices during her time as a University of Louisiana Monroe administrator prior to her election to Congress. Recordings of her interview process to helm the university in 2020 as well as internal documents revealed her expressing support for the divisive measures, which posit that American societal differences among races comes from irredeemable racism practiced, whether consciously, by majority whites that may be compensated for only through reverse discrimination.

Actually, it was only the publicity of her past statements that was anything new. Media had reported on the documents and the video has been publicly online for years, but the presence of these recently picked up amplification by additional media reporting.

Easter Sunday, 2026

This column publishes five days weekly after noon U.S. Central Time (maybe even after sundown on busy days, or maybe before noon if things work out, or even sometimes on the weekend if there's big news) except whenever a significant national holiday falls on the Monday through Friday associated with the otherwise-usual publication on the previous day (unless it is Thanksgiving Day, Independence Day, Christmas, or New Year's Day when it is the day on which the holiday is observed by the U.S. government). In my opinion, in addition to these are also Easter Sunday, Memorial Day and Veterans' Day.

With Sunday, Apr. 5 being Easter, I invite you to explore this link.

Make patriotic election integrity measure law

Not only does it make good sense but also is vital and patriotic to put into law procedures that obviate the cheapening of democracy.

HB 691 by Republican state Rep. Beau Beaullieu would strengthen voting integrity by requiring Louisiana, if there is no charge to the state or it appropriates money for the purpose, to use the federal government’s Systematic Alien Verification for Entitlements database 180 days prior to a regularly scheduled federal general election (every two years). This allows vetting of registered voters for citizenship, and already is being performed as a matter of policy since the federal government dropped access charges.

Even though noncitizens can’t vote legally, GOP Sec. of State Nancy Landry has found that layer of security breached. She reports over 400 such registrations and over 100 actual votes cast by such individuals during this decade, citing the need for this bill.

Democrats flooding GOP primary not happening

If there’s some strategy afoot to have Democrats raid the May 16 Republican primary to have a preferred candidate win that nomination since their field is so crippling weak, rank-and-file voters of that party aren’t cooperating.

Speculation has risen about the impact of party registration, or raiding, with the reinstalment of closed primaries for congressional contests in Louisiana. With the new rules such as they are, there’s not much incentive for unaffiliated voters to pick a major party label as they can choose which party primary (carrying through with the choice if a runoff emerges) in which to participate.

But with incumbent Republican Sen. Bill Cassidy under duress for nomination, some observers have wondered whether he would make explicit appeals to non-Republicans to vote for him. He apparently already has done that in one media appearance.

Bills unlikely to faze Caddo-Bossier port panel

The Octopus of the Red River has drawn attention from a pair of lawmakers who see a need to bring greater accountability to, if not clip the wings of, it on behalf of Caddo and Bossier Parish citizens.

Since a law a few years ago gave the Port of Caddo-Bossier expanded economic development powers, its nine commissioners have flexed their muscles to exert power over parish residents, such as in bringing deals, that could remain confidential until the bottom lines were signed, within the entire two-parish area that allowed override of local government taxing authority. Citizens have no direct accountability over the Commission, as its members are selected by all of Shreveport (4), Bossier City (2), Caddo Parish (2), and Bossier Parish (1) governing authorities for staggered six-year terms (except for one Shreveport appointee who serves concurrently with the mayor) with the city appointees needing their respective city council confirmations.

Republican state Rep. Danny McCormick wants to change that. His HB 667 would make the commissioner posts elective for four-year terms concurrently with state legislative offices, running in nonpartisan, at-large fashion combined between the parishes.

Changes to bring needed Medicaid savings to LA

The good news is federal government legal changes to discourage able-bodied adults without dependents who don’t want to use Medicaid as a bridge to reduced government dependency will allow the overwhelming majority of Louisianans to continue in the program. The bad news is for that reason taxpayers won’t see much savings.

The federal budget passed last year by Republican Pres. Donald Trump and the Republican majorities in Congress introduced many changes coming to Medicaid, among which were community engagement requirements (working, studying, or volunteering for 80 hours a month) for ABAWD and increased eligibility checks for those Medicaid expansion recipients in states like Louisiana. The former removes Medicaid expansion as a crutch from achieving personal independence while the latter reduces waste, which according to the latest annual data available meant state taxpayers lost over $9 million from the expansion population (known; these were just the ones flagged), for which overall state taxpayers ponied up $489 million.

