Insert dad joke here

By Greg LaRose | Editor-in-Chief

On this day in history in 1834, Cyrus McCormick received a patent for his invention of the reaper. It would be 142 years later that Blue Öyster Cult instructed us not to fear it. Happy Father’s Day!

By Elise Plunk

Coastal restoration leaders, political pundits and everyday people in Louisiana are seething after a recent study said New Orleans and other coastal communities in the state have reached a “point of no return” against climate change. But the scientists who live and work on Louisiana’s coast say that, while the science of rising seas is accurate and urgent, the study should act as a call to action rather than cause people to lose hope. 

By Greg LaRose

After the U.S. Supreme Court declined to intervene in an Alabama case earlier this month, the effort to end executions by nitrogen hypoxia could shift to Louisiana, where the state has already carried out the death penalty once using the controversial method. There are currently 53 people on death row in Louisiana, and Attorney General Liz Murrill has pledged to fulfill their sentences with greater frequency.

By Julie O’Donoghue

Louisiana school leaders remain confused about the details of Gov. Jeff Landry’s plan to shift $168 million from school district operations into teacher stipends. A statement the governor released over his social media accounts added to the bewilderment. For the first time since announcing his teacher stipend plan two weeks ago, Landry said not all school districts would be required to give out the state stipends under his proposal. 

Louisiana Secretary of State Nancy Landry is giving voting system vendors another chance to get their systems certified as potential replacements for the state’s decades-old machines, though it could take another year before any new machines reach the polls. 

A bill that could have further closed Louisiana’s primary elections by excluding voters who aren’t registered Republicans or Democrats failed to pass through the state legislature. But the sponsor of the proposal says she plans to bring an alternative plan next year.

LSU and Hyundai have entered into a decade-long research partnership related to the automaker’s $5.8 billion steel mill being built in Ascension Parish. The planned industrial facility has been met with backlash from residents who have raised concerns about the environmental impact to the majority Black community where it’s being built.

As election officials across the country steel themselves for the midterm elections in less than five months, President Donald Trump’s executive order restricting voting by mail threatens to upend their preparations. It instructs the U.S. Postal Service to refuse to deliver ballots in states that don’t provide lists of voters or meet other requirements. The order has created a sense of deep uncertainty and concern among election officials as they consider how to comply, according to a review of court documents and interviews with election officials and experts on election administration.

Families are facing rising grocery prices at the same time that many of the most vulnerable are losing access to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program. More than 4 million Americans lost SNAP benefits between February 2025 and this February, according to analyses of the most recent federal data. The numbers are expected to increase as states whittle the rolls further as required by the broad tax and spending law President Donald Trump signed last summer, known as the One Big Beautiful Bill Act.

President Donald Trump’s nominee to lead the Federal Emergency Management Agency testified before a U.S. Senate committee that if confirmed he would ensure natural disaster recovery efforts are “objective” and “fair.”  Democrats repeatedly pressed Cameron Hamilton about whether states controlled by Republicans should receive a disproportionately higher number of disaster declarations than blue states. 

Thanks for reading Sunday Brunch. Did you know our daily morning newsletter is also free? Sign up here. And if you enjoyed today’s edition, please forward to a friend. Increasing our readership helps us cover more news.