By Elise Plunk | Reporter
“If an incident like what happened in Shreveport doesn’t get our attention, what will?” – State Sen. Sam Jenkins, referencing the April 19 mass shooting in which eight children were killed and two women wounded. The Shreveport lawmaker was reacting to the lack of additional state funding to address an uptick in domestic violence reports in the wake of the shooting.
People grieve in front of the home where a shooting spree occurred on April 19, 2026 in Shreveport's Cedar Grove neighborhood. Following the mass killing, advocates for domestic violence victims had requested more money for services in Louisiana. (Brandon Bell/Getty Images)
By Julie O’Donoghue
In the wake of one of the deadliest domestic violence incidents in Louisiana history, advocates pushed the state Legislature to provide more money for victim services. But no additional money has been set aside for domestic abuse prevention and state lawmakers are only a few days away from finalizing the annual state budget plan that t takes effect July 1.
A bill to allow votes on whether to remove fluoride from water systems awaits only a governor’s signature before becoming law in Louisiana. (Elise Plunk/LAI)
By Elise Plunk
Louisiana communities are poised to gain the power to remove added fluoride from their local public drinking water systems. If a bill passed by the Louisiana legislature receives Gov. Jeff Landry’s signature, local governing bodies would be allowed to hold an election and let voters decide if they want to keep fluoride in their water system.
Louisiana House Speaker Pro Temper Mike Johnson R-Pineville, authored a measure to remove all references to “gender” from state law. (John Ballance/The Advocate-Pool)
By Piper Hutchinson
Opponents of the bill have raised concerns it will erase transgender people from state law and that it could create a conflict with federal guidance on Title IX, a federal civil rights law that ensures equal opportunity to educational opportunities regardless of sex.
Louisiana Insurance Commissioner Tim Temple, left, and Gov. Jeff Landry sign legislation during a news conference on a funding increase for the state’s fortified roof grant program. (Wes Muller/LAI)
By Wesley Muller
Gov. Jeff Landry and Insurance Commissioner Tim Temple said the program is starting to work but acknowledged it could take many more roof upgrades in the state’s coastal zone to have a wider effect on insurance rates statewide.
COMMENTARY
By Sanaa Alam
Last month, Louisiana lawmakers struck down a bill that would have given communities exposed to toxic emissions from oil and petrochemical refineries access to fence-line air monitoring data, a public health measure successfully implemented in states like California nearly a decade ago.
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