The requirement may end up cutting taxpayer costs in another way. Research notes that adding such a requirement doesn’t change short-term health outcomes and may improve them over the long run because of resulting increased upward economic mobility that allows escape from low-performing Medicaid service provision to better privately-insured care.

LA judicial election sections may go to dustbin

Overlooked in all the hubbub about the likely-momentous U.S. Supreme Court decision in Louisiana v. Callais is how that will impact judicial elections in Louisiana.

The Callais case appears poised to restrict heavily how the racial composition of an electorate can play in drawing districts. While a great deal of attention of its probable outcome has gone to how that impacts Congress, and a small amount to state legislatures, it also could alter the way in which some Louisiana judicial elections occur.

Technically, in states where there are judicial elections, the racial composition of the electorate shouldn’t matter as judges are not parts of policy-making majoritarian branches of government. However, not long after the jurisprudence now challenged in Callais was codified, the Louisiana case Clark v. Edwards was jackknifed (along with its successors) into that. This case basically held that at-large selection violated the Voting Rights Act in nine judicial districts plus East Baton Rouge Family Court and the second district of the First Circuit Court of Appeals. In the following consent decree, two more district courts and the Second Circuit’s first and third districts were offered up.

New degree puts LA universities on slippery slope

For its senior institutions, Louisiana higher education launched their intents and purposes down a slippery scope by allowing a hollowing of select bachelors degrees.

This week, the Louisiana Board of Regents approved a request by the Louisiana State University System to offer “accelerated” such degrees. LSU Alexandria will offer two and another the flagship campus in Baton Rouge will house, which take only 90 hours to complete rather than the typical 120. The system points to nascent programs scattered across the country, local business demand, and average salaries ranging from $68,000 to $145,000 for graduates with these three majors as justifications for their introduction into the degree inventory.

All are related to artificial intelligence, with the LSU one more directly so. The one at LSU is designed to train those in the fields of machine learning engineering/data science, artificial intelligence research (computer and information research scientists), and artificial intelligence software development (including quality assurance and testers). The ones at LSUA will crank out computer information and systems managers and information security analysts, and data scientists, database administrators, and software developers. Somewhat similar programs for the LSUA pair are in computer science, cybersecurity, and biology, while the LSU one claims it is entirely dissimilar to any other in the state although it facilitates entry into a masters degree in computer science.

Monroe should shore up finances, not splurge

Last meeting, the Monroe City Council heard some potential good news that could portend the disappearance of bad news it will have to deal with starting at its meeting this week – but maybe discover a whole new set of problems for which it will require foresight and discipline to manage.

At that last session, independent Mayor Friday Ellis revealed the city could be receiving a major economic development project. He asked for, which the Council granted, permission to sell the old Ouachita Candy Company riverfront property which the city bought a few years ago to a developer that would create a mixed-use complex.

The project builds upon the win down the road in Richland Parish snagging Meta’s Hyperion Project, a data center that is forecast to pump in $27 billion to the region for startup and continue with hundreds of higher-paying jobs. Anecdotal reports are that the activity has pumped up lodging, entertainment, real estate, and general retail sales, and triggered interest in the historic property, which Ellis said those elements making it historic will be retained because of the tax credits involved and the complex built around it.

The boost in downtown development reflective of the Meta activity promises to line additionally city coffers, with that bonus already starting to be detected in year-over-year numbers. That provides a ray of sunshine to offset disappointing budget news.

According to the budget Ellis sent to the Council, which was covered in budget meetings a week earlier, it sees a nearly million-dollar deficit, which will drive the general fund balance to its lowest level since the start of Ellis’ first term in office. Even as revenues advanced three percent, expenses went up four percent.

Ellis noted increased costs came primarily from higher insurance premiums, fire department compensation hikes, and pouring more into repairs and maintenance of community centers, a priority of the majority Democrats on the Council. He declared that streamlining through reductions in force – 69 percent of the budget is in personnel expenses – would be pursued to balance in the future.

Yet the good economic news could change all of this. The budget anticipates only a one percent jump in property tax revenues, which comprise about 11 percent of all, and just three percent in sales taxes, which make up 63 percent. Putting more property on the rolls and with more sales at prices above assessments from two years ago, and with sales tax revenues up 10 percent year-over-year, that could add as much as $5 million in revenue from these rather than a projected $1.4 million, padding the general fund nicely.

