Cabinet compensation

By Greg LaRose | Editor-in-Chief

The 2026 legislative session has come to an end, but the news it’s generated will keep us busy for months to come. Strap yourself in and join us on the ride.

By Julie O’Donoghue

The pay hikes come at an awkward time as the new budget doesn’t include stipends that public school teachers and support staff workers have received the past three years, worth $2,000 and $1,000, respectively. The governor has promised to move money around in the existing state budget to avoid a teacher pay reduction but hasn’t released the plan for doing so yet. 

By Greg LaRose

The state law denying Calvin Duncan, who is Black, his ascent to elected office has reverberated racially in New Orleans, where Black Democrats make up the majority of the electorate. It took effect in the immediate aftermath of a U.S. Supreme Court decision that deemed Louisiana’s congressional district map an unconstitutional racial gerrymander.

By Wes Muller

Louisiana lawmakers have approved a bill that significantly reduces the training requirements for licensed plumbers and dissolves the autonomy of the state plumbing board. Some professionals are unhappy with the arrangement, saying the truncated standards could put public health and safety at risk.

By Shannon Heckt

A surge in data centers for Louisiana has raised questions about the water supply needed to cool the massive digital processing facilities. But what happens to that water once it’s been used. In Virginia, the world’s largest hub for data centers, operators can use municipal treatment systems, but there’s limited data tracking of potential chemicals in the wastewater.

By Andrea Hagan

You cannot draw a partisan map in the Deep South without drawing a racial map. The two move together. Morris’s “we didn’t look at race” defense isn’t just legally convenient. In Louisiana, it is empirically impossible.

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