By Greg LaRose | Editor-in-Chief
Twenty years after flood protection oversight was revamped in the New Orleans region, politics has crept back into the system. Why should you care if you’re not in the immediate area? That question gets answered in this week’s edition of “The Light Switch.”
Leaders in the Louisiana Legislature said Monday they are to come up with the $200 million needed to avoid a public school teacher pay cut after voters rejected a constitutional amendment tied to educator compensation over the weekend. (Courtesy NJ Governor’s Office)
By Julie O’Donoghue
Amendment 3, which 58% of voters opposed Saturday, would have set in motion plans for a permanent pay adjustment for teachers and school support staff to replace a temporary stipend lawmakers have approved for them each of the past three years. The proposal was one of five amendments to fail and among the four backed by Gov. Jeff Landry. Less than two weeks remain in the legislators’ lawmaking session, a short timeline to come up with the money now needed to avoid a teacher pay reduction.
Anna Spoerre/Missouri Independent
By Kelcie Moseley-Morris
The study found a shift away from managing miscarriages with a two-drug approach that includes mifepristone, the subject of a legal battle Louisiana has launched to end telehealth abortions. The move toward a single-drug treatment has proven to be a less effective treatment, which can raise the risk of hemorrhage and inflection.
The Pete Maravich Assembly Center, pictured March 20, 2023, on LSU’s campus in Baton Rouge. (Matthew Perschall/LAI)
By Piper Hutchinson
LSU System President Wade Rousse said revenue collected since the tax went into effect in October have not been spent yet. The tax is the subject of a lawsuit that alleges it was put in place illegally. Filed in December, the suit alleges the district was structured to collect sales and hotel occupancy taxes from businesses near LSU without going before voters for approval.
By Wes Muller
The proposal doesn’t legalize any substances but would allow the Louisiana Department of Health to give administrative and possibly financial support to universities and research clinics that are studying the drugs under federal oversight. The legislation would create an initiative within the health department to use opioid settlement funds to support clinical trials.
COMMENTARY
By Greg LaRose
That Bill Cassidy didn’t survive Saturday’s U.S Senate primary for the wasn’t a major surprise given President Donald Trump’s vast popularity among the state’s Republican voters. What was eye-popping was the margin of victory that U.S. Rep. Julia Letlow, Trump’s endorsed candidate, managed against a two-term incumbent and John Fleming, a statewide official with his own ties to the president.
NEWS FROM THE STATES
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