What’s more, the budget has Monroe Regional Airport losing $4.2 million. Yet because of Hyperion, MLU already has seen flights added and passenger volumes going higher, so the passenger facility fee revenue could take a bite out of that deficit.

The larger question that remains is if the bounty transpires whether later in the year the Council will want to spread it around. The Democrat majority has made no secret that it would like to spend more on city government and particularly with capital projects in their districts, calling neglected the areas of the city they represent. At the same time, Ellis has an ambitious capital program, Oneroe, that doesn’t entirely mesh with the majority’s agenda.

Normally, when a government lands some unexpected largesse, its elected officials become a big, happy family with bucks to go around for all. Taxpayers should hope if that this scenario plays out that the city still pursues its efficiency measures and thinks ahead with the bounty; for example, increased activity will mean greater needs for roads, their repairs, and traffic management. Now is not the time to splurge.

Reality intruding on DA Stewart's "progressivism"

Call it the “Alan Seabaugh effect,” if you will, when the Caddo Parish district attorney one time touted as “progressive” decides to shed the most visible aspect of that as a means of keeping his job.

When Democrat First District Attorney James Stewart first ran for the office over a decade ago, his campaign held him out to be in the mold of a “progressive” prosecutor, or one who typically asserts that too much policing occurs that disproportionately negatively impacts “victim” classes, often identified among others as racial minorities. That stance sucked in nearly a million dollars in special interest money to cover a race he won narrowly.

Yet in the next election in 2020, much of that money dried up, in part because his record was mixed on his progressive promises. He did follow the playbook initially in declining to prosecute many cases, some serious, but at least for some of the more serious ones which he eschewed he claimed reasonably extenuating circumstances.

Tiny measures won't fix overbuilt LA higher education

Welcome to the party, Louisiana policy-makers, decades late but maybe, finally, after over two decades of hammering you all over the head, you’ll actually do something productive about one of the great wastes in state government.

That would be our overbuilt higher education system, which this space relentlessly has advocated its pruning. And I do mean relentless: a quick search, which likely misses some instances, brought up over the past 21 years 73 different posts about how too many schools chasing too few students needlessly drives up costs to state taxpayers (here are the latest couple).

And, it now appears, policy-makers may have gotten this concept through their skulls. Some legislation has popped up for the Legislature’s regular session this year dealing with alignment of higher education administration and programs to match actual demand. As previously noted, some of it like paring programs is good, some of it like doing away with the Board of Regents is bad.

Big BC Council rancor erupts over small deal

In the recent past, the Bossier City Council has had tussles over spending hundreds of thousands of dollars frivolously, even millions and tens of millions unwisely, and knockdowns, drag-outs over majorities using every trick to subjugate minority councilor (even if extremely publicly popular) interests.  But now all that over $55,000 to manage a tricky situation?

This week, the Council dropped the guillotine on the Bossier Arts Council. Previously, it cued up BAC eviction from the old city hall that had served as its headquarters – rent and city utilities free – for 45 years for failure to follow state law regarding audits. It was in default three years running, despite a city warning months ago and fulfilling basically the same request for the federal government without controversy.

Presaging the weirdness to come, the 5-2 vote had joining the sole nay vote, of Democrat Councilor Debra Ross, from the first reading the ordinance’s instigator, Republican Councilor Brian Hammons. Then shortly thereafter came Ross’ ordinance to create a new city position, salaried at $55,000 annually, that effectively would oversee the arts, or what the BAC should do.

Polls, debate plea hint at Cassidy desperation

You’d be forgiven for getting a case of whiplash trying to follow the Republican nomination race for the U.S. Senate election this fall, with all of the unexpected twists and turns, the latest of these being polls at great odds with each other and an incumbent begging for a selective debate.

Earlier this month, GOP Sen. Bill Cassidy made demands of Republican Rep. Julia Letlow, who is challenging him, to square off against him, but only him, in a televised debate. To date, her response has been she’s busy with other commitments when he proposes to do it.

This runs against type for two reasons. First, Cassidy made no mention of inviting GOP Treas. John Fleming, another challenger who according to an independent poll last month leads the pack at 34 percent, up almost double-digits on Letlow and 15 points clear of Cassidy. Any debate organizer cannot leave out a major candidate like Fleming, unless he declined an invitation.

Backwards bill misses on higher education costs

A bill in the Louisiana Legislature to abolish the Board of Regents has it exactly backwards.

