By Greg LaRose | Editor-in-Chief
We’ll continue keep you apprised of ongoing developments in today’s top story at lailluminator.com throughout the Fourth of July weekend. Our newsletter today is abbreviated as our team celebrates the holiday.
A grand jury in New Orleans indicted Louisiana Attorney General Liz Murrill, charging her Thursday, July 2, 2026, with intimidation and malfeasance in connection with letters she sent to city leaders in May threatening to remove them from office. (Matthew Perschall/LAI)
By Greg LaRose
Political rancor between Louisiana’s Republican leaders and the Democratic power structure in New Orleans reached unprecedented heights Thursday with the criminal indictment of Attorney General Liz Murrill. A grand jury handed up a 16-count indictment against Murrill, charging her with eight counts each of intimidation and malfeasance in office.
Merchandise tied to America’s 250th birthday is sold in a stall at Freedom 250’s Great American State Fair in Washington, D.C., on June 30, 2026. (Sam Gauntt/States Newsroom)
By Ashley Murray
What’s more American than apple pie? Capitalism. And an array of merchandise and influence is on sale for the 250th birthday of the United States. That means people, businesses and nonprofits are getting a slice of the semiquincentennial pie, some bigger than others. But there is no clear accounting of which entities are getting the larger shares and no one associated with either organization offered a full explanation to States Newsroom.
COMMENTARY
By Tonya Fick
The United States was founded on a powerful declaration: that all people are created equal and endowed with certain unalienable rights. Yet from the beginning, the country struggled to extend those rights equally. The ideals were revolutionary. The reality was often far less so.
NEWS FROM THE STATES
Advocates seek to protect citizen-initiated laws in constitution | Nebraska Examiner
Former governor’s flight records don’t show why he traveled on public’s dime | Missouri Independent
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