HB 391 by Republican state Rep. Dixon McMakin would amend the Constitution to do this, transferring current Board functions to other parts of state government, in a move described as cost-saving. McMakin called the Regents “duplicative” and that the agency didn’t “serve a positive impact on our students.”

He got it half-right: duplication is a big problem in the state’s overbuilt higher education system, with too many schools chasing too few students. And that’s reflected in the actual duplicative agencies whose functions need to be transferred to the Regents and themselves abolished: the four governance systems the Louisiana State University System, the University of Louisiana System, the Southern University System, and the Louisiana Community and Technical Colleges System, along with their supervisory boards.

Answer to closed primary problems: more of them

The semi-closed primary is not a problem for, but a prime solution to fix, Louisiana’s lagging policy-making system.

In its session, the Legislature will vet a couple of bills to remove from the closed primary roster Board of Elementary and Secondary Education contests. Currently, all federal offices plus the multiple executives of BESE and the Public Service Commission, plus the Supreme Court, fall under the semi-closed primary system (“semi” because true closed primaries don’t allow unaffiliated voters to choose a party’s primary in which to vote, which gets tricky given the jurisprudence involved). That means all local, state legislative, state single executive, district court, and appellate court races remain under the blanket primary system.

Proponents of this small rollback argue for it by saying BESE elections are the only ones on the year-before-presidential-elections calendar by which all other state non-judicial elections except the PSC occur, which creates an extra set of elections with additional costs and could confuse voters with no other blanket primary races on primary election days (the remainder of the bunch all occur during even-numbered years at the state and federal level where only closed primaries are). But this is a backwards way of considering the issue. It’s not that BESE closed primaries add cost and may confuse, but that the extra cost should absorb all state races as well in replacing the blanket primary system for all contests at every level with a closed primary of some kind.

Legislator wants to make youths dumber still

As the world moves on from myths of the past, one Louisiana legislator keeps trying to move the state backwards, to the detriment of its citizens’ health.

The latest attempt from Democrat state Rep. Candace Newell in HB 373 would create a pilot program that legalizes recreational marijuana. Essentially, it allows the legal dispensaries of medical marijuana to set up separate shops to sell weed for any use. It’s just the latest variation on several tries over the years she has backed to do what almost half of the states have done, legalize pot in some fashion.

Of course, the rules surrounding medical marijuana in Louisiana are so fast and loose that the herb almost already is practically legal for casual consumption, but this approach at least would remove the charade and hassle of getting some kind of medical authorization for its use (not that marijuana has almost no valid use as a medical treatment of some kind). Fortunately, recently legislators have begun to push back, with some help from Congress, but hardly successfully.

Facts, logic doom simplistic CCS argument

A Louisiana legislator recently delivered a spirited defense of lightly-regulated carbon sequestration, but omitted the bigger picture that significantly weakens her argument.

Republican state Rep. Jessica Domangue had a piece in The Hayride that made a subsidized economic argument for carbon storage. Essentially, she asserted that additional regulation on storage – such as having local option on whether to allow it, restricting expropriation of/expanding compensation for land used, placing additional restrictions on pipelines to transport it, or even outright bans on storage or transport, with all of these ideas encapsulated in almost two dozen bills that the Legislature will consider this session – would hamper the ability of transporters and storers of it directly or indirectly to take advantage of tax credits that cover in part the methods of capture and thereafter to take advantage of stringent environmental regulations promulgated in Europe that will provide a market for it. This is done through a credit scheme, where the storer certifies the capture and a carbon producer can buy or register the credit to stay under the limits that then allows sales to Europe.

In other words, she argues that free money is there for the taking, in the form of the tax and carbon credits, offset only by the costs of impounding and storing carbon, typically in what are called “pore” spaces (usually fairly deep) underground. Making it harder to consummate the deal, as these bills would do, impedes this extra economic development.

Generally, Landry speech promises more of same

Republican Gov. Jeff Landry didn’t say much specifically about how he would get Louisiana to go where he wanted, but when he did, he didn’t mince words.

At the start of the 2026 Regular Session of the Louisiana Legislature, Landry delivered the annual State of the State speech that governors give. Much of it reflected upon past actions of the Legislature in the past year that he had supported which produced desirable results.

He lauded the state’s rapid rise in education rankings, which in part happened through the efforts outside the direct forces of Landry and legislators through the Board of Elementary and Secondary Education efforts and those of Superintendent Cade Brumley. He lightly emphasized that increased of the GATOR educational savings accounts at a higher level, as he has budgeted, would expand choice and accountability to keep the momentum going, but perhaps knowing this was a heavy lift he didn’t get into rebuttals to criticism of the request.

Hot issues make upcoming session less predictable

Remarks by legislative leaders shows this upcoming legislative session likely will develop into the most contentious of this term – and not because of Democrats’ agenda.

When Republican Gov. Jeff Landry and the current crop of GOP legislators kicked off their terms in 2024, they largely were on the same page, such was the consensus around the excesses – both in priorities pursued and blocked – of the Democrat former Gov. John Bel Edwards Administration and the factions he empowered in the Legislature. That continued almost unabated in 2025, with perhaps a slight fraying.

However, 2026 looks to expose some significant fractures among Republicans, from the Governor’s Mansion on down to backbenchers. A vast gulf exists between the lot of them and Democrats, of course, with the minority party so enfeebled that it’s unlikely anything a majority of that party wants will make it into law. Yet several issues may divide Republicans, along axes of the leadership vs. Landry and a significant number of GOP legislators (particularly in the House) or the leadership and Landry vs. many in the party.

Bossier Council sidelines BAC, ups Boardwalk ante

While this week’s Bossier City Council meeting drew plenty of attention to the fate of the Bossier Arts Council, it undertook a much more far-reaching action.

The Council, after a two-week delay, voted formally to evict the BAC from the its city-owned digs as well as cut off any contracts or grants from the city. Another ordinance disallowed any nongovernmental organization from receiving city grants unless it did not appear on the Louisiana Legislative Auditor’s noncompliance list, issued annually in February.

Practically speaking, this means that the BAC will have to vamoose by Mar. 24 and it loses its contract to manage the East Bank Plaza, worth $50,000 annually (unless the Council shockingly reverses itself on second reading), as well as any opportunity to receive grants from the city for now. It already has drawn on in its entirety its $80,000 grant for this year. To be eligible for a future grant, it would have to get into compliance with the LLA, meaning it completes an audit for each of the last three years.

LA 2026 Senate race looking like 2008 CD 4 contest

Excuse Republican Treas. John Fleming if he wants to party like it’s 2008, because to date there is considerable congruence between the election that introduced him to Congress the next year and the one that could propel him to the Senate in 2027.

In the most recent poll fewer than three months out from the GOP primary election, Fleming held a lead of nearly ten points on his closest rival Republican Rep. Julia Letlow, who was up a few points on GOP incumbent Sen. Bill Cassidy. Letlow’s and Cassidy’s numbers tracked similarly to those of a poll released a few days earlier, while Fleming had expanded his share by several points.

Cassidy’s campaign dynamics are such that he really only can make a runoff by attacking and flipping votes from Letlow, which eventually may not be enough to succeed yet will detach voters from her that don’t want Cassidy, mainly for a series of poor decisions, and therefore will settle on Fleming, who at this juncture with certainty would defeat Cassidy in a runoff and probably win over Letlow if, benefitting from the endorsements of Republican Pres. Donald Trump and GOP Gov. Jeff Landry, she hangs on despite an effective ethics attack deployed by Cassidy surrogates. The reason this is a realistic, if not the most likely, scenario is because Fleming has gone through this before and come out on top.

System should complete welcome LSU change

You win some, you lose some with the Louisiana State University Board of Supervisors, who recently took a belated two steps forward and one step back in admissions policy for the state’s flagship university.

Last week at the Board’s bi-monthly meeting it adjusted LSU’s admission standards. Since 2018, the Board has been out of compliance with Board of Regents standards by granting admission to a greater proportion of students scoring below a 22 on the ACT standardized test (in other words, those in the bottom fourth-sevenths of all takers) than Board rules permit. For the past eight years the Regents spinelessly allowed LSU to flout the rules.

But now, the pendulum has swung back – at least halfway. Starting for next fall, taking the ACT will be required for admission for students with a high school grade point average of below 3.5, and then for all the year after. In the past it was optional, so for those students not taking it (or not choosing to submit a score to LSU) they were evaluated on mostly subjective criteria.

Arceneaux campaign receives good, bad news

Republican Mayor Tom Arceneaux acquired another arrow in his quiver for reelection, even as he picked up his most serious challenger to date for that.

Last week, S&P Global announced a change in outlook for Shreveport’s credit rating. Maintaining its current call of BBB+ – the lowest investment grade category – it did cite a better outlook of “stable” rather than “negative.” The latter means a downgrade was more likely than an upgrade, which would have meant higher borrowing costs in the future, with the former meaning no change either way anticipated.

This declaration in and of itself doesn’t affect anything substantively, but it carries beneficial positive symbolism for Arceneaux’s quest, especially coming from the rationale stating why the rating agency made the change. The city has maintained a commitment to its 8 percent operating reserve target in the general fund, which he fought for in the 2026 budget, against some pressure to dip more into it for increased spending.

Poll shows Cassidy still trapped in death spiral

The death spiral of Republican Sen. Bill Cassidy’s Senate career continues, according to a new poll. Worse for him, there’s little he can do about it.

The firm Quantus Insights released results polling the contest, where he faces major challengers for the GOP nomination in the forms of Treas. John Fleming and Rep. Julia Letlow, from earlier this week. They show Fleming at 34 percent, Letlow at 25 percent, and Cassidy at 20 percent, leaving another 20 percent or so undecided.

It’s hard to shoot the messenger on this one. The firm isn’t affiliated with a campaign – not that this disqualifies such a poll, for as long as the protocol (question orderings and their wordings and answers) is unbiased, the sampling frame reasonable and sufficiently large, and the contact methods of respondents can produce that desired sampling frame, it (barring unhappy randomization, i.e. a bad sample) will produce valid and reliable results for the population of voters – and this appears to be a quality poll (although a bit vague on the specific sampling procedure and claiming it captured “likely” voters, including those unaffiliated that historically have voted for Republicans as both GOP registrants and those registered without affiliation may participate in the primary, without spelling out that procedure). Unless it drew that one-out-of-twenty bad sample, this is reality.

Bills to expand constitutional rights aim true

 

A frequent proponent of individual rights for their defense has cued up a couple of bills to expand these in the upcoming session of the Louisiana Legislature.

 

Republican state Rep. Danny McCormick has prefiled HB 94, which would prohibit “red flag” laws in the state. He also has prefiled HB 99, which would allow carry of firearms, even concealed, by non-law enforcement individuals on a college campus.

A red flag law is one that allows judicial interdiction to prevent someone from possessing or carrying a firearm, whether concealed, on some kind of assessment that judges the person dangerous in some fashion, typically for reasons of presumed mental health. Advocates argue that random shootings by someone not in possession of the faculties could be prevented with these laws on the books.

The problem is, research into such shootings finds little to support that judicial officials have the ability to predict the future on this, which would produce a monstrously-high amount of false positives that end up depriving an enormous number of people of their constitutional rights (which also may be politically-driven), where even mentally-ill people are highly likely not to engage in this dangerous behavior. Moreover, there seems to be little relationship between such laws and observed benefits with the exception that such laws might deter suicides, and even to implement such a law requires the herculean task (and one smacking of the potential for civil liberties violations) of accurate gun registries.

Confirm big development win with water study

It looks like another economic development win for Republican Gov. Jeff Landry, and one that may pass muster with those concerned about resource-hungry industries that might hike prices to Louisianans.

This week, Landry confirmed a long-believed supposition that both Caddo and Bossier parishes were going to pick up some data center action. While the $12 billion in infrastructure Amazon has said it will spend on three such centers in the two parishes, that it estimates will create hundreds of permanent jobs nearing six figures in pay, is well short of the $27 billion Meta is spending on its Hyperion project in Richland Parish, it’s still quite a shot in the arm for a flailing Caddo economy and juicing the upswing in economic activity in Bossier.

Key to this are competitive measures that Landry and the Louisiana Legislature passed into law a couple of years ago, and also a commitment by the Landry Administration to expedite large projects. But as importantly, Louisiana holds resource advantages that many other states can’t match, such as abundant and inexpensive (fossil fuel) energy and ways to transport it.

Time to limit four-day instructional school week

If one Louisiana legislator has her way, school districts which don’t perform highly that contemplate but haven’t made the switch to a four-day a week of instruction will miss the boat – which, given the dynamics of which districts have chosen to pursue it, might be an idea whose time has come.

SB 82 by Republican state Sen. Beth Mizell would prohibit any school system that already doesn’t operate on a four-day a week from doing so unless it scores an ‘A’ in performance, requiring instruction five days a week (with holidays as exceptions). Only 15 have gone in this direction at present (one is planning to do that for academic year 2027). The minimum instruction time of over 63,000 minutes annually doesn’t change, although many districts have students spend more than that time in the classroom regardless of how many days a week incorporate instruction.

Should the bill become law, practically speaking that limits future conversions severely. This is as public schools become subject to a new scoring system stricter (and more realistic) than the one used through this year. Only 10 districts ranked as A as a result in simulation, but only nine would be eligible as Vernon Parish already has gone to the four-day schedule, so unless this changes 45 districts for now would be out of luck.

Bill to save bucks, not injure higher education

Louisiana yanking taxpayer dollars from select universities for select programs isn’t as deleterious to the concept of higher education at it might seem at first glance.

Republican state Rep. John Wyble has prefiled HB 229. The bill would prohibit allocations of state dollars in any form from going to low-earning outcome programs of study at state schools, as well as those from any local government, beginning in the summer of 2027.

A “low-earning outcome program of study” is defined by guidance from the federal government made at the beginning of this year. With the data it had in hand, it calculated the average earnings (over four years from several years ago) of a school’s graduates in various certificate programs, undergraduate majors, or graduate degrees, and declared those whose average fell below the average high school graduate’s salary for certifications and associate and bachelor degree awardees, or below the average college-degreed or certified salary for graduate degrees, would fit this category. In Louisiana, the former mark is around $32,200 and the latter about $51,000 in that time period.

Bossier Jury maintains charade more transparently

Three-quarters illegal is still illegal, a fact the Bossier Parish Police Jury can’t avoid even as it takes a small step towards transparency.

At its meeting this week, the Jury took inched towards addressing its continued unlawful behavior regarding the parish’s Library Board of Control. Statute requires that a parish seat five to seven citizens of the parish for five-year terms staggered each year, appoint officers annually, every year submit a budget request to the Jury, and meet at least once a year.

None of this happened in 2025. The last time the Jury “appointed” members, in direct violation of the law it tried to place all 12 members onto the Board for 2024, which held one meeting that year. In the interim, one term expired at the end of September in 2024, and another again in 2025.

Entry can't beat Arceneaux but could make him lose

It’s really more spite than serious victory chances with Republican Caddo Parish Commissioner John-Paul Young’s announced entry into the Shreveport mayor’s race.

Young declared himself a candidate after months of speculation and a year’s worth of sniping on his part directed towards GOP Shreveport Mayor Tom Arceneaux. Most of his criticism, which included a lawsuit about a year ago concerning the then-language of laws dealing with squatters, has focused on property standards. Whether that made a difference, Arceneaux in short order worked with the City Council to clarify the legal standard for blight enforcement and launched a campaign to crack down on it. He then amped up the effort with his Block by Block initiative that has made significant inroads into cleaning up derelict properties.

This didn’t seem to satisfy Young, who kept complaining while Arceneaux disputed his assertions. Less in dispute is the practical impact of Young’s entrance, where he won’t win but he could help to deprive Arceneaux of a second term.

Dysfunctional arts group needs BC tough love

Belatedly, Bossier City is getting more guarded about its direction of tax dollars toward private entities, and implementing a little tough love to a long-simmering problem area is a good next step.

This week, the Bossier City Council tees up its 2026 five-year capital budget. This one calls for $188 million in spending, a substantial increase from the $130 million called for in last year’s. Most of that increase comes from transportation zooming from $36 million to $84 million, with the lion’s share taken by new projects to improve Viking Drive, improve Hamilton Road, create a cut-through from Barksdale Boulevard to the arena, and to bump up generic street improvements by two-thirds. Much of the rest comes from engineering projects jumping up from $24 million to $41 million with the addition of a Swan Lake Road to Deen Point waterline and Interstate 20 exit improvements.

Unfortunately, like herpes, this budget has resurfacing the “multi-purpose indoor sports venue.” This is shorthand for a city taxpayer gift to the YMCA, which the city would allow the Y to run and derive revenues from in exchange for giving residents the chance to pay dues to the Y to use the facility their tax dollars built. As previously noted, given the wide availability of recreation options available already for residents there’s no reason for this, yet it has appeared in all but one budget beginning in 2021. With a pair of reform-minded councilors in their second terms and four like-minded new ones, there’s no reason this Council should let stick around this $20 million waste, especially as the city tries to crawl out from under a mound of debt and has made this mistake before with the city’s tennis center.